I just bought an Armalite 20" at a local gun shop. It's almost new. The guy told me that it had only fired one round. (BS, it was too dirty for one round, one magazine maybe)

I cycled a few rounds through it to make sure everything was working correctly. First problem is that the magazine doesn't catch unless you smack the hell out of it. (Bushmaster 10 round mag) Secondly, it failed to feed several times. Third, and this may not be a problem, but didn't seem right to me, looking at the ejected rounds they are all pretty deeply scratched. And last but not least, when the magazine was fully loaded it was VERY hard to get a round out of it.

My question is this.  Is this perhaps all caused by a crappy magazine or do I have deeper issues to deal with? I'm going out today to get different magazines for it anyway, but figured I run this by all the experts here and see if maybe it's something more serious than that.

Thanks for your help guys.

Most (if not all) of the problems seem magazine related.  Stick with good USGI magazines.  Don't waste your money on USA or other after-market mags.  They are JUNK!  The Bushy 10-round mags aren't the best either.  Try some USGIs.  If you can't find any local, hit the EE for some deals.  You might also want to try Eagle Firearms (check them out in the Industry section).  Eagle has new Colt and other mags for $20.  Buy 5 and get free shipping.

Hope this helps.  Congrats on your purchase.

I would try different mags in her i bet that is the problem. I have one mag out of my collection the hates being put to work and it lets me know by jamming every third or fourth round but all my other mags are noooooooooo problem They love my gun and my gun loves them!