Question about gritty action on ar15

Poorboy504 · Oct 18, 2014

I just wanted to know what you guys think about this situation.
I have an ar15 that has significant wear on the charging handle, specifically the anodizing is worn on the top, sides and some of the bottom where it looks silver. The inside of the upper receiver also has wear on the anodizing where the cam pin moves and a distinct line where the charging handle would move against the upper. Now, the rifle functions 100% and the action is smooth as butter after 1200 rounds or so; but this wear bothered me since it was present even at a low round count.

So, I put in a new charging handle and I notice that it too is rubbing and started to wear on the anodizing. I then put in the old charging handle and then tried to put in a new nickel boron bolt carrier group. This combo was extremely gritty; and I felt the new nickel boron bcg was going to wear too, so I removed it and put back the original bcg. Again, it is smooth with the worn parts.

I have a full Spikes Tactical built rifle that I fired 200 rounds already that has almost no wear on the charging handle or upper receiver. It is smooth as glass. I put the new nickel boron bcg in it and it too is smooth when working the action. The new charging handle also is smooth in that upper.

Ok, so what I'm wondering is could the first upper receiver be out of spec? Could that be causing all the problems? Or could it be an out of spec buffer tube? Or maybe the gas tube is not aligned and causing this?

Since the old parts work perfectly but just looks bad, am I just being anal?
What do you guys think?

spec50trout · Oct 18, 2014

Man, I envy you. You've had enough time to shoot and break the older rifle in well. IMO, the older rifle is perfect. Roll with it. Leave the worn parts be 'cause they're now nicely mated together as they should be. The wear you describe is as it should be, imo. If the gas tube isn't aligned I'd think you'd have function issues, you don't. Observe the end of the carrier key and end of gas tube to see if there are any obvious signs of misalignment.

Doug76 · Oct 25, 2014

spec50trout said:
Man, I envy you. You've had enough time to shoot and break the older rifle in well. IMO, the older rifle is perfect. Roll with it. Leave the worn parts be 'cause they're now nicely mated together as they should be. The wear you describe is as it should be, imo. If the gas tube isn't aligned I'd think you'd have function issues, you don't. Observe the end of the carrier key and end of gas tube to see if there are any obvious signs of misalignment.

+1, nothing to add.

BayouSlide · Oct 26, 2014

Lube the crap out of it, stop stressing about it and enjoy a functional AR. ARs love to run wet. I find EWL lubes well and stays put, FWIW.

swampfoxx · Oct 27, 2014

If I wrote here what I was told about ARs running wet, it would probably be a CoC violation

spec50trout · Oct 27, 2014

BayouSlide said:
Lube the crap out of it, stop stressing about it and enjoy a functional AR. ARs love to run wet. I find EWL lubes well and stays put, FWIW.

+1 EWL, good stuff.

Poorboy504 · Oct 28, 2014

Putting some pics up. Am I still crazy to think something is not right?

BayouSlide · Oct 28, 2014

Nothing looks out of whack to me…those areas where you see silver are the AR gods way of showing you exactly where you need more lube.

spec50trout · Oct 28, 2014

BayouSlide said:
Nothing looks out of whack to me…those areas where you see silver are the AR gods way of showing you exactly where you need more lube.

Agreed. He speaks da truth!

ta2d_cop · Oct 28, 2014

Poorboy504 said:
I just wanted to know what you guys think about this situation.
I have an ar15 that has significant wear on the charging handle, specifically the anodizing is worn on the top, sides and some of the bottom where it looks silver. The inside of the upper receiver also has wear on the anodizing where the cam pin moves and a distinct line where the charging handle would move against the upper. Now, the rifle functions 100% and the action is smooth as butter after 1200 rounds or so; but this wear bothered me since it was present even at a low round count.

So, I put in a new charging handle and I notice that it too is rubbing and started to wear on the anodizing. I then put in the old charging handle and then tried to put in a new nickel boron bolt carrier group. This combo was extremely gritty; and I felt the new nickel boron bcg was going to wear too, so I removed it and put back the original bcg. Again, it is smooth with the worn parts.

I have a full Spikes Tactical built rifle that I fired 200 rounds already that has almost no wear on the charging handle or upper receiver. It is smooth as glass. I put the new nickel boron bcg in it and it too is smooth when working the action. The new charging handle also is smooth in that upper.

Ok, so what I'm wondering is could the first upper receiver be out of spec? Could that be causing all the problems? Or could it be an out of spec buffer tube? Or maybe the gas tube is not aligned and causing this?

Since the old parts work perfectly but just looks bad, am I just being anal?
What do you guys think?

