I’ve heard of barrels being shot out, bolts breaking, BCG breaking or otherwise becoming non functional, buffer retaining pins breaking, and other failures. I don’t think I’ve heard of a receiver wearing out, particularly the upper where the BCG slides around. Is this a problem? If you shoot a lot and have gone through theee barrels, would you need to just get a new upper for the fourth?
Do AR Receivers Wear Out?
- Thread starter DMW1116
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Bazoo
Member
The upper receiver will wear where the charging handle latch catches. Eventually it’ll get so bad that it won’t latch and the charging handle will come back with the bolt. I’ve only heard of it in military guns that we handled extensively. When it gets so warn it won’t latch, you can drill a hole for the extractor hook to catch into.
The lower can wear at the hammer and trigger pin holes over many years. There is fixes for that.
The lower can wear at the hammer and trigger pin holes over many years. There is fixes for that.
Wow. That’s pretty impressive they don’t wear more than that. I figured the steel BCG sliding in the aluminum would be more of a problem. I hadn’t considered the trigger pins and hammer pins. I do se. A little shine at the charging handle on mine but that happened pretty much in the first 50 rounds.
A good set on anti walk pins greatly extends the time till hole wear becomes a problem...like lifetime time-line. Even without that...it takes a very long time till its a problem.
The latch on the upper is really the only problem wear point, especially if you use a steel charging handle (ask me how I found that out on one of AR 10s). There isn't much you can do about it. A little dab of grease helps a little, not much, but also makes latching up less reliable.
Luckily, at least for now, stripped uppers are cheap and easy to replace without hassle of paperwork.
jmorris
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I have read about it a lot as far as worry with aluminum but have never found anyone with a registered (machinegun) receiver that was “worn out” enough to sell on the cheap…
That was kinda where I was headed. This was granddads hammer. He replaced the handle and I replaced the head type of situation.
N555
Member
The upper is aluminum and in contact with moving parts it will wear out eventually.
Or if you do lots of barrel swapping on your upper eventually those aluminum threads will strip.
Or if you do lots of barrel swapping on your upper eventually those aluminum threads will strip.
The Army was still using the M16A1 at different training bases up to 1990 or 1991. We hardly ever seen issues with the receivers on those rifles. And trainees in basic training aren't exactly easy on those rifles. Plus those rifles do see a lot of rounds shot. Even bayonet training didn't seem to damage the rifles.
For the lower receiver, watch the trigger pin holes and on the uppers the take down pin holes and charging handle latch area. But as others have said, it will take a long time for any of those ares to show any issues. Now there is always a chance for faster wear if one is constantly taking the lower completely apart on a regular basis or swapping barrels a lot. But if you never take things apart then there won't be any abnormal wear.
Now if you are using a blow back pistol caliber upper, those can and will wear out the pin holes in the lower a lot quicker.
For the lower receiver, watch the trigger pin holes and on the uppers the take down pin holes and charging handle latch area. But as others have said, it will take a long time for any of those ares to show any issues. Now there is always a chance for faster wear if one is constantly taking the lower completely apart on a regular basis or swapping barrels a lot. But if you never take things apart then there won't be any abnormal wear.
Now if you are using a blow back pistol caliber upper, those can and will wear out the pin holes in the lower a lot quicker.
MachIVshooter
Member
Properly made AR receivers are hard coat anodized; the anodic layer is harder than the surface of a parkerized bolt carrier. Nitride carriers are harder, but also very slick, and now you have two smooth surfaces of HRc over 60 that just aren't wear prone.
Upper receiver wear can, however, be an issue with op rod uppers due to carrier tilt. Anodic layers are thin, and the substrate is still relatively soft, so the carrier trying to "dig in" will eventually deform the substrate and cause the anodic layer to fracture and break away, exposing the substrate. But it really depends if it's more-or-less a standard upper adapted to op rod and still using the spring in the receiver extension or a purpose-built one properly designed to deal with the asymmetric forces by using a captive spring on the op rod assembly.
