Hello all! I hope your week is going well.

I am getting into the suppressor game and just hit approximately 10k rounds through my 10.3 SBR. 2k of which are through a Surefire SOCOM RC-2.

I hadn't noticed this gouge in the upper receiver until recently, which makes me think it is fairly recent and new. I dont have any other rifles with anything close to this round count, so I have nothing else to compare it to besides my roommate's 14.5 URGI with about 3k rounds total. I noticed his has a similar line, albeit being much, much lighter and less noticeable.

It has a tiny amount of depth in one spot where it will snag your fingernail, but the vast majority is not noticeable by touch. I have not had any issues with function or operation, and it feels smooth as silk to charge.

Is this normal?

The pictures were hard to get right, but I tried! If you want specific images let me know. : Pictures

That is not normal.  It's most likely why most bolt carriers don't have sharp edges.  Seems like your bolt carrier has a few more sharp angles on it that most I have seen.

I don't like that bolt carrier...seems to have a lot of sharp edges designed into it...obviously causing that huge gouge in your upper.

Damage is done...might as well keep using it.

Upper is fine, unlikely that there will be much if any more wear. A good grease in place of oil for lube.

Get a different bcg. Otherwise, keep running

None of those “sharp edges” on that carrier come into contact with the upper receiver, only the carrier rails do (and there’s very little difference between a Bootleg and a standard carrier, in that regard).

OP, the pics aren’t great quality, so it’s impossible to tell exactly how much wear is there and how much potential material has been removed.  Based on what I’m seeing it appears normal, but it’s impossible to say for sure without better pics.

At 10K rounds through it I would not be worried nor change anything..

Charlie Mike!! my .02

Hey guys, brand new member here. Actually registered to reply to this post...the wear line I'm seeing in this upper does not look like it's related to the bearing surface itself on the bcg. Those are right next to the gas key, so marks left by the bearing surfaces should be directly adjacent to the CH channel in the upper. This mark is about 1/8" away from it.
Looking at the photos of the bcg, it looks like the adjustment screw on the left side is actually protruding a bit, and the finish has worn off the screw head at that spot. I'm going to humbly suggest that this is the cause of the groove in the upper. Could be wrong but I thought it was worth pointing out.

What lube are you using?  Are you running it wet?

Suppressors really increase backpressure and wear and tear. Especially if you dont take any steps to correct. Looks like you have an abcg. I had an issue with not being able to get the right gas setting with an abcg and a short pistol length gas system. Is your setup still over gassed? You shoukd be able to tell through recoil alone.

The wear itself looks to be more or less within reason for the round count, but there are numerous factors at play there (gas port size/buffer weight/speed of cycling, lube choice, cleaning regimen, etc.). You definitely have some unusual wear paths, namely the gouge and wear marks above the normal carrier rail path. I can only assume that's from the particular carrier you're using (maybe the adjustment screw is protruding as mentioned?).

For comparison, here is one of my 10.3" uppers with 17k on it total and 10k of that suppressed (Colt upper receiver, Toolcraft BCG):

I think you might be right. Look at the top of that screw. Looks like it's worn right where the groove on the upper is located.

My thoughts: don't worry about it.

Given that you are using a non-standard bcg, I wouldn't compare photos of standard bcg with yours. As an example, I ran the JP FMOS for quite some time. I notice after a while the wear pattern was very different in my upper compared to uppers that ran the normal bcg. I have no idea if it will continue to wear but given how it is going, the wear surface is much larger than a standard bcg.

Then there are different cam pins that wear very differently. Sometimes the point where it is starting to go back in the upper it will have what appears to be a much deeper wear mark than other uppers.

Then there are my piston uppers. Very, very different wear pattern than other bcg.

You have a non-standard bcg, and I wouldn't really worry about it.

Best 1st post in a while.