First Malfunctions

[saddlerocker]

Well ive only been shooting for about 2 years and only shooting AR's for about a year.
Up until today I have yet to have any malfunctions in my Pistol or AR.

So last weekend I attended Grant's Class. I cleaned and lubed my rifle before the class.
I shot Brown Bear for the class, maybe 80 rounds. ( I have shot lots of brown bear and mixed brass/steel cased many times before with no problems)
Didnt clean the rifle after the class, as I usually go about 500 rounds before cleaning.

So today Im shooting Brown bear again. First mag runs fine.
Second mag about halfway through I get a "click".
Smack and pull the mag then check the ejection port to see that the bolt failed to go fully into battery.
I rack the charging handle and eject the round, but see that the next round failed to go into battery again.
This time I gently use the forward assist to see if it would easily go forward.
It doesnt and I have to lightly mortar to get the round out.
The rest of the rounds run fine, and the mag of Privi M193 after also runs fine.

One round had a dent on the shoulder and the other had a large scrape on the jacket with material pushed and built up near the case mouth. ( I had no way to take a decent picture)

So I assume they got hung up, but the bolt was only about an inch out of battery, so i dont think it was on the lugs of the extension, or it would have been further out of battery.

I know its tough without pictures, but its odd that 2 rounds in a row did this, and they were damaged at 2 different locations, one on the jacket, one of the case shoulder.

Any thoughts?

EDIT To Add Specs:
BCM 16" mid upper
PSA BCG
PSA lower and LPK
PMAG in good condition

[Fetep]

The brown bear ammo I'm pretty sure is the cheapest you can buy, so I would give that at least half the blame, the forward assist used gently? I think it's more a good whack makes it work. I'm sure others will have better advice, wouldn't blame the rifle too much though;-)

Fetep

[Failure2Stop]

Could be mag related.
Mark it for tracking purposes.
If it fails again, either discard it or mark it "For training only".

It could also be an ammo issue.
Sometimes the cases of steel cased ammo will kind of stick together, which can lead to feeding problems, so if I have issues with such ammo I check it again with "good" ammo to determine if it is a magazine or ammo issue.

[Tweak]

what do your feed ramps look like?

[saddlerocker]

Feedramps, BCG, chamber ect... all look normal.

I guess ill just have to keep an eye on the mag used, thats all I can think of.

[n517rv]

I would suggest cleaning the chamber with a brush and mop if you haven't tried that already.

[Tweak]

thats all I can think of.

did you short stroke test with the suspect ammo?

[saddlerocker]

did you short stroke test with the suspect ammo?

Bolt locked back on last round every time.

And chamber is cleaned each time the rifle is cleaned.


I have been running this ammo with no problems from the day I got the rifle.
I have intentionally let the rifle get very dirty in the past, and gone back and forth between steel and brass cased ammo to see if I could cause a problem, but never could.
But this time everything was relatively clean (80 rounds since cleaned) and had 2 odd failure to feeds back to back, then all the rounds after were fine.

Thats why I think its the mag. Ill use only that mag next range trip and see if there are any other hiccups.

[Generalpie]

I am with ammo and/or mag.

The idea to run a range day with just that mag is a good one.

Solid advice heard here once is to not fall in love with your mags. They are replaceable parts. If I have even a smell of problems with one it gets cycled into the "range only" pile.

[polymorpheous]

I'd measure the action spring as well.

[2arkba]

when ever you have issues like this with low powered ammo I would suggest running mil-spec ammo through the rifle to see how it performs and diagnose from there.

wolf, brown bear, etc are fine for range use but you really should refrain from using it at a class where malfunctions prevent the class from moving forward.

[Wiggity]

Sounds to me like ammo. Brown Bear doesn't have the best QC standards (hence the low price). It's entirely within the realm of possibility, and probability, that something went wrong with the manufacture of those two rounds while all of the others you have shot were fine.

[zack991]

I have had good luck with brown bear ammo and it is hard to say no for the price. With cheap ammo there is a give and take, it is not as accurate as my duty ammo or as clean or has the same quality control. Yet for classes and training it is hard to beat, I say run brass ammo through it before cleaning it to see if it still malfunctions. I am sure it’s either the magazine or the ammo, lets us know what you find out.