I am completely new to AR-15's and this question will probably show it.

I have a new Les Baer Thunder Ranch Rifle that I have not yet fired.  Prior to actual firing, I have manually function checked the rifle  by loading rounds in the magazine with the bolt locked back, chambering rounds by pushing the bolt release, and then trying to manually eject the rounds..

With Hornady 75 gr. TAP factory ammunition and Brownells dummy cartridges, the bolt seems to lock forward and I cannot eject chambered rounds by simply pulling back on the charging handle.  I have to tap the charging handle somewhat sharply with a rubber mallet several times to break the bolt free before I can eject them.  The ejected Hornady ammunition and Brownells dummy cartridges don't show any obvious signs of rifling engraving on the bullets.


With Federal Premimum 60 gr. Nosler Partition  and Privi Partizan 75 gr. Match factory ammuntion there are no ejection problems.  Pulling back on the chargiing handle to eject unfired chambered rounds feels just like it does with an empty rifle.  

Before contacting Les Baer, I wanted be sure that as a newcomer, I am not missing the obvious.  Suggestions would be appreciated.

You have a Wylde chamber or something similar.  The throat on a Wylde chamber is .224" - the same as the bullet diameter. Depending on the exact curved shape of the bullet - it's ogive and seating depth - some bullets start to engrave into the throat when chambered.  This makes those live rounds very difficult to extract.

An ejected live round that experienced this will show a scuffed ring around the bullet, about a tenth of an inch or so in front of the case mouth.

By the way the easier way to extract them is usually referred to as "pogo sticking"... collapse stock (if applicable) then hold the rifle vertically about 6 to 12 inches off the floor/ground, left hand on handguard, right hand on the charging handle... push rifle briskly downward, when the stock hits the ground the inertia will help you extract the round.

Crappy phone pic of what it looks like:

manual cycle testing in a new rifle doesn't prove squat. Take the rifle to the range and shoot it! the gun is designed to be shot! if it does not work as designed under FIRING conditions then you MIGHT have cause for concern.
If les baer rifles are anything like the pistols they are VERY tight when new, not so tight as to not function properly mind you but not like the slapped togethet mass produced guns or ones you have fired thousands of rounds through

THIS! you wont find anything les baer that rattles.

Hello Vangulik

I had similar problems with my .223 remington chambered S&W MP15I. Some bullets, especially 62gr Barnaul got stuck to the rifling when chambered. No problems when shooting, but similar problems what you have had occured when extracting live cartridge from the chamber. "Pogo sticking" like Gamma762 instructed was always needed. Or "mortaring" as I have used to call it.

The problem with pogo sticking or mortaring is, that if the bullet is too tight stuck to the rifling, the procedure might leave the bullet to the rifling and extract the unfired case and spill the powder all around your receiver. No harm done, but you need to clean the rifle and use the cleaning rod to tap out the stuck bullet.

There's one simple test you can do to examine, if the bullet takes the rifling contact when chambered. 1) Take black marker 2) Take cartridge and paint the bullet black 3) Chamber the cartridge 4) Extract the cartridge 5) Examine the painted bullet for possible signs (scrapes or scratches) for rifling contact.

Tight chambers have better accuracy potential, but those might be picky with various cartridges.