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AR-15 short stroking

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Just now, myhatinthering said:

bolt issue

look at alignment or replace the rings although that is awfully few rounds to have to do so.  Also, look at the extractor for any chips or fouling inside that may affect it's lock up. 

do me a favor, just swap the bolt in the carriers and see if the short stroking stopped.  I doubt its a key to be honest

I’ve seen one or two gas key related malfunctions, and I’ve even seen an AR work with broken gas rings, but I bet you’re right, probably bolt/gas ring related. 

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1 minute ago, Displaced Texan said:

I’ve seen one or two gas key related malfunctions, and I’ve even seen an AR work with broken gas rings, but I bet you’re right, probably bolt/gas ring related. 

no doubt but I think Stag stakes their keys and to be honest, I've never seen one personally fail.  I know it can happen, has happened but even minimal staking is all that is needed and I believe stag does this. 

I'll bet if he swaps the bolts, keeps original carrier, we'll see it's a bolt issue.

 

then he can send to me and I'll find out for sure as I just love to destroy shit..lol  This year I'm picking on a recent acquisition to test just how tough the FN vs my colt socoms

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A typical AR day for me is 150-200 rounds. Not knowing the next time I will be shooting it, I clean it when I get home. Sometimes it's a quick barrel clean with a bore snake while other time the BCG is pulled apart and inspected and cleaned. 

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4 minutes ago, rtquig said:

A typical AR day for me is 150-200 rounds. Not knowing the next time I will be shooting it, I clean it when I get home. Sometimes it's a quick barrel clean with a bore snake while other time the BCG is pulled apart and inspected and cleaned. 

nothing wrong with this at all.  After about 1k, use a brass brush 2x and make sure you unscrew it after insertion, do not back pull it

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11 minutes ago, myhatinthering said:

AR doesn't need to be cleaned as often as the mil standard applies.  I too was raised to clean and lube generously upon use however, its not as critical as folklore suggests.  Defintely clean it before 3k though.  OP, was the rifle cleaned so we can also eliminate this as a issue?

More specifically, was the BCG ever torn down and cleaned? The bolt is where you truly see that the AR15 truly does sh!t where it eats. I do not advocate cleaning so often that it causes unnecessary wear, but for the life of me cannot see how taking 5 minutes to clean/inspect your gun could hurt. Simply running a bore snake is not enough.

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20 minutes ago, myhatinthering said:

AR doesn't need to be cleaned as often as the mil standard applies.  I too was raised to clean and lube generously upon use however, its not as critical as folklore suggests.  Defintely clean it before 3k though.  OP, was the rifle cleaned so we can also eliminate this as a issue?

I clean every 100 rounds or so including the BCG. In fact the rifle was cleaned just before the problem showed up.

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16 minutes ago, myhatinthering said:

nothing wrong with this at all.  After about 1k, use a brass brush 2x and make sure you unscrew it after insertion, do not back pull it

I never pull the brush back through. I know people who do it, they are set in their ways. That was one of the first things I learned early on when learning to clean a firearm.

 

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12 hours ago, Screwball said:

How do you clean your bolt carrier group?

I take out the firing pin and the bolt and scrub with a tooth brush soaked in Hoppe's #9.  I also use the Otis Bone tool to clean/scrape the firing pin and the inside of the carrier.

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3 hours ago, Displaced Texan said:

I have several ‘kits’ I make up for each of my AR’s, with a spare bolt, firing pin, gas rings, firing pin retainers, and a few other bits. They fit into an Altoids tin, and I keep it with the rifle. 

 

Same here. I keep one in each of my AR rifle cases.

Edited by High Exposure

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8 minutes ago, High Exposure said:

Same here. I keep one in each of my rifle cases.

Next to your AK?

Great topic and a ton of valuable information here.  I am surprised so many (hobbyists at least) carry spare parts to the range.  Just take it home and deal with it then.  Use a back up gun.

In my range bag I generally keep tools, cleaning kits, and small parts, typically replacements for magazines... but have never had the urge or need to carry a spare BCG for an AR. 

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Yeah. I do have some spare parts on hand even for the AK.

I amended my earlier post to reflect that I was talking about ARs, since that is what this thread is about. :) 

Without turning this into an AK vs AR thread - I want to be clear, my decision has nothing to do with the belief that an AR needs spare parts and an AK does not in order to be run hard.

Simply put, I have quite a few ARs. I have only one AK type - an Arsenal SAM7R.

The ARs accompany me daily at work, and are what I take to training. I keep spare parts because I may need them to continue using the rifle to complete my task. I may have spent a thousand dollars or more on tuition, travel, ammo, food, etc.. to take a carbine class. I don’t want to waste that because my gas rings shit the bed or my firing pin broke. Hell, I bring 2 rifles to every class I attend just in case I can’t fix an issue with the pets I have on hand. It’s cheap insurance to insure my investment in quality training. I also teach AR classes. Pretty bad to have your gun go down while teaching and not have the parts to get it running. It’s also a nice bonus to be able to get student’s guns running if they have a problem.

