FL-NC
Member
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.