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Posted: 10/10/2002 12:58:48 PM EDT
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Hi Guys... I am fairly new to the AR15 and have run across a problem with my Armalite M15. What is happening is that I will chamber a round, pull the trigger, the hammer will drop but the shell will not fire. I have to use both hands to pull on the charging bolt to extract the unfired round. The bolt is very, very stiff. The unfired round shows no dent at all in the primer. This seems to be happening quite frequently. Any suggestions???? Thanks in advance |
| The bolt is not stiff on an empty chamber. It feeds fine most of the time but the malfunction happens quite often. Sending the rifle back to Armalite isn't an option as I live in Canada. I have talked to their dealer in Canada and he said he would honour the Armalite warranty. I was just looking for some solutions I may try. |
| I am using both handloads and the generic Winchester white box ammo. It seems to happen with both types of ammo but I shoot more handloads then I do factory ammo. I am not new to reloading but I am far from being an expert at it. I make sure that all the ammo I reload has the correct dimensions. My usual handload is a 60g VMAX with 25 grs of Varget. If the bolt was not going into full battery then the hammer wouldn't drop would it? When my gun malfunctions the hammer does drop but the primers on the rounds show no sign of a firing pin hit. The gun is about a year old and probably has less then 1500 rounds thru it. |
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Do you have a headspace guage for your handloads? I was having a similar prob with my handloads because my cases weren't sized down quite far enough. Rounds would stick in the chamber like you are describing. casings were just barely out of spec, but it was creating lots of probs! The hammer might drop if the weapon is just slightly out of battery. |
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saskguy, Post over in the Armalite forum, and have one of the Armalite guys either solve the problem, or list a Smith who can repair the rifle. On some of the Armilite barrels, they run a tighter chamber. You may have one of these rifles. If this was not a factory rifle, with warranty, I would love to trouble shoot the rifle. But, since this one of there rifles, and they stand behind it, use them and there warranty. Hope this helps. www.ar15.com/forums/forum.html?b=3&f=62 |
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It sounds like you are not going into full battery/lock-up. If it happens with the Wincheter loads as well, then your handloads are probably not the cause. If the bolt/carrier locks up OK without a round, then it is probably your chamber. And yes, the hammer may frop if you are not quite in-battery. PS: Is your ectractor OK? With the bolt/carrier out of the rifle, can you insert a round under the lip of the extractor? You could have a bent/broken extractor (or omething lodged under teh extractor) which is mucking things up. Just a remote possibilty. |
| I suspect an ammo problem. Which Winchester white box ammo are you using? Is it their Q3131 ammo labeled as 5.56mm? If so, please be aware that Armalite does not recommend this ammo. It is the only ammo that I have had any trouble at all with in my Armalite. You might consider trying a couple of boxes of nongeneric Federal, Remington or Winchester ammo labeled .223 Remington and see what happens.hth-TR |
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