Upper receiver wear can, however, be an issue with op rod uppers due to carrier tilt. Anodic layers are thin, and the substrate is still relatively soft, so the carrier trying to "dig in" will eventually deform the substrate and cause the anodic layer to fracture and break away, exposing the substrate. But it really depends if it's more-or-less a standard upper adapted to op rod and still using the spring in the receiver extension or a purpose-built one properly designed to deal with the asymmetric forces by using a captive spring on the op rod assembly.
No these are just my regular target ARs. They have less than 2000 rounds between the three of them, mostly load testing. One 308, one 16”, and one 20” 223. I was thinking of getting some spare parts and thought how no one talks about receiver wear.
mcb
Member
Believe it or not I had a lower and upper with nearly 3 million cycles on them. It was used in a fire control test rig (pneumatically actuated) not actually fired but a variety of fire control were tested, often to failure, in that test rig. I took the lower out and inspected it at several point in its life as a test fixture and even at ~2.5 million cycles the fire control pin holes were still in spec in both size and location in the lower. I have no doubt you could wear out a lower but in my experience that take lots of full auto fire to generate the repetitive forces need to accelerate wear on the fire control pin holes. And even under that harsher use it will probably out last several barrels.
Charlie98
Member
There may come a time (again) when AR parts are hard to get... and that includes the SN lower. And, if you've been following some of my threads, stuff does wear out or break. Contrary to popular belief, idle parts don't have to magically turn into another rifle... although I've seen it happen!
I kinda thought they'd just assemble themselves if I left them alone long enough. Maybe more hoped than thought. My 20" barrel is Cr lined so I doubt I'll be able to shoot that out in the foreseeable future given my current use frequency. It's my favorite, so it gets more use than the others combined. I'm not sure how Nitriding compares to Cr lining, but its gonna be a while with the 16" too. One thing I do need to grab is some springs. Those detent springs rival a hot 55 grain load for velocity. The other I figured out recently is the spring that holds the front sight post in place. I lost-then-found both the post and the spring when swapping for a new post in my Sub2000.
Varminterror
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Wheels on a car would eventually wear out. How many people have you known which have ever worn out a wheel?
I’ve been around a lot of AR guys, including SOT’s and FA rental range guys, and have not seen uppers or lowers worn out beyond usefulness. Worn in, certainly, worn out? Eh. I’ve seen a lot of AR’s with ~50k rounds on them, and a few handfuls with ~100k. The only receivers I have ever seen with multiple 100’s of thousands of rounds on them have been the rental range FA’s, and they’ve been through enough barrels, BCG’s, buffer springs, gas blocks and tubes, even FCG’s and eaten tens of thousands of dollars worth of ammunition, earning hundreds of thousands of dollars in rental fees to have warranted manufacturing another lower as a drop in the bucket. And when the guys build the new rifles, they keep the old one in service to provide more rifle options. Not even a logical discussion to say the receivers are trashed…
I’ve been around a lot of AR guys, including SOT’s and FA rental range guys, and have not seen uppers or lowers worn out beyond usefulness. Worn in, certainly, worn out? Eh. I’ve seen a lot of AR’s with ~50k rounds on them, and a few handfuls with ~100k. The only receivers I have ever seen with multiple 100’s of thousands of rounds on them have been the rental range FA’s, and they’ve been through enough barrels, BCG’s, buffer springs, gas blocks and tubes, even FCG’s and eaten tens of thousands of dollars worth of ammunition, earning hundreds of thousands of dollars in rental fees to have warranted manufacturing another lower as a drop in the bucket. And when the guys build the new rifles, they keep the old one in service to provide more rifle options. Not even a logical discussion to say the receivers are trashed…
So it seems I should look elsewhere when determining what parts might need replacing. How about charging handles? They seem pretty flimsy, but I haven't heard of them breaking or wearing out really. Most replace them to get ambidextrous versions or other features the standard ones don't offer. At least that's what I see posted here and a couple other places.
Charlie98
Member
Now... THAT's funny!
I don't have a comprehensive pile of parts... but I do have...
