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What Rifle BREAKAGE Have You Had??


JHOWARD

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I was thinking earlier.  Things break.  I've only lost a firing pin, but have you guys experienced any match-ending or at least stage-ending breakage? 

I am thinking things like triggers, optics, etc.

Pics are worth bonus points.

 

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Trigger pin: A GI-type pin broke at the groove, which is why I now run KNS pins on all my rifles.

BrokenAR15TriggerPin.jpg

Bolt: Broke at the cam pin hole. This was a stage-stopper at RM3G some years back.

BrokenBolt.jpg

The occasional bent/broken FP retainer (and in one case a peened firing pin):

AR15firingpindamage.jpg

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Not really a breakage but I had a bolt face that was out of spec and whenever I would shoot LC brass the fired rounds wouldn't eject and would literally be stuck to the bolt face. I would need to lock the bolt back and push the spent case off the bolt face. The same rounds would work perfectly fine in any other rifle just not mine. Took some time trying to figure out the issue.

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Match DQ offence. The trigger pin broke and walked out of my Saiga-12. Gun slam fired on reload, jammed, then again slam fired while trying to unload the gun to make it safe.  No one was hurt, but it did end my match.

***Shooters note: on all AK type guns, if the trigger pin comes out of the gun, there IS NO WAY TO MAKE IT SAFE UNTIL ALL AMMO IS OUT OF THE GUN. The safety selector wont stop the hammer from falling. With the trigger pin out of the gun there is nothing to stop the hammer from falling.

 

 

I broke a bolt lug on a 6.8SPC rifle 8 shots into a stage. Gun locked up tight.

Same gun, funny accuracy issues. Upon deep cleaning found two cracked bolt lugs (above and below the extractor cut out). Replace bolt, accuracy comes right back.

 

I've had the gas key come loose from a few AR15 bolt carriers and cause funny intermittent short strokes.

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Broke my M1A op rod (twice) many years ago.  Back in the very early 80's there was no internet and I'd never heard you shouldn't use IMR4350 for M1A's.  After the second break (op rods were $60 back then, I remember hating to pay that much for it, but I had to have it) I stopped using IMR4350 and a couple years later I saw an article in The American Rifleman about suitable M1 and M1A powders.  It was a real shame.  That was the only load that made my M1A look like real good shooting rifle.

Awhile back, someone on another forum said they doubted that IMR4350 and 180 Sierra matchkings would break an M1A op rod.  I dug it out of a box and took a picture of it.  This is the original.  It broke, I had it welded, it broke again.

 

photo.JPG

Had a CMP M1 start an intermittent clip ejection problem.  Sometimes I'd have to remove the trigger housing to get the empty clip out of the rifle.  Finally noticed the clip ejection spring leg that is bent to catch under the left side of the clip had a broken tip.  Sometimes the end of the spring would slip inside the clip and catch/hold it in place.  Didn't take long to replace it once I noticed what was causing the problem.

Had the firing pin break in Browning BDM and no longer dry fire that pistol without a snap cap.

Had the trigger bar start sliding up over the safety lever on my M&P .357 SIG.  Luckily caught that during an after cleaning check vs. having an accidental discharge.

Also had the striker start slipping past the sear on the same pistol.  Noticed the upper corner of the sear was badly rounded off.  Stoned it sharp again and stopped having the "dead trigger issue".

Had the little pin on the back of the cylinder pin on my Ruger Super Blackhawk fall out at some time or other.  It wouldn't cock unless you tipped the barrel way up (to allow the transfer bar safety to fall back from gravity) since the pin wasn't pushing it back.  It was hanging up on the firing pin in the frame as it raised when you tried to cock the hammer.

Lost a front sight out of my Colt Combat Commander that a "gunsmith" had silver soldered into the slide.

Been shooting over 40 years now.  These are the ones that pop up in my head as the worst.

 

Edited by M1A4ME
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Broke one side of the firing pin retainer on my AR10 at the first Pro-Am, no one had a spare. Vendors didn't even have one without buying a whole carrier group. I finished the match with the broken retainer and now have nine spares in my bag. The ejector broke on the same rifle about a year and a half ago. It was barely hanging in (it didn't fly out) and would work sometimes. It took a little bit to figure that one out.

Hurley

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Sheared a lug off of a bolt. It was one of the lugs next to the extractor. Don't recall if it was above or below. The failure wasn't match ending as it ran with the missing lug, but the broken lug got jammed in the barrel extension which ended the stage as the rifle couldn't go into battery.

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5 hours ago, ziebart said:

...I've ROd night stages where people's flashlights fall of the gun. Kinda funny.

Me too... HILARIOUS :devil:. Even better is when recoil causes the light to switch between bright and dim, constant on and strobe modes with every shot during a stage.

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1.  Case head separation made a big noise, left a smooth brass tube stuck in the chamber of my Colt AR and broke the extractor. I had a spare bolt but couldn't get the case out until I got home. Finished the shotgun portion of that stage, I switched to my back up rifle for rest of the match.

2.  Another time, 2 loose primers in the AR trigger mechanism caused me fits until I got to safety table and figured that out. 2 primers!! No idea what or why, and has never happened since.

3. Early in my rifle reloading days, somehow cases occasionally were not fully resized to the base. Improperly resized cases caused failure to chamber and extract on several stages.

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Broken gas key screw.  Only one of them broke, rifle kept running.  I discovered it when I took it apart to clean it.  Never found the top half of that screw.

 

Recently broke a firing pin retaining pin.  In that case the rifle locked up tight.   It wasn't due to extended use, rifle was nearly new.  That particular pin was fragile.  I have no idea if that particular part gets heat treatment or anything like that, but I had a bad one. 

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Ive worn out a few parts over the years but the only actual part ive had break was a chargehandle latch. The hook sheared right off in the middle of a stage. It didnt ruin the stage as the rifle kept running, but the chargehandle moving a bit was distracting. It was a cheap one that came in a parts kit. 

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I found one of my trigger pins broken in half of a routine cleaning of my HD rifle. That was nerve racking. 

 

I had a mag blow out the bottom plate and send my rounds to the ground. I had another mag issue that caused my rifle to go bolt action. I'm not sure why but it would feed a single round but not on it's own. 

 

one of the reasons I like competition is because it shows you what parts work, what breaks, and how to fix stuff in a pinch. 

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Case head separation in an M1A blew the mag spring and floor plate out the bottom of the gun. Made my ears ring too. Game over that day.

 

Had a buffer retainer pin break in an AR and the pieces somehow jammed things up. Got it going and finished the day.

 

Had a sear issue in an AR make the thing start doubling in a match. Game over.

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Have had 2 bolt catches break on 308 AR's. In one of the instances, the broken bolt jammed up the gun. In the other, there was no BHO.

 

It turned out the bolt had too much rearward travel, and was slamming against the bolt catch when coming forward. This was easily rectified, and no further issues.

 

My brother also had a buffer retainer pin failure. The mangled spring caused a stoppage. Easily fixed but annoying.

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Had my Ar go bolt action sporadically on one stage. Found that my clamp-on gas block had slid forward a bit. With the long handguard, didn't discover that until the post-match teardown.

Have gone set-screw with extra deep dimples ever since. Blue locktite, of course.

Edited by bushmeat
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