AR Sponsor
Posted: 1/21/2012 8:15:38 PM EDT
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I just got into the ARs, because some friends at work talked me into it, verus a bolt gun I was going to buy. I've bought stripped lowers and I'm waiting for the other parts to show up UPS, and I'm looking forward to building my own AR.
My question is that I keep reading threads about:; what if your bolt breaks: all the parts are interchangable: if it's not cleaned and lubed it's going to have problems;etc etc. Are these all just hypotheticals???? I've owned shotguns (pump and semi), rimfires (bolt and semis), Pistols (revolvers and semis), I have 2 AKs and an SKS, and have owned numerous other centerfire pistols and rifles in my lifetime and while I don't shoot any of them all the time, I shoot them hard when I go out. Other then a broken stock screw on an AK, I have never broken a gun. I don't have FTF or FTEs on any of my guns except a Ruger 22 target semi pistol that seemed to need alot of break in before it functioned smoothly, or a tweeked mag that won't feed properly. Yes, I clean them and lube them before I put them away, but I'm far from a clean freek. I've customized a few 10/22 and a few bolt guns and every upgrade seems to make it work better, not cause issues. It sounds like ARs break alot, or have a lot more problems, or am I just reading about the ones that have problems??? It's not going to be an HD gun but I still don't want somthing that's problematic |
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Keep it lubed, main this is pull the bolt back and put libe on the gas rings through the exhaust holes in the carrier.
And no they dot break often, small things break around 6-7k rounds bolts usually go 12-16k rounds barrels usually go around 20-25k Eta: i clean mine every 1-2k but ive seen multiple go 15-30k without cleaning |
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My Colt 6940 is kept very well lubed. I've run a bore snake through the barrel every 2,000 rounds or so. I have never cleaned the bolt. I only shoot brass cased reloads I buy 1,000 at at time through it from a gun show vendor. Out of 6,000 rounds, I have had one primer failure. ( General comment: No, it wasn't a light strike - standard primer penetration when I looked at it after I dropped the mag. I loaded the round back into the chamber by hand, dropped the bolt, hit the FA, aimed down range and 'click'. The first primer strike now had a twin. Pocketed the round and went back to shooting.) Other than that, I have never had a malfunction or something break. When you have some spare change, drop it in a drawer. About the time you will have something break, the spare change will add up to enough to cover it 9 times out of 10. If you think about it the ammo I've used would more than cover the cost of a new 6940. Yes, the parts are interchangeable. I absolutely love my 6940. |
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I built my first AR, it had a DPMS non-chrome lined barrel.
I ran close to 15k of mostly Wolf ammo through it before I finally sold the whole upper to someone else as a fixer upper (needed bolt and barrel. it was still shooting fine, I just felt I needed to replace it. I had almost zero problems with that rifle. Nothing broke, nothing choked it. |
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Carbine length gas systems are harder on bolts than rifle length gas systems. Other than a bore obstruction I have never heard of a bolt breaking in a rifle length system since me and my buddies started fooling with these things over 30 years ago.
That does not mean that carbine length gas systems are anything less than reliable in operation. Only that they trade some parts longevity for compactness. Do a web search of filthy 14 to see an example of how crud tolerant the AR15 based guns are. I have no qualms taking any M16 or M4 I carried back into harms way. These things will run and run well in conditions that you wouldn't believe until you experience it. |
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Good quality AR don't break down all the time, only low quality and guns with worn parts also not properly maintained often breaks.
Just keep regularly inspecting your usual wear items like, bolt extractor, extractor spring, buffer spring, bolt gas rings, and just keep everything lightly lubed except the bolt keep that lubed very wet. Use good quality reliable magazines and test them out first, also use good quality ammo not the cheapest bad kind. The longest AR that I had before selling it had about over 15K+ rounds nothing broke with it, I just replaced all the worn springs, firing pin retaining pin, firing pin, bolt cam pin and the bolt assembly, YMMV. |
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How many rounds do you think you would shoot through the bolt gun you were going to buy instead? If the AR will just be one of the guns in your rotation you have no concern of it breaking. One of my AR's has the majority of use of all my guns. Its a commercial Bushmaster 14.5 barreled M4 type A2 bought off the rack. Its seen over 6,000 rounds without issue. I feed it 5.56 NATO pressure loads and brick after brick of 22lr through a CMMG rimfire kit. The only thing I've done to it in since purchase is replace gas rings and boost the extractor with a donut. It wasn't giving any problems just preventative. I'm not a big cleaning nut like a lot on here. I pull the bolt/carrier, run a rod or bore snake thru the bore a couple times, lightly clean the boult carried, oil(with 3 in 1 oil), put back together and I'm good to go.
AR's. are pretty tough, the US military uses them in all environments. I carried the M16 for over 20 years and it served me well. I do shoot my own AR much more than any issue gun. It doesn't break either. I have 2 AKs but my goto long gun is my M4A1 copy I built and the second in line is that Bushmaster gun I bought off the rack. DONT WORRY BE HAPPY......Mike |
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