My MSAR has been problematic the last two range trips.  Previously, it was flawless.  

Lately, I've been getting quite a few jams.  Looks like most are failures to extract, but a couple failures to eject were thrown in it seems.  The gun was thoroughly cleaned after the last range trip when this issue started, so my guess is it might be time to swap the extractor spring.  Am I off base there?  Any other ideas?

I know this is an AR, but some of the jams are looking like this (damn stovepipes)

I'd probably just swap out the bolt for a Ratworx hybrid bolt

That looks fantastic.  I like the standard AR parts use.

Anything else that I should look at updating on the gun?  I've not had it for long and my wife loves it, so I'll be keeping it for a good long while.

The stocks that allow the AR mags to be used worth a damn, or no?

The answer is "It depends".  It depends on two things; what you will accept as "finished" and when it was produced.  The original E4 (AR mag version) stocks were pretty much rock solid except for the embedded helicoils that allowed you to mount additional 1913 rail sections to the stock.  The "new" E4 stock corrected the helicoil issue by using stainless steel mounting plates; kudos to MSAR for doing this.  The downside is that the new stocks aren't as finished as the old ones; when the two halves are joined together, a very noticeable ridge is formed that runs along the seams.  This will prevent a flush fitting rail (thus the return to the STG pattern rail), makes for an inconvenient/uncomfortable grip (without gloves), and in general looks half finished.  When I challenged MSAR about this they had the gall to bill it as an "upgrade" and that "almost every client" *asked* for it.  In the grand scheme of things I'm a urban/suburban guy so I don't know what bullshit really smells like, but I have had a dog and I know what dog shit smells like and this guy's excuse was a big ol' shovel full of it.





If the ridge doesn't bother you, make me a reasonable offer and I'll sell you my stock.  If it does bother you, try to find an older 2009-2010 production stock.

Kurt

My now gone MSAR needed a small O ring under the extractor to get reliable extraction.

Stove pipes can be caused by several things. Underpowered ammo, extractor problems, ejector problems, gas problems, magazine problems. Eliminate each one, one at a time till you find the culprit. I'd start with ammo.