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  1. #1
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    What parts have you broken...

    I am now somewhat obsessed with having backups of backups of stuff but I am hoping to get some feedback/input from the collective group here. Eventually I am going to have a spare entire BCG for each rifle. One down, one on the way, and one to go on that, but I am thinking about more granular or other parts as well.

    My main question is this: On an AR (doesn't matter if it's 5.56/300BLK or even bigger calibers) which components have you personally broken and or witnessed being broken (or just flat out worn out)?

    I basically want to compile a list of the most commonly broken/worn out parts and start collecting an 'oops kit' of my own making with pins and rings and whatever other doodad I might need.

    It can be anything. Have you ever worn out a trigger? Broken a firing pin? Broken an extractor? Or anything else not listed please make notes below.

    I want this to be real world so I am looking for actual experiences or witnesses instead of just a generic recommendation of a kit that I might not ever use.

  2. #2
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    I had an epiphany about this many years ago: just have 2 of everything, and you're covered. If it's worth the hassle and expense to order or build XYZ, it's not much of a stretch to just get/build 2 instead. Covers you from crap being out of stock when you need it, too. I do this with everything now. Instead of owning 10 coats, I have 2 really nice ones ... and so on. YMMV ...

  3. #3
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    I have multiples of every part just in case. A bolt extractor spring is the only thing that has gone bad. A Sprinco upgrade fixed the problem. More common is out of spec new parts. A bad bolt catch, AR10 charging handle and too fat Fail Zero cam pin come to mind.
    “ When I comes to modern politics, I think the inverse of Hanlon's Razor applies...In other words, "Never attribute to stupidity that which is adequately explained by malice." - Kerplode

  4. #4
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    My problem now is everything is OOS and if they are not they are charging double the price (pretty much).

    I am building a 'kit' for three rifles...

    So far my 'want' list looks like this:

    I will have an extra full BCG for each rifle (once I can find stuff in stock)

    Extra firing pins and all the retainer pins and such for a BCG

    Extra extractors and springs and such.

    Extra gas rings (I think I already have some but not sure)

    Extra cam pins

    Not sure what else I should get, over time of course. If it really gets down to brass tacks I can easily cannibalize parts from other rifles (in an emergency that is). That said I still want to get a stash built up of commonly worn out/broken parts. Even if "I" never use them I want the ability to help other people out if they were in a jam.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by MoxyDave View Post
    I had an epiphany about this many years ago: just have 2 of everything, and you're covered. If it's worth the hassle and expense to order or build XYZ, it's not much of a stretch to just get/build 2 instead. Covers you from crap being out of stock when you need it, too. I do this with everything now. Instead of owning 10 coats, I have 2 really nice ones ... and so on. YMMV ...
    I am somewhat of the same school. If I had 10 poverty ponies that's one thing... but I don't. I have (several) that I really like. I don't believe in a thing such as 'too many guns' BUUUUTTTT on the other hand unless you're a billionaire or have access to free ammo shooting all of them just goes on rotation. I have one in particular that I haven't shot in over a year. With that in mind I will probably build a new upper for it in 6 ARC once components are more readily available.

    Quote Originally Posted by Uffdaphil View Post
    I have multiples of every part just in case. A bolt extractor spring is the only thing that has gone bad. A Sprinco upgrade fixed the problem. More common is out of spec new parts. A bad bolt catch, AR10 charging handle and too fat Fail Zero cam pin come to mind.
    I would definitely like to have this but money is tight-ish at times. Also when I see some of these 'fix kits' from brands or names I don't know it makes me second guess myself. A spring is one thing, but an extractor needs to be up to snuff.

  6. #6
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    Alamo, I know you say you don't join other forums, and I can understand that, but you might want to go over to the AR15.com EE. There is so much stuff for sale, and as long as it isn't a designer brand of something that's very unique, the prices are reasonable. Another option is to go to a known, large vendor and backorder stuff. If you're patient, it will eventually catch up to you at normal pricing. Brownell's is a great resource for that, as is DSG.

    As for bits and pieces, grabbing Colt or LMT parts usually doesn't have a down side. Between Brownell's, G&R, and LMT, supply gets updated somewhat regularly.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by gatordev View Post
    Alamo, I know you say you don't join other forums, and I can understand that, but you might want to go over to the AR15.com EE. There is so much stuff for sale, and as long as it isn't a designer brand of something that's very unique, the prices are reasonable. Another option is to go to a known, large vendor and backorder stuff. If you're patient, it will eventually catch up to you at normal pricing. Brownell's is a great resource for that, as is DSG.

    As for bits and pieces, grabbing Colt or LMT parts usually doesn't have a down side. Between Brownell's, G&R, and LMT, supply gets updated somewhat regularly.
    I am patient for sure. I don't need or have to have the stuff 'right now'. I am really talking about say over a six month to a year time frame (or whatever) just building up a 'prepper kit' for this stuff that may or may not sit on my shelf for five years (or longer) untouched.

    The question is rather 'which parts' are more prone to breaking so I can start slowly shopping as I see stuff. I am not really price sensitive for stuff like that but paying double or triple is not cool.

