ETA: After much consideration and an eventual slap of my forehead... I popped both takedown pins and was able to wiggle the upper far enough forward that I could just tilt the whole thing out and up off the lower while holding the BCG forward through the ejection port.

Lesson learned, take your time to check your workspace before reinstalling the BCG.


*************************

Took my BCG apart to clean it, and my dumbass self stuck it back in the gun without the firing pin or firing pin retaining pin.

Now the bolt is stuck in the forward position and won't retract into the BCG, and I can't remove the upper from the lower. Any idea how I can fix this?

Well- you’re going to want three hands.

One hand to hold the rifle

Another to pull a bit back in the charging handle so there isn’t forward pressure on the bolt face.

The third hand to rotate the bolt head around so it fits into your barrel locking lugs without turning. You should have clearance then to take off the upper and properly assemble.

Ok- after thinking about this, I thought you didn’t have the cam-pin installed. Its misalignment is likely preventing your lugs from rotating into the barrel extension so you have clearance to take off your upper.

You can try what I suggested above, but will likely need some leverage (flathead screwdriver to push on the lugs) to rotate the locking lugs on the bolt so they will fit.

I guess you could also just rack the thing a bunch until it goes into battery by chance, and it would accomplish the same thing.

Take off stock and buffer tube slide it out .

Stand the gun up vertical and jiggle
The cam pin has come loose or spun with no firing pin to retain it, and it's wedged in the recess in the upper.


That's my guess. If it wasn't there you could pull the carrier back and the bolt would just fall out, so I suspect the cam pin is there, and if it's engaged in the bolt, then the bolt would still cam properly.

You should be able to pull both pins to get the upper off the lower.

It's not loaded, RIGHT?

That'll work.

This.  Nobody is going to confess that this always happens to an AR guy.............once.  

Unless the Op has a notched buffer tube where the buffer retainer sits. In that case they won't be able to unscrew the buffer tube without shearing the tube or retaining pin(since you can't gain access to push it down). I know a couple of my buffer tubes have that notch, some don't.

Either way, only one way to find out if it unscrews easily.

He's not saying remove the buffer tube, he's saying remove the unit of stock and lower. But if the bolt is jammed at the chamber face this won't fully solve the problem.

That said, I don't believe this would be jammed too tightly. Give it a push back with something like a nylon punch. Oil it first.

After much consideration and an eventual slap of my forehead... I popped both takedown pins and was able to wiggle the upper far enough forward that I could just tilt the whole thing out and up off the lower while holding the BCG forward through the ejection port.

Lesson learned, take your time to check your workspace before reinstalling the BCG.

Dude...we are all bumb asses. Sume of us are just early bloombers...

Hey, I resemble that remark??