Restaking Carrier Keys

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01-14-22, 21:53
Todd.K

I think you could have saved a bunch of time and work if you had just bought full auto M4’s and de-milled them for parts…
01-14-22, 21:55
DG23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Inkslinger

I hope you at least saved all your old parts. I’m guessing there are probably some (most) worth saving. If they worked before, I’m sure they would be good to have in an emergency.

+ replacing all the 'new condition' spare parts that were taken from those tool boxes and put into service.

At the worst possible time (in the last many years) to be shopping for those parts both price wise and availability wise...
01-15-22, 13:09
bamashooter

Covid-induced dementia?
01-15-22, 20:53
ubet

I get it. I understand where you’re coming from. I haven’t done anything to the extent you have. But I’ll randomly go through my 1911 and replace every spring just because. If I were you though when I have that urge I would go outside and go for a walk, drink a beer, smoke a cigar or turn on a good movie. Something to pull your attention away. That being said, can I buy your replaced parts or some of them? lol.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
01-15-22, 21:33
blade_68

If it makes you sleep at night.

If it makes you feel better then 👍 for you. I normally just run until it needs to be done, I do keep certain spare parts on hand. Hell my last deployment I took a spare fire control parts set and spare oops stuff in my Oh F### / cleaning kit. As I carried for many years. I didn't need anything out of it but I had it. Bolt carrier gas key's will run in a old over gassed AR way past it's prime. I gave it to Will (IG) my shot out one for his collection. It was like throwing a hotdog down a hallway from GOD knows how many thousands of rounds fired though it, at least 2 bolts
and (second Gas key) replaced over 25 years. I've shot the s### out of it. My deployment days are I walk out the door and go shooting though now. Now my "work" rifle not "allowed" but it's basically a brand new Colt M4 that's only been used by me.
01-15-22, 22:19
17K

Quote:

Originally Posted by Labayu

My Voodoo is every bit as good as some clock puncher at Colt or DD and between dying my flats to check the sealing surfaces, the FCD castellated gas key screws and my staking tool perfectly squeezing the key material into the troughs of those castellaton notches I'll bet neither Colt nor DD have ever built a mass production carrier so precisely measured or carefully built.

You can keep all that mediocrity rattling around in your dome all to yourself partner...

There’s more to it than Voodoo. Their tooling takes the clockpuncher’s hamfistedness out of the equation. There’s untold numbers of carriers in military service that have outlived many barrels on the same key. Those things falling off with regularity is the product of second rate screws and install.
01-16-22, 19:34
TMS951

I get some of it, but the gas keys….wow.
01-17-22, 13:26
alx01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Labayu

Alright, time to get real.

I literally went through all of my AR pistols,Carbines, rifles, parts bins and yanked every carrier key, extractor/spring/pin, firing pin, gas ring I had and rebuilt them all whether they needed it or not. I know for a fact that the Colt and Daniel Defense stuff was probably just fine but way back in my mind I thought "what if it's not? How many rounds do I have on that extractor?".

If that gives you a peace of mind - you did a right thing. I've done this before if I wasn't sure about a quality of components. This is especially prudent if you have a large inventory of parts to bring them all to the same baseline.

If you have Colt/DD that might have been unnecessary, but I would like to hear your feedback on how the screws and gas keys were done from the factory since you've replaced so many of them at once.
02-10-22, 03:12
Labayu

Quote:

Originally Posted by alx01

If that gives you a peace of mind - you did a right thing. I've done this before if I wasn't sure about a quality of components. This is especially prudent if you have a large inventory of parts to bring them all to the same baseline.

If you have Colt/DD that might have been unnecessary, but I would like to hear your feedback on how the screws and gas keys were done from the factory since you've replaced so many of them at once.

That's the weird part. The quality of the staking didn't always match up with how easy or difficult the carrier key screws were to remove. Some of them looked like the screws were mashed in by carrier key material perfectly but turned out with the slightest pressure when some that looked pretty middle of the road for staking were in gorilla tight.

LMT and DD didn't budge without grunting. One Colt came out way too easy and the other 2 were pretty good. FN were pretty tight(not as tight as DD or LMT).

This is all irrelevant now that they all have scalloped/castellated FCD screws with NOS Colt carrier keys freshly unwrapped from the government foil packaging after 30-40 years of darkness mashed into those scalloped screws with a proper staking tool.I sacrificed a set of FCD screws on a Young's Mfg carrier and key that was never staked and once that carrier material is mashed into those FCD screws it's going NOWHERE.

Another interesting experiment showed me that overtorquing carrier key screws will actually make the key curl up/pucker and potentially break the key/carrier seal. Up to 50 in/lbs is perfect and 60+ is bad joojoo.

Now comes the OCD part. I forgot to use sealant on the first one I did and lost track of it so I have to get out my magnifier and look for traces of high temp sealer on each carrier key until I find the one I missed.

Wish me luck...
02-10-22, 03:44
m4luvr

Do I smell a troll ?

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