I'm having trouble with a Colt R6430.  I get one shot, occasionally two shots, before it jams.  There's a pic below.

I've ruled out ammo (tried +P instead of range ammo).

Cleaned and then replaced the extractor.  New buffer spring.  New mag springs, and tried multiple mags.

The only logical part remaining is the ejector.  By eye, it appears to be aligned R/L and is not dragging on the bolt carrier.  Also by eye, it does not appear to be bent backwards or otherwise out of position.  But the picture below shows the fired case still in the ejection port with the next round stripped and partially fed (blocked by the unelected fired case).

Suggestions?  Bend the ejector forward?  Replace?  If replace, what's the best source for a factory Colt lower?  Thanks for your thoughts.

Could you take a picture of the bolt closed through the bottom of the mag well? Bending the ejector should work. For me the trick was bending it to the side slightly closer to the bolt, rather than bending it up.

Likely eject finger not fill the opening of bolt face to tap case out,, only real "draw" to COLT system.. minimal contact with case if not set right

Google results for ar15.com threads...

https://www.google.com/search?q=ar15.com+9mm+colt+ejector&oq=ar15.com+9mm+colt+ejector&aqs=chrome..69i57.16127j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Also check youtube for videos of how to tune the ejector finger.

_

1911 style ejector is one of the reasons I ditched my old bolt and replaced it with one that uses an AR-style extractor. If the extractor isn't holding the case tight enough to the bolt face you can end up with these issues too. Might try 'tuning' your extractor if doing the same to the ejector doesn't help.

I'll try to do that tomorrow.

Steps here so far: clean the muck out of the extractor channel and underneath the extractor. (Didn't work.)  Replace extractor with fresh Colt factory part. (Also didn't work.)

I understand what you're saying.  I believe I've got a good, firm hold on the case head, based on checking with the bolt out of the upper.

Two pics follow.

The first shows the position of the ejector in the ejection port.  The second shows the ejector relative to the bolt viewed through the magazine well, with the bolt partly aft.  Although the ejector is not rubbing on either side of the slot in the underside of the bolt, it does look slightly off to one side.  Thoughts welcome with thanks for your time.

IMG_0722

IMG_0719

No wonder you're having problems, that ejector is not right at all....

The face of the ejector, should be square and flat. As is, the case is getting hit at the bottom, then being forced up into the receiver....

If you have another ejector, that has a square, flat face, install it. If not, you may be able to stone that ejector face square and flat and still have enough length...maybe.

The face should look like this.
Attached File

^ What Shultz said. Your ejector has a strange contour to it. Luckily you can buy a Colt pattern 9mm ejector for as low as $5 if you need to. Now, you also have an ever so slight gap in between the ejector and the bolt. You don't necessarily want the ejector to touch the bolt, but you do want it to sit as closely to the bolt as possible. For me, I had to use a pair of vice grips and bend it over gently. Between reshaping/replacing the ejector and nestling it over a smidgen, you'll be back in business in no time.

Good catch, I missed it...

Both are contributing to your problem OP.

Attached File

Yep, just like that. I was lazy, didn't feel like opening up the safe so I stole an internet pic

Nice looking boolits BTW. I sure wish lead was as easy to find today as it was 10-15 years ago Now, everyone seems to think you'll die from cancer from just looking at it, fucking EPA.

Thank you all.  Next step is clear.  Parts ordered.  I appreciate your assistance.

Chamber an empty case and drop the bolt.  Look in the mag well and slowly pull the bolt back.  Observe the relationship between the case and the ejector.  Chances are you need to bend the extractor inward towards the center of the bolt.  Don't be concerned if the extractor rubs on the bolt.

I had the exact same problem with a PSA 9mm Colt pattern AR.  The extractor was missing the case head completely.  Mine went from jambing (failure to eject) about 50% of the time to sending 100% of the spent cases 25 feet or more.  Mine is now 100% reliable.

Thanks.  I have a replacement ejector in the mail.  I'll pay attention to that when I set it up.

Had similar (looks similar) issues with my first 9MM pistol build.

Bang, jam, clear the jam, chamber a round, bang, jam, repeat, repeat.

Then, on the last shot, the bolt locked back and when I looked into the ejection port I could see the empty still on the bolt.  The ejector wasn't contacting the base/rim of the extracted case.  When the bolt goes forward the round in the magazine will bump the empty off the bolt face but then the empty case is in the way of feeding/chambering that top round from the magazine.

