Broken firing pin help... Plus BuiltAF customer service experience...

[SquidHC]

Hey All,

I purchased a BuiltAF (www.alphafoxtrot.us) AF-9 9mm AR pistol and after like 4 times dry firing to test the pull on my Larue MBTrigger the firing pin broke. I'm really not terribly experienced with all of this, but I've never had a firing pin break before. I emailed them requesting a replacement firing pin and it took over two weeks to get a response. I filled out the forms they sent and attached the photos and it has been nearly three weeks and I haven't heard anything. I've been emailing them every 5 days or so but no response. I can't find a phone number anywhere online. My questions are as follows:

1. Is it reasonable for a firing pin to break given the use described above?
2. Is this a standard timeline for a response on a warranty request?
3. Are there any manufacturers of bolts for 9mm AR pistols that use a mil-spec firing pin, or are they all proprietary?
4. If so, am I better off just buying a new bolt? I don't feel like I should have to do this, but...

Thanks!

UPDATE:
Yesterday I emailed their parent company. Today first thing I received a phone call from their customer service manager apologizing for the delay, and overnighting me 3 firing pins and throwing in a few mags for the inconvenience.

Recommended swapping out the Larue MBT with a trigger for direct blowback guns.

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[Member 34319]

Never heard of the company, but for $1500 they should be sending you a replacement firing pin ASAP.

If be absolutely pissed spending that much money and it failing that fast. I've said failed as that is exactly what happened. It straight up broke when it should not have. That's some major BS for a $1500 AR9.

I spent $1200 on a CMMG banshee. After a few years of ownership the ejector spring failed. They mailed me 3 in a few days, for free, after one email.

 

[SUPER X]

Hipoint treated me much much better than that .the no phone service is the new thing . Its easier to Ditch responsibility .

 

[rick benjamin]

Here is contact information for the parent company

:: DASAN USA Inc. ::

 

[powermad]

I replaced my PSA BCG with a KVP 9MM BCG.
It has a heavy firing pin retaining spring that helps with lowering the likely hood of breaking the firing pin.

Most 9mm BCG are pretty much the same with the internals so getting another FP should be easy.

 

[TTSX]

Well, there's an ETS mag and a chick in a Harley Davidson t-shirt on their homepage so they're totally not bros.

 

[Hueco]

Like @Reno said - your item broke before you even had a chance to use it and, if it were me, I'd be pissed.

If the firing pin is so fragile that it can't take dry firing, that should have been documented on a big red sticker attached to the upper - because dry fire is known as acceptable for just about all modern firearms.

Your customer experience in this situation is atrocious.

If it were me, I'd get a credit card fraud case going. The business has broken the implied warranty of merchantability and is doing nothing to address the problem. Once they get notice that the credit card company has refunded the charge and started a case, well, they'll probably be a bit more proactive.

At that point, they'll either resolve things to your satisfaction and the case will be dropped or they'll want the gun back to finalize the return and close the case. I'd see either as a win.

 

[SquidHC]

Like @Reno said - your item broke before you even had a chance to use it and, if it were me, I'd be pissed.

If the firing pin is so fragile that it can't take dry firing, that should have been documented on a big red sticker attached to the upper - because dry fire is known as acceptable for just about all modern firearms.

Your customer experience in this situation is atrocious.

If it were me, I'd get a credit card fraud case going. The business has broken the implied warranty of merchantability and is doing nothing to address the problem. Once they get notice that the credit card company has refunded the charge and started a case, well, they'll probably be a bit more proactive.

At that point, they'll either resolve things to your satisfaction and the case will be dropped or they'll want the gun back to finalize the return and close the case. I'd see either as a win.

Thanks for your thoughts. I actually purchased it through a local and reputable dealer and they also haven't been able to get ahold of them. They offered to provide me a new BCG at cost, but they don't have any replacement firing pins that are close enough where they are comfortable that it would safely work in the gun. I don't feel great about back-charging them. Had I purchased directly that would be a damn good recommendation.

 

[Hueco]

Thanks for your thoughts. I actually purchased it through a local and reputable dealer and they also haven't been able to get ahold of them. They offered to provide me a new BCG at cost, but they don't have any replacement firing pins that are close enough where they are comfortable that it would safely work in the gun. I don't feel great about back-charging them. Had I purchased directly that would be a damn good recommendation.

Ah, yea, I assumed you got it direct. That's my bad. I would absolutely not want to screw over my LGS for the actions of the manufacturer. You're in a bind, that's for sure. Good luck! I hope you can get it sorted - sitting on a broken gun sucks.

 

[SquidHC]

Ah, yea, I assumed you got it direct. That's my bad. I would absolutely not want to screw over my LGS for the actions of the manufacturer. You're in a bind, that's for sure. Good luck! I hope you can get it sorted - sitting on a broken gun sucks.

I just emailed the sales department at Dasan-USA (Parent company), cc'ing AF and the retailer. And yeah, I don't want to screw my local vendor. They would have happily handed me a box full of firing pins had they had any. They aren't the issue here whatsoever.

