Originally Posted by
Joe Mamma
I am not an expert. But off of the top of my head, I do not recall hearing about any recommended replacement schedule for AR bolts based on round counts.
Personally, my general rule for round counts when I consider AR 223/5.56 bolts to have crossed a line and be potentially problematic are:
5,000 rounds when used in carbine length gas systems,
7,500 rounds when used in mid-length gas systems, and
10,000 rounds when used in rifle gas systems.
I know there are lots of bolts with more than double or triple these number of rounds that are working perfectly. But these are just my personal numbers.
So in my opinion, your bolt with 2,746 rounds from a rifle length gas system (I assume it's a rifle length system) probably has plenty of life left in it.
I do try to change my extractor springs (and extractor inserts and o-rings) every 2,500 rounds, and extractors every 5,000 rounds. But that's being very conservative.
I consider the bolt and its related parts to be the most important thing on an AR that affects reliability (in a gun that was already working reliably). So I track rounds on those parts very carefully, and replace them according to my schedule.
Joe Mamma