You answered your own question, but YES YOU ARE BEING ANAL.

I think guns are for shooting, not posting pretty pics on the internet so who gives a fv<k what it looks like if it runs 100% and is accurate. It ain't a fashion show!

Hey, you asked........

Poorboy504 · Oct 28, 2014

Well, I didn't mention it; but I noticed a broken gas ring the last time I cleaned it after the range. I guess that's a part that gets replaced frequently. I still have two on there, so no next day shipping to replace it. The rifle will still work with one gas ring on the bolt.

I'm going to run this rifle hard. No more cleaning after every range trip--just lube and bore snake. I'll clean it every other month now. Thanks for the replies. I'm going to try to use the tool as it was meant to and not worry about having a pristine looking safe queen.

spec50trout · Oct 28, 2014

Dude, I can so relate about being anal about my firearms and their cleanliness. That said, I've gotten over it in recent years. Like you said, it's a tool. Although, I just finished cleaning a new, to me, STI with 27 q-tips and rubbing alcohol, ha. I'd rather my dirt than someone else's.

IMHO, keeping the bcg clean and lubed is the most important part of AR maintenance. Lubed being the most! Tip: a light coating of grease on the tail of the bolt(generally the dirtiest part)helps to more easily wipe away the carbon build up.

franch1se82 · Oct 28, 2014

i dunno about you guys, but i've never seen anything like that on any of my ARs ... I've owned but a small sample over the few years since i've started buying and building ARs (approx 7 rifles). lube or not, the bluing/finish shouldn't rub off so easily.

if you have another AR, try to shuffle some parts around and see if the grittiness/tightness is still there.

id be more concerned about the worn areas oxidizing, though a nice coat of lube should help prevent that.

maybe a more detailed rundown of gun in question would help (what make, what year, model etc.)

just my 2c

Poorboy504 · Oct 29, 2014

I can't say for sure what the history of the rifle is because I bought it from a friend. But everything on it is marked Daniel Defense--upper, barrel, lower, rail. The only thing that isn't marked is the bcg, but this rifle may have been made before they started laser engraving DD on their bolt carriers.

I'm not new to ar's--I've owned 5 and this is the only one that looks this worn. Any new parts I try to substitute in it feels like it's grinding.

Oh well, I'm just going to shoot it until it gives up, and hopefully, no catastrophic life-changing failures happen. So yeah, this Daniel defense is my beater ar

franch1se82 · Oct 29, 2014

i'd probably contact DD and see what they have to say.. maybe they can give insight as to why its happening or if this will cause a catastrophic failure.

Jack · Oct 29, 2014

franch1se82 said:
i dunno about you guys, but i've never seen anything like that on any of my ARs ... I've owned but a small sample over the few years since i've started buying and building ARs (approx 7 rifles). lube or not, the bluing/finish shouldn't rub off so easily.

if you have another AR, try to shuffle some parts around and see if the grittiness/tightness is still there.

id be more concerned about the worn areas oxidizing, though a nice coat of lube should help prevent that.

maybe a more detailed rundown of gun in question would help (what make, what year, model etc.)

just my 2c

Maybe I'm confused, but isn't that mostly aluminum? I know the bolt isn't, but I've never heard of a oiled piece of steel rusting.

franch1se82 · Oct 29, 2014

Jack said:
Maybe I'm confused, but isn't that mostly aluminum? I know the bolt isn't, but I've never heard of a oiled piece of steel rusting.

it is forged aluminum, though i've seen what looks like pitting and mild rust marks on exposed aluminum ... (maybe i was seeing things) i'm no gun smith, or claim to be a gun smith or even a metallurgist, id just hate to see a rifle go kaboom when it should go pew

Ton · Oct 29, 2014

Looks like the gas key? is crooked causing is to rub on both ends but opposite sides. Does it look like it its not sitting right on the bcg?

Poorboy504 · Oct 29, 2014

I initially thought the gas key was crooked too, but I dropped in a brand new nickel boron bcg and I could feel something was grinding. It may just be a tight upper. Or could a misaligned gas tube cause this?
Anyway, there is one more pic I want to show you guys. It's the barrel extension, and it has weird wear marks on it too.

Like I said, rifle runs fine. It just seems odd that there's all this wear that didn't show up on any of my other rifles.

Poorboy504 · Oct 29, 2014

Notice the nicks on the barrel extension.

Here's another view of the barrel extension.

Finally, notice the worn areas to the right of the gas tube. I guess that would be where gas key is rubbing.

Could this be a crooked gas key, misaligned gas tube, crooked buffer tube, or something else?

Question about gritty action on ar15

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