1) FCG parts
2) Spare bolt and carrier (Just this week I 'needed' the spare bolt, and I had it because a friend's AR sheared 3 bolt lugs a few years ago.)
3) Upper parts kit... all those little springs that go flying.
4) Other bolt and BCG parts... gas rings, firing pin, extractor, extractor and ejector springs, etc.
5) Spare upper, spare lower. (those are actually a hedge against unforeseen restrictions, but they also serve as spares.)
I don't see a quality charging handle breaking, unless you use it as a prybar.
In my instance, for my high mileage (to me) AR, I probably need to pickup a new barrel for it. It's my favorite... a CL 1:9 twist vs my other 1:7 twist barrels.
The question: Do AR lower receivers wear out?
Yes, they do. The military has instructions on how to measure them, and a few gages for measuring the critical points to see when they have worn out.
See TM 9-1005-319-23&P, WP 0021 Lower Receiver and Buttstock Assembly Maintenance, and WP 0026 - Gauging
Yes, they do. The military has instructions on how to measure them, and a few gages for measuring the critical points to see when they have worn out.
See TM 9-1005-319-23&P, WP 0021 Lower Receiver and Buttstock Assembly Maintenance, and WP 0026 - Gauging
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Varminterror
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Calibrate your risk profile and your PM schedule.
I tend to think of spare AR parts much like I do my spare tires. Racing teams might keep multiple identical wheel and tire assy’s ready to go at the drop of a hat, but most people are well served to simply have ONE assy on hand, and have the luxury of deciding between an undersized doughnut versus a full size wheel and standard tire. In one paradigm, the wheel sets WILL see use, and the consequence of not having them on hand is steep. In the other paradigm, when a common individual gets a flat tire, they just need a means to get home, or to a tire shop for replacement… I’ve never seen a motorcycle riding down the road with any kind of spare tire onboard… I keep a spare set of inner tubes, a pump, and tire spoons in a pack on my triathlon bike, so I don’t find myself stuck on the side of the road 30-50 miles from home, but my son’s mountain bike which never gets more than 10 miles from home or our truck at a trail head doesn’t need that redundancy…
I build a lot of AR’s, and do repairs for a lot of folks, so I tend to have a lot of spare parts on hand, or can pull parts from other AR’s in a pinch, but I generally tell folks - calibrate your spare parts inventory against your actual needs. If an AR owner is competing at a high level in 3 gun, then I highly recommend having two identical rifles ready to go at all times. At the other end of the spectrum, an AR owner who might blast out a couple of mags for fun a few times per year will have near zero consequence if bolt lugs fail or a firing pin breaks while they’re shooting in the back yard - just pack up for the day, order parts online, or drive into town the next day and buy a replacement. Lots of folks live somewhere on the spectrum between those two paradigms.
I’ll also mention here - how many guys have spare detent pins and springs on hand, and will absolutely never in their life need it? Why? Because they were afraid of losing it during assembly and weren’t 1) willing to prepare their workspace to prevent losing the part, 2) weren’t willing to employ techniques which prevent the slip which would lose the part, and most importantly, 3) weren’t willing to delay their build for another couple of hours or days if they did lose it and need to buy another before completion. Guess what - we can assemble an AR without the detent spring, and if we’re super impatient and need to play with our toys right away, a piece of tape will hold a pivot pin in place for a few days until the new spring arrives. But other than the 2 minutes of assembly, there really is no failure mode where a spare detent or detent spring is a viable spare part to have on hand.
How many folks have spare firing pin assemblies or spare triggers for their Remington 700’s? (I do, on both counts, for my PRS match rifles, and I do typically take a spare optic and even a spare rifle to most Pro series matches I attend - because the consequence of a trigger going down or breaking my striker is $1000 or so in match fees, ammo cost, and travel down the tubes). How many have spare bolt bodies or spare receivers for when their actions wear loose? How many keep spare barrels on hand for their hunting rifle? Why do we pretend our AR’s are so different? I know a guy who has an AR firing pin in his wallet, 24/7, for decades - for the life of him, he can’t tell me why, other than “AR FP’s break.”
