That's interesting! The fact that it was still running was a testament to the design.
My buddy chewed up his gas rings. He has a no-name AR he bought, and we pulled it apart to clean it... all 3 of the gas rings had been worn down.. .almost ground down... on one side. I don't recall if it was having problems with cycling or not. I replaced the rings... and then a few months later, the bolt sheared about 3 lugs... and that was that. I bought him a whole new BCG, and took the old parts back to the Cave to inspect. I still have the carrier, as a spare. I didn't find any abnormality with the carrier... inspecting the bore of the carrier, so I have no idea why the rings took a dump.
My buddy chewed up his gas rings. He has a no-name AR he bought, and we pulled it apart to clean it... all 3 of the gas rings had been worn down.. .almost ground down... on one side. I don't recall if it was having problems with cycling or not. I replaced the rings... and then a few months later, the bolt sheared about 3 lugs... and that was that. I bought him a whole new BCG, and took the old parts back to the Cave to inspect. I still have the carrier, as a spare. I didn't find any abnormality with the carrier... inspecting the bore of the carrier, so I have no idea why the rings took a dump.