My friend picked up a Bushmaster Carbon15 and we went to try it out and it DID NOT fire well. we had FTF,FTE, double feeds the only thing that we didnt get was a bolt override. Someone told him not to use hollow points in this firearm. Another person said use a bullit over 55 grain , and we did. I read here that someone else said to use 5.56 rather then .223 rounds. we didnt have a chance to try that yet. Does anyone else have any problems like this???  Any advise is more then welcome......
TIA
Brian

I looked at a Carbon 15 (pre-bushy) in a gun store.  The clerk pushed out the take-down pin with his hand, and it broke.  

I've never been interested in them since...

Aluminum is tried and true.  I would buy one, but I will wait a few years and see what happens.  

Aluminum only for me.  

My first thought is the magazine.  Use a different magazine, preferably a new, GI-Style or one that you know works in another gun.  If that doesn't fix the problem, send it back to Bushmaster.  That's what warranties are all about.

Call Bushmaster, send it back and have them fix it and they will.

Quoted: My first thought is the magazine.  Use a different magazine, preferably a new, GI-Style or one that you know works in another gun.  If that doesn't fix the problem, send it back to Bushmaster.  That's what warranties are all about.

 We did try different mags, my buddy has about 20+ mags and i have about 12 or so all in good working order. I called Bushmaster and they said that some of the edges where the bullit feeds might need to be ground down and smoothed off.

you may have a handful w/ that bushy.  I tried everything and it kept short stroking.  This was one of the newer ones.  It's a great gun when it works but I have yet to see any that work consistently.  Price you pay for such a short gas tube.  I gave up after repeated efforts and sold it.  Never looked back.....

I currently own 3 carbon guns and they all work 100%.

1. Polish the feed ramps on the barrel extension and run them slightly down into the lower.
2. Don't use hollow points.
3. Use good ammo, nothing that is under powered.
4. Mine all LOVE thermold mags...not orlite...thermold.

This has just been my experiences......you shouldn't have to do any "Fixes" with a new gun. I just like to play around...some don't. Send it back and they will take care of it.

The problem with the Bushy Factory pistols is a combination of factors.

Partly it is due to the design. (Bushy is not totally responsible , as they did not design it ,
Professional Ordnance did)

Your standard AR15 will work with any good 5.56 cartridge ; most will work with commercial
.223 ammo , EVEN WOLF .

If you shorten the barrel , about the only thing you need to play with is the gas port size ,
This is why MOST home built AR pistols WORK , as long as the Barrel is ported correctly.

When you start playing around with Bolt carrier weight - buffer weight and travel , and spring
length/poundage- you are asking for trouble.

You may get a gun which works fine , OR , You may end up with a gun which only functions with one or two brands of ammo - or one which chokes on a little fouling.

Quoted: Call Bushmaster, send it back and have them fix it and they will.

+1

Wow.  It's a factory gun.  The first thing you physically do to it will void any warranty.  If it weren't factory, to with it to your wit's end.

I bought a Carbon 15 pistol used at my local gun shop. Took it out to fire it and all I had after about three rounds was failure to extract. Over and over again. I cleaned it, then took it out again to shoot, same deal. there was so much carbon fouling (aparently the last owner had vever heard of a cleaning kit) I finally got some foam spray and let it sit for a while. After that it shot just fine (and that was with cheap .223 ammo-winchester- not Wolf) it was the dirtiest chamber I have ever seen, the price of buying a used one. Hopefully that is the last of the fouling problems. It sure is a hoot to fire a full 40 round mag real fast!

Guys, this is the third Carbon 15 slamming post I've seen that came from someone with a post count of 1.

I smell big time.

Maybe colt is just mad about that trademark suit they just lost.

At any rate, send it back to bushmaster, they will take care of you regardless.

Quoted: Guys, this is the third Carbon 15 slamming post I've seen that came from someone with a post count of 1. I smell big time.

I was wondering the same thing.

I wan't a 97S but this is putting me off big time. If you have one and like it I would like to here from you.

The poster is an obvious troll - - looking to stir up sh*t --

A quick search of Renegade_of_Funk shows he has no other posts except for this one.

Quoted: I currently own 3 carbon guns and they all work 100%. ... 4. Mine all LOVE thermold mags...not orlite...thermold. ... Send it back and they will take care of it.

"Mine all LOVE thermold mags...not orlite...thermold"  +9 on my Carbon 15.

