I was shooting a rapid fire string in my Rock river AR today useing South African .223. I had a FTE jam. I cleared it and the next round chambered almost all the way. I tried the forward assist and it would'nt budge. I then pulled the charging handle and tried another round, same thing. I'm now thinking something is definitely strange here. I broke it down and yep no light through the tunnel. So I broke out the cleaning rod and tap, tap, out pops a fouled up slug. It turns out that the bullet was lodged in the throat and just barely wedged in the rifling. Then I had to sit down thinking that if the bullet had gone just a 1/2" further the next round would have chambered and the rifle and I could have been toast. I'm not sure  but I am thinking that this must have been a round with contaminated powder or none at all. This is the first time that this has ever happened to me. It sure was a reminder to remember to check the bore at the advent of any jam of this type.

check the bore if anything felt odd. might seem a bit paranoid but if it saves you the cost of replacing a barrel and only costs you 30 seconds it seems worth it to me.

WOW! That's creepy! I've had the SAME THING
happen to me last year.We're BOTH lucky to be alive and uninjured.

Mac-Daddy...was that the South African ammmo also? Anyone else had the same experience with South African?

I'd say you are luckier than a two peckerd hound! But you are right when things don't go right check it out.  I bought a ruger #1 rifle 45/70 and you know what a 45 long colt will fit right in the breech allmost like it belongs there! But just luckally i remembered what i have been told and read if it ain't chambered for it don't feed it! It would have traveled about 1and 1/2 inches before it hit the riflings and then done some strange things that the rifle would have thought were a blockage probably blowing up a new rifle ,and putting me on SSI...  thanks for the reminder  ..   bob cole

jaybob,

A few months ago I had the exact same problem happen.  It was with South African ammo and I have sworn off the stuff ever since!!  I have been shooting ARs for about three years now and have learned to listen for the proper spring noise.  That is how I caught it.  Also, anytime I have to even think about using the forword assist I know there is usually a problem.

Glad you are okay.

sgtar15

jaybob I couldn't say on the ammo mfg.I don't
know.It was just some cheap surplus I bought
in bulk from a dealer.And the spring noise also
was different too.My bullet went about 6in. into
the barrel.(no damage to bore thank God)It sounded "funny" so I did a bore check and thanked myself(and God many,many times) for not pulling the trigger again!

...haven't heard anything good about the South African stuff...

Geraldo said something last month about the South African stuff benefiting Muslim Fundamentalist interests..  That did it for me..  Back to Wolf 62 grain..  No problems in over 600 rounds but hard to get right now..  Fresh though!!

Well, that just shows that you're becoming an "experianced" shooter Things like that happen from time to time. Poor neck tension, split neck, no crimp, squib load, ect.
You won one.

Quoted: Geraldo said something last month about the South African stuff benefiting Muslim Fundamentalist interests..

And we should always believe everything the Geraldo says, right?  Would he lie to us?  

My dad and I were out shooting my Ruger .41 Magnum years ago.  One round sounded kinda strange.  As I was cranking the hammer back to pull off another, he said let's take a look.  Sure enough, had a slug half way in the barrel.  Sure glad I wasn't in any big hurry to pull of the next round.

Well, I have gone thru 1000's and 1000's of the South Afican M193, and it has been rock solid out of my rifles.  I had one popped primer out of the first mag I ever shot, and that was in a tight chambered Oly.  Since then, never a hitch.

Love the stuff.  Good, cheap fun.

I had the same problem with PMC ammo a couple years ago while shooting a Colt pre ban blue label I owned. I had to use my cleaning rod an tap it out with a hammer.

Jay bob didn't you wonder why nothing came out of the barrel, I reload so every few hundred rounds I get a FTF, or a round logded in the barrel but I always know I mean geez when your aimming at a target and you pull the trigger and you don't see any reaction isn't that a good hint that something went wrong?

I would reccommend wolf ammo no FTF or FTE or duds yet.

I had a similarly scary incident a month or so ago.  I was function checking some crappy steel mags (I know, don't yell at me) to see if any were worth keeping as range mags, or just tossing.  I'd been having all sorts of problems, failure to feed, double feeds, triple feeds, bolt overs...  

Anyway, I load a topped off mag, drop the bolt, pull the trigger.  Click!  I figure the bold closed without stripping a round, so I make sure the mag is seated, pull back the charging handle, and let the bolt drop again.  This time the bolt stops about half way, not quite far enough for the FA to be of any use.  Not the first time this had happened.  I figure the mag could be overyly tight when full, maybe a bent feed lip.  I pull back the CH and let the bolt drop 2 or 3 more times, same result, before I saw what was really happening.

The round wasn't stuck in the mag, there was a live round already in the chamber.  The second round fed halfway out of the mag, untill the point of the bullet hit the first round about 1/8 - 1/16 inch below the primer.  The bullet was jammed about a 1/4 inch back into the case from my repeatedly dropping the bolt on it.

I hate to think what would have happened had that round struck the primer of the LIVE round in the chamber, with the bolt open.  Needless to say, the steel mags are trash and I'm only using USGI from now on.

Yikes. I've shot thousands of rounds of SA through my RRA 16" ('01 LEGP) and never had anything even close to a FTF, FTE, fouled slug, or anything like that. Never had the slightest firing problem whatsoever.

Good thing you caught that, and thanks for posting your experience - it makes us new guys a little more vigilant.

YOU PEOPLE ARE SOOO QUICK TO JUDGE.

I've been through about 1000 rounds of SA now and not one problem.

You ever bought a brand new computer and it didn't turn on the very first time?

You ever bought a car and something go bad within a month?

My point is NOTHING is absolute in this world.
PLus, about the SA ammo having problems every now and then, I bet SA is the most shot ammo on this entire Forum.

My point? The top 3 stolen cars in america, happen to be the most sold cars in america. Figure it out.

Just curious, what would have happened if you could chamber the next round and fired with that slug lodged in the barrel?

Quoted: Just curious, what would have happened if you could chamber the next round and fired with that slug lodged in the barrel?

Have you ever seen those cartoons when bugs bunny sticks finger into the end of elmer fudds shotgun? KABOOM... Or something like that...