On friday, I went to my local range to try out my new M4gery. I proceeded to load up a mag of Olympic ammo, and fired the first shot, but the brass failed to extract and had to be knocked out with a rod. I tried again, and this time got of 2 shots before a repeat of the problem. I then tried it with some Black Hills remanufactured match ammo that is probably too heavy for my barrel twist. I only had 50 rounds on hand, but had no malfunctions of any kind.

Logically, I assume that the Olympic ammo is to blame. My question is, does this sound like any problem with my rifle or just Olympic?

Also how does S&B ammo compare as far as reliability? Specifically, I think the problems I had with the Olympic stuff were because of the terrible brass it uses. Does S&B use decent brass?

Thanks for your help

Many shooters at this forum have had problem with Greek ammo, including me. Most of it seemed to be with the 62 gr stuff.

One thing you may want to do is to change out your extractor spring with a Wolffe after market one. Also make sure you have an extractor spring insert.

You can get both from Georgia Precision who is one of this board's sponsers.

here is their link:

[url] www.georgiaprecision.com [/url]

Kreutzberg;

I have not tried any Olympic Ammo.  But I have read the problem is with 62g, as informed by previous post and not 55g type -Most due to not being sized correctly in some.

The S&B .223 Brass Cased, in Green Boxes, I have shot quite a Bit.  No failers of any sort. It is good plinking Ammo. If you are thinking of reloading with this brass, it is not the type you want.  But if you are not going to reload the brass, it is great ammo for Plinking.  The ammo is not loaded to Milspec I have read and the bullet is not of M193 type ,like the XM193 or Q3131a, but works fine for me for plinking in any of my AR's.

Thanks for your help, guys. I'll look into a Wolffe spring. I do not intend to reload with this S&B brass.

njogi:

Last summer I purchased three boxes of Olympic M193 and three of the Olympic SS109.  BOTH flavors FTE'd in my 20" Colt A2.  I since purchased a "newer" box of the 55 gr M193 and out of the 50 rounds more than half FTE'd.  Switching to a mag loaded with mixed Wolf, Fed XM193, and SA surplus, it ran through the Colt without issue.

I'm waiting a bit longer until more people have success and start posting lot numbers.

Noah

Noah- yeah thats almost exactly what mine was doing too.

The problem is the Olympic ammo.  I have duplicated this on many occassions and I believe I read is was a confirmed issue with some of the older ammo.  I have a bag of this stuff that wont cycle through any of my ar's or my friends ar.  I have not tested out any new ammo lately.  

Your rifle is fine.  It's the ammo...

Kalel:

It doesn't work in an AR, but I took the remainder of the Olympic that I had and shot it out of my converted .223 Saiga without issue.  

IMO, the Saiga's AK-style large piston being just a short gas port away from the barrel makes the difference.  If the Olympic's port pressure is lower than that required to reliably operate the AR, it is apparently sufficient when impinging on the large diameter Saiga piston.  With the AR, gas at (IMO) a low port pressure has to fill the volume of the gas tube and the chamber in the carrier.  As a gas expands to fill a given volume, its pressure drops.  So low port pressure turns into even LOWER gas system pressure, and the result is not enough a$$ to cycle the AR action.  Olympic ammo is NOTICEABLY lighter in recoil as compared to other flavors.

JMO, but it sounds good, and passes the gut check . . .

Noah