DPMS AR15 - 7.62x39

[dmftoy1]

Anyone have one of these and have good luck with it? My next door neighbor bought one new and had it out today for the second time. The first time he had it out it would eject fine but not load the next round about 98% of the time. The gun was bone dry so I suggested he clean/lube it and see what happens. Today he brought it out and out of probably 30-40 rounds it only fed the second round right twice. It pretty much always failed to feed a second round and had numerous times where the hammer fell but the round didn't go off. This is wolf ammo and is about a year old but looked to be well stored and in good shape. I thought maybe the magazine(s) were the problem so we tried one of my steel radway green 5.56 magazines. (no different, even with 2-3 rounds loaded). He had a 10 round plastic magazine that came with the gun, and 2 30-rounders that were definately shaped differently than my 30 rounders. None of them would feed any better. Just eyeballing the feedlips they didn't look to be any different than standard 5.56 feed lips.

So . . .I guess my question is . . did he get a lemon or is the feeding problems inherent to this rifle? He says he wants to try it with some "non-wolf" ammo, but I find it hard to believe that wolf ammo could be so out of spec as to cause the FTF's. (the FTF's were caused by the bolt not picking up the next round and just closing on an empty chamber). It's sad because the rifle appears to be very accurate when it does fire.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Have a good one,
Dave

 

[DMK]

Clean and lube was good advice. Never shoot a new gun without cleaning and oiling it first. It may need to break in a bit too.

It pretty much always failed to feed a second round

Mags have always been a problem with the 7.62x39 ARs. I use USA Frankenmags in mine and they work flawlessly.

Here's another possible solution. I just ordered a few to try. However, they are a brand new product so the jury's still out on them. Just keep an eye out and watch for the reviews.

http://cproductsllc.com/cgi-bin/htmlos.cgi/006.4.4453257240500025437

http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=17&t=270323

had numerous times where the hammer fell but the round didn't go off.

Another known issue is firing pin protrusion with Wolf ammo. I've seen a lot of posts at www.AR15.com about it. I have no problems at all with my Colt blt and chamber, but apparently some of the 7.62x39 ARs get misfires due to Wolf ammo having the primers set deeper. Do a search on AR15.com and you'll see some gixes for it.

 

[dmftoy1]

Thanks!! That's exactly what I was looking for.

Have a good one,
Dave

 

[rbernie]

I built a couple of 7.62x39 rifles from parts and they've been fantastic. So far, my 16" carbine has taken a couple of deer and a passel of hogs (including one 500lb monster that could have turned out badly). I'm using 10-round MGW magazines in 'em and they've been flawless. I also have a couple of the C-Products mags on there way to me (shipped on Friday) so we'll see how those work. I also use the Bushy nine-round 223 magazines; load 'em up with four or five rounds of 7.62x39 and they work fine.

I can tell you that both my 20" and 16" Shaw barrels in 7.62x39 were too tight in chamber dimensions to tolerate steel-cased ammo; I had all sorts of timing issues. So long as I don't try to shoot Wolf or Barnaul ammo, they run like a top.

 

[dmftoy1]

That's good to know. He is planning on trying some federal 7.62x39 brass cased ammo next weekend so we'll see if his luck is any better. He's got one of the 10 round mgw mags but it doesn't feed any better than his two thirty rounders. Maybe it's timing related or something like that?


Regards,
Dave

 

[Bullet]

You might check this out -

http://jobrelatedstuff.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=17&t=270323&page=1

http://ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=121&t=281335

 

[rbernie]

Maybe it's timing related or something like that?

That would be my guess.

First thing to try is commercial brass cased ammo. If that doesn't work, then you have other issues. If that does work, then don't shoot Wolf.

 

[rangerruck]

read this thread above this one; jammed up ar-15 if you are shooting locquered ammo, this is probably your culprit.

 

[rbernie]

I dunno if it's the coating on the steel as much as it is the fact that steel isn't as 'elastic' as brass. If you have a tight chamber (good for accuracy, by the way) the steel just doesn't spring back enough to release from the chamber properly (either 'in time' or at all).