Rope vs Bolt carabiner clarification

Can you please comment on separating bolt from rope biners? Fairly new in the sport and tried my best researching a bunch of youtube videos and forums.  Some people say it's a myth, others are quite anal about it.

For quickdraws, I find it easy to keep consistency and with falls I can see them developing nits, but it gets more confusing with my screw gates and HMS biners. 

For example, can I use a locking biner to attach my PAS to bolts frequently and later use the same HMS biner to pass the rope for a top rope scenario or to rig anchors?

What about the damage from loading against the gri gri metal? Is that even a concern?

I've never heard of this issue nor have I ever experienced anything like what you're talking about. 

I wouldn't bother keeping "bolt" biners and "rope" biners, but keep an eye on the condition of your biners, and if there's a nick that could damage your rope file it down before using it again and you'll be fine :)

The bolt side on my sport draws have some burrs probably from too much hang dogging but I don't worry about it because they only go on bolts. As for PAS locker, I haven't found burrs on it but I occasionally check for them. If your concerned about mixed usage of your PAS locker, take a look at bulletproof carabiners from Edelrid. I love them.

Bolt end biners will definitely get gouged and nicked if you do much sport falling. 

Just clipping metal to metal doesn't seem to cause the same impact.

Although the nicks on bolt end biners are unlikely to actually cut a rope, why wouldn't you keep the two ends of your quickdraws separate?

As for the PAS locker, I'd be surprised if you are clipping the anchors, then falling on it regularly :-)

So should be good to use for TR, gri gri, etc

Mark E Dixon wrote:

As for the PAS locker, I'd be surprised if you are clipping the anchors, then falling on it regularly :-)

I don't know, seems like there's a weekly post about this very event.

The bolt side biner gets burrs from the bolt hanger. This can damage the rope.
Of course this depends on how damaged it is. Rifle project draw?  Almost never fallen on trad draw?

There is a video I’ve seen put out by an equipment manufacturer that shows multiple falls onto a burred biner. It eventually cuts the rope!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I couldn’t find the video with my quick search.
But this is certainly one reason to have a dedicated rope and gear/bolt side. But the main reason to have a dedicated bolt and rope side is that draws have one fixed end, this is for the rope side. This prevents crossloading of the biner during a fall. It has the added advantage of making the rope easier to clip.
Many people don’t have separate dedicated sides for their alpine draws. They need to be distinguishable, different colors/brands/sizes. I prefer a small biner for clipping to gear and a larger one for the rope.

These are pics of a my most damaged bolt/gear side draws on my trad draw rack. It is a locker draw that gets used on the crux gear regularly. It is not too badly damaged but would likely make a rope fuzzy if lowered or whipped through.
i have seen bolt side draws that if whipped on would possibly cut a rope.

Thanks everyone for their replies, I believe I understand this better now. Looks like I don't need to overthink it as much as I thought with my locking HMS biners. Please comment if you disagree:

I can use them interchangeably for connecting on bolts, gri gri metal, PAS, harness, slings, building anchors and passing rope through, on both sides of the biners. (or course, good discipline of screwing down and rope goes better on the larger side).

If I take any fall on static gear connected to bolts, inspect it carefully. Keep periodic checks on all gear.

For quickdraws, which are the ones likely to get most damage, it's easy to keep consistent, bolt biner and rope biner will always stay the same.

Think of it like this: what is the dangerous situation that you are trying to avoid and what causes the dangerous situation in the first place. Burrs on bolt side carabiners are caused by leader falls on quickdraws. If you have a burr on a rope side carabiner and whip on it, it may cut the sheath of your rope. The easy fix is for high risk gear like quickdraws to have a bolt only side which will have all the burrs. if you use your pas carabiner for anchors sometimes, just give it a quick visual and touch inspection for sharp edges and you will be all good. Its not like if a carabiner contacts a bolt it is immediately unsafe for the rope, just if there is a sharp edge. But if you don’t trust your visual inspection skills (why tf are you climbing then) just buy designated rope carabiners for your masterpoints. 

Locker wrote:

All of my draws have a non-colored and a colored biner...

the colored biner to the rope...

"grey on gear" is what I've heard a bunch 

Davi, early in my climbing, I had some lockers get burrs similar to those on bolt-end biners from quickdraws. They had gotten stuck in some janky bolts and torqued a bit, leading to some sharp edges. I used some sandpaper to file them down. Same with my bolt-side biners on my QDs. Like others have mentioned, I keep an eye on my alpine draws and do try to keep one color as the "rope" side and the other as the "gear/ bolt" side. Figure a nick on the gear side will have a harder time ripping a cam sling since it's fairly static vs having a rope run across it.

Long story short, do a regular gear inspection (I do it every spring before climbing season really gets under way) and file down anything sharp.

Probably more important than what has been said earlier...the rope side carabiner (with a carabiner retainer to keep it more rigid) cannot be clipped to a bolt as it will be more prone to nose-hooking or unclipping. The bolt side carabiner needs to be free to move as the rope moves the draw. Hope that makes sense. I think more attention needs to be given to this subject.

Burrs on the rope side carabiner are absolutely and issue too.