Not necessarily a technical tip, but a lessons learned from a friend of a friend.
Long story short. Guy calls me up asking if I have a stock wrench. I do. Says the receiver extension is out of alignment and the buffer detent and spring are not staying in the hole. Figure a loose extension, five minute fix, no problem. However, describing the problem, more to it. Have him bring it over. Missing receiver plate entirely so the extension won't stay put. Buffer detent is bent so far out of shape it's sitting at about a 30 degree angle and is traveling under the BCG when the rifle goes back into battery. Spring is warped to the point of uselessness. And how was the rear takedown detent and spring kept inside you might ask since the receiver plate was missing? Carpenters glue...
Receiver extension was an aftermarket commercial type that was way out of spec as it was. Stock had to be removed with a screwdriver and wrenched off. Replaced entire receiver extension and stock with a spare (along with a receiver plate), replaced buffer detent and spring, torqued, staked, called that problem fixed. Couldn't do much with the rear takedown detent and spring except maybe drilling it out so left it be since it appeared to work as advertised. Also found his carbine was firing on release as well since the FCG pins were out of spec and not keeping it aligned in the lower (never realized how hard an AR was to get apart when the hammer is forward). Flash hider freely spun and was removed with two fingers. Gas block was not tight and have no idea if the port was aligned correctly. Didn't want to go messing with that too much so I left it be and moved on...
Very sick carbine. Fixed what I could and told the guy to get it into a competent gunsmith to get the gas system checked over and new FCG pins installed since I only had one set of spares. The guy had it built for him while he was deployed and "it only cost me $650." Claims little to no knowledge on ARs so at least admitting was the first step.
Moral to the story? If you don't know dick all about ARs and have someone "build" one for you, best to have someone who does know look it over before forking over any money.


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