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I'm considering changing to a match bolt carrier with the firing pin shroud, after reading Zediker's "The New Competitive AR15". Browsing through Brownell's, it looks like there are 3; DPMS, JP, and Les Baer (what I'm leaning towards). Does anyone have any experience with any of these? Any opinions welcome. Thanks.
P.S. FYI, I'm a relative newbie to ARs; still compete with an M1A.
I have a NM chrome bolt carrier group from Spikes Tatical. It is very tight in the upper and if dirt or if it's a little dry then it does not want to pick up the next round. Shooting wise I shot with the NM BCG and put 5 shots inside a quarter at 100 yds off a bench. I then cleaned and put my spare Colt M16 BCG in and actually shot a slightly tighter group (little over a dime). I was using 69gr match ammo. I am not sure if I would have spent the money again. I like the Les Baer BCG so I might have gone with that if I would have been thinking when I picked up the Spikes. Do not get me wrong I like my spikes BCG just not sure if it was a great value after I shot with my spare BCG.
for the most part, they are a waste of money. The chromed carriers are often oversized and lead to jamming. I've never seen one that made a gun shoot better. Just use a standard carrier in good condition and spend your money on improvements that equate to better scores, i.e. trigger, sights, barrel, etc.
"tighter is better" does not apply to AR15's. It is funny to find out how loose one of those things can be, and still shoot match quality groups.
However a heavier bolt carrier is a good thing. Your statement about a shrouded firing pin means that the carrier you are thinking of has extra metal. That is good.
It will add a pico second of dwell, which may be easier on the brass, and it will add weight to strip off a round and close the bolt. Which improves reliability.
Might want to think of adding a Tubb weight. I have one on every match rifle.
Liftrat,
Save the money spent on the carrier, and spend it on practice ammo. The NM bolt carrier will do NOTHING for the scores, practice will. When your just starting out it is easy to try and spen money to improve scores. We have all been guilty of somewhere along the line. A standard bolt carrier is all you will ever need. As a side note I am not a big fan of Glen. I feel he parrots info, instead of learing what works from experience.
John
Thanks all. You've given me food for thought. I was interested in the NM carrier primarily, as slamfire1 surmised, for a little slower cycling and reliability. The Tubb weights might be a good alternative, too; I'll look into them.
I know that gizmos don't take the place of practice, I was more concerned with rifle function with the above question. I appreciate everyone's input.
A rotary multi lug bold locks up pretty consistently every time, that is where the precision is on an AR. The rest can be really sloppy and to a certain extent that is desirable. As far as chrome plated parts go: the plating requires the removal of metal or a smaller part originally, the plating makes up the difference. This can turn out an off sized component with ease. Plating also weakens the parent metal as the plating is very hard and strong. The plating of the chamber and bore is a whole different deal. In military weapons the chrome is applied at manufacture and the result is a very precise finished product. Almost necessary on an Infantry rifle, not needed at all on a match rifle. My Colt 1-12 Army chrome barrel shoots very well however. Since I have a lot of 55s it will stay. I always ask myself this question; what do the good shooters use? They can make anything an NM part, but is it really different and will it make the rifle better? The trigger group is lousy on the stock rifles and that's a really good place to spend your money. My RRA 2 stage trigger is the best thing I've ever done to the rifle. For $96.
Dave, I agree about the RRA trigger; a great value for the money. I was just starting to play around with the 69gr and over bullets when our range shut down for the season, so I guess I really should see how the rifle behaves with them before I go changing things. I suppose I look on the AR platform as a little delicate after shooting M1s and M1As, but maybe that's not the case? I've appreciated your posts on the old site; thanks for your insight.
Liftrat,
You might find the CWS not needed. I borrowed onr to try and found out that in the rapid fire stages the extra weight brought the entire gun forward and caused a few doubles as it would hit my trigger finger. Some like it but I have found if you keep your loads sane there really is no need.
John