I took my AR out for its trial run at the range the other day with my wife and had a couple of small issues.

Rifle is a bushmaster 20" govt profile A3 upper, 1 in 7" twist w/ perm attached DNTC comp on a bushmaster A2 lower. Ammo was Ultramax remanufactured .223 from Cabelas.

First issue is that it shoots pretty far off to the right. At 25 yards I had to move the rear sight all the way to the left to move bullet impacts to center of paper. The peep sight is nearly touching the left side of the carry handle now. Is there any reason that the rifle would shoot that far off to the side? Anything I can do to correct it? I'd like my rear sight to be at least close to center of carry handle, not way off to the left.

Second is I had a few failures to feed while charging the weapon. All failures to feed occured while charging a round from the right side of the mag. The nose of the round seemed to get stuck on the right feed ramp and froze there. I made sure to pull charging handle all the way back and let it go at rear most position.
Left feed ramp never jammed and the weapon never malfunctioned while fireing.
What can I do to try and prevent the problem from occuring again?

Otherwide the rifle handled very well. Recoil was a bit more than I expected for a .223 with a comp. I was shocked to see both my wife and I came home with bruises on our shoulders. My 30-06 with no comp has never bruised me so that really surprised me.

My wife was a little scared of the gun at first. The only other rifle she has shot recently was my 30-06 and that thing kicks hard. She was intimidated by the scary looking black rifle. Once she sat down and shot it I had another little problem...
She liked shooting it so much that I barely got any range time in!!!
She prolly shot it 3 times as much as I did that day and is already asking me when im going to take her out shooting again!

She agreed that I should look into learning to reload so that I we can afford to have enough ammo around for her lol!

Perhaps the Front Sight Base is a little off.  You can send it back to Bushmaster, get a Return Order Nubmer, and have them fix it.

As for the jamming issue, I had that once and had Bushmaster polish up the feed ramp area and it solved the problem.  I was using Canadian C-77 ammo.  If you have tried different mags and still have this problem, let Bushmaster take care of it as well.

Is the front sight post canted? This was the cause of me having to move my peep sight too the far side.  If so, its not hard to adjust your front sight with a nail punch.  For the other problems i dont know.  Either shoot some more and see if it smooths out or contact bushmaster.

First off, 25 yards is abit close for zeroing irons - all my irons are zeroed at 50 yards.

Secondly "Ultramax" is not ammo I'd be running in my rifles.

Thirdly as long as the irons have enough travel to "zero" properly then there's nuthing wrong w/ your Bushmaster.

Lastly download your mag by one or two rounds and your feeding issues will more than likely dissappear.

mike

eta - forgot to mention - learn to mount/hold the rifle properly for "bruises" are not something normally associated w/ shooting an AR15.....

Quoted: First off, 25 yards is abit close for zeroing irons - all my irons are zeroed at 50 yards. Rifle isn't zeroed yet. Ill do that next time I go at the 50. I just wanted to get the rounds on the paper close to center this time out. Wife shot it so much I never really got a chance to try and zero it anyway. Secondly "Ultramax" is not ammo I'd be running in my rifles. It ran fine but I don't intend to stick to Ultramax. Im seriously looking into learning to reload my own. Thirdly as long as the irons have enough travel to "zero" properly then there's nuthing wrong w/ your Bushmaster. True. I just wanted to see if there was a way to adjust the front sight or otherwise correct the issue I didn't know about. Lastly download your mag by one or two rounds and your feeding issues will more than likely dissappear. Reducing ammo capacity is the last thing I want to do to try and remedy a problem. mike eta - forgot to mention - learn to mount/hold the rifle properly for "bruises" are not something normally associated w/ shooting an AR15..... Funny I was just reading another thread in this forum where multiple persons who know how to mount/hold their rifle properly also report thier rifles turn their shoulders red. www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=118&t=381054

If you were wearing thin shirts the bruising was likely caused by the rather aggressive checkering on the buttpad of the Bushmaster A2 stock.

In terms of the front sight, Bushmaster has a known issue with that, send to back to Bushmaster and they will fix it. Caused by the barrel not being indexed properly in the upper receiver. Not a big deal at all.

You can fix it yourself by tapping the front sight toward the group with a rubber mallet, may require slight loosening of the barrel nut, maybe not the best job for the new owner.

