The gun part that fails way more than it should

[Alan]

Extractors on budget ARs seem to break constantly. I've replaced more extractors than any other part. They're cheap and easy to fix but it's annoying that they fail as often as they do..

 

[coffee_black]

maybe your extractor spring is too stiff?

I had a 7.62x39 AR that was running fine, but decided to upgrade the extractor spring to the "Colt Copper" spring, because the internet said so. This is when 7.62x39 was cheap, "before the war", when 1,000rd cases of Wolf were $230, IIRC.

The very next range outing, my first mag, the extractor broke, the only time I've ever had an extractor break. Granted, the 7.62x39 AR is one of those cases where the rim of the bolt is already marginal, but it was working fine before that. Perfect case of "cause and effect", might as well have been a flashing neon sign.

Anyways, I went and got a new extractor, "machined" billet steel. and went back to the original extractor spring, was fine after that. And, I've never had a 7.62x39 bolt break either, I guess modern metallurgy has come a long way.

I guess there's a lesson in there somewhere.

 

[Adaams]

I’ve noticed that too, especially with cheaper builds. Once I started swapping out extractor springs early on, those random failures pretty much stopped happening for me.

 

[Hitman01]

Cheap extractor springs caused most of my problems, so I switched to Sprinco upgrades and my PSA upper stopped eating parts every few thousand rounds.

 

[Homey]

At a certain price point, you’re basically just budgeting for replacement parts. Just accept it and move on.