We can compile tons of PM and service standards for AR’s, and an owner can have tons of spare parts on hand, even spare rifles, but in reality, most folks won’t ever even break a bolt or firing pin, or wear out a buffer spring or hammer spring. Most folks won’t ever wear out a barrel. And when these things ARE achieved, as rare as it is, most folks won’t have any negative consequence for waiting a few days for replacement parts to ship to their door.
Spare parts and redundancy planning for perceived future political/legal bans or price hikes or what have you are a separate topic. In my lifetime, I’ve seen a federal ban implemented, a federal ban expire, state restrictions tighten, and state restrictions loosen. I do, however, believe it is exceptionally naive to think a future ban would allow grandfathering, such hoarding lowers at this point just doesn’t make sense to me.
I can say, flat out, as someone who buys, builds, and shoots AR’s far more frequently than the av-er-age bear, I do not carry any inventory of AR lowers or uppers as planned replacement. My ONLY personal surplus on uppers and lowers is 1) deference to the reality that I will build more AR’s in the immediate future and 2) I buy more than I need at any given time when I find sale prices, again, defaulting to #1. I used to buy 25 stripped lowers and uppers at a time, but my volume is less… but typically each customer build begets another within a few months of completion. If I ever stopped building entirely, I MIGHT keep one lower on hand - not because I expect any of mine to wear out, but because I would expect to decide to build another rifle for myself, my wife, or my son within a reasonable timeline.
I tend to think of spare AR parts much like I do my spare tires. Racing teams might keep multiple identical wheel and tire assy’s ready to go at the drop of a hat, but most people are well served to simply have ONE assy on hand, and have the luxury of deciding between an undersized doughnut versus a full size wheel and standard tire. In one paradigm, the wheel sets WILL see use, and the consequence of not having them on hand is steep. In the other paradigm, when a common individual gets a flat tire, they just need a means to get home, or to a tire shop for replacement… I’ve never seen a motorcycle riding down the road with any kind of spare tire onboard… I keep a spare set of inner tubes, a pump, and tire spoons in a pack on my triathlon bike, so I don’t find myself stuck on the side of the road 30-50 miles from home, but my son’s mountain bike which never gets more than 10 miles from home or our truck at a trail head doesn’t need that redundancy…
I build a lot of AR’s, and do repairs for a lot of folks, so I tend to have a lot of spare parts on hand, or can pull parts from other AR’s in a pinch, but I generally tell folks - calibrate your spare parts inventory against your actual needs. If an AR owner is competing at a high level in 3 gun, then I highly recommend having two identical rifles ready to go at all times. At the other end of the spectrum, an AR owner who might blast out a couple of mags for fun a few times per year will have near zero consequence if bolt lugs fail or a firing pin breaks while they’re shooting in the back yard - just pack up for the day, order parts online, or drive into town the next day and buy a replacement. Lots of folks live somewhere on the spectrum between those two paradigms.
I’ll also mention here - how many guys have spare detent pins and springs on hand, and will absolutely never in their life need it? Why? Because they were afraid of losing it during assembly and weren’t 1) willing to prepare their workspace to prevent losing the part, 2) weren’t willing to employ techniques which prevent the slip which would lose the part, and most importantly, 3) weren’t willing to delay their build for another couple of hours or days if they did lose it and need to buy another before completion. Guess what - we can assemble an AR without the detent spring, and if we’re super impatient and need to play with our toys right away, a piece of tape will hold a pivot pin in place for a few days until the new spring arrives. But other than the 2 minutes of assembly, there really is no failure mode where a spare detent or detent spring is a viable spare part to have on hand.
How many folks have spare firing pin assemblies or spare triggers for their Remington 700’s? (I do, on both counts, for my PRS match rifles, and I do typically take a spare optic and even a spare rifle to most Pro series matches I attend - because the consequence of a trigger going down or breaking my striker is $1000 or so in match fees, ammo cost, and travel down the tubes). How many have spare bolt bodies or spare receivers for when their actions wear loose? How many keep spare barrels on hand for their hunting rifle? Why do we pretend our AR’s are so different? I know a guy who has an AR firing pin in his wallet, 24/7, for decades - for the life of him, he can’t tell me why, other than “AR FP’s break.”
