Stress_Test
Member
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2012
- Messages
- 209
Hi all, I've been a lurker for a few months and found the site helpful; the shotgun subforum was very useful to me when I was searching for my first (ended up with a Mossberg 590... sweet!)
My newest "first" is a AR15 style rifle. I've been wanting one for a little while now, watching Hickok45 videos and reading forum threads, and I finally got around to taking the plunge today.
My local gun store had a Colt "HBAR" Match Target, 20" barrel. I like the old-school AR appearance rather than the newer M4 carbine types, so this one was right up my alley. It's got the A2 (I think) handguard and fixed stock. It was on the "used" rack, and the sticker price was about $950. That's a lot more than I'm used to paying for firearms, but I'd already decided that day that if I ran across something I liked, and it was under a 1000, then I was gonna go for it. The rifle looked practically brand new and appeared to have hardly any visible wear that I could see. I took a deep breath and handed over the credit card!
Anyway, in regards to my question: At home with the rifle today, I had locked back the bolt, and returned the charge handle (no mag inserted btw). Then after confirming clear chamber, I went to pull the charge handle out again so that I could manually ease the bolt closed. But when I first started to pull the handle out, the bolt released and snapped closed on its own. I thought maybe I had just bumped something to drop the bolt but I wasn't sure. Anyway, I went through a few cycles of opening the bolt, locking it back, then manually easing it forward, and it was working as I intended (it makes me think of locking open the slide on an auto pistol, then pulling the slide back a little to release the slide lock, then easing the slide forward).
But then I got the unexpected bolt release once more, again when I first pulled the charge handle back. So, I figured I'd come here and ask if anyone knew what might be going on. I'm brand new to the AR platform and know almost nothing about them, other than watching a few short youtube videos.
I did figure that the bolt slamming closed on an empty chamber is probably something to be avoided if possible!
So, any thoughts? Is it possible to bump or jar something, besides the bolt release lever, that would drop the bolt?
Thanks!
I'll see if I can get some pics up as soon as I can find my camera... I think I may have left it at work. Doh!
EDIT: Pics are in post #14
My newest "first" is a AR15 style rifle. I've been wanting one for a little while now, watching Hickok45 videos and reading forum threads, and I finally got around to taking the plunge today.
My local gun store had a Colt "HBAR" Match Target, 20" barrel. I like the old-school AR appearance rather than the newer M4 carbine types, so this one was right up my alley. It's got the A2 (I think) handguard and fixed stock. It was on the "used" rack, and the sticker price was about $950. That's a lot more than I'm used to paying for firearms, but I'd already decided that day that if I ran across something I liked, and it was under a 1000, then I was gonna go for it. The rifle looked practically brand new and appeared to have hardly any visible wear that I could see. I took a deep breath and handed over the credit card!
Anyway, in regards to my question: At home with the rifle today, I had locked back the bolt, and returned the charge handle (no mag inserted btw). Then after confirming clear chamber, I went to pull the charge handle out again so that I could manually ease the bolt closed. But when I first started to pull the handle out, the bolt released and snapped closed on its own. I thought maybe I had just bumped something to drop the bolt but I wasn't sure. Anyway, I went through a few cycles of opening the bolt, locking it back, then manually easing it forward, and it was working as I intended (it makes me think of locking open the slide on an auto pistol, then pulling the slide back a little to release the slide lock, then easing the slide forward).
But then I got the unexpected bolt release once more, again when I first pulled the charge handle back. So, I figured I'd come here and ask if anyone knew what might be going on. I'm brand new to the AR platform and know almost nothing about them, other than watching a few short youtube videos.
I did figure that the bolt slamming closed on an empty chamber is probably something to be avoided if possible!
So, any thoughts? Is it possible to bump or jar something, besides the bolt release lever, that would drop the bolt?
Thanks!
I'll see if I can get some pics up as soon as I can find my camera... I think I may have left it at work. Doh!
EDIT: Pics are in post #14
Last edited: