AKOU Radical Firearms failure at 4310 rounds

[PattonWasRight]

I had a RF 300BLK upper. It leaked gas from the ill-fitted gas tube hole (where the gas tube goes into the gas block). It spewed goldish colored gas residue rearward, all over the barrel and inside the handguard.

What the heck was the gold residue ... Some type of coating they used, or??

[GrumpyM4]

Jesus....starting to look like the other sites "tech forum"..... :-/

Worn gas rings lead to less pressure in the BCG, leads to undergassing, NOT overgassing. Exact opposite of the theory put out here. For ****s sake, it's not that difficult to figure out.

The cam pin broke because...... it had a ****ing flaw in it. Could have been caused by crap manufacturer or was a good manufacturer that had a bad one. At this point it's a sample of one.

I've seen Mil colt bolts, cams, firing pints, etc, etc, etc, break at less then 5k rounds before in the ME, so does that make them shit? No, it means you do your ****ing inspections and maintenance and replace shit as necessary BEFORE this gets this bad. You'd be surprised what a little CLP and a small magnifying glass can expose on a bolt.

Had Rob been paying attention instead of simply abusing the rifle, good chance he would have caught the issue.

BUT, that being said, I understand why he does these tests and in the manner that he does. Longevity tests sell and people like to have their sacred cows. Very few people even understand the PMCS and inspection criteria for weapons nor do they care. They just like to know that their favorite thing will work for a long time without having to put that kind of time and effort into keeping it running. Very Civilian mindset.

It's nice to *believe* that your rifle can do x, y, or z without having to worry about it, and some do get away with it for a period of time. Reality dictates otherwise though and if your gear is meant to be more then just a range toy, you'll pay close attention and take better care of your stuff.

Everyone here loves the milspec, but if you have the opportunity to see the strange failures of even the milspec stuff, you'd take the time to properly PMCS and inspect your crap on a regular basis.

That being said, I still prefer my gear be milspec or better and I keep my "go-to" gear wired tight. Even the HK.

[PattonWasRight]

It's nice to *believe* that your rifle can do x, y, or z without having to worry about it, and some do get away with it for a period of time. Reality dictates otherwise though and if your gear is meant to be more then just a range toy, you'll pay close attention and take better care of your stuff.

Definitely, well said stuff Grumpy.

I think of car analogies ... can a Mercedes go 5 years without an oil change, probably. Not a good idea to find out.

I'm open to either possibility on the cam pin breaking ... gas rings that are shot leading to momentary lateral forces (effect of worn piston rings) or a defective cam pin. As you say, N = 1 at this point.

[MeanCarbine]

meh...

its a 10 dollar fix to get the rifle up. would I consider a radical, no. but for somebody who is a recreational shooter that might come out a few times a year to plink with. maybe fire half a case of wolf per year, its fine. at that rate it would take almost 6 years till the user needed to throw 10 dollars at their rifle.

once again, there are better choices for a budget rifle, but it is somewhat interesting that the cheapest AR on the market still ran 4000 rounds before going down. I am not sure that you could take one of the cheapest pistols on the market and expect to get 4000 rounds out of it.

I think this speaks a lot to the maturity of the AR system that even the cheapest rifles are still pretty reliable.


personally ill pay for LMT every time

Jesus....starting to look like the other sites "tech forum"..... :-/

Worn gas rings lead to less pressure in the BCG, leads to undergassing, NOT overgassing. Exact opposite of the theory put out here. For ****s sake, it's not that difficult to figure out.

The cam pin broke because...... it had a ****ing flaw in it. Could have been caused by crap manufacturer or was a good manufacturer that had a bad one. At this point it's a sample of one.

I've seen Mil colt bolts, cams, firing pints, etc, etc, etc, break at less then 5k rounds before in the ME, so does that make them shit? No, it means you do your ****ing inspections and maintenance and replace shit as necessary BEFORE this gets this bad. You'd be surprised what a little CLP and a small magnifying glass can expose on a bolt.

Had Rob been paying attention instead of simply abusing the rifle, good chance he would have caught the issue.

BUT, that being said, I understand why he does these tests and in the manner that he does. Longevity tests sell and people like to have their sacred cows. Very few people even understand the PMCS and inspection criteria for weapons nor do they care. They just like to know that their favorite thing will work for a long time without having to put that kind of time and effort into keeping it running. Very Civilian mindset.

It's nice to *believe* that your rifle can do x, y, or z without having to worry about it, and some do get away with it for a period of time. Reality dictates otherwise though and if your gear is meant to be more then just a range toy, you'll pay close attention and take better care of your stuff.

Everyone here loves the milspec, but if you have the opportunity to see the strange failures of even the milspec stuff, you'd take the time to properly PMCS and inspect your crap on a regular basis.

That being said, I still prefer my gear be milspec or better and I keep my "go-to" gear wired tight. Even the HK.

Excellent posts.

[JC5188]

?

I made no comment about the rail.

I thought you were saying the trigger was the one and only issue.


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[Slater]

Never heard of this particular brand before. Would it be considered to be in the same league with Bushmaster, etc.?

[officerX]

Never heard of this particular brand before. Would it be considered to be in the same league with Bushmaster, etc.?

I would consider it to be sub-Bushmaster.

[ABNAK]

What the heck was the gold residue ... Some type of coating they used, or??

It was carbon/firing residue. Brownish-gold in color. I've seen it before on an LWRC where the gas piston exhausts excess gas as it moves rearward; gets all over the barrel, gas block, and rail system. That's what color it looks like in sunlight, when it's wiped off it appears much darker on the cleaning rag.

[tehpwnag3]

Most likely, it was an additive to the powder.

What the heck was the gold residue ... Some type of coating they used, or??

[GrumpyM4]

Most likely, it was an additive to the powder.

Copper residue from the bullet jacket.

Let it sit in a damp room for a bit and it'll turn blue. Same shit that gets seriously caked up with the carbon on M240 flash hiders (well, all flash hiders and piston systems, but I always remember the 240 bravos as having the worst)