bolt broke? - AR15.COM

Posted: 3/10/2002 7:22:02 AM EDT

I WAS AT THE RANGE A COUPLE OF MONTHS AGO GOT MY AR OUT LOADED UP AND FIRED THREE ROUNDS WHEN I WENT TO SQUEEZE THE TRIGGER ON THE 4TH ROUND NOTHING HAPPENED I ROLLED THE RIFLE OVER AND THE BOLT LOOKED LIKE A STOVE PIPE STICKING OUT OF THE EJECTION PORT. IT HAD BROKE INTO, WHERE THE CAM PIN GOES THROUGH. ANYONE ELSE EVER HAVE THIS PROBLEM? MY THREE YEARS IN THE MILITARY I NEVER SAW THIS AND CANT FIND ANYONE ELSE WHO HAS SEEN THIS? THANKS FOR THE HELP.

Posted: 3/10/2002 8:08:27 AM EDT

[#1]

I personally have never heard of this. Was it the bolt or the carrier. What is the make of your rifle?

Posted: 3/10/2002 8:21:00 AM EDT

[#2]

IT WAS JUST THE BOLT THE CARRIER WAS OK. THE RIFLE IS A OLY 16' WITH THE M4 BARREL. I SENT THE BOLT BACK TO OLY 3 MONTHS AGO AND HAVENT HEARD ANYTHNG. SO I BOUGHT A COLT BOLT AND IT SHOOTS FINE.

Posted: 3/10/2002 8:28:12 AM EDT

[#3]

It must have been a Professional Ord AR. I have read guys posting that happening to them.

Posted: 3/10/2002 9:07:50 AM EDT

[#4]

does oly have something to do with professional ordinace?it is a pcr00 i bought from the oly dealer out of chatanooga tn. it's a new rifle. ive put maybe 1000 rounds through it. looking at the break it looked like cast metal instead of ordinance steel. did they make some cast bolts?

thanks

Posted: 3/10/2002 10:20:08 AM EDT

[#5]

Wow.. i was at a match yesterday and there was a guy on my squad with a 16 inch m-4 upper from Oly arms... his bolt carrier had broken as well.. he is currently looking for a bushmaster upper to replace his Oly...

Posted: 3/10/2002 10:31:58 AM EDT

[#6]

m-60 sounds like oly put out a bunch of bad bolts and im a victim .

thanks

Posted: 3/10/2002 10:42:33 AM EDT

[#7]

I have seen one broken out of a Professional Ordinance AR. As someone stated earlier, it looked like it was cast, but I am no expert. It looked like the cross section of a broken die cast toy - rough edge like it had tiny bubbles in it...

Posted: 3/10/2002 10:52:06 AM EDT

[#8]

A bolt on an AR15 should never break. That is a critical component and to hear of a bolt and a carrier breaking from two different members is enough to make me wonder about the overall quality of the other components in an Oly arms weapon. The important thing is that no one was injured during these incidents.

Posted: 3/10/2002 10:57:18 AM EDT

[#9]

I think the bolts are made from 8620 case-hardening alloy steel. This breaking is probably a result of excessive case depth and the brittle case meeting in the center of the thin sections near the cam pin hole. There needs to be some of the tough "core" left to hold things together.

Posted: 3/10/2002 10:58:10 AM EDT

[#10]

Bolts break from time to time, especially at the cam pin hole, it's a fact. ANY bolt can fail.

Posted: 3/10/2002 11:11:14 AM EDT

[#11]

thanks guys your right shadowblade it looked like a broken die cast toy. the rifle has functioned flawlessly till now. but i dont think oly will get anymore of my money.
luckily im not one eyed now .

thanks guys

Posted: 3/10/2002 11:31:32 AM EDT

[#12]

Quoted:
thanks guys your right shadowblade it looked like a broken die cast toy. the rifle has functioned flawlessly till now. but i dont think oly will get anymore of my money.
luckily im not one eyed now .

thanks guys

that's problably what it was a die cast toy!

Posted: 3/10/2002 8:16:35 PM EDT

[#13]

Bolts do break, but 9 times out of 10 it's an Oly bolt !! Since your experiencing Oly cust service I won't go there ! Oly's waranty seems to end once you fire the first round so good luck.....

Posted: 3/10/2002 8:34:42 PM EDT

[#14]

If you can, please check this: Did the bolt have the letters MP stamped/engraved on the shaft? It'd be visible with the bolt still attached to the carrier, just extended.

That MP means Magnetic Particle inspected, which is something you want on any bolt you're ever going to put in your AR. I would NOT use any bolt that wasn't an MP marked one. My
eyes and face are worth far too much to me to take that chance.

