Anyone know why my buffer tube failed this weekend other than it was a crappy part?  I have around 400 rounds through the AR that was a kit.  Was performing normally until this.  Shooting M193 ball.

http://www.sturmcity.net/images/buffer_fail.jpg

Without being able to Mic the thickness of the cap and side metal, I am going to say cheap ass part, but!!!!

Does/did the rifle seem to have a higher than normal recoil than other AR rifles that you have fired? If not, you may want to find a new supplier for parts, after you have the current one replaced by the vender.


P.S. I just love some of the names that you guys post under.  I may just have to change mine to "Runs naked behind Sheep" just to keep up with the current trend.

Bugs66,

You running a rifle buffer and spring or a carbine buffer and spring?

More info [url=http://ar15.com/forums/announcement.html?b=3&f=66&id=187]here[/url].

I have a standard A2 stock with corresponding A2 buffer assembly.

Given that then I have to agree with Dano. Where did you get the part?

I will get back to you on that when I have a resolution with the vendor.  So far they want me to send it back for examination. They said they have never seen it happen before and would replace mine.

my armalite did that. Mine was due to some bad ammo. REALLY HOT stuff. broke after about 10 rnds of it.

Armalite covered it and i had a new tube 3 days later.

mike

A couple of questions:

What does your buffer look like? Any damage?

I don't suppose the buffer tube failure allowed the bolt carrier to exceed the normal liimit of travel and impact your lower... causing any damage...?

Never seen this happen before. At what you consider the appropriate time, it would be helpful to know whose part this is.

Those are great questions. I closely re-examined the carrier, buffer, and buffer retaining pin and there is no damage whatsoever.  I had just finished shooting a magazine of 20 rounds.  The bolt locked back as usual. I began to set the rifle down on the bench and then to my surprise the stock and rifle spun around in different directions.  Weird huh?

If there's no damage to your lower, I'd say you were very lucky. Wierd parts failure....

tacked pending vendor resolution.

Make absolutely sure that your back of your bolt carrier gas key did not strike the top of the threaded ring of the lower receiver when the failure occurred.  

There have been cases where this occurred causing a crack to develop in the lower down through the takedown pin holes on both sides of the lower receiver.  

There was a pic posted on this site within the last month where the entire rear portion of the lower was broken off by the force of the impact.

Well folks - I received the replacement part back from the vendor M&A Parts.  I think I will take a few opinions at this point.  First - I am overall satisfied customer of theirs. Having said that, I need to know if this buffer tube is serviceable in your opinion.  From what I can tell, it looks like they repaired my original part.  The repair looks pretty clean. The stock screw hole isn't perfectly perpendicular to the tube, but maybe it will still work.  Is this part normally a one piece machined part?  Take a look and let me know what you think.

[img]http://www.sturmcity.net/images/arbuff1.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.sturmcity.net/images/arbuff2.jpg[/img]

I say it is time to cough-up the name of these giant assholes so we can all avoid a similiar fate !!!

He mentioned the vendor in his last post.

Anyone have a picture of what a normal buffer tube looks like?  I have a second AR from the same people and it's buffer tube sorta looks the same.  I did notice a tiny crack on the second AR that is starting. :(

WTF, repaired????????

It's a $12 part.  Why would they spend the time in man-hours fixing/shipping a $12 part when it's just cheaper to just replace it with a new one?  

Buggs, is there more to the story than you told us?  Something is not jiving with the repair on the part!  Either this whole post is a spoof, or someone is out to discredit M&A.  Surely, they wouldn’t send out a part like this to be viewed on the Internet by the thousands.

My intention is not to trash M&A at all. I would rather give them the benefit of the doubt.  I just don't want my AR to have a catostrophic failure.  I am basically seeking advice as to whether this buffer tube is serviceable or not.  You can see the pics for yourself.  Is this normal or not?  That's what I am after.  

Maybe this is how a normal buffer tube looks. I was in the Marine Corps for 6 years and don't recall them looking like that, but it's been a while and I am a little foggy.  I would appreciate some pics of other buffer tubes.

Bugs

Let me put it this way, if I received a receiver extension that was in question (or any other part), I would trash can the part, and order a new one from someone like J&T, DPMS, or Bushmaster.

I have had firearms self-destruct in my hands (read KB big time), and if there is any question of the quality/performance of a part or rifle, I'm not going to fire the weapon until it’s fixed to be 100% reliable. Just so you know, I may tweak a part here and there, but have also have had to throw away new parts. (PITA trying to get replacements parts from vendors that are just as bad as the first part they originally sent out.)

To answer your question if the back of the receiver extension breaks again (or the other receiver extension that you have) and lets the butt stock walk rearward (away from the receiver), the back of the extension is not going to stop the buffer, and what will happen is the carrier key is going to make contact with the back of lower at the top of threads for the extension.  If allowed to make contact enough times, the carrier key will crack the lower receiver.  

Bottom line, when in question, change out the part to one that you can trust.  It's way cheaper in the long run then waiting for a part to go belly up and take more than it’s self out.

[img]http://jcrisp.home.mindspring.com/_images/HesseAlumRcvr.jpg[/img]
Note the marks on the top of the threads for the receiver extension. This is were the key was making contact with the receiver, and caused it to crack.

That buffer tube is not normal, not normal at all!  I would replace both this tube and the one that is starting to crack with new, quality, buffer tubes from a real vendor/manufacturer like colt or bushmaster before taking either weapon out to shoot again.  There is a reason why parts are cheaper from places like M&A, and this is one of them.

I don't think they repaired the original part, they just sent another one of the same type, one that's been made from a piece of tubing and an end cap instead of being machined from a solid piece of metal. It's a cheap part, replace it with a quality one and be happy.

I don't think they repaired the original part, they just sent another one of the same type, one that's been made from a piece of tubing and an end cap instead of being machined from a solid piece of metal. It's a cheap part, replace it with a quality one and be happy.

I think I tend to agree with you here.  It would be lame to try and repair a cheap part like that.

I had an opportunity to check out my friends JT Dist extension tube.  To be honest, it looked almost the same as mine. A little better finish but had the same "filled in" look.  So now I am really confused as to how a "real" extension tube is supposed to look.  I might order a DPMS from Brownells to see how that looks.

Hey thanks J3 - that answers the question then.  Cheap = 2 piece extension tube, Mil-spec = solid.  I might just go ahead and get a couple from Yankee.  

Hi, I am very surprised with that type of failure. Generally speaking a welded part is not less stronger than a solid one at the conditions the weld has been well done and a proper heat treatment is done on the part to release any welding stress. It might look stupid question to ask but is the buttstock spacer was installed?
Have a nice day,
Clovis

Yep - it was installed. I have since changed my parts to mil-spec and ordered from YHM.net.  Very satisifed now. One piece tube and new aluminum spacer.