So I got some range time in yesterday. I had the abuse the crap out of the AUG mags to get them to pop a cartridge. Unless dropped, I couldn’t  get  any to pop a cartridge. I inserted mags with the bolt retracted and smacked the crap out of them, no issues what so ever.

OP,

Have you thought of detail stripping your AUG? Soak and clean the disassembled bolt in low odor mineral spirits to remove the preservative oil. It can get gummy and cause issues if not removed. It usually gives parts a brown or rust colored look to them.

Like any NIB gun, maybe OP should have cleaned it before firing it for the first time. Many manufacturers put packing grease on their guns before shipment. I always clean any NIB gun I bring home before I fire any rounds through it. Just common sense.

@MOS68W

any resolution?

Look forward to updates.

I don't think ring gap is enough to do this,  and sort of think that whole thing is a myth.  For shits, I might even try to purposely allign the gap next time.

The gun is firing and moving the bolt back far enough to strip out a second round - that's not short stroke or under gassed; that's an ejection issue.  The spring tension of the extractor or the ejector is probably wrong or broken.

Pull out your bolt, and test the spring tension of the extractor by hand - both should be way too stiff to actually do so.  Clean for crap under extractor hook.  Pull out extractor and ejector springs and inspect.  Make sure neither are broken in half.

Ask someone to post a photo of their bolt-internal springs to compare.

Failure sure your issue is there.

Sorry for the delay; sort of forgot about this thread (and the rifle actually). I took down the rifle and made sure the gas rings weren't all aligned as advised by Steyr; unfortunately it still suffered FTEs almost every round on normal and about every other round on adverse. After 40 or so rounds I didn't see any improvement and called it quits. Still using Winchester M193.

I was so frustrated with the thing I put it in the safe and put it out of my mind. I'd intended to call Steyr the next business day, but life sort of got in the way and it's slipped my mind til now. I'll do so Monday and report back; as previously noted they seemed amenable to taking a look at it if I couldn't resolve things on my own.

I'll try that when I get home, thanks. I have a bunch of guns to clean anyway so shouldn't take a minute.

Maybe I should have. Still note the part about issues not happening until after being cleaned/firing over 1k rounds.

Ok, good news and bad news. I dropped the rifle off with my FFL to be shipped to Steyr for a warranty repair around the end of August. I know since it was going straight back to the manufacturer for a repair I could have just sent it through the mail and had it returned directly to my house, but I didn't much feel like arguing Federal firearms law with whatever societal reject was working the counter at the Post Office or UPS that day.

Good news: Yesterday I got a call from a gentleman (Hubert? Herbert?) from Steyr's facility in AL, who apologized for the delay in getting to my rifle and explained that the issue(s) were a broken ejector spring and a broken "spring that goes behind the firing pin." I assume he was referring to the firing pin spring, which I certainly didn't notice being broken, but whatever. Anyway, both were replaced and I asked him to include a couple of spares of each spring which came to $30 or so. He said he'd have the rifle in the mail that day and I should get a call from my FFL by the end of the week.

Bad news: I stupidly forgot to include the original sear and sent the rifle in with the 2020 Precision sear installed. I was advised that the aftermarket sear made the rifle "unsafe" and allowed it to fire with the safety on. Now, that sear was in the gun for probably 1000 rounds, and while I don't think I ever loaded it, set it on safe, and proceeded to mash the trigger trying to make it go off I definitely think I would have noticed an issue like that while dry firing or generally dicking around with it. It passed a function test right after I installed it with no issues and I hadn't even considered it since then. Anyway, the gentleman told me he couldn't return it to me in that condition for legal reasons, so I could either mail him my original one or purchase a new factory sear. I forked out the $14 or so for a new one just to speed the process along. I completely understand why they have to do that, with our litigious society, but still a bit annoying. He did say he'd include it on the return but if it really is a safety issue I probably won't mess with it.

I'm kicking myself for not asking "why" two springs would have broken with such a comparatively low round count, and I may give them a call back when I get the thing to ask a couple more questions, but as long as it works again I'm not too worried about it. Not sure when I'll be getting to the range any time soon but I'll at least run some primed cases through it when I get it back.

No it doesn't.  There are several trigger mods, some of which can be a bit dicey; and he's just blanket grouping them all together.  Unless he actually put your gun on safe, pulled the trigger, and it went click (which it won't) - he's wrong.

Considering we almost had a drop in trigger for the AUG but it failed their "drop test" I'd be interested in what their standards for that are. Makes me think it may fail that test and not in the way it was described to you.

The AUGs own drop safety is a joke...

Please elaborate.

Well, they certainly shipped it back quickly once they were done; I got a call from my FFL and was able to pick it up yesterday. The repair description reads as follows:

The 2020 sear was uninstalled and returned in a little plastic bag, along with an invoice for $12.88 for a new factory sear. Additional replacement springs that I had requested and, I had thought, paid for, were not included and no reference was made to them in the invoice. I'll double check to make sure charges for those didn't wind up on my card.

thanks for the update.  While the 2020 sear aspect is eye-roll inducing, it's also pennies in the grand scheme of things and mostly irrelevant.  Obviously you should reinstall it immediately, and basically just toss the useless second spare plastic one you now have.

The real question is did they fix your reliability issues, and we look forward to your updates on that soon.

I would adjure you to do this:

Change nothing at the moment.  Leave the gun 100 percent factory.  Since it has already been test fired you could skip the next step which is (normally) cleaning and oiling.

