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AR 15 troubleshooting

oli700

12g
Supporter
"Philanthropist"
I was experiencing some extraction/ejection issues.
At first it was only with some m193 of a friend’s that was made overseas. I blamed the ammo although his AR cycled it fine.

Then yesterday I was getting it with my reloads and the CBC on the first round of 5 loaded into a 10 round mag. I thought I was having mag issues but couldn’t really see anything wrong with it, it is the lowest grade mag I have judging it against my other GI mags. So I ordered up two Lancer 20 rounder’s since I don’t have any 20’s to use with the bipod and Lancers are the best out there IMO.

Started cleaning the rifle up a bit and decided to strip the bolt , first I found the four primer pieces that blew out of the overpressured reloads inside the firing pin channel. That explained what appeared to be light strikes on some of the rounds I fired yesterday.

I decided to compare the extractor spring to a new one in my spare parts kit and I think I found the root of my problems……wore out my first extractor spring.
 
few thousand ?......no telling for sure, had a couple 400-500 round days on it, a good day might be 150, a short day might be 60
Sometimes I shoot three times a week ,2 days a week mostly once a week

so at two mags (60rd) week for a year is 3120 rounds.....I finished the rifle on March 8 2013, been shooting it since.

4 to 5000 would be a good guess on the high end
 
That's a good workout for it.

More than most folks put through their AR in it's lifetime anyway. I've got a few more rounds through a couple of my ARs and I haven't worn out an extractor spring like that yet. I might pull them just to compare to a new spring out of curiosity...
 
I had some fte's with my AR. It turns out it doesn't like steel case tulla ammo. As long as i stick with quality brass ammo it runs like a champ, but I only have several hundred rds thru mine, not several thousand. It also only likes gi mags, not pmags or the like.
 
Mine never missed a beat on any reload, steel case, factory brass till about a month ago then it started with NATO pressure ammo.

I love GI mags but if you haven't tried a Lancer L5 AWM ....the spring, follower ,steel feed lips and construction of the base plate are the cats meow
 
Honestly, I had several issues with my AR. I thought AR's were just a pia and had alot more fun shooting any other gun. But, once I figured out the ammo thing and the mag thing, oh and I upgraded to a NiB BCG, my AR is like a race gun now. If ammo wasn't so expensive I'd enjoy it alot more.
 
Honestly, the spring looks shorter to me for some reason. Not sure if it's just been compressed, but that's the way it looks anyway.

Anyway: http://www.bravocompanyusa.com/BCM-Extractor-Spring-Uprade-Kit-p/bcm extractor spring upgrade.htm

I posted the picture to illustrate how short it has become due to compression.
I used to have a hard time compressing the extractor by pinching the bolt back by the pivot point. Yesterday it was easy to do, one of the other reasons I stripped the bolt to have a look.
Now the extractor is real tough to pinch again.

That o-ring is a carbine thing. Not saying people don't use them on Mid's and Rifles but it was originally meant to be an aid for Carbine's......I have never needed extraction or ejection aids on this rifle ......till the spring wore out. With the o-ring it wears the rim on the brass due to extra "clamping" force, not good for reloading them, it also will wear the extractor claw faster. I'll just keep spare springs around
AND if it does continue as I get into these higher pressure reloads I'll try a Defender D Ring, designed by one of the engineers who helped Stoner with designing the AR
I have come a long , long way since you first started explaining the way they work to me , been getting my learn on
 
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Honestly, I had several issues with my AR. I thought AR's were just a pia and had alot more fun shooting any other gun. But, once I figured out the ammo thing and the mag thing, oh and I upgraded to a NiB BCG, my AR is like a race gun now. If ammo wasn't so expensive I'd enjoy it alot more.

there are a lot of things to consider. Just remember the design of the AR 15 is as reliable as any rifle. When problems arise try to treat the disease and not the symptom. The disease can be masked by good symptom treatment but the root of the issue will remain and will resurface eventually.

In July 1962, the AR-15 was tested in Vietnam and 80,000 rounds were fired. Over the course of firing 80,000 rounds there were no parts breakeages and like 5 stoppages cured by racking the charge handle.
A report titled "Test of ArmaLite Rifle, AR-15" was published. The report concluded that the AR-15 was "the best all-round shoulder weapon in existence"

Yes it got a bad rap, the Army changed the powder for political and monetary purposes. This new ball powder was high in calcium carbonate and lead to a lot of fowling of gas tubes and such, the faster burning ball powder also increased the velocity of the bolt carrier group and chamber pressure leading to part breakage , mainly bolt face lugs because the lock up timing was all off.......anyway I'm starting to ramble and I can go on and on lol



And thanks for the tip on lancer mags oli. I'll have to check those out
yeah, I am about to try the 20's for the first time . BUT I can tell you the 30's are as flawless as a mag gets
 
I'm not sure if I've shared this with you before, but you started talking about going way back, well here's one of the very first articles about the Stoner rifle, EVER.

This one in 7.62x51
FairchildLightRifle.jpg


And in 5.56x45 (If you actually read the article, you'll be rolling on the floor by the time you finish it

ARad1.jpg


ARad2.jpg


ARad3.jpg


ARad4.jpg
 
I started having stove pipes with my PSA AR 15 after about 350 rounds. At first I blamed it on the Brownell magazines. Then it started happening with all brands of mags. I replaced the ejector, extractor, and extractor springs and all is well now. The entire BCG was an Aim Surplus black nitride. I could see the extractor was pitted, but that doesn't seem like it would cause the problems I was having. The extractor spring must have been very weak because all I had to do was pinch it lightly with my thumb and forefinger, and the retaining pin would fall right out. After the new spring, it takes a lot of pressure on the extractor for the pin to come out.
 
Aim Surplus is typically pretty good stuff but sounds like the new springs fixed it because it should take quite a bit of force to move the extractor/spring.
 
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