I bought a new Bushmaster A2 M4gery about a month ago and just had the opportunity to sight it in today.  Things didn't go so well.  It shot great, no adjustments were needed for dead center hits at 25 meters.  The problem was with ejection and feeding.  I was using UMC 55 gr ammo in 30 round USGI mags.  Some had green followers, some had the black ones.  I had several casings get stuck half in the chamber with a new round wedged underneath it. Other times the round wouldn't feed from the mag, even using the forward assist.  Some of the spent cases  had deep gouges down the side of them.  Is this a production defect or does it just need to be broken in?  I'm not sure if the feed ramp just needs to be smoothed out, my mags have a problem, or if it was just the ammo.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have had the same problem with UMC 55gr ammo in my Colt and Bushy.

Lubing the bolt carrier with a light coating of CLP on the Colt solved the problem.

I have not done the same with the Bushy.

Is this a 100% Bushmaster? Is there rough spots, burrs etc in the gun, bolt, anywhere? Is the bolt key securely fastened to the bolt carrier? Call Quality Parts. and ask them for any suggestions. When I call them they are really helpful. Once, i even spoke to Tom Barr, he is a high up mucky mucky there.

Did you clean your Bushy good before you went out shooting and make sure it was lubed properly?  This would solve a lot of peoples problems when they buy a new gun.  If you did then try some different ammo.

Bill3508

I had some double feeding and some where the old round wouldn't eject fully yet the new round was already on its way into the chamber.  This required me to drop the mag so the old round and the new round would drop out the mag well.  

I didn't clean the gun before I went out though.  I just got done cleaning it and it was really bad.  Not what I expected from a factory new rifle.  The pin on the ejector was almost impossible to depress when I first started cleaning it.  That might have been some of the problem.  It's nice and clean now though.  I'll take it out again and see what happens.  

As for the magazines, I loaded them up again and tried pushing bullets out with just my fingers.  Every so often the lip of the casing was getting hung up on the lip of the mag.  I don't know if I need to run a file over them or what.  Thanks for the suggestions.  Hopefully the next trip to the range will have more shooting and no failures.

It's a great gun though.  The accuracy was much better than I expected.  Out at 150 yards I was hitting 7" steel plates with almost every shot.

Medicmandan,
    My first Bushmaster(first AR) was extremely dirty from the factory and gave me several failures to eject my first time out.  I too did not take the gun apart and clean it.  After the first outing I followed the manual and cleaned it completely and now with around 1000 rds I have had no problems whatsoever.  
Bill3508  

I agree with LotBoy

I had the same problem the first time I took my Bushmaster to the range. CLP did the trick. Seemed to clean out a very light greasy film and lubricate it better.

Haven't had any problems with it since.

Several things to be aware of...
Most have already been mentoned...

1) Keep the gun CLEAN, especially the chamber...

2) Use ONLY "Break Free CLP" as lube...

3) DON'T use laquer coated Wolf ammo...Military brass ammo is best...Even store bought hunting ammo is likely to give you trouble with it's thinner brass and thin bullet jackets...
Ever notice the discoloration (heat treating) on the shoulder of military brass ? There's a reason for it...

5) Use ONLY good USGI mags...No dings, dents, weak springs, or boogered feed lips...
Bad mags are the single most common problem...


If the rifle was used, I'd say check the extractor claw and spring for wear or weakness, but since this is a new gun, they should be fine...

The ejector is usually pretty stiff, so unless it was stuck solid from lodged debris, I wouldn't think it would be a problem...

I can't stress enough, how important it is to keep it clean, use good mags, good military ammo, and to lube the bolt/carrier/upper assy with ONLY "Break Free CLP"...

Follow this advice to the letter, if the gun is mechanically sound, you will never have a problem with it...

GOOD LUCK !!!

Check out my post.
www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?id=131938
I called Bushmaster on Saturday and talked to a guy named Tom, he said to clean/polish out the feeding ramps with emery cloth and oil. I used what he said and wrapped it around a q-tip. This seemed to taken care of my problem. Gavino

Try Federal ammo I used UMC and PMC when i got my Bushy and had a problem like you are having.
It would fire the first round but cycle the second wrong.  I was told the powder used in the bullet in Federal burns better, cleaner, and runs AR without problems.

Normally, one would suspect mags first, then lubrication, etc. with such a problem...however...any time anyone says "Remington" and "ammunition" in the same sentence, I get suspicious.

Never had good luck with Rem. ammo of any kind/type in 40 years of shooting. Their QC sucks...and the UMC stuff is...or was at one time...produced in Mexico. This stuff was so bad several years ago that at least one major handgun manufacturer stopped using it to test fire new pistols because it was such crap.

May have improved lately but I doubt it. I would shoot Wolf any day over this stuff. Try another brand or two and see if this helps...my bet is that it will.

I have an older Bushmaster that had worked OK with everything I had tried.  Recently, I bought an extra upper (new Bushy M4 style) for it and had the same trouble:
 Incomplete ejection, with the new cartridge riding up under the empty case inside the receiver.

I had cleaned it well upon unpacking.  I found that extra lube on the exterior of the bolt carrier made it better and after a few hundred rounds, it's almost OK again.
I think I had a break-in issue and keeping it too dry seemed to make it worse.

I had the same problem with my colt. For a while it was jaming on every shot. I striped it down and cleand it as well as i posibly could. then i worked fine, though it still jams alot when i use American Eagle ammo

Quoted: Is this a 100% Bushmaster? Is there rough spots, burrs etc in the gun, bolt, anywhere? Is the bolt key securely fastened to the bolt carrier? Call Quality Parts. and ask them for any suggestions. When I call them they are really helpful. Once, i even spoke to Tom Barr, he is a high up mucky mucky there.

Same here, he hit the nail on the head with my problem, and it was under questionable circumstances.