Caveat emptor

[Shear_stress]

Just a reminder for folks to carefully inspect the rifles they buy, especially rifles with eminently swappable parts (i.e. ARs). I recently found what I thought was an all-original Colt carbine for a very non-Colt price on the intertubes. Got the gun today and it appears that some enterprising former owner--I'm pretty sure it wasn't the seller I bought the gun from--swapped out the bolt carrier group for what looks like the sorriest aftermarket unit they could get their hands on. No markings of any kind. One gas key bolt was staked with what must have been the hammer of Thor. The other, maybe to even things out, was merely hand tight. The parts had finish flaws and truly inept machining--the scallops for the forward assist were actually cut into the rail.

I've heard rumors about disreputable dealers swapping just the bolt carrier groups out of Colts and selling them separately, but I've never seen it firsthand. It's a pretty good racket. The Colt assembly can fetch three bills or so and the BCG-like object in my gun couldn't have cost much more than a hundred bucks, give or take fluctuations in the prevailing wage for drunk, chisel-wielding monkeys. So, figure someone in this rifle's chain of custody made a $200 profit before they even sold the gun itself.

The seller will be sending me the correct parts, but let this stand as a cautionary tale to AR buyers.

 

[armoredman]

Ouch...

 

[Shear_stress]

Ouch...

Yeah, no kidding. It amazes me that none of the previous owners figured this out (assuming that they weren't in on the swap). All I had to was break the gun open for cleaning after I got it home and have myself a "what the hell?" moment.

 

[vicdotcom]

Did you purchase the rifle online? Maybe this will help many others in the future. Thanks for posting this. I guess we should ask for detailed pictures of the disassembled rifle before purchase to protect from things like this.

 

[Shear_stress]

Yes I did buy it online. I've had pretty good luck with such purchases in the past, so I guess my number was up.

The BCG is the one of the most easily swapped parts, so it would probably be good to ask for photos of it in the future.