[Pistolkitty]

So the husband has an Armalite ar30a1 in .338 lapua mag. Bought sometime pre-2009.somewhere along the line he got a recall notice involving the 'Striker Cocking Pin'. He got a card to fill out and a usps priority shipping box with instructions to ship back the bolt assembly for repair. He figured he'd get around to it, life happened, it got misplaced, then it got found, then it ended up in storage and still life was happening. Anyway, a couple years ago he had his rifle out to check it was still on. He was all set up to shoot in prone, he opened the bolt, loaded a round, closed the bolt, and the round went off- no trigger pull. Obviously a problem. So he removed the bolt and put it up. At some point after that we found the recall card. Finally got around to emailing armalite last week. Glad we didn't just pack up the bolt per instructions and send it. They emailed back saying that they discontinued that rifle 12 years ago and now no longer have the parts and therefore aren't honoring the recall anymore, but that we could maybe find parts on ebay or something.
I asked what the exact issue was and the exact parts, and how to ascertain a good from a bad so that we dont end up buying someone elses recalled parts or the wrong parts, and he said they had a guy that has worked there longer than 12 years that may be able to help that should email back here soon.
Looked at the expanded diagram of the bolt assembly so Iwe could find what the striker cocking pin looks like, which is the part noted on the recall card- and I don't see one called that. There's striker rod, striker pin, cocking piece, etc, but no 'Striker cocking pin' as noted on the card. I'm thinking it's the 'cocking piece' but maybe I'm all wrong, I'm no smith.
Did a preliminary search on ebay but didn't invest a lot of time- may look deeper while the kid is at eye doctor today. So far all I found was parts for other models and old owners manuals and collectible armalite stuff. We are curious to see what this other armalite guy has to say.
Anyone here have experience disassembling a bolt assembly? Are there specialized tools needed or at least hacks? Any tips? I'll keep you posted on this process and probably have even more questions, but I thought maybe moonz or rach or ajole- or anyone else- would be able to add their 2 cents and their gunsmithy qualities.
Thanks guys!

 

[lklawson]

I have no experience with that firearm but I've heard that Brownells is super helpful and have on-staff smiths who might give you some direction. For spare parts, I often start with Numrich online.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

 

[ajole]

Ajole has zero ideas beyond Brownells/Numrich, as Kirk mentioned.

But I will say....that gun may be a candidate for selling as parts, I would imagine those that have one are willing to spend a bit to get spare bits.

 

[moona11]

I would not touch on it unless I actually had hands on. Sorry its one of those to dangerous to mess with guns online.

 

[Pistolkitty]

Selling is an option and we would make good money, but we really don't want to. It's an amazing rifle and round. It's the only gun he has named (Big Bertha)!

Will definitely check those places for parts but I think it'd be a long shot considering Armalite hasn't made or had the part(s) in question in stock in over a decade.

 

[Pistolkitty]

Well no luck on either site. There isn't much out there on these rifles on the interwebs in general. Just searched 'armalite ar30a1 bolt assembly' and the 4th thing that came up was this post.

 

[Pistolkitty]

Geeze I hope armalite gets back to us, might be shit out of luck.

Minor update, i think it's an ar30, not the ar30a1. The more research we did and the more B recalled about when he bought it- with ptsd and tbi sometimes dates and time frames as well as other stuff- as some of you know- get mixed up. I'm going to search the serial when I get back home to it.

Also he clarified that it didn't fire when he closed the bolt, it fired when he flipped off the safety. Again booger hooks nowhere near trigger well. He said he stripped and cleaned and relubed bolt, put it back together and used a spent casing and worked the action a bunch, on/off safety, tried to get it to do it again but it wouldn't.

And I want to say that this is a little over my head- so if I've typed anything that sounds stupid, it's me not understanding or misinterpreting what he is telling me, not him. He knows his shit, but he knows that he's not a gunsmith.

 

[ajole]

Wonder if it’s “really” an issue, or just the same issue as the Remington trigger, which was fine…unless you pulled the trigger while on safe, and then actuated the safety and….boom.
I mean…that’s not perfectly safe…but if you are aware and following the gun rules, it’s not “unsafe”.