We can compile tons of PM and service standards for AR’s, and an owner can have tons of spare parts on hand, even spare rifles, but in reality, most folks won’t ever even break a bolt or firing pin, or wear out a buffer spring or hammer spring. Most folks won’t ever wear out a barrel. And when these things ARE achieved, as rare as it is, most folks won’t have any negative consequence for waiting a few days for replacement parts to ship to their door.
Spare parts and redundancy planning for perceived future political/legal bans or price hikes or what have you are a separate topic. In my lifetime, I’ve seen a federal ban implemented, a federal ban expire, state restrictions tighten, and state restrictions loosen. I do, however, believe it is exceptionally naive to think a future ban would allow grandfathering, such hoarding lowers at this point just doesn’t make sense to me.
I can say, flat out, as someone who buys, builds, and shoots AR’s far more frequently than the av-er-age bear, I do not carry any inventory of AR lowers or uppers as planned replacement. My ONLY personal surplus on uppers and lowers is 1) deference to the reality that I will build more AR’s in the immediate future and 2) I buy more than I need at any given time when I find sale prices, again, defaulting to #1. I used to buy 25 stripped lowers and uppers at a time, but my volume is less… but typically each customer build begets another within a few months of completion. If I ever stopped building entirely, I MIGHT keep one lower on hand - not because I expect any of mine to wear out, but because I would expect to decide to build another rifle for myself, my wife, or my son within a reasonable timeline.
WestKentucky
Member
Aluminum parts don’t wear, but poly lower receivers flex and work harden to a point that they break. That’s why a lot of the poly receivers available now have reinforcements to support the area where the buffer tube threads in.
jmorris
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Mechanical things wear out, if it’s valuable enough there are people that can fix them. A $50 lower might not be worth repairing but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t be, just that people that have those abilities would charge you more than the cost of buying a new one.
That said, properly maintained, if you could afford the ammunition to wear one out, you could afford a new one or two every year anyway.
shoobe01
Member
98% of my spares are just leftovers, takeoffs, or changed-my-mind. It helps. Have fixed a broken thing temporarily, or helped a friend, with a spare spring, pin, pistol grip, etc.
I mostly go for the spare-gun instead. I mean things like taking a class, where I want to get my money's worth, and there's usually no transport issue (I drive, not fly) then I have 1-2 entire spares. Zero transition time.
I mostly go for the spare-gun instead. I mean things like taking a class, where I want to get my money's worth, and there's usually no transport issue (I drive, not fly) then I have 1-2 entire spares. Zero transition time.
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ColoradoMinuteMan
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If you search google for battlefield las vegas ar15 wear you will find some posts on other forums from the owner of Battlefield Las Vegas. They are shooting tens of thousands of rounds through their AR15s on a monthly basis. He posts some very interesting information about wear with various parts, brands, etc.
Once an AR receiver wears out, you will probably have had tens of thousands of dollars, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars of ammunition through it. As such, the price to replace the receiver (or entire rifle) will seem insignificant.
Any mechanical device can wear out or sustain damage through lots of use. AR receivers are not items that most people will wear out. Like others have posted, the charging handle latch is the part of the receiver most prone to wear.
Any mechanical device can wear out or sustain damage through lots of use. AR receivers are not items that most people will wear out. Like others have posted, the charging handle latch is the part of the receiver most prone to wear.
Everything wears out eventually-look at the Grand Canyon. But I wouldn't worry about the receiver of most any AR rifle "wearing out" in the course of most people's lifetime. And if it does, they're a lot cheaper to replace than a worn-out car.
Bcwitt
Member
7075 aluminum is stronger then some types of steel. The upper motion is back & forth, not rotary. Would be very exuastive to wear out.
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