Buffer Tube?

[Shihan]

Besides seeing someone doing something stupid like standing on one has anyone ever seen a broken mil-spec RE? The only time I saw one was in Ranger school when some knuckle head used hos M16 as a step stool.

Thanks

[Robb Jensen]

I've not seen a broken on per say. But I have seen some crap ass commericial tubes. I prefer using 'Mil-Spec' ones because there's more receiver extension thread to lower receiver contact (they have complete peaks and valleys on the threading) unlike commercial tubes and they don't turn and gouge (at the end plate tab) when you loosen the castle nut. My favorite ones are the 5-pos VLTOR (mil-spec) CAR receiver extensions, the LMT ones are pretty nice too.

crap ass commercial tubes = anodizing so bad and uneven and scratched that it looked like a fat kid rubbed it with a Hershey bar, tooling marks within the tube so bad that is causes tons of drag on the action spring and inconsistent feel when cycling the action by hand, threading so F'd up that it won't easily thread into the lower and requires a small file to fix etc.

[ST911]

Besides seeing someone doing something stupid like standing on one has anyone ever seen a broken mil-spec RE?

Yes. Occurred as a result of a MVA, one was backed over, and others deliberately abused. None as a result of normal tasks.

I've seen several broken commercial tubes. All were imported economy ban-conversion stock group kits, where failure was predictable. Others of the same type, sold in the "do it yourself on the cheap" kits available several places on line. Thin metal, brittle, bad to no threads.