Used a pair of pliers to bend the ejector to the right (when looking straight down on the lower from above, bend the ejector to the right).  Took two tries to get it to 100%.  It was ejecting some empties, but still having occasional problems.  Another tweak further to the right and had no more issues.  Just for info, my lower is a Spikes Tactical lower.  My nephew bought a PSA complete lower and had the exact same issue.  The same "fix" cured his problems, too.

Last round with bolt hold open is the only way to be sure this is happening.

I had ejection issues with my psa bolt and it drove me crazy until I realized the roll pin  holding the extractor was bent, which allowed the extractor to move
check that also, now when ever I remove the extractor pin, I replace it with a new one

I just checked my nearly 18yr old 6450 and a new pistol build using a Hahn block and Both have a flat faced ejector.

Also I can see on your gas deflector has a very worn patter on the inner edge of the plastic.  Cases should Not be contacting that plastic clam shell at All.  It’s Not a case deflector!

Replace ejector with a Colt OEM part or send it back to Colt .... and wait

H

Thanks, I do have a set of new pins.

Anyone with a lead on factory Colt ejectors, I'm all ears.  Found a replacement (these shouldn't be rocket science?) but prefer OEM and would be grateful for any links.

Interesting.  If the new part doesn't show up before the weekend, I'll check that out.  Thank you for the info and the pic.

Received the replacement ejector (and pins) today and installed.  Will range test later today and report.  The replacement part has a very different profile than the one that's in the rifle.

That's good news. Once adjusted correctly, it should eject and run good.

And it does - just got back from the range.  Results with white box 115 gr range loads were mixed.  I'm pretty sure that's just an ammo issue.  You can feel many of the rounds soft-cycling the bolt/carrier.  I think the few rounds that malf'ed didn't have enough pressure to cycle the action.  Switching to +P loads resulted in 100% reliability.  Please correct me if I'm mistaken, but a sub gun needing sub gun ammo to run properly doesn't surprise me at all.  Or are my expectations with the 115 gr range loads too low?

Its start! WWB tends to be low power, but, I would think it SHOULD run. I shoot mostly my own reloads, these are mid power, not close to +p and they run fine. How much buffer do you have? spring? did it lock open on the last round? I have ran 5.5oz and 7.5oz buffers with a carbine spring shooting my reloads and a mix of factory stuff including +p with very few malfunctions. All of the malfunctions that I can recall, were failure to feeds, I made some slight changes to the feed cone and they went away.

You should NOT need +p or NATO loads for your gun to run.

WWB should absolutely have the oompf to eject reliably unless you're over-sprung.

Buffer or buffer spring sounds likely.  A lot of the WWB and similar range ammo were cycling the action almost in slow motion.  Felt more like a Garand than an AR.  The buffer that's in the rifle right now was labeled as a 5.5 oz. Colt 9mm buffer: https://www.midwayusa.com/product/738046/colt-9mm-buffer-ar-15-carbine. It looks identical to the one that came in the rifle, though I haven't weighed them.  However, to the second point, the buffer spring is a Wolff +10%, which might make a difference.

I will sub the buffer and the buffer spring that came in the rifle and see what happens.  Nice to have a range close to home...

I would not go lower than 5.5oz on the buffer. Some folks, use 3.0oz carbine buffers, I would not myself. It should, run any ammo with 5.5oz.

I've used a 308, buffer spring as well with both 5.5oz and 7.5oz buffers. The gun ran,  just seemed a little sluggish and if anything, dipped the muzzle when closing...I stick with standard, carbine springs. Still, my 308 spring should be as strong,if not stronger than a Wolff plus 10....

Have a look at the chamber. I'd suspect, it's a little ruff. With a good, strong extractor,  a ruff chamber, may be slowing the bolt as it tries to extract the case...

Will do.  Thank you, sir.

Is the new ejector rubbing, slowing your bolt speed down? The inconsistency is what I don’t get. Maybe try some other bulk ammo. AE or UMC 115gr.

No, it's nicely centered. May need to bend it slightly inward.  There's a little room to go that way.  Gave the bore and chamber a good brushing out but haven't had a chance to get back to the range yet.

Mine, both of them, run WWB 115 grain FMJ (shoots shotgun patterns though) and Federal 115 grain FMJ (shoots great groups - it's become my go to store bought 9MM ammo if I don't have enough reloads.)

Function is 100%.

Mine have carbine springs and H2 buffers.  My wife does say the carbine kicks more than her 16" AR15 in .223.  I'm not messing with it, they run fine as is.

