I'm thinking about picking up an extra bolt or two in case one of mine break. I'm wondering if I should just buy an extra complete bolt & carrier group.

Is the carrier as likely to break as the bolt?

thanks

I think if you break a bolt you'll need to replace more than just the bolt...

So if a bolt cracks I'd need to replace the carrier too?

I expected someone to chime in.

Chances are you'll shoot the chamber out of the barrel before you start cracking a bolt.

or

Your pressures are way too high and your about to blow up your gun.


I have never had a cracked bolt.

Buy the Bolts first if you are on a budget.

why......Because this CAN happen.

You will wear out an upper receiver before you wear out a bolt carrier and key.  The carrier would likely be the last part to wear out on the rifle and will likely last longer than you will.  That's all assuming you don't have a KB that splits the bottom part of the carrier.

I have a Back up M4

extra bolt is all that is needed!

I like LMT MP bolts

The only spare parts you NEED are an extra AR15 or two.  If one goes down (which I doubt it will), the others can keep you entertained while you order repalacement for the broken part.

Don't waste your money otherwise.

The concerns I have about needing spare parts is not necessarily for the short run. Rather, I'm starting to think about what might come in handy but be unavailable during the next ban.

I'd like to get this stuff now if it's important and available.

....

Whoa, sorry about all the extra posts... I think I'll have another beer.

(I'm renewing my membership Friday so I won't need to be impatient anymore.)

Again, if you're worried about another ban, GET MORE GUNS!!!

Quoted: Again, if you're worried about another ban, GET MORE GUNS!!!

I have two carbines now. I'm planning two more builds before the next election. So I shouldn't worry about stocking up on spare parts?

I'm just thinking that these things could become pretty expensive paper weights if something breaks and replacement parts are no longer available.

A complete bolt and carrier is not a bad idea. I had one at one time. It transformed itself into a new rifle.  

If you can afford it, buy a complete bolt and carrier. Carrier keys do wear out occasionally, so being able to simply swap carriers and save the damaged carrier key removal/replacement for a more opportune time might be beneficial.

And bolts do crack as shown above. Just another reason why I’m so adamant  about doing proper cleaning and inspection.    

There are several ways to go on spare parts. Some people just invest in a spare bolt carrier assembly. You can lube it, put it in a Ziplock bag and put it in your range bag. You could also buy a Bushmaster "Emergency Survival Kit" or a complete extra lower parts kit for your weapon. Alternatively, you can go to a parts house, like Brownell's or Midway USA, and buy 3-4 of each important part on your AR. Since all parts do not break at an even rate, you might go through 2-4 examples of the same part while not needing any of another part. I seem to always use up the firing pin retaining pin and gas rings before anything else. Some people even buy an extra upper that would fit several ARs they have just in case. I wouldn't worry too much about parts that won't don't normally break, like trigger guards or flash hiders.

Think about what parts could fail and render your weapon useless. The bolt, the extractor, the firing pin, the cam pin, the firing pin retaining pin, the gas key, the bolt carrier, the gas tube, the buffer, the trigger, the hammer, etc. These are the things you need to have extras for. In Houston, at most, only one or two stores carry replacement AR parts. If the SHTF, I don't want to be at the mercy of any store that might or might not be open and I sure don't want to have to depend on UPS or the USPS to get something to me. A relatively small investment now can pay big dividends later if you really need something.

A couple other things to stock up on are cleaning supplies (particularly CLP and patches), ammo and of course, extra magazines.

Good luck mate.

My back up kit(s) have grown quite a bit, but a good starter set of spare parts might consist of the following:

1) Complete extra bolt
2) 2X extra extractors
3) 2X firing pins
4) 2X hammer, trigger, extractor, and ejector springs.
5) 2X ejecters
6) Extra cotter key for F pin
7) 1 set of Trigger/Hammer pins


As mentioned above, you might not break any of a part that is one of the mre breakage prone parts and 2 of a part you didnt think would ever break. Myself, I have collected aprox 3X all small parts that make up an AR with the thought that I'll keep putting together rifles with all those parts anyway. If something breaks before those 3 guns are complete, I'll just pick up a spare when I can.

Nice setup Quib. I wish I were that organized.

Quib just needs to add the NSN to his part labels and he will be IAW Mil-Std-130.

That level of detail quib has posted comes in real handy when your looking for parts. I use 50 cal ammo cans for everything. Had to tell what is in what can. 3 out of the 15 cans contain gun parts, rest all different types of ammo.

first i find the right can (1911, ar, or everything else) then I hunt in the can for the parts. Then I go looking in the butstock cleaning kits for maybe some spares.

Great way to spend 20 min. looking for a part on a 30 sec job.

Quoted: Nice setup Quib.

Thanks.