AR Owners...stake your Castle Nuts!

[synergy]

Had a customer today....bought an AR at a gun show....the dealer had "assembled" it themselves, including a sling mount receiver end plate.

The Castle nut was not tightened down properly, nor staked at all into place.
The buyer being new to the AR, didn't know the nuances of this platform.

The receiver extension backed out and let the buffer capture pin spring up INFRONT of the rear ring of the bolt carrier (ar15 carrier)...this prevented the gun from going FULLY into battery, but let the BCG go far enough forward, so that the hammer made contact with the firing pin.

Result: blown up AR. Blown out bolt, blown out magazine....couldn't get the bolt out of the barrel extension....who knows what shape the barrel extension and receivers are in...

Stake that castle nut into place!

[Lycanthrope]

The receiver extension backed out and let the buffer capture pin spring up INFRONT of the rear ring of the bolt carrier (ar15 carrier)...this prevented the gun from going FULLY into battery, but let the BCG go far enough forward, so that the hammer made contact with the firing pin.

OK, so the little buffer capture spring went where?

You can get the hammer to drop on an AR bolt carrier that is not fully in battery, but the bottom of the carrier prevents the hammer from ever contacting the firing pin.

Can we get some more info?

Lycanoutrunscarriersattimesthrope

[synergy]

OK, so the little buffer capture spring went where?

You can get the hammer to drop on an AR bolt carrier that is not fully in battery, but the bottom of the carrier prevents the hammer from ever contacting the firing pin.

Can we get some more info?

Lycanoutrunscarriersattimesthrope

You know the back of the carrier where it becomes a solid ring again? Where it is shaped back further on the AR carrier than on the M16 carrier?

The capture spring piece jumped up IN FRONT of that solid ring...preventing the carrier from going fully into battery. The lugs of the bolt just barely passed into the barrel extension (back of bolt lugs about flush with the front of the barrel ext), but never started their process of rotating. The gun fired here....evidently far enough forward for the hammer to hit the FP.

I can edit a pic of a carrier to show what I mean if my description isn't cutting it. Let me know if that will help.

[Emptymag]

Ummm... when you say "stake it", do you mean with a wooden stake? (Like for vampires?)

If it's so god awful important, could you provide a link or at least explain what the heck that even means?

I'm just speaking for those who have no clue what you are talking about.
(like me)

Thanks

[Lycanthrope]

OK....I can understand how it didn't go fully into battery....but not how the hammer hit the firing pin in this position.

"Evidently" isn't enough for me.

Take the rear pin out the lower and push the carrier forward to varying degrees out of battery..... and then lower it onto the lower receiver with the hammer in the forwar position. I can't get any of mine to a position where the firing pin would hit the pin without the lugs at least partially engaged.

"Blown out bolt" says more than just firing out of battery for me.

[cms81586]

Just make sure the hex screws are tightened properly and then take a staking punch and give them a good wack. With the bolt held upright you will be staking horizontally from the left and then right. In the end each screw will be staked once on each side. It pretty much dents the carrier key and screws in a way that it's very difficult to get them to back out...which isn't a problem since you don't take the key off anyhow. Someone will come along with pictures but it's one of the things you want to look for when purchasing an AR. Most Colts are done properly. My 6920 was. I also helped a friend hand pick a Bushmaster M4 and we looked for canted front sight, trigger pull, fit/finish, and a properly staked carrier key. It will cause alot of problems if the key begins to work loose. If that was the cause of the Kaboom it'll be the worst case I've seen, but at the least you'll have a poorly functioning rifle.

CMS

[fultonCoShooter]

Just make sure the hex screws are tightened properly and then take a staking punch and give them a good wack. With the bolt held upright you will be staking horizontally from the left and then right. In the end each screw will be staked once on each side. It pretty much dents the carrier key and screws in a way that it's very difficult to get them to back out...which isn't a problem since you don't take the key off anyhow. Someone will come along with pictures but it's one of the things you want to look for when purchasing an AR. Most Colts are done properly. My 6920 was. I also helped a friend hand pick a Bushmaster M4 and we looked for canted front sight, trigger pull, fit/finish, and a properly staked carrier key. It will cause alot of problems if the key begins to work loose. If that was the cause of the Kaboom it'll be the worst case I've seen, but at the least you'll have a poorly functioning rifle.

CMS

the op is talking about the castle nut not the carrier key hex nuts

[Lycanthrope]

Well....the gas key is along haul from the caslte nut......

Lycansoconfusedthrope

[synergy]

OK....I can understand how it didn't go fully into battery....but not how the hammer hit the firing pin in this position.

"Evidently" isn't enough for me.

Take the rear pin out the lower and push the carrier forward to varying degrees out of battery..... and then lower it onto the lower receiver with the hammer in the forwar position. I can't get any of mine to a position where the firing pin would hit the pin without the lugs at least partially engaged.

"Blown out bolt" says more than just firing out of battery for me.

We couldn't get the bolt OUT of the barrel extension..but you could see all kinds of cracks in it.

The buffer capture piece was help forward at a bit of an angle...still in the hole it should be in...but only by a little.

If the gun had an SP1 type carrier, this would be a lot more foreseeable, but it didn't...The rear of the carrier was about flush with the rear of the lower receiver (sans buffer tube).

The lugs were definitely not engaged, as they didn't move far enough forward to have been able to even start rotating.

[P-11 shooter]

I don't know what you guys are talking about, but I had a crazy girlfriend who tried to stake my nuts one time.

SHAVE!, I SAID SHAVE MY NUTS!

It was a close one, but then I decided to stick to "vanilla" relationships.






P-11nomorecrazygirlsSHOOTER