So my AR was failing to eject...

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FL-NC

FL-NC

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I have this AR I built in 2,000 that has lived a life of high round counts as a training/range gun since it was built. It has had a HARD life. Hard enough to shoot out 3 barrels. I was firing it last week, and was having ejection failures. I checked the ejector with a piece of 223 brass, compared it to one on a a newer gun, and yep, it was really weak. Took it apart this morning, and the spring came out in 9 pieces! I replaced it, so it should be good for another couple of barrels. In the last year or 2, I have been having some strange parts failures- a broken front takedown pin (came apart during disassembly) a broken hammer pin, and even a broken cam pin (also came apart during disassembly). Since this is just a training gun, I only replace parts when they fail- unlike in the military, where a good armorer does regular inspections and parts replacements on a schedule. I like it that these things are easy and cheap to repair, and it's interesting to see how much use/abuse these things can really take until something fails. Here's the ejector spring that came out.

EJECTOR SPRING.JPG
 
Cam pins crack. Springs break but nine pieces seems excessive. Did you change the solvents and it corrode or something? Maybe something happened to make it lose its temper and it just crumbled.
The takedown pin is the strangest one. Honestly I would have guessed the aluminum would have cracked before the steel pin let go
 
Wreck-n-Crew said:
Curious about the BCG, How is it holding up? Estimated round count?
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The carrier is fine. I have replaced gas rings, and extractor/spring/pad a few times. No idea on the round count- I fired thousands of rounds out of this thing as an instructor over several years. I did have a deep groove in a buffer from the carrier that was replaced 3-4 years ago.
 
taliv said:
Cam pins crack. Springs break but nine pieces seems excessive. Did you change the solvents and it corrode or something? Maybe something happened to make it lose its temper and it just crumbled.
The takedown pin is the strangest one. Honestly I would have guessed the aluminum would have cracked before the steel pin let go
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For solvents, I have used carb cleaner, shooter's choice, and MPRO-7. We also used these on our issued weapons. There was no evidence of corrosion, just lots of grease and carbon buildup. I had to clean the hole out with a pipe cleaner and some carb cleaner. With the amount of white lithium grease I use in the BCG, it would probably take decades of no maintenance for rust to happen in there. When the takedown pit broke, I had just fired about 200 rounds at the range. I was taking it apart for maintenance, pushed the pin, and it fell out in 2 pieces, and the detent went flying away to parts unknown. The only replacement I could find locally was a stainless one, so now I have 1 silver pin and 1 black on that gun.
 
Three barrels. That's a bunch of shooting. What brand names did you use for the initial build? Barrels? Rifle, carbine, other? No biggie, just curious.
 
imashooter said:
Three barrels. That's a bunch of shooting. What brand names did you use for the initial build? Barrels? Rifle, carbine, other? No biggie, just curious.
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The first was a DPMS 16" heavy carbine, #2 and #3 were US GI 14.5" with 2" YHM flash hiders pinned on. Right now it has a Anderson 16" heavy.
 
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