The AK, on the other hand, is a range toy. I have never taken a class with it. It is for fun and familiarization of others. If it breaks, it breaks. I put it away and drive home or grab another gun. If I was to spend money on an AK class, I would definitely have spare parts on hand to insure my investment in the training.

I should also note that I am a big believer in preventative maintenance. I keep a log and stay on top of my carbines. In all the classes I have taken and training I have conducted, I have had one instance where my rifle was acting up and I needed my kit to replace a part. I was using a full auto gun and my action spring went - I had many thousands of rounds through that gun.The gun started running sluggish, exhibited weak ejection, and it just felt weird under recoil. Luckily, I had a spare action spring and was able to swap it out and drive on.

On the other hand, I have reached into my emergency parts kits many times to give fellow shooters parts to get their rifles running. Gas rings, firing pin retainer pins, etc... Hell, I gave one guy a set of KNS Anti-rotation pins to fix his hammer and trigger pins walking out on an out-of-spec lower so he could finish a 3 day carbine class in Virginia. I’ve also provided my spare carbine to quite a few shooters when their guns went down hard, in order to let them finish the class they spent so much money to attend.

Keep spare parts on hand. They may make the difference between an enjoyable learning experience and an exercise in frustration and wasted money.

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23 hours ago, Displaced Texan said:

I have several ‘kits’ I make up for each of my AR’s, with a spare bolt, firing pin, gas rings, firing pin retainers, and a few other bits. They fit into an Altoids tin, and I keep it with the rifle. 

 

Here I go talking about having a spares kit for each rifle.....I’m out at the ranch now, and I realized I left the spares kit for the rifle I keep out here...back in NJ. 

Oh well, I guess that’s an excuse for another trip out here. Damn....:facepalm:

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On ‎2‎/‎14‎/‎2019 at 11:46 AM, High Exposure said:

Sounds under-gassed.

1) Check the staking on the gas key where it attaches to the bolt carrier. Make sure the bolts are tight and restake them properly if necessary.

2) Check the gas rings.

Poor staking if the gas key or out of spec gas rings are not uncommon in hobby guns.

If a new BCG solves the problem, then the BCG is the likely culprit. I would start there.

Yep Hobby guns w/ 3000 rds probably gas rings if the gas key is tight.   Just encountered one of these on a S&W AR.

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At this point I feel the bolt should already been taken apart and inspected. The post is several days old. Monday Quarter Backs are one thing as we had limited information and no pictures. There can't be any more guessing until the BCG which was replaced is stripped down. The AR is a fairly simple system. It can be A, B, or C.

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On 2/15/2019 at 9:21 AM, rtquig said:

I never pull the brush back through. I know people who do it, they are set in their ways. That was one of the first things I learned early on when learning to clean a firearm.

 

The only reason to clean a barrel from breach to muzzle is to move the dirt away from the action. In a AR, it makes no difference. 

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3 hours ago, JackDaWack said:

The only reason to clean a barrel from breach to muzzle is to move the dirt away from the action. In a AR, it makes no difference. 

Typically, the barrel is not in my firearm when cleaning, whether it be a handgun, shot gun, and most, but not all my rifles. There are time with the rifles that I will run a boresnake after a light shoot. I don't have any revolvers, but that would be a case that the barrel is not removed.

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1 minute ago, rtquig said:

Typically, the barrel is not in my firearm when cleaning, whether it be a handgun, shot gun, and most, bot not all my rifles. There are time with the rifles that I will run a boresnake after a light shoot. I don't have any revolvers, but that would be a case that the barrel is not removed.

Do you have an AR type rifle?  If so, do you mean you remove the upper receiver, or are you removing the actual barrel?

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16 minutes ago, voyager9 said:

Do you have an AR type rifle?  If so, do you mean you remove the upper receiver, or are you removing the actual barrel?

No, I just pull the pins with the BCG out and clean the barrel. I know, don't have to go to that extreme but I like to get a good look without it being connected and having the lower close when I'm spinning it around.

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8 hours ago, rtquig said:

I would rather not drag the dirt back through the barrel I was taught to always run the brush in the direction the bullet was traveling.

 

I'm simply pointing out a fact. Your not dragging the dirt back through the barrel, the point is to avoid what's coming out of it from entering into the action. 

Since the brush is oversized for the rifling, you want to sweep in a single direction, but there is no reason you can't pull through either end of the barrel if done with care. The entire reason for using a crown guide is to clean towards the breach. 

With that said, I use the Otis boresnake system on all my barrels and pull towards the crown. 

The only legitimate reason I have seen for cleaning from breach to muzzle is to prevent crown damage. As far as I know, if the barrel is removed from the gun, which way you pull the dirt is of little relevance. 

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