Bushmaster BAR-10

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12 years 11 months ago - 12 years 11 months ago #9474 by SplineSpider
Replied by SplineSpider on topic Re: Bushmaster BAR-10
OK, this is what I found out. After 2 10 minute waits on hold. I spoke with "Chris" customer service representative. No free replacement. but a new bolt is available and will fit my existing carrier group the new part number is F1002936 for the bolt. The price is $173.50 and there is no need to replace the Firing Pin unless there is a lot of wear as a result.

Of course my broken bolt is an original bolt with the groove around the rear stem of the bolt where it is broken. these were supposedly replaced for free as they were sold defective. See above photos of the broken bolt.

I have also emailed techsupport@bushmaster.com via the info Eagle15 posted. Thanks, I included the photos of the broken bolt I posted here. I will post their response.
Last edit: 12 years 11 months ago by SplineSpider.

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12 years 11 months ago #9476 by mtrmn
Replied by mtrmn on topic Re: Bushmaster BAR-10
Good info---I probably should get a spare bolt coming while they're still available. The part number will help I'm sure. Seems to depend on who picks up the phone as to whether there's anything available or not, and the part number should get me past that. Thanks, and let us know how the email inquiry turns out.

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12 years 11 months ago #9477 by Eagle15
Replied by Eagle15 on topic Re: Bushmaster BAR-10
This is the reply I received from RRA. It is based on the question of will their bcg work and how to get it headspaced.

As long as your rifle is based off the FAL mag it will work. You would need your local gunsmith to check the headspace on it for you.

The part number for the Bushmaster bolt is a good thing to have and I will be buying a bolt. Also I am going to get a RRA BCG as a backup.

Thank you for posting the Bolt part #.

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12 years 11 months ago #9478 by SplineSpider
Replied by SplineSpider on topic Re: Bushmaster BAR-10
Hey, anytime. Thanks for sharing the info you had. Yes the different stories about whether a bolt is available is not a confidence builder. makes me wonder if I order one that is the new part number am I getting an DPMS bolt or one that is truly made for the older BAR-10. Either way I will order one in a week and Post what I find out. Yes the rifle I have takes the metric FAL mags and I love it for that fact. So I will probably order a RRA BCG as well and put it back with a note about making sure it is head spaced before using.

Also when I get a response back from my email to techsupport@bushmaster.com I will let you know what I find out there. ;)

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12 years 11 months ago #9479 by SplineSpider
Replied by SplineSpider on topic Re: Bushmaster BAR-10
Thanks for sharing mrtmn, I will post whatever I get from Bushmaster.

Also I inquired from Bushmaster about an issue I have seen once or twice. Occasionally I have had a mag to be released and drop out of the mag well when firing. I haven't taken the time to mark and check all the mags yet but it is probably a bad magazine. Bushmaster of course said they had never heard of this before and had nothing about it in their knowledge base.

Anyone else seen this from FAL magazines?

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12 years 11 months ago - 12 years 11 months ago #9482 by mtrmn
Replied by mtrmn on topic Re: Bushmaster BAR-10
I have not had mags fall out of the gun, but about 25% of my mags are useless. FAL mags seem to vary greatly in quality, even in the same brand and with brand new mags. I bought 8 brand new mags from Palmetto State Armory new in the cosmoline--6 work OK and 2 have never fed not even 1 round. I think they are DSA mags. I hear RRA has come out with some polymer mags that are allegedly good. I need to get a couple of them and try them out.

I really think dependence on FAL mags holds back the performance of these guns, although I really like the bolt release design. My ambidextrous mag release is very hard to manipulate also. Really have to concentrate and change grip on the weapon to release a mag on mine. I removed it and polished all the surfaces and applied moly grease but nothing helped.
Last edit: 12 years 11 months ago by mtrmn.

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12 years 11 months ago #9483 by SplineSpider
Replied by SplineSpider on topic Re: Bushmaster BAR-10
Well, thanks for the info. I was wondering, and yes my ambidextrous magazine release is stiff as well. I guess that is why I suspected it. But the magazine inconsistencies runs parallel to M1 Carbines and other guns with millions of manufactured magazines by different manufacturers. I guess I just need to go through a good group of mags to find a set of ten that will function consistently.

