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I bought my first AR a couple months  ago.  Went with the saint Victor.  I love it except for the fact that it doesn’t like my federal 5.56 ammo.  It stove pipes, and doesn’t run reliably.  Ran some winchester .223 and it went flawlessly. Even Winchester 5.56 runs close to flawlessly.  I’m ejecting around 1:30… I got a h2 buffer hoping that would help, it didn’t.  Now I have a SA adj. gas block coming because I don’t know what else to do!  My gas block is pinned on my rifle so I hate changing it as I’m not going to be able to pin my new block I don’t think…. I’ll dimple my barrel but drilling the block is a whole other monster.  Am I going about this the right way?  Sometimes I literally have to rip the rounds out of the bolt bc they are stuck in there so hard.  Could this all be because it’s overgassed?  I’m thinking so; just looking for others with more experiences input.  Even the brass getting stuck I feel could be from the over gas, as it could be ripping it out of the chamber while it’s still expanded and marking up the back where the extractor grabs it. Im pretty frustrated with this rifle. If I would have needed more then 5-6 rounds to save my life, I’d be a dead man….  Thank you for any input!

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Did you contact Springfield? There should be a warranty on it and they should fix any problems.

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That's a nice rifle, send it back and let them make it right.

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I bought my first AR a couple months  ago.  Went with the saint Victor.  I love it except for the fact that it doesn’t like my federal 5.56 ammo.  It stove pipes, and doesn’t run reliably.  Ran some winchester .223 and it went flawlessly. Even Winchester 5.56 runs close to flawlessly.  I’m ejecting around 1:30… I got a h2 buffer hoping that would help, it didn’t.  Now I have a SA adj. gas block coming because I don’t know what else to do!  My gas block is pinned on my rifle so I hate changing it as I’m not going to be able to pin my new block I don’t think…. I’ll dimple my barrel but drilling the block is a whole other monster.  Am I going about this the right way?  Sometimes I literally have to rip the rounds out of the bolt bc they are stuck in there so hard.  Could this all be because it’s overgassed?  I’m thinking so; just looking for others with more experiences input.  Even the brass getting stuck I feel could be from the over gas, as it could be ripping it out of the chamber while it’s still expanded and marking up the back where the extractor grabs it. Im pretty frustrated with this rifle. If I would have needed more then 5-6 rounds to save my life, I’d be a dead man….  Thank you for any input!

American Rifleman- The AR-15 for Home Defense: Reliability
Most user-resolvable AR reliability issues center around four problems: failure to feed, failure to extract, short-stroking and failure to eject.

Failure to feed can result from a number of factors, among which are defective ammunition, a chamber that is excessively tight or dirty, insufficient headspace, poor-quality magazines, or magazines that sit too low in the magazine well.

A rough, dirty or carbon-fouled chamber may also lead to a failure to extract, but this issue is most often related to poor extractor tension, caused by a weak extractor spring. Extra-power springs or spring donuts can improve extractor functioning.

Short-stroking occurs when the bolt and carrier do not travel fully rearward upon firing. When this insufficient travel prevents the bolt from picking up the rim of the top cartridge in the magazine on its forward stroke, feeding issues result. Short-stroking can also prevent the fired case from being thrown fully out of the gun. Short-stroking may be associated with a failure to stagger the slots in the gas rings on the bolt, a broken, bent or plugged gas tube, or carbon or dirt in the carrier or upper receiver. Even going from a lighter to a heavier hammer spring may cause a marginally-functioning system to short-stroke.

Failure to eject a fired cartridge case may sometimes be linked to a malfunctioning ejector, blocked gas tube, or a dirty chamber. More commonly, however, both short-stroking and failure to eject are caused by a buffer or buffer spring that is too heavy. Normal A2 rifle buffers weigh 5.1 ozs., while shorter carbine buffers can run from 3.0 ozs. for a mil-spec standard unit to 3.8, 4.6 and 5.4 ozs. for Colt's H, H2 and H3 buffers, respectively. These heavier buffers were designed for use in M4 carbines that are overgassed or suppressed. An alternative to heavier buffers is David Tubb's Carrier Weight System, from Speedlock Systems. This consists of a steel or tungsten weight that fits inside the hole at the rear of the carrier, and adds 2.8 or 3.9 ozs., respectively, to the carrier.
[...]
The way an AR-15 ejects can be diagnostic. The proper ejection pattern can be imagined by visualizing a clock set above the gun, with the butt at 6 o'clock and the muzzle at 12 o'clock. Brass should come out at somewhere between 3 o'clock and 4:30. If cases exit before 3:00, that's a sign of short-stroking; brass is not clearing the ejection port before the bolt starts to slam home, and as a result are kicked forward out of the ejection port. With an overgassed gun, the brass leaves the gun much more to the rear, past the 4:30 position; a heavier buffer or buffer spring is needed.

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I knoowwww.  I read horror stories about Springfield’s customer service department and people going through the hassle of sending their gun back 3-4 times.  I only have about $130 into “fixing” the issue so far.  And worst case is I have an adjustable gas block on my gun now.  Although it came with a real nice pinned low profile.   But you’re all right about should have had Springfield at least try to sort it out first.   I just hated the thought of sending my new rifle back.

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I knoowwww.  I read horror stories about Springfield’s customer service department and people going through the hassle of sending their gun back 3-4 times.  I only have about $130 into “fixing” the issue so far.  And worst case is I have an adjustable gas block on my gun now.  Although it came with a real nice pinned low profile.   But you’re all right about should have had Springfield at least try to sort it out first.   I just hated the thought of sending my new rifle back.

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That's $130 on top of what you already paid for something that should be working without an issue. Sending a rifle back for repair is free (on the manufacturer for return costs).

If their customer service sucks then you know not to buy their product ever again.

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Everyone is advising him to buy more parts (ie spend more money). If someone gets a Springfield AR-15 then that rifle should function without an issue.

I could understand if he built it part by part, then he would need to spend his own money to resolve issues. But a pre-built rifle should function 100% without an issue out of the box. Nobody should need to buy springs, buffers, bolts, carriers, etc from a pre-built rifle out of the box. You pay that 11% tax and get that warranty for a reason.

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He asked for input from people with experience, and he's getting what he asked for.  Some say to return it, others have offered diagnostics.  Let him make the decision.  For what it's worth, I don't disagree with the "send it back" mentality.

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True but some of us only have a solution of throwing money at a problem.

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Not really.  His friends might let him toss a spare bolt in and give it a try.  Some people have those.  Friends...

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What if his friends don't own firearms? What if his friends own firearms but only own AKs? Can you stick an AK bolt into an AR? What if his friends have ARs but no spare bolts?

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Did you contact Springfield? There should be a warranty on it and they should fix any problems.

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I think the golden rules for any firearms advice should be...

1. Did you buy a pre-built rifle? Send it in for warranty repair. You paid for that warranty. Free is better than spending more money on a rifle that should work out of the box.
2. Did you build it yourself? Let's try X part swap to see if it resolves the issue. If not, let's spend more money on another X part to see if it resolves the issue. Afterall, you don't have a warranty.

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At my range now, swapped BCGS with my buddy and she runs PERFECT!!!  Couod have put the ejected rounds in a 5gallon bucket!  They all went in the exact same spot!!

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Good. So you can return everything else you had purchased and send the rifle to Sprinfield to replace the BCG.