Hey y'all. Got a chance to fire my new Armalite(upper)/ Eagle Arms(lower) AR this weekend. Here's how it went:

Pulled bolt back to chamber first roud, and let it fly... stopped short as the HP bullet didn't seem to want to ride up the chamber grooves into the pipe. If I pulled back the charging handle again and let it go, it woulld chamber the round, although that is largely because the bullet had been crammed into the casing a little futher. That round would fire just fine, then I'd jam on the next shot, due to the same problem, except the following round would have the bullet slammed well back into the casing, making ot worthless. I got to fire my gun about 10 times before it simply wasn't any fun firing a single shot AR15 with a 30 round capacity, and I suddenly longed for a muzzle loader. (hehehe)

Anyway, I tried 4 different Okay magazines, and had the same issue with all of them. This upper/ lower combination is all brand new, up to this point unfired. The upper and lower were bought separately. The one consistant variable was the ammo... all 62 grain (I think) hollow point rounds. I haven't tried ball rounds yet.

First question: Are HP rounds known for failure to feed issues?

Second, Should I expect my new Armalite upper to be able to feed HP ammo?

Third, If ball ammo seems to feed just fine, is there maybe a break in period before HP rounds will feed reliably? Not that I really need to use them... i am just a bit curious.

Even though I have yet to fire ball rounds through this rifle, I am feeling pretty confident that the HPs are the problem. So, needless to say, no more HPs for me. But, I'd still like to think that my AR will be reliable with most any decent round I want to fire through it... HP, SP, or FMJ ball stuff.

Any notes or advice?

Thanks guys,

Jaffo

Whos the manufacturer of the ammo?

JHPs are normally as reliable as ball ammo.

I have no clue. They were fairly inexpensive (cheap) rounds that I picked up at a gunshow a few years ago for a little CAR I had that didn't work either. :) I've just had mags loaded with that stuff since I sold the last AR.
It had completely different issues.

I did consider that maybe this ammo is crapo... but I figured since the issue was so consistant, it really didn't suggest faulty or unreliable ammo. It seemed more like a mechanical failure of some kind.

Jaffo

I'll open the can of worms...is it steel cased, or brass?

Brass... I refrained from buying Wolf or other cheap steel-cased crap from the get go. Been reading these forums for a while. :)

Jaffo

Switch ammo for now.  What lower are you running it on?  Does it look like the rounds in the magazine are in line with the feed ramps?

It's a new Eagle Arms lower. I actually didn't examine the situation close enough nor did I think to check whether the rounds in the mag are actually lined up where they should be. I'll have to check on that when I get home from work...

Jaffo

I wouldnt fire the rounds when the bullet is getting seated deeper into the case.  You are going to experience dramatically increased chamber pressure.  Id switch ammo for now, and inspect your mags too.

Good advise. I'll do it. Actually, the rounds I fired weren't hammered that bad. The next round in line was the one that got slammed in a bad way. Those are all sitting in the center console in my vehicle at this point. :)

Thanks a lot.

Jaffo

The problem is the mag/rifle combo.  By turning the mag catch one more turn, it may tighten up the mag to keep the front from dipping down, but I doubt it.

You can switch to SA80 mags and see if the mag raises the tip enough to clear the extension and feeds the bullet into the ramp. The SA80 mags sit a little higher in the well than USGI mags.

Or, if you just want to use the current mag/ammo combo, stick a matchbook/folded piece of paper between the mag and the back of the mag well. This will cam the front of the mag up, and the HP will be feed into the ramps, instead of being feed below the ramps.

The last option is you plan on using non-mil type ammo is to just M-4 the feed ramps.  This lowers the ramps and allows the rifle to load just about anything that is loaded into the mag.

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When trying out new rifle/ammo, ALWAYS have some LC or Q3131A M193 with you for reference. You eliminated the mags (probably), but this would have definitely pointed the finger at the ammo if the M193 fed properly.

My AR has shot Wolf (HP), LC, Q3131A, Silver Bear (HP), Winchester 45gr HP's all without problems.