Still no reply from techsupport@bushmaster.com I'll keep everyone posted.

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12 years 10 months ago #9682 by mtrmn
Replied by mtrmn on topic Re: Bushmaster BAR-10
Splinespider---well I've seen no activity here in about 3 weeks, so I assume that Bushmaster has not responded to your email. I sent them one on about Dec 23rd, it's now Jan 3rd and I have no answer as well. Just before coming back to work, I was out shooting and now MY bolt is broken as well-just like yours. The "tail" broke off at the groove.

I waited until after Christmas and re-sent the email. I called during the week between Christmas and New Years and got a recording saying they were closed for holidays. I re-sent the email a third time this morning.

I called this morning and finally got to talk to somebody there in the "service" dept. He told me they did not have any bolts for the old BAR10--which is about what I expected to hear. Like we said before, call 10 times and get 10 different answers from 10 different people. He told me I needed to call RRA and make sure they know that I needed the bolt for an old Bushmaster.

So, I called RRA and asked the lady for the parts/service dept. (At least a real person answered the phone, unlike BM) Waited quite a while and another lady answered who sounded quite young. :unsure: Explained what I had and asked if their bolt would work. She asked if I wanted the bolt or the whole carrier assembly, :huh: and I told her I was asking HER if I needed a carrier assembly or just a bolt. She said she'd check and came back telling me I would need the whole BCG. I thanked her and said now that I knew that I'd just order on line. Didn't really feel confident enough to ask all the other questions I had about parts interchangeability, so I left it at that. Went to RRA website and sent an email with subject "technical inquiry" and I'll see how that goes. At least I got an automated response saying they got the email. Never got ANYthing from Bushmaster.

Now waiting to see about responses before I pull the trigger on the BCG. Even though you gave the part number for the new Bushmaster bolt, For the price difference I'll just get the RRA and I'll have something I can get parts for at least. Looking at the schematic, the extractor looks different from the Bushamster and don't know what else.

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12 years 10 months ago #9683 by SplineSpider
Replied by SplineSpider on topic Re: Bushmaster BAR-10
Yes, that is true. I never got any response to my email. I guess Bushmaster just pretends that emails to questions they don't want to answer ever come in. I have not re-submitted my question to their email address but I will. The person I talked to on the phone at Bushmaster was a man. I didn't have a chance to write his name down but he took quite a while looking things up for me and I made sure he knew I was referencing the OLD BAR-10 bolt. I think our chances of ordering one from Bushmaster and it working are about 50/50. I think you have picked the better if not more expensive route. Like you said at least you will be able to get parts for it going forward, extractors etc...

I will probably follow your lead and go with a full RRA carrier group. Why is it so hard to get hold of anyone knowledgeable in these companies?!?! they could save themselves so much money, aggravation and reputation with customers if they would hire perhaps some loyal retires or other to field technical questions.

Thanks again for your input.

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12 years 10 months ago - 12 years 10 months ago #9685 by mtrmn
Replied by mtrmn on topic Re: Bushmaster BAR-10
The person I talked to at Bushmaster was a man as well--sounded like a man with an attitude so I didn't try to convince him that I had a part number for a new bolt.

I guess the waiting begins again for responses. Feels almost as long as my wait for my suppressor form 4. :dry:

Oh, your question about competent people? It's happening in every industry. I work in the oilfield and the huge equipment companies have about bought all the smaller companies. Then they cut the payscale for the technical positions and lose all the experienced people who know all about the equipment they just bought out. With the big-business attitude that they can easily replace the experienced hands with new people, they do just that and then nobody has any real working knowledge of the equipment. Our rig personnel know more about the equipment than the company technicians sent out here to fix it. We wind up training their people that are supposed to know far more than we do about the problem.
Bushmaster was bought out by Freedom Group and the facility moved to another state. Now the old EXPERIENCED Bushmaster hands are known as Windham Weaponry, still in Windham, Mn.

Sorry for the rant.... :blush:
Last edit: 12 years 10 months ago by mtrmn.

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