"Let's stick a pin in it," goes the phrase often heard in meetings. Today, Brownells Gun Tech Caleb tells us about a better pin to stick into our AR-15s, the SCP from Forward Controls Design. SCP stands for SOTAR Cam Pin, and SOTAR stands for School of the American Rifle. This school is the place to take the armorer's course equivalent of getting your PhD in AR-15 knowledge. FCD's upgraded AR-15 cam pin is based on the recommendations of SOTAR's master gunsmith, Chad Albrecht.
Why replace the perfectly good cam pin that came with your rifle? The SCP is machined and gauged to the tightest tolerances for correct fit. Without pulling out the gauges, the noticeable difference between it and a standard cam pin is the little dimple in its top. The dimple serves as an indexing mark that enables you to insert the cam pin into the carrier facing the same direction every time you reassemble the BCG after cleaning.
Cam pins wear over time, and by consistently placing the cam pin in the same position, it wears in ONE spot, while the rest of the pin stays in spec. Without the index mark, when you reassemble the bolt-carrier group, you'll sometimes place the cam pin facing one way, then the other. It wears in TWO places and gets even more out of spec. The cam pin holds the entire bolt-carrier group together, and a worn cam pin leads to accelerated wear on all the other BCG parts.
So that little cam pin is the lynch pin to extending your bolt-carrier group's service life. By keeping wear on it to a minimum, you slow down the wear on the rest of your BCG. And THAT'S why you need the Forward Controls Design SCP SOTAR Cam Pin.
Check out SOTAR's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@InstructorChad
