Which extractor spring was in it?
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I was at the range yesterday and there was a fellow there who was just clueless. New S&W piston AR, he was shooting it off the bench with a 30 round magazine and all over the paper at 50 so I helped him out. An hour later I walked over to see how he was doing and watched as the gun malfunctioned. I noticed gun parts on the table, the gas block askew, smoke rising from the forend. The taper key had come out. We got it all back together and it worked fine. I advised him to keep an eye on the taper pin and beat it back in if it began to come out. This gun has already been back to S&W once, bolt screwed up, wouldn't eject correctly. Sheesh.
Nearly every failure I've seen has been due to a tight chamber and wolf ammo.
Also seen quite a few loose keys causing short stroking, one that almost completely fell off inside the gun making it interesting to disassemble.
What really fails on the AR is a carbine length gas system on a 16" barrel.
I can think of a few.
380.00 parts kit bought from knob creek- unknown mfg./reseller- broken hammer pin after 500 rds.- replaced with known quality parts
J&T 16" CAR kit- Burr left from drilling gas port plugged said gasport rendering it a bolt action. CS fixed and test fired. I was able to diagnose it but wanted the factory to fix it.
J&T BCG- side of carrier key was not chamfered to allow removal of cam pin.- kind of a PITA if you really need to clean it luckily it was unstaked making it an easy fix.:D- CS sent a new key out the next day.
Larue Tactical BCG- weak extractor spring found during initial test fire- just replaced with BCM spring I had on hand
Daniel Defense LPK- trigger/hammer interface not ground properly allowing hammer to fall when trigger was released- found during pre-fire inspection- CS replaced entire LPK while only requesting I send the hammer and trigger back in.
BCM uppers- Ordered three unbarreled uppers all three had forward assist pawls that protruded slightly into the bolt carrier channel and you could hear them ratcheting against the BCG and the bcg could not be retracted unless you turned the forward assist just right.- Paul replaced all uppers on the spot and sent them before he could possibly have received the old ones back.
Have seen some loose carrier keys however in the last year it seems everyone has figured out how to stake even these- put together two Rock River uppers guys purchased at Camp Perry this year and both were properly staked. Put 3 J&T kits together last year for a friend and they were staked.
What can I say- I have alot of friends that can't be convinced that parts aren't created equal and the prospect of a 600.00 AR is insurmountable so I get to fix alot of crap. But it has gotten better lately. My MOACKS has gotten a work out.
If you had asked me back a few years ago I would have personally had several issues to complain about that routinely plagued me with the "rack grade" mainstream AR's I had.But the biggest PIA I had was mainly chamber related,poor quality springs and for some unknown reason roll pins that wanted to shear on ejectors on that certain brand.
Since then Ive changed my preferences(thanks to the kind folks here) to using only "known quality" assemblies and components,and have set a specific PM and parts inspection routine which I track with a log book.As a result I have had very few problems in the last three years and those have been traced back ammo and mags in most cases.
And that says something because my range time has increased by 4x the amount I did years ago,and I have two nephews running my guns to boot.So my guns,including pistols, see alot of use nowadays.
But basically from what I see at the range with folks in general,I'd have to say Dean is right with MEAL,as long as lesser quality parts and assembly related failures/issues are not factored in,which would be too difficult to track socially as they are various.
I do see alot of "stupid user tricks" in play lately.For example of the most recent from this weekend,a family member reassembled his brand spankin new DD after doing PM and somehow he put the charging handle in behind the BCG and could not figure out why the CH would not go foward all the way and would not retract the BCG.
Yesterday there was a fella at the range with a locked up rifle that he was pounding into the dust trying to get to work...after a little investigation it seems he failed to install the FPRP and the firing pin ended up in a bad place.
Im still amazed but I guess crap happens everyday.
Not much new here from me, but 99% of my experience is with Colt M4s and M4A1s, FN M16A2s and A4s, and Diemaco M4s (C8s), so a lot of silliness is eliminated right off the bat.
Worn Extractors
Weak Extractor Tension
Broken Extractor Springs
Excessive Extractor Tension
Weak Ejector (due to wear or fouling)
Broken Bolts (Lug adjacent to extractor and at cam pin hole)
Gas Port Erosion
Throat Erosion (though they were caught by a gauge, not a loss of performance)
Trigger Spring Breaking (usually the left side, no idea why, could simply be coincidence)
Ejection port cover spring leg (breaking)
These failures do not include known user abuse/misuse/stupidity, such as hammering in tent stakes with the buttstock, mortaring with an extended stock, horizontal butt-strokes on car windshields, charging handles bending with lateral force knife-handing, etc.
From recent experience with beat-up M16A2s, parts most failures have been from poor maintenance. Old extractor springs and missing extractor buffers seem to be the most common discrepancies.
On newish M4s, my unit has seen some inexplicable problems related to the fire control group. Several FCGs have been replaced in the past year (out of 80 guns), and these are low round count rifles for the most part. Reset on the third (& 6th) round fired can be absent or must be forced.
Not sure if this is what you wanted. This is my take on part of the problem. The other part is people not properly lubing the weapon and practicing true maintenance.
In my opinion part of the equation is how it is produced from the beginning. For example tight chambers that make you add something to enhance extraction.
If you make large(r) gas ports that tends to beat up the weapon or cause other issues (bolt bounce) that require you to get a heavier buffer is that not failure?
I have also seen bolts break, keys come loose, etc... I also think that part of the problem is people have a tendency to wait until something is broke and then fix it. I think it's much smarter to replace some relatively inexpensive springs and stuff before there is a problem.