AR Sponsor
Posted: 3/13/2006 3:32:57 AM EDT
| I went to the range yesterday with my RRA Elite Car M4. Loaded 10 rounds of Federal 50 Grain Frangible into a mag. Fired 9 rounds and the bolt froze. We thought that the casing may have expanded more than normal, so used a cleaning rod through the barrel to push it back. Was hard to move the bolt back. It is now 3/4 of the way to lock back, and the casing is clear of the chamber, but still stuck on the bolt face. Cannot move the bolt back anymore and it will not move forward. Also cannot shotgun the weapon open with the bolt in this position. I shot M-16A2's in the military for 9 years and have never seen this happen. My RRA was bought new in January and has only had 129 round fired through it. The first 120 were American Eagle 62 grain. I have not used any cheap ammo in this weapon. Any suggestions would be appreciated before I try to send it back to RRA. Thanks. |
|
You have something stuck in the receiver extension and has wedged the carrier against the sidewall of the tube. At this point, either you or RRA will need to pull the receiver extension the hard way to clear the Jam. As for the spent case, if it has cleared the front of the barrel extension, just grab the neck of the case with something and cam it over off the bolt. Note: the spent case should have flipped off the face on it own when it cleared the extension. |
The only jam I've seen similar to what you describe was caused by a loose primer that had somehow gotten into the cam pin area. Ammo was new Q3131A and the rifle had only been shot about five rounds total when this happened. We (me and Bradd_D) had to beat the carrier back with a screwdriver and claw hammer while the rifle's owner about cried.  The scene looked pretty bad with me wailing away with the hammer, but when all was said and done there wasn't even a scratch on the rifle. This was the worst jam I've ever seen. No problems since then with that rifle. |
|
I got the gun apart and found that a piece of a primer had gotten stuck in with the cam pin that holds the bolt onto the bolt carrier. This made it so that the cam pin would not turn and go forward all the way. I had to pull the take down pins and persuade the bolt back down into the upper receiver (it was 3/4 way back into the buffer tube) in order to seperate the upper and lower. Once it was apart, I had to us a one piece cleaning rod to tap the bolt out. Once the bolt was out, I found the primer piece jammed in with the cam pin. I'm surprised about the ammo though. The first 120 rounds through the rifle were 62 grain American Eagles and the next 9 were Federal 50 grain frangible rounds. Thank you both for your responses and your advice on how to solve the problem. Kevin |
|
BookHound, Good call on the problem!!!!!!! I have lucked out so far and not had a blown primer wedged in the cam, nor the down the key. But, since i have been pushing my luck lately on some old brass/reloads that should have been trashed due to loose primer pockets, I can just see this problem coming my way any time now.  |
AR Sponsor