03-11-2011, 03:15 PM
Yep, that was me with the bolt lug sheared just above the extractor. It was in a rifle I built myself using what was supposed to be a really "top of the line" bolt. After the first bolt sheared, I bought another one, thinking it must be my fault. Bolt #2 also broke in the same place. So I called ARprecision for some help.
I spoke with the gunsmith there (sorry, can't remember his name) and he told me that if the face of the upper receiver isn't truly square with where it mates up with the barrel extension shoulder, when you torque the barrel into the upper, you actually end up pushing on one side or the other of the barrel extension more than the other. This uneven pressure causes uneven pressure on the bolt lugs. Here is where this story gets really good.
ARprecision wanted to figure out what was causing the breakage so they could build better rifles for other people. Keep in mind that they didn't build the rifle for me..I built it. The gunsmith there said that about 75% of the "normal" upper receivers don't have really true facing where the upper receiver and the barrel extension mate up. With AR15's, there is more material around the bolt lugs, so the problem isn't quite as noticeable.
They asked me to return the rifle, broken bolt, to them to look at. I paid for a new bolt, and they trued up the upper receiver face, checked out everything to insure that everything was square, and in spec as it should be. With the new bolt installed in the squared up receiver, I have put plenty of rounds through the rifle without a hitch. So I'm convinced in what they said as their fix worked. The really cool part is that all I had to pay for was the bolt..all the other work was done for free.
That is the second place involving the Grendel where I have received fabulous customer service. Alexander Arms was the other one. I got stung buying a rifle that was advertised as an Alexander Arms build. It turned out that the rifle was built using some Alexander Arms parts, but was not assembled by them. Bill Alexander had the entire upper rebuilt with a new Shilen barrel at a price that was truly wonderful. I guess he took pity on someone who really wanted one of his rifles, and just wanted another happy customer...he got one.
As Mr. Alexander explained: If I go to the range with a rifle that I think is an Alexander Arms rifle and it doesn't perform well, that isn't good. On the other hand, if I go to the range with an Alexander Arms rifle that performs well, and I am happy with it...that is a kind of advertising that is very hard to get. The rifle Mr. Alexander built for me won the very next precision rifle match I used it in. So, I guess he got the advertising as lots of people were asking me about the rifle. It obviously performed very well indeed.
I spoke with the gunsmith there (sorry, can't remember his name) and he told me that if the face of the upper receiver isn't truly square with where it mates up with the barrel extension shoulder, when you torque the barrel into the upper, you actually end up pushing on one side or the other of the barrel extension more than the other. This uneven pressure causes uneven pressure on the bolt lugs. Here is where this story gets really good.
ARprecision wanted to figure out what was causing the breakage so they could build better rifles for other people. Keep in mind that they didn't build the rifle for me..I built it. The gunsmith there said that about 75% of the "normal" upper receivers don't have really true facing where the upper receiver and the barrel extension mate up. With AR15's, there is more material around the bolt lugs, so the problem isn't quite as noticeable.
They asked me to return the rifle, broken bolt, to them to look at. I paid for a new bolt, and they trued up the upper receiver face, checked out everything to insure that everything was square, and in spec as it should be. With the new bolt installed in the squared up receiver, I have put plenty of rounds through the rifle without a hitch. So I'm convinced in what they said as their fix worked. The really cool part is that all I had to pay for was the bolt..all the other work was done for free.
That is the second place involving the Grendel where I have received fabulous customer service. Alexander Arms was the other one. I got stung buying a rifle that was advertised as an Alexander Arms build. It turned out that the rifle was built using some Alexander Arms parts, but was not assembled by them. Bill Alexander had the entire upper rebuilt with a new Shilen barrel at a price that was truly wonderful. I guess he took pity on someone who really wanted one of his rifles, and just wanted another happy customer...he got one.
As Mr. Alexander explained: If I go to the range with a rifle that I think is an Alexander Arms rifle and it doesn't perform well, that isn't good. On the other hand, if I go to the range with an Alexander Arms rifle that performs well, and I am happy with it...that is a kind of advertising that is very hard to get. The rifle Mr. Alexander built for me won the very next precision rifle match I used it in. So, I guess he got the advertising as lots of people were asking me about the rifle. It obviously performed very well indeed.