broken lug dangers?

[cst]

Obviously no one wants to shoot a gun if one of the bolt lugs breaks....but how dangerous is it to continue shooting? Im sure people have shot guns under rapid fire or stress to not even know until its time to strip it down...

[LRRPF52]

Another one will break next. I personally wouldn't shoot it like that.

[cst]

I don't mean to shoot intentional for 5 more range days but if i could continue to shoot it to finish off the day...whether i knew it happened or not...
i guess im asking if a lug breaks is it considered a catastrophic event or just an inconvenience that has to be eventually addressed....

Let me rephrase ....everyone at some point has talked about over pressure with Grendels and lug breakage.... i dont leave home without a spare bolt but if i dont realize its happened during a shoot how dangerous is it...?

[rwh]

There should be some margin in the bolt strength to allow it to function for a while with one lug missing, maybe even with two lugs missing, but I wouldn't advise anyone to fire a rifle knowing that one of the bolt lugs had broken. It's common when a lug breaks that the broken piece will end up preventing the bolt from going into battery. Your rifle shouldn't blow up between when the lug breaks and the next cleaning, but it's not smart to push it.

[1911man]

I broke 2 off in my 7.62x39 ar last year and kept firing it without knowing. I started having a bunch of fliers and recoil felt different. I would say I shot at least 10 rounds. I would not recommend shooting in that condition

[LR1955]

I don't mean to shoot intentional for 5 more range days but if i could continue to shoot it to finish off the day...whether i knew it happened or not...
i guess im asking if a lug breaks is it considered a catastrophic event or just an inconvenience that has to be eventually addressed....

Let me rephrase ....everyone at some point has talked about over pressure with Grendels and lug breakage.... i dont leave home without a spare bolt but if i dont realize its happened during a shoot how dangerous is it...?

I don't think it particularly dangerous but you will notice it pretty quickly. I have had a couple with the Grendel back in the day when there weren't hardened bolts like today. In some cases,the broken lug fell into the barrel extension and the bolt would not shut. I have also seen the lug fly out of the ejection port on extracton of brass. In some cases, the brass would not eject. If I shot the rifle again, it would not feel right, brass didn't extract or eject properly, sound was a bit different.

I don't think it will blow up your rifle but when you realize the lug or lugs were sheared, you need to stop shooting and fix it.

LR55

[bwaites]

I've had a couple experimental bolts break and both times the broken pieces went places that caused malfunctions on the next round. When I cleared them, the bolt would close, but I always figured that Stoner knew what he was doing when he designed it and those lugs were necessary for safe function!

Of course if I was on the two way range, I'd probably have kept right on chugging until it wouldn't run!