
Originally Posted by
Suwannee Tim
....or they won't run.
I have about 5,000 rounds of 5.45 mm through a particular AR, a box stock Smith and Wesson, without any cleaning of the lower. Today I took some 450 Bushmaster handloads, to make a long story shorter I had two fizzles with the handloads and wound up with a teaspoon of unburned powder in the lower. I was going to take it to the maintenance shop and blow it out but decided what the heck, give it a try. Put the 5.45 mm upper back on and shot 300 rounds, not a bit of trouble. I did notice the bolt got harder to pull back as I shot, the unburned powder was getting bounced out of the lower into the upper and gumming things up. I gave the lower a complete strip down cleaning and it was absolutely slap full of crud in addition to the unburned powder that got spilled into it. I cleaned the 5.45 mm bolt, same thing, absolutely slap full of crud. The bolt hasn't been cleaned in a long time, the upper I give the hot water treatment every time I shoot but the bolt I just submerge in ATF until the next shooting trip. The gun didn't care, just kept banging away. I guess it hasn't been told it has to be kept spotlessly clean. I had one of my little buddies with me, he was horrified how dirty the gun was but then he just graduated Marine recruit training a week ago.
Details:
WW 296 powder, 33, 34, 35, 36 and 37 grains under Winchester 230 grain round nose bullets, CCI small rifle primers. Shot them out of a Bushie upper on this S&W lower. The first round hangfired. Following round jammed due to unburned powder in the chamber. Rodded out the powder, tried 34 grain load, same thing. Second round, a fizzle, powder didn't burn, the primer just popped the bullet out of the case. Happilly the bullet was barely into the rifling, it just bumped right out with the cleaning rod, this time I get 30 or so grains of powder in the action, much of it spilling into the lower. I tried one of the 37 grain loads, another hangfire then another fizzle. Now I got probably a good 20 or 25 grains of WW 296 in the lower.
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