[LONEWOLF]

I recently purchased a SA socom 16 I bought two mil surp mags off ctd for about 25 bucks a piece anyway I'm trying to figure out if the wear on the bottom of my slide after 40 rounds is because of the mil surp mags or if this is normal wear and tear it seems purely cosmetic no steel ripped off or anything but the black fihish is gone in one area I will buy SA mags if I have to 1600 dollar gun to be ruined by 25 dollar mags please help thanks

 

[Happysniper1]

bottom of my slide

A slide on a rifle? Do you mean the bolt?

Please consult this diagram and see if you can clarify, or better yet, post a pic?

http://www.chestnutridge.com/14pic.asp

 

[LONEWOLF]

wrong nomenclature

I meant the bolt it is the portion visible from the magazine well

 

[Happysniper1]

Are you certain it is the magazine lips that are scraping?

Just trying to help isolate the issue....

On AR15s, a certain amount of initial wear is to be expected, especially if the owner assembled it himself and not a factory with all same-brand parts. Since this is the case with your rifle (assembled at the factory), signifiant wear is generally not a good sign. In may be the mags, it may be tolerances between the bolt and other components. A pic would be very helpful!

 

[Happysniper1]

Oh, and remember, some wear is normal, excessive wear is not.

Did you clean and oil it before shooting? Some guns are shipped with a coating (or an application) of thick oil/grease, meant as a rust preventative and not specifically as a lubricant. This needs to be removed, weapon cleaned, and properly lubricated before shooting.

To test if wear spots still remain, get some dry erase markers (or sharpies) and mark the current areas of wear. Dry-fire or test fire, then examine the marked areas; you will notice immediately if the wear spots remain. Also an effective way of identifying what the part is rubbing on!

And finally: remember that all weapons need to be broken-in when new. This could be an little as a hundred rounds or so, or as many as 3-500 rounds. Break in your barrel carefully (is it chrome-lined?).

 

[LONEWOLF]

forgot i posted this...just in case people run across this after they see my ad to sell it i want you to know that when i noticed this supposed issue with the mags i was looking at it in poor lighting i used a flashlight there was no scraping it was shadowing from the poor lighting if there is any question i will be glad to send a pic of the bottom of the bolt

 

[SeventiesWreckers]

If there was a clearance problem with the top of the mag, it would damage the mag in an obvious way. The bolt has a normal surface contact with the next unfired round, which pops up as the bolt travels rearward past it during the firing cycle. Then as the bolt picks up the next round in a forward direction to chamber it, the bottom of the bolt is once again in contact with the next round in the mag.