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Finished a build and had 2 issues that I've never seen before:
1-Failure to feed steel cased Wolf, Tula, Barnul cheapos. Weird. Changed to better spring and heavier buffer and then it started short stroking brass, changed back and put in a spikes buffer, brass ran fine, steel cased no go.
2- D&H mags won't seat and stay in. Was there a crappy production run with D&H that I'm unaware of? Tried 3 new mags and gave up. They weren't locking in solid and staying snapped in. Magpul PMags worked fine.
Anyone experienced similar?

did it feed fine with PMAGS and regular buffer?



could just mean you built a princess gun

Break it in with a bunch of 5.56 full power brass loads and then try steel again

Fed 85% with pmags and regular buffer, would not fully seat the bolt with brass or steel cased the other 15%. Steel was 100% failure to load 2nd round. Pmags had no trouble staying seated.

I'll burn a couple of mags through it and see if she'll stop being a picky little brat, I'd hoped it was just 'tight/new' components that needed a little wearing in.

I would take a look at your lower receiver if it is not locking in metal mags.  Who makes the upper and lower receivers?  pics??

Lower was complete LMT factory build, I switched out the buffer and spring and put a magpul stock on. Upper is Cardinal, YHM chrome BCG, Midway gas tube (might be DPMS), and Troy low profile gas block, BCM 14.5 barrel.

Put carbine buffer back in.
Put milspec carbine action spring back in.
Shoot 5.56 pressure ammo to break it in.
Use Pmags.

Check your gas port size to see if it's the correct size.

Steel case had been known for low pressure in the past. .

Do gi mags lock in on an open bolt?

does it jam when you try to charge it or only after you fire it?

Ok Call me odd but I would not use Steel Cased Ammo at all unless one has no choice. And I believe right now you do have a choice. Just say no to Steel. :)

buy the brass legally and your rifle might not have a moral issue firing it.












*steel.

is it steel 556 or 223?
Doesn't BCM say no 223 in their barrels?

My BCM 11.5" upper will run anything. I have never heard them talk about not shooting 223

This above is good advice.  Steel ammo often is underpressure and case to chamber fit is poor so cycling is unreliable.  It is probably not a problem with the rifle.   Use good brass ammo to break it in and try it again.  And, the AR was not designed for steel so sometimes steel does just not work.

If your mag catch is installed and is spec then just shoot it. Some mags shot better than others.  Often just shooting and break in makes a difference.  If it is just the occasional mag that does not work then get rid of those and move on.  Don't get attached to mags.

Oh, and be sure to use a chamber brush and clean the chamber very well.

Good Luck!

Range report:
Tried carbine orig buffer and spring, works with brass, no luck with steel. Jams every time as if sponsored by Smuckers.
Swapped buffer for H-buffer, same result.
Swapped buffer for Spikes H2, same result.
Tried various config with different springs and buffers, no avail. This girl hates steel. No problem with brass. Fires first round, loads next round half way up M4 feed ramp and stops. Forward assist tap helps chamber it but problem reoccurs thereafter for every round.
Strangely, my old Colt loves steel and cycles every round of crap like it was made by Lake City...

Mag issue seems mag release is running too thick or wide (supposably milspec) and this extra material extends into magwell. When magazine is pressed against it due to being inserted into magwell, the force of magazine body pressed against length of material (not actually catch itself that locks into mag) is enough to keep the catch from proper lock-up, so the mag drops out. Less than ten minutes with a file resolved this issue. Pmags weren't affected by this problem though, which is making me invest in more.

Gas port appears clear and block should be correct size. I'll have to pull the handguard again to double check.
Thanks for the replies. Hoping sooner or later to work out the kinks.

are you using a one piece gas ring or a normal three ring set up and might not be recommended but take some weight out of the buffer and that might solve your issue steel is usually under pressured especially if its steel 223. i have no problem with steel i run it all day in my dpms but my buddy with his armalite cant run it to save his life

You may have a small gas port.

Have you tried 62gr Barnaul? (brown, silver, gold bear)



As for D&H, I got some 8-10 months ago, they were FDE and the floorplates said D&H Tactical. They really remind me of the cheap C Products mags. The feedlips were really sharp and the finish was chipping off.

Are you 100% sure the gas block is aligned correctly?  Sounds like it's under gassed.  A lot of the cheap steel gas isn't as powerful as american made brass.

I like to mark the center of the port on the shoulder of the barrel and the center of the gas port on the block on the back of the block so when installed the two marks can be referenced.  I also measure the distance from the center of the gas port to the back of the gas block and then reference the port on the barrel and see if the block rides against the shoulder or slightly offset from it.

Now that's a thought, I'll see if it was 62g. I might've been shooting the weaker stuff.
Asked earlier: yes, 5.56

I wondered if the gas port might be small, never heard of any issues with that manufacturer but then again, could've been a order processor accidentally throwing in wrong one I suppose.

Thinking the gas block should be lined up. I set it similar to your build, marked with sharpie on the barrel for alignment, measured for rear seat, and dropped a small pin punch through the two while setting. I suppose it still could have slid off center or drifted during final set. It almost sounds like pulling the handguard and resetting the block at this point might be a good idea. I swear I checked clearance / unobstructed gas tube but this might also be a good time to run a pipe cleaner or somesuch through just to make sure nothing is holding gas back...

Again, thanks for the tips