Whenever I clean my AR, I usually cycle a few rounds from the magazine to make sure everythings working properly, but after unloading and looking at the ammo, I notice a tiny scratch on the bullet of almost every round.

With the main use of my rifle being HD, I don't see it making much of a difference, but will this scratch ultimately affect the accuracy of my rifle? I imagine during the span of the round coming out of the magazine and being loaded into the BCG, something scratches the bullet. I don't know if it's the BCG itself or the track the bullet is taking to be seated in the bore, but has anyone ever had this problem before?

I'll attach a picture if it'll help.

Thanks

Its normal. Usually the bullet is not still in the cartridge when its ejected.

A pic would help. I don't think cycling live ammo all the time is a good idea. I would think if you cycle the ammo to much it could seat the bullet to deep and possibly cause a kaboom.

I don't think the problem your describing would be caused by the bcg but the ramps or chamber would be more the culprit.  Like maybe a small burr or sharp edge.

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That happens in every colt I have.

Perfectly normal. So is the dented primer.

It happens when the bullet is extracted. Like someone above said the bullet is not supposed to still be in the case upon extraction and it gets scratched on the way out of the gun. Its not an issue.

Normal,



Ejector camming the bullet against the barrel extension while extracting a live round. While extracting a live round, apply pressure on the round with your finger preventing it from contacting the barrel extension.



I bet you won't see scratches then.

Normal.  Now stop doing it.  It's unsafe, and wont tell you a dang thing.  After cleaning perform a normal function check and you should be gtg.

+1

Get some dummy rounds if this is something you do routinely.

The AR15 has something called a free floating pin. If you push the bolt back and hold the bcg upside down, you'll notice the pin gets exposed as you shake it or press the pin down. Nearly every military weapon features a free floating pin. From the M1 Garand to the M1A, the AR15 is no exception.

With that said, everytime you charge the round, there will be a dent on the primer itself and when the round extracts, the extractor will keep a mark on the round itself.

My recommendation is to never use a live round to test function the rifle. Instead you should get snap caps and cycle the weapon that way. I use a snap cap for every caliber type I own so I can function check it from time to time. Using live ammunition is a horrible and unsafe way to check the function of your weapon and on top of that you get a dented primer. Once or twice cycled is alright, but after many times slamming the same round in sounds like an accident waiting to happen.

+1

Okay thank you very much for the timely advice!

Both of my ARs scratch the bullets on the feed ramps during feeding, definitely not from extraction, FWIW