AR help??!!

Hey guys, I have had an Armalite m15A4 for about two weeks. At first it seemed a little tight, but I blasted a bunch of rounds through it yesterday and it seemed to be going better.

After about 300 rounds of winchester white box 55 gr fmj, it was failing to feed regularly in one of my mags. the round would fire and eject flawlessly, with the bolt going all the way back. I would pull the trigger for my next shot, and click. there wasn't a round chambered.

On my other mag, the next round would begin to chamber, then jam. I pushed the idiot button (forward assist) and the bolt would barely slide forward.

I got home and cleaned the innards, and they weren't that dirty at all. But all the moving parts were bone dry. so I lubed everything and wiped off the excess. The action seems to move much more freely now.

My question is, is it common to have break-in problems for the first 1000 rounds fired through the gun? any help greatly appreciated.

I hear that Armalite's are tight by nature. My RRA hasn't burped yet...been real smooth.

Did you clean and lube the rifle before your first outing? What did you use for lube? I like to coat mine in CLP, let sit for 45 min, then wipe down...let's it penetrate metal, etc.

May wanna look around at ar15.com and see if there's any info for you there.


Lex in NC

nope i never lubed it. I was too excited. I'm a canuck and our ar mags have to be pinned at 5 rounds, alot of guys on a canadian site are saying that the rivet used ot pin the mag often causes feeding problems.

My friend has a 16" Armalite with the same problem. I suggested that she keep it clean and lubed with a dry lube, which is what I use in mine because I've found it doesn't hold the carbon and grit like wet lube does.

I also suggested she use full power Nato spec ammo like Lake City or Q3131A for the first 1,000 rounds until it breaks in.
We found that her rifle works fine when she does this.

Also, make sure the three washers on the rear of your bolt are not aligned. They have slots in them. These slots must not align for the bolt to seal properly. They ideally should be 120 degrees apart.
Sometimes they will rotate until all three slots are aligned. If this happens, it will cause short stroking and the result will be similar to what you have described.

Hope that helps.

Bottom gun, I will check the bolt in a couple minutes. Here in Canada, its is very hard to find full power NATO ammo, as the US state department has forbidden the export of NATO spec ammo to us canucks. Politics always puts a damper on things

Oh, I didn't know that about your laws.
The Winchester white box should work almost as well. Just keep your bolt and carrier clean and lubed. You may want to try both the 55 and 62 gr Winchester if you can get it. You may find one works better than the other.
I would avoid shooting low powered stuff like Wolf until your rifle is well broken in.
Good luck and let us know if this solves your problem.

theres a gun store here that sells federal american eagle .223 in 55 gr and 62 gr. I will try those as well, but I don't think that they will perform as well as the winchester.

Hopefully these problems will sort themselves out, or I will be mad at Armalite for them being the way they are.

By the way thanks for the help guys.

Armalite makes some of the finest rifles available and as with any other precision machinery, tolerances are tight and the parts are designed to wear in together for proper continued function.
This can take some time and a little extra attention and cleaning on your part. Once you get past the initial break-in, you will discover you have a fine accurate, reliable rifle which will shoot as well as any bolt action made.
Give it a chance and don't give up on it. You'll be glad you did.

By the way, you can help wear it in by manually cycling the action as well as shooting it.

Get some CLP and lube that sucker. I have an Armalite M15A4 carbine (16") and it runs like a top. I didn't experience any kind of break in period either. I just shot it. Lube, good mags, decent ammo.


--meathammer

ARs aren't made to be fired dry...even by Canadians.

Lol. good point Rockstar. At least you didn't say "fired AT canadians"

Try asking HERE:
ArmaLite Section of the Industry Forums on AR15.com ---
http://www.ar15.com/forums/forum.html?b=2&f=27

Then go to the AR15 section and check that out.
Good Luck. :D