For those who actually experienced a broken parts?..
What conditions lead to the breakage? What usually breaks the most often on hard use AR’s? The bolt? extractor? cracked BCG?
Just wondering what spare parts would be the best to buy even though I am not a hard core shooter. I was just thinking that having some spare parts would be nice to have in case 2012 comes true lol.
I have been shooting since I joined the military in 1989 and yet to experience a breakage. Had lots of FTF’s and FTE’s though. I guess I was never high speed/low drag enough?
I was thinking a shot peened BCM bolt for $69 would be a good start?
If you had an FTE then chances are that something was broken. Maybe an extractor spring, extractor itself? Hard to say. I have seen springs wear and break (especially extractor springs), buffer springs wear, I have seen bolts break, and bolt lugs break.
All springs and gas rings will wear or fail at some point. Fortunately in the civilian world it is easier to track and repair because you are on your own dime. Most often the military will wait for a failure (with a few exceptions) before replacing stuff.
Having at least a spare bolt is a good start. I have 3 plastic parts trays that have bolts, LPK’s, gas tubes, front sight parts, extractor springs, extractors,…well you get the point. There is no need to blow a hundred bucks at one shot. Just start out slow and buy a few items at a time. For example this weekend I purchased some extractor springs/ inserts, firing pin retaining pins, trigger/ hammer pins and a few other items from a reputable local vendor.
Add that to what I have pn hand and I can easily make just about any repair. I highly encourage you to try and keep a shot record. It will assist you down the road.
Broke an M4 bolt during a training course at Fort Bragg on a pool weapon God knows how many rounds had through it. You could tell it was a daily trainer as the flash suppressor had deep gas-cut grooves on the muzzle end of each slot.
The only other part I’ve broken on a hard use gun was an extractor pin that broke in half on a National Match M16, somewhere on its third barrel during the Atlantic Fleet Matches at Dam Neck, Virginia. I didn’t find it until cleaning and simply took the pin from my back-up gun and continued on.
I usually change gas rings every time I get a new barrel.
Broken and seen plenty of broken parts, mostly on good-as guns. Most typically, extractors, discos, bolts, bolt catches, FPRPs, firing pins, various springs, buffer retainer pins. All those are subject to heat/friction/movement/impact. Suspect parts or bad manufacturing assembly will show up in those eventually.
I keep a complete set of known-good internals. A couple of spare BCGs and FCGs.
While in Basic Training I had an M-16A1 (made by the GM Hydramatic Division) blow it’s (teardrop shaped) bolt forward assist during full-auto night firing familiarization.
As for my own personal AR, the only broken part I can recall is a bolt that cracked right at the keyhole during training at a very dusty range in NC back in 2006.
Outside of replacing items like extractor and springs, I can’t recall any other issues.
I’ve only experienced spring failures - two extractor springs coming apart, and a worn out action spring that didn’t have the oomph to but rounds into battery; both on .gov owned weapons.
Busted off a locking lock on a Bushmaster Bolt on day 2 of a 3 day carbine class. the gun had 12K on it at that point… Bushmaster replaced it with no questions asked…
Had to replace some worn extractors when I started to experience some FTE.
The first day I had my city issued Bushmaster, one of the springs broke in my trigger assembly. I had to push the trigger forward after each shot to reset it.
Something also went wrong with the selector lever as it became very hard to move. The armorer told me a part was kinda warped, so was probably a factory defect.
had a hammer pin break. First started to get light primer strikes. Then it started doubling. Also managed to have a vortex tine break off at a carbine course. Before getting the bcm gunfighter charging handle I also bent the hell out of two regular charging handles.
I’ve had a hammer pin break, didn’t stop the rifle, I found it during it’s yearly complete tear down and detailed cleaning, when I removed the hammer. No telling how long it had been broken… The lower is 6 years old, with around 25k through it.
Everything else I’ve replaced has been for preventative maintenance…
Busted a bolt catch, specifically the release button. This part was cast, as most of them probably are, and it had reached the end of
it’s life. One too many smacks and it just let go. Nothing else yet
except normal wear and tear items.