I just ran 1000 rounds of Wolf hollow point through it.  1 FTF.  (3rd from the last).  Very dirty boy by that time?  It happily eats anything I feed it.  

Bushmaster is aware of a flaw in the older models of the Carbon-15. I picked one up a few years ago and I had the same problems. SEND IT BACK. I did and the flaw was corrected - Bushmaster took three weeks to make the changes and returned it to me - and now no more FTF or DF's. GUN TESTS magazine also found the flaw and recommended sending it back to Bushmaster. I sent only the UPPER recvr - not the whole weapon. Best of luck.

I've had my Bushy carbon 15 pistol for about 6 months and have fired somewhere in the range of 1,500 rounds with NO misfeeds or FTF's whatsoever.  I've used xm193, xm193pd, and wolf.  I know some of the earlier models had problems that were fixed by polishing the feed ramp, but I never experienced it.

Personal opinion....I too am beginning to think this may be a

I've put thousands of rounds through them without failure.  Just keep them clean, VERY lightly oiled and find mags that it likes (I've had excellent luck with plain old mil-spec 30's).  You might consider polishing the chamber after thousands of rounds of wolf ammo, as steel case rounds tend to rough up the walls, but other than that just do normal maintenance.

My friend bought a new Professional Ordnance  when they were still making them and had problems and never could get them resoluved.

When Bushmaster took over the design he contacted them and they worked on it for free!!!!

Here is my two cents
I bought a Bushmaster carbon 15 .22 conversion kit for my professional ordnance carbon 15 model 97. Fits great and so far I have had no problems.
(Note: it sits on my Rock River and works just as good on it also!)
It has wokred great through 500 rounds.  the only bad thing is the 10 round .22 magazines are expensive and a pain to load.

Well I am no expert on the carbon guns I just bought my first one a 9mm carbon bushmaster pistol yesterday. I was alittle unsure about the carbon factor, but after talking to my local dealer he stated he had sold about a dozen of the bushmaster carbon guns and has not had anyone complain yet about them. He said most guys love them and one customer at fired over 5000rds through his 223 carbon rifle he sold to him last year.. The Para Ord. guns were nothing but problems he sold three and two of them never did work right  out of the box he stated. The good report on the bushmasters made it alittle easier to drop $950 on one so I did it. On the 9mm pistol it is very cool looking and feels great in my hands. I took it apart first thing last night all the parts fit tight and the upper/lower fit is nice and tight. The trigger is alittle heavy for my taste maybe 5-6 lbs but crisp when it breaks.I also put away the plastic promag it came with and put in a colt 32rd mag. This morning I took it out on my farm and shoot about 200rds of PMC 115gr FMJ through it not one jam or problem of any kind. I put a reflex sight on the pistol and sighted it in at 35yards which it was grouping 1-2 inchs from the bench. Off hand I can't shoot that good but can roll coffee cans around easy enough. I tried one box of gold dot 124gr loads no jams or problems whith those.  Time will tell the whole story but so far its a pretty good shooter and looks even better. I am going to shoot it some more this weekend but I am out of 9mm ammo so I will have to get to walmart and buy a case.

I have had my Bushmaster Carbon 15 Type 21S pistol for about 2 months now and love it.

I have had a few FTF & FTEs, but I believe it was due to magazines being improperly seated (must slap it in EVERYTIME to be sure) and low-grade rounds.

I agree, keep it clean and use mil-spec magas.

I've but over a 1000rds through it and one of the problems I have is that it "rises" or "fish-tails" when I do rapid fire. Solution for me was using a loop sling around my shooting shoulder and connecting it to the rear sling lug only. When I fire I push out to create stability and can either shoot from just above the waist line or raise it to eye-ball level and shoot it like my full-size rifle.

I love my lil' dragon, which is the other problem... I could burn ALOT of ammo with this thing. It ALMOST makes me grin as much as firing full-auto weapons.

I might even build a second one, but I believe it will require more skill than I currently have...

Range update:

Used a bunch of 30rd magas today at the range today, here are the results:

- Old Colt magas 7 out of 8 no feed problems.
- Orlite magas 4 out of 4 no feed problems.
- Defense Contractor magas 3 out of 3 bo feed problems.
- "Off-brand" type magas 2 out of 2 HAD constant feed problems.

This was doing 3 rounds "bursts" 3 times, then fast rapid fire of the remaining.
Each had 30 rounds.
Ammo was Federal XM193 5.56mm M193 Ball 55grain