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Posted: 1/2/2016 1:41:15 AM EDT
| I was at a private range today, practicing reloading. At one point, I had the bolt locked back (clear chamber) and the safety on.....I inserted a loaded mag and immediately, a round was ejected. Is this normal/expected behavior ? I normally do not have the safety on while reloading at the range. |
| So fully loaded mag locks in and, without any other performed action, a round self-dislodges past the feed lips and bounces out of the ejection port? What type of mag? New or used? Possibly was overloaded with an extra round that was begging to let go between the spring pressure and a hurried reload? |
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If I'm tracking correctly, was your bolt locked to the rear and when you inserted that mag, a round flew out from the mag while the bolt was still locked back? If so, from my experience, that typically happens when you insert the mag with excessive force or when I see people slap the bottom of the mag after inserting.
I used to do this but, after a few classes, I started using the push/pull technique. The issue that I can think of could be worn feed lips on the magazine or worn mag springs IIRC. I've seen it happens a few times at matches when people do what I said earlier by slapping the bottom of the mag on an open bolt. |
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Quoted:
If I'm tracking correctly, was your bolt locked to the rear and when you inserted that mag, a round flew out from the mag while the bolt was still locked back? If so, from my experience, that typically happens when you insert the mag with excessive force or when I see people slap the bottom of the mag after inserting. ...and 31 rounds crammed in a PMag |
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Quoted:
I was at a private range today, practicing reloading. At one point, I had the bolt locked back (clear chamber) and the safety on.....I inserted a loaded mag and immediately, a round was ejected. Is this normal/expected behavior ? I normally do not have the safety on while reloading at the range. Was the round ejected from the rifle, or did the bolt go forward and chamber a round? If it ejected from the rifle, you have bad feed lips or the round was not properly seated to begin with. If it chambered on its own, it isn't a big deal as long as you practice all the firearm handling rules. You just happened to get the right angle and the right amount of force to get things going on their own. |
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I had 20 rounds in a 30 rounder. Yes I did slap the bottom of the magazine. The bolt was locked back and the round ejected from the rifle, it didn't chamber a round. This was my first time with the gun at the range, as it is brand new. I just wanted to make sure it is not a lemon lol
Can slapping in the mag damage the rifle? |
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I had 20 rounds in a 30 rounder. Yes I did slap the bottom of the magazine. The bolt was locked back and the round ejected from the rifle, it didn't chamber a round. This was my first time with the gun at the range, as it is brand new. I just wanted to make sure it is not a lemon lol I would have just stated the round flew out of the magazine and the rifle. When you use terms like feed, eject, extract, etc., it is referring to things that are happening in the feed cycle, so it can get confusing on what you are saying. |
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I had 20 rounds in a 30 rounder. Yes I did slap the bottom of the magazine. The bolt was locked back and the round ejected ... lol No need to slap the bottom of the mag when bolt is locked open, it should just click in without excessive force. Push/Pull technique is better than slapping the bottom of the mag for reloading with bolt closed. |
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I had a POS Promag that would barf rounds out when is was seated. (sometimes one, sometimes a few) It turned out that the lips were a bit too far apart. I got a couple of the Promag 40 round mags that would do the same thing..... Good thing is they were a gift, so I didnt have any money in them.... OP, what kind of mags were they? |
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Quoted:
I had 20 rounds in a 30 rounder. Yes I did slap the bottom of the magazine. The bolt was locked back and the round ejected from the rifle, it didn't chamber a round. This was my first time with the gun at the range, as it is brand new. I just wanted to make sure it is not a lemon lol Can slapping in the mag damage the rifle? Your rifle is designed to operate at 3,000ish FPS. Your mag is designed to handle feeding at that rate as well. Your slaps shouldn't be able to hurt your gear. If I popped the hood of my car and slapped my engine, it wouldn't do anything. If your mag is volcano-ing rounds, there's a 90% chance the feed lips are worn/bent/defective. Verify with other mags, try to replicate outside the rifle, then send it back to the manufacturer. Not an uncommon issue, really. |
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Working at "combat speed" doesn't require levels of force beyond the normal. It happens that way because of adrenaline, but it's not required to slap a mag so hard it dislodges a round.
Having done a few of those over the years, you can even get the bolt to jar hard enough to release the bolt hold open and chamber. It can jam at that point. Slapping the mag hard every time will wear the catch hole and the catch. It's abusive and comes back later in the long run to bite you. Open bolt, insert mag, hit the button, chamber it. Let the action spring do it's job, don't beat on the gun. It's not limited to the AR, I've had HK91's, 1911's, M9's, Glock 19's, LCP's, and P938's pop a round out slapping the mag. If you are slapping it so hard that a round pops out, it can and will jam. If it's still on top, the bolt will engage the next round up in the magazine and two won't fit where only one can go. Don't slap magazines, bad mojo. |
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Try loading any of your 30 rd mags with 20 rounds... then, while out of your rifle.... slap the bottom hard.... you will see numerous different brand mags do not like this.
Even fully loaded, there is a fine line between leaving enough room to easily seating the mag on a closed bolt and rounds popping out if dropped base plate first onto concrete. |
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When inserting with too much force, like slapping the bottom of the mag, this issue can be caused 2 ways. One is for the spring to compress, leaving room for the top rounds to drop some allowing this to happen. The other is for the upward force to overcome the feedlips allowing a round to jump out the top. In either case, using too much force inserting a mag is not good form.
Now, if this happened from mild force I would be concerned about the feedlips on that mag. |
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No need to slap the bottom of the mag when bolt is locked open, it should just click in without excessive force. Push/Pull technique is better than slapping the bottom of the mag for reloading with bolt closed. Quoted:
Quoted:
I had 20 rounds in a 30 rounder. Yes I did slap the bottom of the magazine. The bolt was locked back and the round ejected ... lol No need to slap the bottom of the mag when bolt is locked open, it should just click in without excessive force. Push/Pull technique is better than slapping the bottom of the mag for reloading with bolt closed. Yep, push-pull would have prevented this. |
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So...... What mag were you using?
There was a post about hexmags puking rounds by tapping the side just today. If you like cheap mil style get d&h , good value , good performance, dirt cheap. If you like ray guns get lancer awms, pricy, but top shelf stuff. Avoid promag, Blackhawk, tapco |
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As was said, it sounds like a mag issue with the feed lips and/or a bad spring. Try another mag loaded the same and see if it happens.
Next, no need to slap the bottom of the mag after insertion. Push-Pull technique is fine and your palm will thank you for it. This is very likely NOT a rifle issue (I can't think of any way this would happen due to the rifle) unless your upper has some weird way of making it happen. The only time I slap my mags is before inserting them in the rifle. It's a habit that I picked up in the Army and have never corrected. I hit my palm (or helmet) with the weld side (seats the rear of the rounds) and then hit my palm (or helmet) with the bottom of the mag. I do this after pre loading mags at home as well before storage. |
| The rifle is fine, it is a retention issue with the mag lips. I have a few pistols that when you reload a mag and slam it into the pistol it will release the slide I know not an issue with an AR but I say that to show you that so you know the force you excerpt on mechanical parts can give you an undesirable reaction from them. |
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When you say manufacturer, you are referring to the magazine manufacturer? Yup. There's no way you are damaging a metal rifle with a plastic magazine. I usually fix bad magazines by throwing them away. However, Magpul has a lifetime warranty. I'd suggest you use it by contacting them on how to get a free replacement. |
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