Enjoy your rifle.

Quoted: If you were wearing thin shirts the bruising was likely caused by the rather aggressive checkering on the buttpad of the Bushmaster A2 stock. Both of us were wearing very thin T-shirts, that may be the cause of the light bruising. In terms of the front sight, Bushmaster has a known issue with that, send to back to Bushmaster and they will fix it. Caused by the barrel not being indexed properly in the upper receiver. Interesting. Think they'll be helpfull since I purchased this upper over a year ago and just got around to shooting it now? Enjoy your rifle.

Nothing wrong with initial zeroing at 25. It makes sure you're on paper. Military zeros at 25 meters for their system. Many not bound by those regulations zero with a 50 yard zero or the Santose IBZ if you wish to still have the numbers on the elevation wheel function.

Ultramax has functioned in rifles but has had complaints. I'd say its fine for intial shooting to get on paper.

Your feeding issues sound like the follower. Your best investment will be in good quality mags. Some brands are better than others. If you want to try and save the mag you got, get a Magpul brand and see if it alleviates the problem. What is the color of the follower you have? If Black it was replaced long ago as the standard. If Green, it has extension on the front to help try to prevent it from dipping down, but it still is not immune from issues. I had a mag that gave me a few fits. Paul Buffoni from Bravo Company USA gave me a Magpul follower to try and it cured the problem. Magpul makes good stuff.

The downloading comment is in reference to USGI mags should be loaded to 28 rounds. The reason for this is to ensure proper insertion into the magwell with a closed bolt. With a fully loaded mag with 30 rounds there is not enough spring compression left to push down further to compensate for the closed bolt. Downloading shouldn't have anything to do with feeding issues other than Failures to Feed caused by a improperly seated magazine.

My rule of thumb is that if the windage has to go further than 10 clicks either way from center it should be fixed. See how far past center yours is. If it's to the extreme then call Bushmaster and have them fix it.

I listen to Tom Gresham's Gun talk radio show on sundays and he had an AR expert on who stated that there are few magazines for ARs that can be topped off to full capacity without having feeding problems.  The cheap fix is to download two less rounds.  I have two mags for my AR that have the Magpul self leveling followers and I have no problems with 30 rounds.

You can actually fix your front sight if it is crooked, but since you do have the option of sending it back to BM, you should have them fix it.

As for the feeding issue, did the forward assist not help it? I think I have had the same problem where after releasing the charging handle, the bolt goes about halfway into chambering the round but snags. Next time I go shoot I'll see if the problem occurs in the same manner as yours.  I usually just give the forward assist a push and I'm ready to shoot.

If the gun's off at 25 yards it's going to be further off at 50. No problem with zeroing at 25.. as was already said, the Army zeros at 25

Quoted: Nothing wrong with initial zeroing at 25. It makes sure you're on paper. Military zeros at 25 meters for their system. Many not bound by those regulations zero with a 50 yard zero or the Santose IBZ if you wish to still have the numbers on the elevation wheel function. Ultramax has functioned in rifles but has had complaints. I'd say its fine for intial shooting to get on paper. Your feeding issues sound like the follower. Your best investment will be in good quality mags. Some brands are better than others. If you want to try and save the mag you got, get a Magpul brand and see if it alleviates the problem. What is the color of the follower you have? If Black it was replaced long ago as the standard. If Green, it has extension on the front to help try to prevent it from dipping down, but it still is not immune from issues. I had a mag that gave me a few fits. Paul Buffoni from Bravo Company USA gave me a Magpul follower to try and it cured the problem. Magpul makes good stuff. The downloading comment is in reference to USGI mags should be loaded to 28 rounds. The reason for this is to ensure proper insertion into the magwell with a closed bolt. With a fully loaded mag with 30 rounds there is not enough spring compression left to push down further to compensate for the closed bolt. Downloading shouldn't have anything to do with feeding issues other than Failures to Feed caused by a improperly seated magazine. My rule of thumb is that if the windage has to go further than 10 clicks either way from center it should be fixed. See how far past center yours is. If it's to the extreme then call Bushmaster and have them fix it.

No 30rd mags for me, im in NJ.

Im using PK90s 15 round mags with Magpul orange followers.