Question for everyone that may have had an AR long enough to know or anyone that may have the info...what's the service life on the major components of an AR...by that I mean barrel, bolt, bolt carrier, extractor, gas tube, hammer and even the uppr receiver. Lets consider it gets low to moderate use..say 100-200 rds a month mainly slow fire at the range and is maintained in factory recommended ways.

 

 

Edit... Also assume its a reputable make (Stag ,BCM, DD, Bushy, forgive me if I missed any) and using decent brass cased ammo (PMC AE REM LAKE CITY)

If you maintain your equipment and store it proper it will outlast you . Some times smaller parts will break for whatever reason. Just like any other machine.

When accuracy of the barrel is no longer acceptable, usually with low range use, about 50,000 rounds.

That number of 100-200 a month was just a baseline I pulled out of my arse.. That would be my absolute max I could do... Especially with ammo prices now..

Barrel life is a function of barrel quality, ammo quality, and what you consider acceptable. The barrel won't "break" but it will lose accuracy until you find it unacceptable.

 

For a chrome lined barrel, it seems the magic number most people consider worn out is around 10000-15000. Other types of barrels will generally last about the same or less.  if 3moa is good enough, that that number is probably around 25000. I've had a chrome-molly barrel that lasted about 7000 before bullets where impacting sideways at 25yards.

 

Replace the gas tube when you replace the barrel, they should last at least that long, possibly a lot longer but they are cheap.

 

Replace your bolt when you replace your barrel, they wear to each other. Yes there are some things you can do and get away with it (ie you can use a used bolt on a new barrel, a used barrel on a new bolt, but never a used bolt with a used barrel where they weren't used together before), but the current unpleasantness aside they are not that expensive.

 

Buffer spring should outlast a couple of barrels unless garbage to begin with.

 

Everything else is pretty much forever. Upper, lower, trigger, etc, if made with quality parts they will last a good long time. Same for bolt carrier unless the key is wearing for some reason.  Muzzle devices, specially the high pressure compensator can wear out before the barrel, but you live in NJ where they are permanently fixed so just replace them with the barrel. Small springs and pin may wear or most likely get lost, so having a small parts kit is always a good idea.

 

Number of rounds per month doesn't really matter, number of rounds total and how you take care of it is what matters.

Firing schedule has alot to do with PM and replacement schedules.  For instance, the M4A1 spec for a bolt is 3K rounds.  I read somewhere that LMT recommends changing bolts on their ARs at 6K rounds.  But a select-fire M4A1 is much harder on components than a semi-auto AR15.  I have a couple LMT carbines with 14K and 8K rounds on the original bolts and they're holding up just fine.  I think "your mileage may vary" is a very appropo phrase for this topic.

 

With the scenario in the original post, I'd say the rifle won't need parts replaced for years.

 I read somewhere that LMT recommends changing bolts on their ARs at 6K rounds. 

 Really? I wonder why they do that. My current bolt is way past 15k and still going fine, although not LMT, just an old FN milspec bolt. I should probably swap it soon but I'm kinda curious how much longer it will last. Original extractor and spring too.

 Really? I wonder why they do that. My current bolt is way past 15k and still going fine, although not LMT, just an old FN milspec bolt. I should probably swap it soon but I'm kinda curious how much longer it will last. Original extractor and spring too.

It's PM.  Kind of like how OCI for non-synthetic oil is 3K miles but people have proven time and again that it's good for far longer.