Please help
I have been having similar problems with SA ammo. I have tried various lot numbers of SA ammo, and shot it through five different mags (all USGI, I can see the markings that verify this), but it makes little difference. This is with a well broken-in, used M1A that I bought from a friend. The barrel (and therefore chamber, I'm assuming) is USGI, marked HRA 1962, chrome lined.
Every so often (anwhere from 1/20 to 1/5 rounds), I will have a casing that gets stuck in the chamber. The bolt flies back as it should, but with the casing still in the chamber. The bolt naturally tries to chamber another round, but this next round of course just jams into the case that's already in the camber. That's no problem (just push the round a centimeter back into the mag with your finger), but the cases getting stuck in the chamber are. When they get stuck, they're darned tight, too...I have to get a screwdriver (and some muscle) to pry them out, last time I was afriad the screwdriver would break because it was bending so much while prying the case out of the chamber (relatively small, thin screwdriver). After I get the case out and inspect it, I can see a little worn or shaved-off section of the rim where the extractor tried to grab on. This problem does not occur with any other ammo (Aussie, WWB, American Eagle, federal, etc.). Wait, I take that back.....it happened once or twice in extreme cold weather with storebought ammo (Federal .308 I think), but the cases were so loose in the chamber I could actually just pull them out with my finger with no problem. Only the South African needs a screwdriver to "crowbar" it out.
I figure this is either:
A) An extractor problem (my extractor looks kinda..."old", and it will not extract A-Zoom snap caps, since their .308 rims are like half a milimeter less in diameter than a real .308 rim).
B) A chamber problem (chamber is too tight....would one of those "ratcheted M14 chamber bruses" do anything to help me?)
C) A problem with the ammo itself (SA has inherintly weak brass or something and everyone else is just lucky)
D) Combination of some of the above, or something else entirely (I fully admit that I don't really know what I'm doing here, I'm not very experienced with this sort of thing or M1As in general).
Thanks everyone for the help, this problem is really worrying me (esp. after buying a whole bunch of SA .308 and wanting to buy a lot more if I can....).