Keeping spares and keeping your rifle going long term

Outdoor Life Survival | Prep | Gear
27

Excellent article and I agree with it to a tee. That right there though will be a friction point among the American gun community. As Americans we like to have choice and enjoy being different. With that comes the AK vs AR vs CETME/HK vs DI vs Gas Piston vs Delayed Roller Lock vs etc, etc, etc.

If folks are going to be honest with themselves when reading this article and want to own a “weapon system” that will be long term and easily maintained with easy to get parts, then the AR is the clear winner.

Barrel, bolt, bolt components, fire control components, springs, gas components, furniture, magazines, etc are easily sourced and easily replaced/installed with either no special tools or a minimum of specialty tools.

Now some are close, but none meet the ease of the AR platform.

When it comes to quality, many have already been listed. Spikes, LMT, LWRC, BCM, DD, AP, CMMG, and the list easily goes on. One only has to do a little research.

When it comes to the AR I’m a firm believer in the DI platform and keeping it as “mil-spec” as possible. Is this a knock against gas pistons? Not at all. I own piston guns and enjoy them. My favorite is my Faxon, which is a hybrid AR/AK, but when it comes to parts it is expensive and except for a couple of parts has no commonality with either the AK or AR.

So when I think long term and maintenance then my go to rifles are my M4 clone and MK12 clone. Simple DI rifles with easy DI gas system that are simple to maintain, BCGs that are easy to maintain, FCGs easy to maintain, and barrels easily replaced with a breaker bar, tongue wrench, vise and block.

So simple a cave man can do it. :sunglasses:

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32

A good informative article. For my AR10’s I picked up the complete AR10 field repair kit. The former Armalite Master Armorer consulted with a lot of people to develop that kit and did a great job for that specific firearm. I will be looking for some comparable kits for my other rifles now.

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33

2 posts were split to a new topic: Armalite vs DPMS pattern AR10s

35

It’s a bit diffrent for me then most people in ways
I don’t really go out to eat or Starbucks or fancy clothes watches jewelry things of that nature
If I have a extra 60 bucks I’d rather buy a part/parts or magazines with that you’d be suprised how fast they add up
Later on I may decide not to use it so I’ll eother keep it or list it in a market place or sell it to someone I’m doing work for and get my cash back out of it
It helps when you want to build something as well and you can say I have this I have that all I need is this
Just my .02 on how I acquire parts

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36

https://forum.full30.com/t/back-up-parts-for

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37

5 posts were split to a new topic: AK maintenance

43

What parts ?

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65

5 posts were split to a new topic: Feedback on .450 Bushmaster

70

Murphy sez when something breaks that will be the only part you don’t have.

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74

7 posts were split to a new topic: Are Ballistic Advantage barrels any good?

79

I have several parts kits and BCG repair kits for both large and small frame AR’s. Most are Armalite kits but I do have a D. Wilson kit for DPMS based 308 AR BCG’s. Several extra barrels of assorted configurations, gas blocks, gas tubes, FCG’s, basically several extra rifles waiting to be put together. I also have parts kits for all my pistols, besides extra magazines a parts kit is the first thing I look for when I buy a new pistol. Never can have enough spare parts :+1:

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80

AR-15 spare parts.

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AK-47 spare parts.

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81

I figured you’d have a tackle box full…

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82

Those are my going to the range boxes of parts.
Here is my inventory.

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83

That’s more like it, that’s what I expected!:sunglasses:

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87

What do you have for your Tavor?

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89

Chiming in… I have 2 bolt rebuild kits for the TAVOR and the X95 for each rifle we own. Hahahhahaa they include firing pins. I also have trigger groups.

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92

Not that much lol just trigger parts and a firing pin thus far

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96

Totally agree you need full parts sets for firearm parts.
I also try to keep a stock of replacement bbls or at least blanks that could be. I have had enough squibs over the years I got worried about this and started buying backup bbls. (no, not reloads, just a lot of milsurp).

Mostly I look for the parts that would be tricky to make from scratch, those are the things you need back up for. Springs and such can be made pretty easily from piano wire.

If I get too many backups they tend to become whole firearms which sort of defeats the purpose.

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97

I am not sure if whole firearms actually do defeat the purpose of having spare parts. Much easier to grab a new rifle that has already been function tested than to take the time to figure out what went wrong… (situation dependent of course!)
I think there is a balance to it all. Having complete spare uppers and lowers, ready to go is not a bad thing. Having all the little parts is a good thing too. Not having to rely of of just one rifle is a good thing…
Something I am slowly working on is to have a spare bolt action rifle in all my rifle calibers. I keep searching for a good .223 bolt gun… I have not found one I love so far… maybe because I am just not a big fan of bolt guns. Hahhaha
They are what they are…
As for brands, my lists is constantly changing… we have had great success with FN barrels. Not the most accurate thing out there, but decent. They last, that’s what is great about them. You can buy them, or, you can buy them in Spikes Tactical assembled uppers (they offer 2 with FN barrels) ready to go.

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