The humble AR-15 is still the most popular firearm in the United States. With everyone from the military, and law enforcement, to regular citizens, the AR-15 rifle is an effective tool in trained hands and also one of the most flexible intermediate cartridge platforms in the world. Part of that flexibility comes from the fact that the AR-15 and its derivatives over the years have grown to encompass a wider variety of specific applications. What this means is that virtually anything and everything on an AR-15, from the muzzle devices, barrels, and gas systems, to the grips, handguards, and stocks, can all be customized by the end user to meet their specific goals with that rifle. This even includes smaller parts that a lot of people would consider inconsequential - like your bog standard AR-15 takedown pins. Should you upgrade this pair of seemingly simple parts? Let's take a look at some reasons why you might want to take a look at some aftermarket pins for your favorite rifle.
AR-15 takedown pins are fairly simple objects. Both of the pins feature a small channel and a dimple for a matching detent and spring to help align and capture the takedown pin during movement. Most people who’ve tried to assemble an AR-15 for the first time will most likely understand the pain we’ve all felt upon trying to install one of these detent and spring combos, only to have one or both parts depart our makeshift gunsmithing table and enter low earth orbit. That being said upgrading your pins should be a task that you’ve mastered by now and if not, there are tons of guides on YouTube that give you lots of neat little tips and tricks for tackling this task yourself at home without the need for any fancy tools.
Now on to why you’d want to replace them. My first set of upgraded takedown pins was purely for ease of maintenance. My oversized takedown pins were quite obnoxious, standing out an entire quarter inch from the side of the receiver. Both the front and back pins resembled those plastic thumbtacks so you can imagine that even with a gloved hand, my AR was quite easy to disassemble making cleaning a breeze.
Another reason you might want to consider aftermarket pins is if your rifle has had a Cerakote job done to it. A proper Cerakote job will strip down the entire receiver set, and have it evenly coated inside and out. While the average Cerakote coat is about 1 mil (one-thousandth of an inch) in thickness, this means that your takedown pins now have less room to slide around with and this can mean that they will either become very stiff to operate - necessitating the need for extended takedown pins - or they’ll become impossible to use with standard size mil-spec pins. In this case, undersized takedown pins can be found and will alleviate this problem while also usually adding a boost to the appearance of your gun.
And that’s the final reason I’ll mention - sometimes they just look cool. Some of my favorite themed builds use a lot of neat-looking aftermarket parts. In other cases, some of my favorite builds have been competition rifles where you’ll often find takedown pins that are not only a functional enhancement for the extremely maintenance-heavy world of competition - but the same takedown pins also usually match the overall aesthetic of the gun and the rest of the shooters kit.
There are a lot of reasons to upgrade your pins. I wouldn’t say any single one of these reasons is strictly necessary for a decent functioning firearm, but for high-volume shooters, and those trying to achieve a specific look with their latest build, aftermarket AR-15 takedown pins can be a pretty simple and inexpensive upgrade that you can handle at home during your first, or maybe even your tenth rifle build.