    As far as that other site, the last time I went over there they would not allow me to register. I mean at all. I don't really want to join there but despite that apparently at least at that time I was actively prevented from registering as a user. I guess at the time they had a ton of people registering and spamming the site so they shut off signing up new members (at the time). That's just a guess but it might be different now. Who knows. I will check it out again.

    I did join sniper's hide a while back. They have a lot of specific topics that are up my alley so I lurk there sometimes. I've bought a couple things from there.

    None of this is absolutely urgent though and I am not going to cheap out on stuff... so if it comes right down to brass tacks I will find parts from some place that I know such as BCM etc. They can't be OOS forever.

    [On a side note what I think is happening is there is a bottle neck in production. I talked to one guy that (used to) offer finishing services such as nitride or whatever and he said there is a rather huge company out there that a substantial part of the gun industry uses. They have over a year backlog and stopped taking new orders and because of that he (the guy I talked to) had to suspend offering small batch nitride/coating services.]

    Eventually things will catch up...

  8. #8
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    I understood your original question, but you already knew the answer when asking it. The things to have spares of are the things you'd expect to break: bolts, pins, and springs. My point was to not be myopic about what might be in stock now. There are countless threads and posts on the internet about "which" parts to buy, so my point was to go to a place that has those and allows you to back order, so you get in line now.

    AR15.com has a requirement that your email isn't a free email service in order to cut down on spammers. That might be a deal breaker for you, and other than buying stuff, I totally understand the argument of not wanting to hang out there long term, but I was just giving you another resource. I'm amazed at how many things that are OOS at stores but are available as lightly-used on the site when I browse through there when I'm bored at work.

  9. #9
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    Wow..

    Just carry another rifle or such

    No bcg as when are you gonna break one

    Just a bolt,some pins, springs etc are in the stock of my one gun. If it breaks I’m just gonna grab something else

    No sense for 3 rifles with extras for all .. that seems silly

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by mustangfreek View Post
    Wow..

    Just carry another rifle or such

    No bcg as when are you gonna break one

    Just a bolt,some pins, springs etc are in the stock of my one gun. If it breaks I’m just gonna grab something else

    No sense for 3 rifles with extras for all .. that seems silly
    It doesn't seem silly at all to me. Not very long ago I split an entire BCG open like a banana. Fortunately I had a spare.

    If you are talking post apocalyptic warzone stuff, yeah, just put together another rifle. But I'm not talking about that.

    But when (not if) we go through another dry spell I want my bases to be covered.

    If I didn't have a spare BCG my 300BLK would STILL be out of commission.

    I'm not talking about end of the world gun battles but rather "there is a record run on firearms and I would be completely SOL if I hadn't planned ahead".

    In that case why stock ammo? Why not just run down to Wal Mart and buy more when you run out?

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  11. #11
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    It might seem OCD to some but keeping spares of consumables is good planning if you ask me.

    That kind of thinking is why I'm sitting on over 25,000 rounds of ammo while others get to sit around scratching their asses.

    If I buy spare parts and never use them even once that's ok. But I will be in the position to help someone else if needed.

  12. #12
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    I have a ton of spares, not because it's planned, but you just accumulate stuff over the years.

    My mantra is having my go-to setups x2. One goes down, I have another, setup, exactly the same. I'll worry about getting a replacement later. Grabbing a spare rifle is easier than fixing your gun.

    If your budget doesn't allow that, I'd just have some extra bolts and springs stocked. I think it's actually easier to have just a few spare BCG's and LPK's. That should solve 95% of any wear issues

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by UWone77 View Post
    I have a ton of spares, not because it's planned, but you just accumulate stuff over the years.

    My mantra is having my go-to setups x2. One goes down, I have another, setup, exactly the same. I'll worry about getting a replacement later. Grabbing a spare rifle is easier than fixing your gun.

    If your budget doesn't allow that, I'd just have some extra bolts and springs stocked. I think it's actually easier to have just a few spare BCG's and LPK's. That should solve 95% of any wear issues
    This. I've moved beyond assembling rifles from accumulated parts (removed when upgrading to nicer stuff, so whats the point of building a rifle from a build-up of take-offs?). I have several LPK's worth of loose parts, a couple BCG's and thats pretty much it. I don't haul that stuff around when I shoot; I bring a selection of guns and if God forbid, some gucci-ass part breaks, I'm grabbing something else and keeping the bon temps roulezzing.

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  14. #14
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    On an AR, in my life I've witnessed a worn out extractor and worn out gas rings on my own rifles. I recently purchased two of the BCM SOPMOD Bolt Upgrade Kits. One to replace the aforementioned worn out gas rings (on a RA BCG that isn't that old) and a second to have as a spare.

    I think a spare bolt assembly and firing pin will cover about 90% of any "it broke or wore out" scenarios.

  15. #15
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    Same thing are consumable items such as springs, gas rings, etc. so I don’t consider them broken when they wear out or fail.

    Things I have see are multiple broken extractors, 2 broken bolts (both were 9310) broken lwrc ambi charging handle, broken rear lug on an upper (not sure how) blown out gas tube where it meets the gas block, cracked alum gas block.
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