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Posted: 5/18/2013 5:23:40 AM EDT
I have a issue with my new AR-15. When I took it to the range it fired great and everything worked. When I took it apart to clean it the buffer pin and spring came out causing the cocking spring to fly forward. This damaged the buffer spring. I ordered new buffer pins and springs and when I replaced them it did the same thing. What would be causing this buffer pin to come out like this. I need advise fast please. Thank You.
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| I actually built two of these. One of them is my father-in-laws. He will be picking it up in a couple of weeks. That's why I am in a hurry. The lower receivers are the ATI polymers from Palmettos. We built quite a few of them with no issues at all. When we put this one together the tube was extremely hard screwing into the receiver. I wasn't the one actually doing it. It was a friend of mine who has several builds under his belt. He was confident that it was screwed all the way in but I remember it was very hard. |
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Your parts description has me a tad confused.
The buffer and recoil spring should be retained in the receiver extension via the buffer retaining pin when the upper is removed. The buffer retaining pin and buffer retaining pin spring are retained in the lower receiver via the end of the receiver extension, which the end of the receiver extension lip should be on top of the outer flats of the buffer retaining pin, with the end of the tube just about kissing the center pin of the buffer retaining pin. If the center pin of the buffer retainer was snapped off, then this could have happen with pushing the buffer back and releasing it to charge into the retainer pin to shear it off, the tip of the pin too tall and caught on the bottom of the carrier, or as stated in the prevous post, could have been that the channel for the buffer retaining pin was drill too far back in the receiver, and when the upper is locked home against the lower, the back of the bolt carrier is not pushing the buffer off the pin (read the buffer should never contact the buffer retaining pin when the upper is locked home. But there is a quick way to check if the buffer retaining pin channel was incorrectly located in the lower receiver, and this will show up with dents in the buffer face at the outer perimeter. As for back to the install of the buffer retainer in the receiver, as stated, the end of the receiver extension tube lower lip should be about kissing the center pin, and depending on the lower receiver tube used such as in a carbine, the end of the tube may need to be faces so it can be threaded in another wind to correctly index the stock, while at the same time index the butt stock correctly as well. So on that note, get back to us with the condition of the buffer face so we can tell if the buffer retainer pin channel was correctly located in the stock, and if you need assistance of correctly indexing the receiver extension so it correctly indexes the stock, while at the same time, correctly seats over the outer flat of the buffer retaining pin to kiss the center pin of the buffer retaining pin. |
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Thanks for all the advice here. I will take all I can get. I am going to hook up with my buddy on Monday and have him look this thing over and refer to these posts.
If we can't come up with anything I will post more after that. I do know that it would have been virtually impossible to screw that buffer tube into the lower receiver anymore turns. That's how hard it was going in. Other than putting some kind of tools on it in a vise which I would be afraid of doing damage then. I will get back with you on this. Thanks again. I don't want to hand my father-in-law a faulty gun. |
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Quoted:
Thanks for all the advice here. I will take all I can get. I am going to hook up with my buddy on Monday and have him look this thing over and refer to these posts. If we can't come up with anything I will post more after that. I do know that it would have been virtually impossible to screw that buffer tube into the lower receiver anymore turns. That's how hard it was going in. Other than putting some kind of tools on it in a vise which I would be afraid of doing damage then. I will get back with you on this. Thanks again. I don't want to hand my father-in-law a faulty gun. What stock is in play??? If a carbine, then you need to back the castle nut and back plate off first. If a fixed stock and the end of the tube is not just about kissing the center pin of the buffer retainer when threaded all the way in, then sounds like something is out of spec, and may have to face the stop collar of the tube to get it to protrude into the receiver to kiss the retainer pin center pin instead. |
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OK after hearing what you guys are saying and seeing that photo I pulled both AR's out to examine them today. The one in question that I am having the issue with the tube is not touching the buffer pin. On the other AR (they are identical) it is which is not allowing that pin to come out. I thought that the bolt return spring was what was supposed to hold that pin down. I am not the most familiar person with these guns as you can tell. This is my first one and I am learning.
As I stated before the issue is going to be trying to get one more turn on that tube. It was all we could do to get it to the point where it is. I really don't want to get into ordering more parts because he is supposed to pick this gun up in two weeks. He has waited a long time for it and it is paid for. I will take it to my buddys place tomorrow and we will see what we can do. Like I said before, short of putting it in a vise and using some tools I don't think we can turn it another turn by hand. There could have been a small defect in either the lower receiver or the tube. The threads looked good. We even put oil on them to try to make it easier. Would it be out of the question to try the vise and tools trick to get another turn out of it? I can try to use rags or something to keep from scratching it. Thanks for all the help here. |
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Quoted:
As I stated before the issue is going to be trying to get one more turn on that tube. It was all we could do to get it to the point where it is. Sounds like your threads are wrong, or it got cross-threaded. A carbine receiver extension should go in with easy finger pressure until it has the correct overlap of the buffer retainer pin. It then gets locked in by torqueing the telestock nut into the latch plate. |
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OK. Well we finally got a chance to work on this thing. Surprisingly it came back apart easier than I thought. We put a little breech plug greese on the threads and it went right in with ease and all is well now. That is a load off my mind. Thanks to all of your for your help on this. I didn't wait for my buddy who helped me build it. Me and my neighbor tackled it yesterday and it went fine.
Thanks again. |
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