9mm No Workie

[John Hearne]

I have a RRA upper with a ramped bolt that I've had for several years. It started to puke and the issues seemed extractor related. I eventually hand tuned the extractor and it ran OK - maybe a malfunction is 100 rounds. I also noticed that the extractor was chipped. I detail stripped and cleaned the rifle to a pristine state.

I ordered a new extractor from RRA and installed it. When I took the rifle to the range, it would not run. It would malfunction on every round. In almost every instance the fired case was sitting on top of the round attempting to chamber into the rifle.

Any guesses on likely fixes? I ordered two extractors, to have a spare, and don't know what to do except try my other "new" extractor. The factory roll pin was replaced some time ago.

[ghideon]

Could this be an ejection problem? I'm troubleshooting something similar (fired case ends up on top of live round). I am going to try an H3 buffer, since these are handloads that I know are light. My malfs don't happen nearly as frequently as yours, but still frequent enough at about 1 per 30 rounds.

[Spikes-Rep]

What magwell block is in it? what mags? what ammo? what buffer?

[mike benedict]

John

the extractor should have a little tension like a 1911 extractor.
I had one acting up and a new Colt extractor from Brownells fixed the problem.

I have seen factory extractors with both too little and way too much tension.

Cleaning out behind the extractor every few thousand rounds makes them run better..

Mike

[John Hearne]

The mag block is a Hahn bottom loader. The magazines are Colt SMG maags.

[Paulinski]

I'm having a similar issue with pro-mags. 10.5" RRA / Hahn dedicated block / 9mm hammer / 9mm buffer various reloads.

Works fine with colt 32 pre-ban mags.

Paul

[Azrael2004]

Guys this sounds more like an ejector problem. You're getting extraction from the chamber but not ejection from the rifle.
I personally have an RRA block which runs quite well. It uses a similar ejetor to the Hahn.
Some people recommend running the RRA block low to run with C-Products mags, but that moved the ejector farther from the brass and causes it's own problems.
But I digress...
Over on TOS I see lots of folks with the same issue on Hahn blocks.
Your ejector which is on the block must ride very close to, if not barely touching the bolt.
Most have reported success by slightly bending the ejector so it gets this close fit. Don't just bend the tip, but bend the whole thing to lean in a bit.
If you look at the way they ride, there isn't much of the case for it to hit when it is right up to the bolt. So if it's just a tad to the left you'll miss the brass altogether.

[John Hearne]

I just wanted to post a followup and report the fix.

It was indeed an ejector problem. I tweaked the ejector so that it just barely cleared the bolt which was a fairly good tweak. (I was surprised by just how much from the default position it was) I ran a 150 or so rounds through it today and it worked 100%.

I'm still confused by how it could run for over a 1000 rounds and then suddenly puke but such are the gun gremlins.

[Azrael2004]

Glad it worked for you. They are so much more fun when they run right.

[John Hearne]

I thought it might be useful to show just how much the ejector had to be tweaked to bring it in near contact with the bolt. I was surprised and was worried it might be too much. All I can say is that it's running now...