OP, good luck with yours.

Very belated reply here.

I got my hands on a replacement third party ejector (bought a couple, actually) and a replacement Colt gas deflector and installed them.

I got over to the range tonight and with one issue the rifle now runs flawlessly with every sort of crappy range ammo I could find.  (Excellent!)

I had one repeat issue that I need to troubleshoot further but wanted to mention.  One of the 32 round mags consistently failed to feed the 32nd round.  It ran fine when fed with less than 32 rounds.  Had no issues at all with the 20s.  So my question is: are the 32 round mags known for issues when fully loaded?  All of the mags have new Wolff mag springs, so the issue isn't old/worn out mag springs.

Thanks as always for your feedback.

Jnewell,

Good to hear you got it sorted out

The problem you're seeing with the 32rd mags. Just to be clear, the 32nd rd is the FIRST rd, in a fully loaded mag correct? This first rd, fails to feed correct? I'm guessing this is correct, doesn't make any sense that the last rd would fail to feed if the mag was loaded with 32rds but works if you down load the mag......

Anway, assuming the above is correct. First thing to check. Are you SURE, you're loading 32rds and not 33? Tolerance's being what they are, you MIGHT be able to squeeze in 33rds. This leaves no slack in the stack causing increased case drag on the feed lips as the rd tries to strip out and failure to feed...

If you are certain you are only loading 32rds. You should still make sure you have some slack in the stack. This is an easy check with a Maglula. Once fully loaded with 32rds, flip the lula lever as if you were going to load another rd. You're looking to see how much the stack compresses, you should be nearly able to shove in an extra rd if you have enough slack. If no maglula, get one!!! anyway use your thumb, press the stack down HARD, making sure you have some slack so the top rd is not binding on the feed lips.

If you have some slack. I'd just down load one rd and shoot some more letting the mags break in... the problem might fix itself

If you DON'T have some slack. Could be a mag body/follower or spring issue. Since you changed to wolff springs, I'd look here first. Compare the number of coils on the wolff spring to the OEM you removed. If they have the same number of coils, the wolff spring SHOULD be able to compress enough to allow 32rds. If the wolff has more coils, it may simply be a touch to long and not compressing enough to allow full loading of the mag. It could be a mag body(short) or follower(long) tolerance issue, again, one or both just not allowing enough room in the mag for 32rds.

Thank you, sir.

I meant "last" round in the mag - first loaded, last fired (or in this case, not fired).  But...

...no, I can't say for sure that I hadn't gotten 33 into the mag.  I loaded it a few times sitting behind the firing line on a bench, not looking and not counting - the Maglula makes loading easy to do without looking...

I'll load them up paying more attention and see what happens.  Again, thank you!

Well, since it is the last rd that fails to feed, ignore what I said

It's really odd, that you say the last rd fails to feed if you fully load the mag with 32rds, yet feeds the last rd fine if you down load the mag....this makes no sense to me. If the last rd is gonna fail to feed, the number of rds before it shouldn't matter one bit.

Only one of your 32rd mags does this? Load a few rds in this mag so that the last round loaded is against the right feed lip. Look at how the rd sits in the mag. Now, strip out the rds leaving the last rd in. The last rd, should be against the right feed lip. How does the way the last rd sits compare? If it's crooked or nose up/down, there's your problem...

This appears to be a typical problem with PCC ARs.  I had the same issue with my PSA dedicated Colt lower.  Went from 1 failure to eject every 3 to 5  rounds to good reliability ejecting cases 3 to 4 feet.  Further bending the ejector inward towards the bolt center produced 100% reliability and 25 to 30 foot ejection.  Do not be concerned if the ejector rubs the bolt.  The clearance between the bolt and the upper is very generous on an AR-9 so the ejector must be located so that it ALWAYS strikes the case.

Thanks - just for clarity, my issue on Sunday wasn't an FTE, it was an FTF.  Didn't pickup/feed the last round in the 32-round mag I was using.  Could be an issue specific to that magazine, or could be operator error (overloaded mag)...will test soon with a group of other 32 round mags (paying attention to how many rounds I load, too).

The Metalform 32 round mags will hold 33 or sometimes 34 rounds.  Pay attention to the "windows" but first verify what they indicate for round count.

I have 50+ of them (park'd and blued colts, blued metalforms, brownells and PSA) and 33 rounds is super tough to do (don't usually feed because they are so tight) - no way 34 are going in any of them (assuming 9mm and assuming there is a spring and follower in them).