I just bought a new A-15 DPMS rifle and 1000 rounds of Wolf 62gr ammo to shoot in it. The problem is that approx. 50% of the cases do not eject and stay on the bolt face. They seem to "snap" into the bolt and when moved slightly, they eject fine. When single feeding these rounds, they fire fine then stay on the bolt and re-chamber and become stuck. I also found some LC cases that do the same thing. Do I have a bolt problem or an ammo problem? Any ideas? Thanks.
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AR-15 Ejection Problem
- Thread starter harold_l
- Start date
Badger Arms
New member
This is more of a question for the Smith forum. I'd venture to say that it's an ejector problem. Your ejector isn't doing its job. Remove the extractor and check for burs on it and the surrounding area. Then check the ejector. Push in on the ejector with a punch and examine the side of the bolt. This should be very difficult as the spring should be very strong. If the plunger does not move freely or there are burrs where the ejector moves, you might need a gunsmith to polish the area.
My instincts tell me it's a bad bolt body that was machined with dull bits. No need to replace it so long as somebody polishes it to where it will work properly. The dynamics of the extraction process mean that the ejector must overcome the tension of the extractor which wedges the case against drilled ejector hole in the face of the bolt. Burrs on this hole are causing friction and the ejector cannot overcome that friction. Just quality control in my opinion.
No, it's not an ammo problem. Reason being is that two types of ammo did the same thing. I believe Wolf might be steel cased but I am pretty sure that LC is brass. That was my first guess. It gets stuck in the chamber afterwards because it's a fired case that assumes the dimensions of the chamber wall. Trying to stuff it back in there doesn't take too much effort but you don't have the advantage of 50,000 PSI when you are trying to manually remove it. The rifle does this quite well.
[This message has been edited by badgerarms (edited September 04, 2000).]
My instincts tell me it's a bad bolt body that was machined with dull bits. No need to replace it so long as somebody polishes it to where it will work properly. The dynamics of the extraction process mean that the ejector must overcome the tension of the extractor which wedges the case against drilled ejector hole in the face of the bolt. Burrs on this hole are causing friction and the ejector cannot overcome that friction. Just quality control in my opinion.
No, it's not an ammo problem. Reason being is that two types of ammo did the same thing. I believe Wolf might be steel cased but I am pretty sure that LC is brass. That was my first guess. It gets stuck in the chamber afterwards because it's a fired case that assumes the dimensions of the chamber wall. Trying to stuff it back in there doesn't take too much effort but you don't have the advantage of 50,000 PSI when you are trying to manually remove it. The rifle does this quite well.
[This message has been edited by badgerarms (edited September 04, 2000).]
I'll second the notion that it's probably an ejector problem, though I haven't heard all good things about Wolf ammo, primarily due to the steel cases. You may run into other reliability problems with this in your DPMS which, if I am not mistaken, should have a match chamber...
Back to the ejector -- strip the bolt out of the rifle and hook a spent casing under the extractor, pushing on the ejector. You should be able to push the casing flat against the bolt face, depressing the ejector smoothly and easily against it's spring. If your casings are burred or gouged in some way (i.e., ammo problem) I suspect you'll feel them rubbing somewhere. Also, if the ejector is binding, you should be able to tell this way. This is a good exercise to perform when cleaning, too, after putting a drop of CLP there to lube the ejector.
Finally, don't give up -- I don't know what your past experience with AR's is, but they can be a bit ammo-selective until they get a few hundred rounds through them, then they tend to run pretty well. Best wishes.
Andrew
Back to the ejector -- strip the bolt out of the rifle and hook a spent casing under the extractor, pushing on the ejector. You should be able to push the casing flat against the bolt face, depressing the ejector smoothly and easily against it's spring. If your casings are burred or gouged in some way (i.e., ammo problem) I suspect you'll feel them rubbing somewhere. Also, if the ejector is binding, you should be able to tell this way. This is a good exercise to perform when cleaning, too, after putting a drop of CLP there to lube the ejector.
Finally, don't give up -- I don't know what your past experience with AR's is, but they can be a bit ammo-selective until they get a few hundred rounds through them, then they tend to run pretty well. Best wishes.
Andrew