Like Moonz….I’m totally speculating, without seeing and touching the gun, NOTHING I’m saying is a recommendation, nor anything but a WAG.

 

[Pistolkitty]

I found a pdf of a letter to lgs's from armalite describing the nature of the recall and asking them to return any stock they have and get them contact info on all purchasers of this rifle. Sounds like the exact issue he had with it. No trigger pull at all. Loaded a round, closed the bolt, flipped the safety to the fire position and boom.

I've got to try looking it up by the serial number to figure out exactly what Gen this one is. He is not positive if he bought in in 2009 or 2011.
At any rate, armalite sent him the recall stuff so his must fall under it. Just too bad they don't have the part anymore. Going to be made out of the most unobtainable unobtainium there ever was.

 

[ajole]

Frustrating thing is, it was probably a $15 part at the time, if you had to buy it rather than having them take care of it.

 

[1024Megabytes]

I hope he gets the rifle fixed. .338 Lapua is a powerful rifle round that I have yet to shoot.

Someday I want to shoot a rifle that fires the .50 Browning Machine Gun cartridge or the new military sniper round .338 Norma Magnum (8.6 x 63 millimeter).

 

[Pistolkitty]

Well we got a little news from Armalite. The guy that has worked there since back when the recall came out got back to us and confirmed that it's the Striker Pin. Apparently some were too short, allowing the striker to advance forward prematurely. He said 'we would bring the bolt back in and replace the pin.'

So I emailed back and am waiting for clarification on whether that meant that that's what they were doing and can not anymore or whether it meant we still can. Or if they have the part still, or if we can get the part and have a gunsmith here do it, or what.
I'm not too concerned about the delayed responses- I know people get busy and shit comes up- but I really hope they can help out in some way. I get that B obviously was not prompt in dealing with sending the bolt back at the time, but they out to still make it right somehow.

HP customer service has set a high bar I guess, lol

 

[ajole]

You’re doing good. Getting the guy on your side and then him helping to find a solution of ANY type beats acting like a modern day consumer and shutting him down.👍

 

[TNTRAILERTRASH]

Get the dimensions. @moona11 will make you one 😁

 

[Pistolkitty]

Get the dimensions. @moona11 will make you one 😁

He already raised both hands up and shook his head back and forth a ways up there..... 😁

 

[Pistolkitty]

So the guy from Armalite replied and said to take it to a gunsmith and that he would look for the dimensions on the pin and see if he could get those to us.

I'm kind of frustrated at that but I don't want to go all Karen if I can avoid it. I need to decide how to word my next response. I kind of feel like armalite ought to make a little more effort to make this right. I might go ahead and call rather than keep emailing.

 

[ajole]

Remember…they’re a business, in it to make money. They DID make an effort to make it right, years ago, but now…the cost for them to make a single part could easily be in the hundreds of dollars.

The fact that the guy is investing time…which costs them money…in trying to find the dimensions and get them to you is already more than most companies would do on an out of production part for a gun they no longer make.

Keep your head up.👍

 

[moona11]

Why do you need to get the dimensions? He already has them.
Or did I read it wrong an the gunsmith needs to make the part.

 

[Pistolkitty]

Why do you need to get the dimensions? He already has them.
Or did I read it wrong an the gunsmith needs to make the part.

Yep, we would take the dimensions and have the part made and then installed. We talked to one guy locally that said it's out of his purview but he suggested another guy not too far.

Provided the armalite guy can even find the specs a person would need to machine it or fabricate it or whatever.

Fingers crossed.

 

[Pistolkitty]

Well it's been crickets from the armalite guy. Bummer. So now I'm shopping rifles chambered in .338 lapua mag. B's birthday is in October, so I've got a little time to save. And I knew these were not cheap rifles, but dang! The first 2 I've seen that I know he'd love are in the $6,000 range, so that's not happening. I am sure he'd like the Ruger Precision, but I already bought him one of those in 6.5 cm a couple years ago. There are a couple savages that are more within a reasonable for us budget, but he would prefer a more tactical form. And knowing what this round is capable of, I'm thinking the recoil would be tremendous on these lighter 7-8lb rifles with small muzzle breaks compared to your more common 11-12lb.