Just wondering...

Does the excessive headspace that can be caused if using a new/different bolt apply if you change the carrier instead?

Will the change of carrier affect anything enough to seriously comprimise the guns safety/ preformance?

Thanks allot!

You should have no problems swapping out bolt carriers in your rifle.

carriers yes. bolt no

What if you permanently switch a bolt over to another reciever for good?

Is that okay?

CRC

I've cracked my bolt carrier because of a KB,it was a fully enclosed one from olyarms, I've swapped a colt one (the one with the full cut)and so far my ar is running great (knock on wood..), but the bolt remained the same.

Unless the rifle's barrel extension or the bolt is excessively worn, swapping bolts will not hurt.  I would not make a habit of it, as each bolt/barrel extension sets up a wear pattern, and that has to be reestablished with a new combination.

Neither will swapping bolt carriers.

About how many rounds do you all think it takes on a new rifle and bolt carrier group to set up this "wear" pattern?  What would you all consider to be excessive wear in order for it to become unwise to swap bolts/carriers in a AR?

Does not hurt to swap carriers.

After a few hundred rounds, the bolt and barrel have broken in to each other.

If you were to continue to swap parts, it would cause a little accellerated wear, as each combination of new parts would have to wear together.

The "headspace problem" with military pattern rifles is way overblown by gunsmiths who used to work on old worn out imported WWI and WWII junk that came into the country by the gazillions in the 1950's and 60's.  The design and manufacturing process of the AR15/M16 design allow it to be assembled with new or near new parts with no problems.  Unless the parts are extremely worn, there will not be headspace problems.  

I have often swapped bolt carriers and bolts among rifles in troubleshooting problems.

Would it still be wise to get some headspace guages if you swapped a bolt even once? Or would this be unecessary?

As cheap as headspace gauges are and as expensive as eye surgery is it wouldn't be a bad idea.

If it gives you piece of mind why not?  They aren't very expensive and you can always use them if you ever rebarrel too.

If it bothers you this much, do not swap bolts. It is not like they are so expensive you cannot afford to dedicate one to each upper.

Thats not the point, im thinking I need to stockpile lots more AR parts... at least 2 carriers to a rifle, one extra bolt, 4 extractors, tons of springs, 5 or six firing pins, two fire controll groups... and an extra barrel for starters.

Two carriers?? Why for gosh sakes, Shoot, two of my carriers (in two different rifles) have held together for close to 30 years, and they were Viet Nam milsurp to begin with [:D]

In 30 years of AR15 ownership ,the only part I've ever had to replace was the extractor spring in my SP1. Right now, with 6 ARs in the rack, I've got two spare extractors, half a dozen extractor springs, two firing pins, and some odds and ends action springs that kind of put themselves into the parts box over the years.

Use the bucks to buy ammo to practice with. unless you're planning on building more ARs up.[:D]