 

[powermad]

FWIW AR9's are hard on firing pins and it's a good idea to have spares.
There's reports of broken firing pins across all the name brands.
Still no excuse for the Customer Service though.

Wilson makes a good one from what I've read.

Bullet Proof 9mm AR Firing Pin

Bullet Proof® 9mm AR Firing Pin

shopwilsoncombat.com

I went with the KVP BCG after reading up on broken FP's
If mine breaks I'll try a Wilson in it next.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Well the good thing is the new one might last 10 or 20 rounds.









just kidding

 

[SquidHC]

FWIW AR9's are hard on firing pins and it's a good idea to have spares.
There's reports of broken firing pins across all the name brands.
Still no excuse for the Customer Service though.

Wilson makes a good one from what I've read.

Bullet Proof 9mm AR Firing Pin

Bullet Proof® 9mm AR Firing Pin

shopwilsoncombat.com

I went with the KVP BCG after reading up on broken FP's
If mine breaks I'll try a Wilson in it next.

If they sold them on their website I'd just buy a handful of them but they aren't offered. My understanding is that each manufacturers are proprietary and that you need to use their specific one. Is that not the case?

 

[Member 34319]

Thanks for your thoughts. I actually purchased it through a local and reputable dealer and they also haven't been able to get ahold of them. They offered to provide me a new BCG at cost, but they don't have any replacement firing pins that are close enough where they are comfortable that it would safely work in the gun. I don't feel great about back-charging them. Had I purchased directly that would be a damn good recommendation.

That means didilly to me. They carry a random brand manufacturer AR9. That's on them for not knowing their support sucks. I'll also state that if they talked you into this $1500 pistol over any other reputable brands that are less expensive, they suck.

The dealer should take the gun back. Offer you a reputable replacement. Likely at a much lower price.

As for those saying 9mm pins break. Yes they do. He hasn't even shot it yet!

Ive got 10s of thousands of rounds through multiple AR9s. My competition AR9, I treat like the Dudleys did to Harry Potter, in other words poorly. Yet it keeps on ticking.

 

[Member 34319]

Similar AR9, half the price, I guarantee FM products will get back to you if you reached out to them.

My opinion. Return the pistol to your dealer. Buy this.

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Buy a complete AR 15 pistol at the best price with fast shipping and industry-leading customer service. AR9, 300 blackout pistol, ar15 pistol and more.

www.primaryarms.com

Hell for $1500 you could of bought a radial delayed CMMG. Their lead tiles are a bit long right now though.

 

[galleyjoe]

Hey All,

I purchased a BuiltAF (www.alphafoxtrot.us) AF-9 9mm AR pistol and after like 4 times dry firing to test the pull on my Larue MBTrigger the firing pin broke. I'm really not terribly experienced with all of this, but I've never had a firing pin break before. I emailed them requesting a replacement firing pin and it took over two weeks to get a response. I filled out the forms they sent and attached the photos and it has been nearly three weeks and I haven't heard anything. I've been emailing them every 5 days or so but no response. I can't find a phone number anywhere online. My questions are as follows:

1. Is it reasonable for a firing pin to break given the use described above?
2. Is this a standard timeline for a response on a warranty request?
3. Are there any manufacturers of bolts for 9mm AR pistols that use a mil-spec firing pin, or are they all proprietary?
4. If so, am I better off just buying a new bolt? I don't feel like I should have to do this, but...

Thanks!

p.m. sent

 

[powermad]

As for those saying 9mm pins break. Yes they do. He hasn't even shot it yet!

And that's completely messed up, I'd be hot about it.
They do break sometimes but should be able to make it through a mag.
I have a spare BCG but certainly don't expect to need it after a short time.

I don't dryfire mine just to be on the safe side.
Not sure if that's a contributing factor but I just use snap caps as I have them.
With the mag removed it doesn't eject the cap when I cycle it, which is handy for that I suppose.

After not getting a timely response I would be looking at letting them take it back myself.
Broken before it it even fired a round and not getting a response would not give me much faith in that company.
Stuff happens but that's a little much.
From other stuff I read, outfits like CMMG would send out two firing pins and springs pronto to replace a broken one.
For $1500 someone had better be manning the phones to take care of issues and get it taken care of i would hope.

If it does go back I would opt for a CMMG myself, CMMG has them for $1200 or so but you'll have to wait a bit.

 

[spookshack]

It's been a long time since I broke a AR9 firing pin. The 1st one broke in half (Complete gun from ATI) the other I believe was from a 1st gen KVP bolt (tip broke off).

I run a upper, bolt and barrel from Taccom. I have yet to have a firing pin failure whit that set up. I do have spares in the range bag just in case....

 

[spookshack]

Just to add, the firing pin is a known weak link with the AR9's.

 

[SquidHC]

UPDATE:
Yesterday I emailed their parent company. Today first thing I received a phone call from their customer service manager apologizing, and overnighting me 3 firing pins and throwing in a few mags for the inconvenience.

Recommended swapping out the MBT with a trigger for direct blowback guns.