AR-15 Feeding Problem

L

Lurch37

New member
Hello all. A friend of mine is having a feeding problem with his AR-15 in which when firing the gun it will jam repeatedly, but only when chambering the right hand side cartridge. He has tried steel and brass cased rounds, with the steel showing a bright scar or scratch horizontally on the upper part of the main case body, under the shoulder. The brass rounds that do not chamber will be actually bent at the same spot on the case.

All spent rounds will show this scar or scratch as well. He has switched mags and the BCG with another AR he has, the receiver is clean and oiled, a round will drop in the chamber with no problems, the feed ramps look ok. Still the problem exists.

13232.jpg

13234.jpg
 
Looking at the pics I would say the cartridges are not being successfully stripped from the magazines; the bolt carrier is hitting the case body with enough force to dent the cases, even bend the entire cartridge, my guess is the cartridge gets dragged or popped out with the previous feed and is resting at an angle against the barrel extension/magwell when the carrier slams into it.
 
With changes of mag and BCG I would suspect something in the magazine is well is making the magazine alignment questionable.

Maybe crud, burrs on something or magazine catch? Look inside the well and see if anything appears to be showing more wear or just plain crud caught on something.
 
Further NetRX:

1. When the jam occurs--is there a spent case also in the upper?
2. Can you put one cartridge in the magazine, drop the bolt on it and have the rifle successfully cycle, fire, eject and lock back the BCG? When I say lock back the BCG--I mean can it subsequently be properly released by the bolt release (sometimes the bold head can hang up on something else making it appear as if it was properly captured)?

With changes of mag and BCG I would suspect something in the magazine is well is making the magazine alignment questionable.
Click to expand...
That is my present "leading contender" as well; especially if there is a tolerance issue between the upper and lower.
 
i guess my question would be

is this a new build or was the rifle running before and this started out of no where??
 
This is a factory built rifle and fairly new with the problem always present. It may have 200 rounds thru it. It is my understanding that when the jams occur the bolt is always behind the round being chambered and sometimes the round is almost fully chambered. He has also tried the forward assist on those jams but that didn't help. I will ask about your other concerns. Thank you.
 
This is a factory built rifle and fairly new with the problem always present.
Click to expand...
Problem solved--send it back to the manufacturer.
Hopefully it doesn't say anywhere in the owners manual to not use steel case ammo and your friend followed the break-in instructions (if any).
 
He has tried half a dozen different mags and has inspected the chamber which is clean and looks fine. I think he is leaning toward sending it back. We might take it out one more time and swap some uppers around.
 
He has tried half a dozen different mags and has inspected the chamber which is clean and looks fine. I think he is leaning toward sending it back. We might take it out one more time and swap some uppers around.
Click to expand...
Just my opinion personally--and I've sent LOTS of stuff back to the manufacturers--if the rifle is new and was malfunctioning out of the starting gate, the more you try to "cure it"--the more reasons you give the manufacturer to try to blame it on user error. The good news is that they probably have lots of experience dealing with problems, the better manufacturers most likey will send you a call tag order with no further explanation required (however, being an evil long gun, there may be control issues in the shipping process determined by the shipping companies and state's laws). Others might put one of the engineering experts on the line to give you a bit of a "forensic investigation" to try to get some idea of whether the issue is someone trying to foist a fast one on them or likely has a genuine problem.
 
Last edited:
Is it still under warranty??

IF so, contact the maker and send it back.

Stop trying to fix it. Unless, of course what you have done already has voided the warranty. if so, then its all on you.

Any, and every new firearm under warranty that consistently malfunctions after a normal break in period NEEDS to go back to the factory. Not you tinker try to fix it, not your local gunsmith try to fix it (unless they are a factory authorized warranty repair station.

There are two reasons for this, first, you paid for a functional firearm, and they should make that right.

Second, sending the gun back tells the maker something is wrong not just with one specific gun, but somewhere in their assembly and QC process.

They can't fix a problem until they know there is a problem, and having to take your gun back and fix it on their dime (under warranty) tells them there is a problem, somewhere, and they will try and find it and fix it. SO sending it back is better for you, you get your gun fixed, and better for them, they get to find and fix their problem so it doesn't keep happening.

yes, its frustrating, but its the right way to do business.
 
yep i agree with stag,44 and jet

send it back and let the builder or company fix it or warranty it...could be something simple or something out of alignment....either way you paid for a working firearm.....and it dont
 
I was able to accompany my friend out today and after a couple more different mag changes and swapping in 2 different lowers it became apparent that the upper was the problem area. I can say I think it's in the chamber or feed ramp portion and oddly occurs only when feeding the right hand cartridge.

My friend is going to contact the company and/or place of purchase and arrange to send it back. Thank you all for your help.
 
Like the other folks are saying. Working on a new gun that has never worked right is way different that working on a used gun that used to run.

Guns that have never run, likely have a fundamental manufacturing issue like machining out of spec. Guns that ran and then stopped likely need cleaning, part replacement, etc.

Even if he wants to replace every part except the barrel and receiver in some customization, get the new gun to run first.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top