A visual example of why M4C recommends quality AR parts

[Hammer_Man]

This only reaffirms my desire to use only Colt, LMT, or KAC parts in my rifles.

[Doc Safari]

This only reaffirms my desire to use only Colt, LMT, or KAC parts in my rifles.

I've seen rusted Colt springs, too.

[Esq.]

I've seen rusted Colt springs, too.

Unpossible. The Pony Pee they are dipped in at the factory transforms them from common metal into the equivalent of Kryptonite to forces attempting to damage them. They are INDESTRUCTIBLE!!!!!

[26 Inf]

The way to tell for sure is to get new springs from each vendor and expose them to a water bath and document the results over time. Most of you probably recall that someone did this with pieces of metal and different lubes.

This would eliminate the variables such as grip to frame fit, and minute differences in exposure to moisture between weapons that the user does not realize.

[498cm3]

Unpossible. The Pony Pee they are dipped in at the factory transforms them from common metal into the equivalent of Kryptonite to forces attempting to damage them. They are INDESTRUCTIBLE!!!!!

^ good one lol

Sent from my XT1031 using Tapatalk

[Doc Safari]

I should have said "I've seen rusted Colt PARTS, too," because I've just realized I've seen more than rusted springs.

Two 6720's I bought within six months of each other have rust spots on the mag catch.

One Colt Match Target from the 1990's had a delta ring spring that was obviously rusted so badly it pitted, and Colt refinished it and installed it on a rifle anyway.

I bought a Colt AR15A2 second hand in the 1990's that was NIB yet had rust on the hammer spring. I'd chalk it up to poor storage, but why weren't any of the other FCG springs rusted then?

[docsherm]

My question is what lead to this need to clean them? Easy fix, get good part and don't clean. Problem solved.........

[GH41]

Care to expand on that? Could you, I dunno, tell us what it does have to do with then? While you’re answering those questions maybe you can also answer this as well:



Yesterday when I got off work I decided to spend an evening doing maintenance on my firearms. I found something interesting, wanted to share it with M4C, took a picture, uploaded it, and made a post here showing two springs that have had equal amounts of time (almost a decade each) in similar real world conditions. I didn’t go scuba diving with one rifle and not the other. One rifle wasn’t abused while the other lived a safe queen life. Both lived side by side in the same safe and Saw the same rifle ranges and went to the same shooting competitions and rode in the same Mercedes. Both lowers were put together between 8-10 years ago. Both have had the same user and the same cleaning regimen.

One is rusted and one is not.

I didn’t perform a metallurgical analysis on both springs. I didn’t insinuate anything. I didn’t post anything controversial or anything that needed evidence. I didn’t claim anything other than “Spring A was from a known maker and isn’t rusted, Spring B was in a cheap LPK and is rusted. Both lived the same life.” which is exactly what happened.

And then you post something with nothing to back it up.

While I won’t for a second claim to bring anything close to the amount of information to M4C that Doc and Molon brought, I can see why they left.

GH41 - The Information Killer

Maybe the rusted spring was installed dry and the other spring got a drop of lube. The rusted one looks like it was submerged for a while. Just because both rifles were rained on doesn't mean water got in all of the same places. I stand by my statement... The rust has nothing to do with it being a cheap spring. Water did. And probably on more than one occasion.

[Hammer_Man]

I've seen rusted Colt springs, too.

I've disassembled Colt A2s that had mud caked in the lower receiver for who knows how long. Want to know how many rusted springs I found? ZERO.

[Doc Safari]

I've disassembled Colt A2s that had mud caked in the lower receiver for who knows how long. Want to know how many rusted springs I found? ZERO.

Don't know what to tell you. If you're implying that it's impossible for a Colt spring to be rusted I can 100% testify that at least one of the two I saw had to have been installed that way by Colt.

I could maybe concede that since I bought the AR15A2 second-hand that I can't prove the former owner didn't substitute a different hammer spring even though the gun was quoted as and looked NIB. That's an extreme possibility as far as I'm concerned. I don't think the rust was factory oil, either because it was the wrong color.

The hammer spring had very light rust that cleaned right off with oil and a little steel wool. I guess it's possible the rust had leaked onto it from another component, or was corroded firing residue, or whatever, but that's unlikely since the hammer spring and only the hammer spring showed any corrosion of any of the FCG components. It was a solid rust red color compared to the bright shiny and oily FCG parts around it.

As for the delta ring spring on the other rifle, that was obviously, and I mean OBVIOUSLY, pitted and refinished over the pitting. I wanted to send it back to Colt but it was right around the time of the 1994 AWB so I was somewhat concerned I might not be allowed to pick it up after returning from repair. (The final version of the AWB hadn't been ironed out yet in Congress).

I had ordered that rifle through the dealer who had to order it from the distributor. There is no way that rusted/refinished delta ring spring wasn't installed that way by Colt.

I cite as evidence that Colt does stuff like that is the two 6720's I bought over a six-month period.

Both had mag catches with light rust. I ordered both through Impact Guns and picked them up from different dealers. Granted, the rust on the mag catches was very light and cleaned right up with oil and steel wool, but that's beside the point. Those parts had to have been rusted in Colt's parts bin and Colt installed them on rifles anyway. You can't tell me that two rifles with very far apart serial numbers and ordered months apart would just happen to have had the same part on both rust in storage at the distributor.

I personally think both the rusted springs on those previous rifles were knowingly installed that way by Colt. Maybe that gets back to "just what does Colt outsource and can we be certain of quality."