My buddy is range master at a local gun range and we were discussing my budget priced AR. MY AR is a PSA lower & a BCA upper. I was telling him how impressed I was with it's accuracy and reliability. He told me that the range rents AR's that are priced above mine and presumably of better quality, and that they (only) last 12K rounds max. He added that they have rented BCA guns and that they lasted about 10K. We didn't discuss the range's maintenance program but I assume that these guns shoot a lot of rounds between cleaning sessions and being rentals they are probably abused. Those two factors may play a role in the supposedly low round count limit.
Is a max life expectancy of 10-12K (in semi auto fire) considered too low for any decent quality AR? If so, what upgrades would a budget gun require to increase life expectancy?
I would like to hear opinions on this.
PS: Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
No offense to your buddy, but I'm thinking that he may have just put arbitrary numbers to his facts, unless the range keeps good records of how many rounds go through any particular rifle, I doubt that he can say how many rounds it takes to kill a BCA.
For a long time, I turned my nose up at products from vendors like BCA, but over the past couple of years, I've had to revise my opinion as I gain experience with them. I mean, what does it mean when someone says that a rifle has better parts in it? A barrel is a barrel, as long as it's straight, the chamber was cut right and the material is good steel. As far as BCGs go, how many manufacturers are making them? Most boutique BCGs that you pay a premium for are made by Toolcraft, or some such manufacturer, that are rebranded. Those two things are what really matter, so what's left? The little doodads that may be MIM instead of forged, or the springs that may not be as good as you'd get from BCM.
Fact is, the whole AR is a wear item. Sooner or later, everything will need to be replaced. My experience with ARs from BCA or PSA has been that if they run out of the box, they will likely keep running. If they stop running within a few thousand rounds, it's usually a simple small part fix.
If you have a BCA or PSA and it goes boom when you squeeze the trigger and it keeps doing that, just get yourself an Oops kit and a spare complete bolt and don't worry about it.
Personally, I build or assemble my own ARs because I'm picky about 2 things. The barrel and the trigger. I like my Criterion barrels and have been spoiled by Geissele. Everything else, I have so many uppers laying around from so many manufacturers, I don't even pay attention any more. These days everything is made of 7075. The only lowers I've had problems with were Andersons not playing nicely with some mag catches and bolt stops.