[Hansam]

Amazing, can you post pictures of the locking lug area of the upper? That is where my AR's foul, but I always clean them up when I get back.

I'd love to however currently my camera died when it decided to dive off my boat with me... I can actually say it it weren't for the lanyard on that danged thing it'd have stayed in the boat and alive.

Soon as I get a new camera (not exactly high on my priorities since I'm low on reloading supplies) I'll snap a few pictures. Don't worry I don't have any plans to clean the rifle so I'll still be able to get some pictures off when I can get a new camera.

Just a description though, there's some carbon buildup on it but compared to my other ARs which get regular cleaning I don't see that much difference from a gun that I'd just had at the range and put a thousand rounds through. I'd say you're right - when I spray down the BCG and bolt they're literally dripping with CLP when I put them back in so I'd wager that keeps the locking lug cleaner too. As for rust - I wouldn't have a clue really unless I cleaned off the carbon and looked at the metal beneath.

Is it the 20" full sized rifle? They seem to go on forever.

Will it still pass the gas ring test?

I figured your rings at least would need to be changed.

It is a 20" full size rifle with standard A2 stock and A2 handguard.

The rings... eh yeah I forgot about those... I mean literally. I just checked them after reading this thread and yeah... they wouldn't pass the ring test. I just changed them. I'm rather amazed by now the gun hadn't failed there but even if it did I'd consider that normal wear and tear on the gun and not the gun failing just due to fouling or being unreliable.

It is always interesting to read of accounts where people shoot lots of ammunition through a barrel and get excellent accuracy.

I'm actually one of those people who believe in at least running a moist patch (of bore cleaner) through the bore after every range session. This particular rifle was purchased with the sole intention of being abused till it failed to function due to major malfunction. As such I haven't run any patches through it.

btmj,

Umm... I had absolutely idea that my rifle couldn't possibly be working after so many rounds for all those reasons... I guess I'm going to have to go give it a good talking to and educate it on all those reasons as to why it should not still be functioning.

Seriously though most of my ARs are built off of DPMS lowers and lower parts. Thus far I haven't had any problems with them and they've had thousands and thousands of rounds through them too (albeit with regular cleaning and lube). I've got two rifles that have DMPS BCGs... and I haven't had problems with them either. I had an old Bushmaster (pre-Windham) that I got as partial payment for training a guy's dog... I put over 5,000 rounds through that and sold at a gun show for $600 a year later. That gun ate everything I fed it ranging from Tula to Sierra and kept on firing. I'd have sworn the danged thing was an AK!

Basically it IS possible to purchase a lower end AR and not have it suffer a catastrophic failure after the first thousand rounds. I'm not saying you shouldn't purchase the really high end guns but I don't have a single AR in my gun safe that would cost more than $1000 retail. Well ok I've got my long range bench baby but that's built on a DPMS lower too. Getting something like her from DPMS would run around $1600 according to the prices on their website. I could only imagine what that would amount to if you were buying from Noveske or LWRS etc.