The factory says it was firing when it left...so leave it as is and take her out for a spin.  That way there are NO variables.

Based on the previous behavior of the gun, you will know in one magazine whether or not it is working correctly.

BTW: I assume you are shooting good, off the shelf ammo, right?

@Maleante

The broken springs are concerning. However, springs do break, not all parts are perfect, some fo have flaws.

Do you have an AUG? Remove the mag. Ensure it's empty and safe. Charge the gun (i.e. hammer is cocked). Put the gun on safe.

Now start dropping the gun on carpet in different orientations starting from about 6". Don't go crazy and break your gun, you're just looking to find what activates the drop safety and what doesn't.

I mentioned this here more than a decade ago. According to Steyr, the drop safety is only designed to activate when the gun is dropped muzzle down

Exactly.

It makes me think there's some disconnect between what the drop safety does and what others (Steyr and Geissele) think it should do.

Geissele's hammerpack was good to go until Steyr said it failed the drop test. Ok. But what's the standard they're using. I know exactly what orientation the gun has to be in for the safety to activate, and there's no way around that. I'd like to know more about their so called failed test.

Back to OPs issue with the removal of his 2020 TSM, those sears are drop safe per the muzzle drop. Is steyr applying a stricter standard on aftermarket parts? The factory slide and the 2020 TSM slide perform exactly the same with regard to the drop test.

@GACS
Would you be willing to elaborate on the drop test applied to your hammerpack design?

Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

No problem.

I personally don't see it as a problem, but it's ironic that steyr would make an issue over the 2020 TSM when they're own slide has the EXACT SAME drop safety functionality...

I think this is what I'll probably do before I go messing with replacing the sear. I'm working at the range this weekend and hopefully will have time to rip off a couple of mags; I generally only use Winchester M193 so shouldn't have any ammo issues. Unfortunately if I don't get to it this weekend, it might sit for another month or two between a bunch of work I have to do and a three week hunting trip in November.

Bonus points for use of the word "adjure."

I hope you get to run it this weekend!

It works! Had to RSO this morning and had another new gun I wanted to shoot (RPD, awesome btw) I only ran two mags through the AUG, one Magpul 30 and one Steyr 42. 72 rounds, zero issues, consistent ejection to 1:30/2:00 with the gas setting on normal. Shot both mags as fast as possible, and the factory trigger pull still sucks but it's functional!

Now back in the safe til probably December unfortunately, but I'll provide updates next time it hits the range. Still undecided about reinstalling the 2020 sear or not; we'll see.

Six hundred rounds thru my AUG with the 20/20 sear installed, no issues at all

Excellent!   Glad to hear this!

Here is a trick that really slicked up my stock AUG trigger: get a can of spray on drying Teflon lube.  WD 40 makes a type that works good but any brand should do.  Hose down the fire control group and the trigger group and inside of the stock with it.  It will dry and leave a dusting of Teflon.  Do this about every third or fourth cleaning.   My AUG shoots like a really nice Glock.

One quick trick to improve the AUG!

I’m always leery of installing aftermarket parts.

Does the 20/20 sear affect reliability at all?

Sorry for the ignorance.

I've never heard of a 20/20 sear causing issues and my rifle has been 100% since installing one as well. The only thing I had to do was adjust the trigger pre-travel on the trigger bar after installing the 20/20 sear as it was preventing me from activating the safety.

I have 4 that get intermittent use. With my primary AUG I use (16" A1), the 2020 TSM has been in use since 2013 between 2 different guns (SR and A1) in 5.56 and 9mm.

That's 5 TSM's. I haven't seen any appreciable wear or damage. I've not had any issues either.

The TSM is an incredibly well machined part that's made in batches. If there were issues, we'd have heard about it.

I think it's a great addition to the AUG and likely the single most beneficial upgrade you can do to an AUG. The plastic sear is absolutely fine, but the upgraded TSM takes the trigger characteristics to a different level. I'm an AUG purist, but the TSM is quite nice and well worth the money.

...my trick cost five dollah.....last long time....

Nothing bastardized about it at all. It's made by Steyr for the Steyr Aug and it works 100%. I bought one and put my Steyr receiver in the drawer with about 30 42rd Steyr Aug magazines in the warpper, just in case I decide to return to plastic Aug magazines. NATO stock works 100% and I can use my 50rd X Products drum, 60rd Pmag Drum, and 120 rd steel Chinese drum magazine, as well as 60rd and 100 rd Surefire magazines. I didn't have any issues with my plastic  Aug magazines, just liked to be able to use more magazines like my drums that Steyr doesn't make. And, I tried one of those Beta C double drums, made for the Steyr Aug, but, the double drum actually is a bit much to reach around.

Probably a bit late, but OP I had the precise same thing happen to my AUG. I sent it back, they replaced the bolt (including ejector) and sent it back. Mine is a very early Sabre one. I was thinking the ejector spring broke/got messed up as well; mine ran fine for a while then one day it just stopped extracting/ejecting/ejected straight ahead, as if it were horribly overgassed. I sent it back to them rather than mess with the ejector spring.

I need to take it out and shoot it some more...I miss bringing it to the range. Hmm, I wonder if there's any USA 14" barrels around still...

I wrote you a beautiful haiku.

Click To View Spoiler

I have an original 14" Austrian barrel I picked up from Pete probably around 2002 or 2003 or so, but I'm not about to get that one engraved with my info to SBR my AUG I'll pick up a US made one and engrave that one instead.