CJ

Posted: 3/11/2002 12:09:08 AM EDT

[#15]

When bolts do break, the cam pin hole is usually where they break. That's why you should inspect it when you clean it (or quarterly per TM). I bet if had you inspected it you would have seen a crack. Oly has a lifetime guarantee so I would contact them for a replacement bolt.

Posted: 3/11/2002 12:16:43 AM EDT

[#16]

BTW, this is the first I've heard of a rash of Oly bolts breaking, and I've been around a long time.

Besides, they don't make their own bolts, they buy them from military suppliers, like Colt, Bushmaster, and all the rest of them. No AR manufacturer makes their own bolts.

Posted: 3/11/2002 5:22:23 AM EDT

[#17]

Big Bear nailed it, everyone pretty much has the same bolts as long as they are mil-spec. I have seen this exact same break on a Bushmaster 10.5" SBR with less than 500 rounds through it.

Scared the crap out of the guy shooting it when he realized what had / could have hapened.

I have owned many ARs through the years from all sorts of manufacturers. This has never happened to me, but I figure that it will some day. Just a good reason to keep a spare mil-spec bolt around IMHO.

Saleen

Posted: 3/11/2002 4:30:42 PM EDT

[#18]

Oops, I just double checked TM -23 and it says bolts should be inspected for cracks quarterly, not yearly. I corrected the error in my post above.

Quarterly means every three months.

Of course the TM applies to military weapons, but you get the point. A mil spec bolt is subject to cracking or breaking. For civilian use, I'd just inspect it every time I clean it. And don't forget to put it back in or the rifle will blow up first time it's fired.

Posted: 3/11/2002 5:51:57 PM EDT

[#19]

it wasnt stamped anywhere i could find. and ive sent it back its been a couple of months so i should hear something soon. i do check it every time i clean it the finish hadnt even started to wear yet but i guess i could have had a crack i would have thought it would have broken before now though.

thanks guys.

Posted: 3/11/2002 11:19:48 PM EDT

[#20]

When I first got my Oly in 91, the bolt broke on it with in the first 2 mags. I took it back to Federal Way Discount Guns (I know better now!), and I had my new upper in 3 days!!! I can not and will not speak poorly of Oly's service, cause they did me right!

Edited because I can't spell tonight!

Posted: 3/12/2002 7:24:06 AM EDT

[#21]

Wait with the judgement on Olympic Arms... It was stated earlier in the thread it was a "PCR 00". That is the designation for the Oly stripped lower receiver. This is possibly a parts gun made out of only god knows what components. There is a strong likelihood the upper is not even related to Olympic Arms.

Posted: 3/12/2002 11:00:07 AM EDT

[#22]

Hmmm...

A close friend had two lugs break off on his pre-ban Oly (a fairly new rifle) about a year ago...when he sent it back, however, they provided him with GREAT customer service, and he stills swears by Oly today.

Posted: 3/12/2002 1:14:47 PM EDT

[#23]

I posted a little over a year ago about my Oly m-4gery's bolt snapping at the cam pin hole. Since I was using LC ammo Olympic Arms told me to get bent. About a month ago my bolt hold open lever snapped in half. I will never use another oly again, Since the bolt incedent I have only bought Colt's and Bushmaster's ar-15's (not that I am exempt from having problems with these)

idaho-ar15

Posted: 3/12/2002 1:20:00 PM EDT

[#24]

just a question so were there no complete pcr rifles? i bought it complete and was under the impresion it was a complete factory rifle. the barrel is stamped ss oly said it was a stainless barrel. i bought it from a oly dealer. and i never said i didnt like the rifle hell i have to defend it every time im at the range. like i said its been a good rifle. maybe the dealer sold me a parts gun i dont know. that may also be why they havent sent me a new bolt.

im not trying to run a anti-oly thread here!!just wondering if anyone else had this problem?

Posted: 3/13/2002 1:18:35 AM EDT

[#25]

I've been wondering about all these Oly bolt problems. I have a theory here. I think because Oly chambers are known to be tight, and they're not chrome lined, it puts more stress on the bolt and extractor during the extraction phase. I had to replace the extractor on my preban Oly about five years ago. IIRC, somebody had a Oly bolt that broke at the lugs. It makes sense to me that a bolt that's put under more stress, including at the cam pin hole, would be more likely to break than... say, a bolt used in a rifle with a mil-spec (larger) chrome lined (slicker) chamber. I think polishing the chamber in an Oly barrel and keeping the internals cleaned and well lubed would alleviate, or at least lessen the bolt stress problem.

Just my $0.02 worth.

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