Patent ID: 8056460

Claim:
A bolt carrier, comprising: a front end portion having an opening therein configured for having a bolt moveably mounted therein; a rear end portion; an operating rod engaging lug on an exterior surface of the bolt carrier at a location between the front and rear end portion thereof, wherein an operating rod engaging surface of the operating rod engaging lug faces toward the front end portion and away from the rear end portion; a set of forward bearing surface pads located forward of the operating rod engaging surface of the operating rod engaging lug, wherein a first one of said forward bearing surface pads is located on a first side of the bolt carrier with respect to a centerline radial axis thereof and a second one of said forward bearing surface pads is located on a second side of the bolt carrier with respect to the centerline radial axis thereof and wherein each one of said forward bearing surface pads extends above a longitudinal central bore axis of the bolt carrier; and a set of rearward bearing surface pads located rearward of the operating rod engaging lug, wherein a first one of said rearward bearing surface pads is located on the first side of the bolt carrier and a second one of said rearward bearing surface pads is located on the second side of the bolt carrier and wherein each one of said rearward bearing surface pads extends below the longitudinal central bore axis of the bolt carrier.