I’m kind of tired of the SHTF fantasy scenarios that people are always posting about. It seems that people think that they are going to be running a 1 man army!
An argument I often see is DI vs Piston. Piston more reliable/but no parts available, DI more dirty/lots of parts availability.
I’m no super expert, but I carried an M16A2 for 13 months in Tikrit.
I witnessed failures, but I never really had an issue. I kept it clean an lubed.
I don’t remember seeing any parts failures. The think I can see failing is the magazine…duh, and maybe the extractor? Keep an extra bolt on hand?
As far as the piston stuff goes, I’m a lefty and all I run now are Adams Arms piston kits (don’t care what you have to say about that) and I haven’t had any issues with parts breaking, and reports of parts breaking seem to be sporadic.
Am I out of line here or does everybody have guns that are constantly breaking?
I don’t understand what you’re asking. You’re tired of some threads, but then asked your question in a fashion that goes down those same lines. You brought up DI vs. piston and reliability(debatable,) but said you don’t care about anyone’s thoughts about it…so why bring it up in the first place?
You’re asking if parts break? Yeah dude, everything will eventually break. Pretty damn rarely if it’s good stuff to begin with though. But I don’t think most people are experiencing breakage at all, then again most people don’t shoot enough to get to that point.
So if I’m there fighting off a Zombie Horde and I break a firing pin, how fast can Grant parachute in with me a new one?
There are threads here about “what breaks in a class” and what to bring to a class. Search for those and you should have your answer. Lots of people posted on what they had break on them.
Also google Filthy 14, as I remember it’s beyond 41,000 rounds and just needed a bolt and a few extractor replacements.
Having a spare BCG wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Spare bolt carrier assy
Gas tube w/ roll pin
LPK
buffer spring
buffer assy
spare rifle.
+1 on this
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Read Dean Caputo, (I think) stated that M.E.A.L. represents the main causes of failures:
Magazines
Extractor/Ejector
Ammunition
Lube
But maybe it’s just me…
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I suggest that you use the search feature and look around.
If you shoot it, parts will wear and eventually break. Regardless of fantastical SHTF paranoia (incidentally you only have to be right once) shooters want to know they can maintain their preferred maintenance schedule or get their gun back to mission capable if it should go down.
Hell, you even suggest carrying a spare bolt…if there are in fact supply chain issues your own advice is a moot suggestion.
Some of the opposition to piston guns is that many feel they are an industry created solution to a non-problem.
If you dig pistons…cool beans. Shoot the shit out of them and be happy. “It’s your day.”
In the past I have broken/seen broken by friends/repaired dept guns due to…
Broken firing pin
extractor
Multiple hammer and trigger pins
And my most recent breakage…A cam pin broke completely in two.
Numerous magazine feed lips over the years but they’re really more of an expendable part over time that you expect to wear out.
Right now there’s a Colt M16A2 with three shot burst that’s only firing one round in burst mode that I haven’t quite gotten figured out yet. If anyone has a thought on that I wouldn’t mind a PM so as not to derail a thread.
Obviously no ones thought of battlefield pickups either. Theres going to be alot of spare parts laying around!
I have broken at least two ACOGs, but never a weapon part.
I completely forgot about charging handle pins. Seen a couple of those break.
Maybe some springs, I’ve had disconnector springs go soft on me once in awhile.
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Maybe so but by far the selection will be mostly from Bushmaster’s and DPMS’s 
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Where? when?
I thought the point was not fantasy combat SHTF zombie BS,
I think the Battlefield pick up is a thing of the past with modern procedures.
Heck, even the term “battlefield” is going the way of the dodo.
For me, the worst case scenario is I lose a small part like a detent, spring, or pin. A sandwich bag of spares helps keep the issue to a minimum.
I authored a post about replacement schedules a while back. Check it out: https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=61505
I keep some spare extractors, spare bolts with extractors, firing pins. Bolt is going to take the most beating.
http://palmettostatearmory.com/1356.php
On this point I would add if something were to go down I fear we’d have a bunch of paranoid lone wolves running around shooting at everything that moves…just sayin’ As to parts breakage…bolt, LPK, gas rings (the only thing I’ve ever had to replace) and maybe a spare firing pin