My new AR isn't doing good

[Irishmilitant]

I recently purchased my first AR-15. It's a preban Eagle Arms with a new Rock River Arms 16" chrome lined heavy barrel, A2 sights and grip, and a 4 position telescoping stock . I was shooting PMP 55gr FMJs with GI mags. The rifle fired fine at for the first 3 shots, then I field stripped it and put some patches through the barrel. I did this about 3 or 4 more times shooting 4 or 5 rounds sets, letting it cool in between. Every few rounds the gun would jam. The bolt would go forward but the bullit tip would get stuck up on the feed ramp into the chamber. A few other times a casing would get stuck in the chamber. I knocked them out (note I said "them"!!) with my cleaning rod and saw that the extractor had torn a flush groove out of the rim of the case, the rest of the ring was fine. I know I'm not using all the correct terminology, but I hope ya'll get what I'm saying. The whole complete upper and trigger assembly is brand new too with fewer than 200 rds through it. Now I'm planning on taking some emory cloth to the feed ramps and in the champer, but does anyone know what the problem could be, or do I just need to work the rifle in some more? Maybe starting out with a kalashnikov was a bad idea, it's gotten me used to reliability
:jump:
I'M JUST KIDDING!! any help would be greatly appreciated

[Circuits]

The feeding problem is either rough/burred feedramps, or bad mags, or incorrect mag seating, or binding on the carrier.

The extraction problem is rough/burred or too-tight chamber or soft brass, and might also be a weak extractor (although probably not if the extractor was ripping the rims off).

For the feed problem:

Check to make sure nothing is binding the carrier - pulling the charging handle should be smooth - running it forward slowly while holding the charging handle, it should go forward and not hesitate or bind up during the forward travel.

If it has trouble feeding with all mags and not just one or two, check the seating of the mag - you might want to tighten the mag catch one turn to hold the mags more firmly.

Mostly likely, it's burred or rough feedramps, and you're already taking steps to fix that.


For the extraction problem:
Most common reason for this is tight chambers. I've never seen an RRA chrome-lined, so it may be they haven't gotten the hang of it yet. Usual fix is to polish the chamber. This can be done by hiring a gunsmith to do it, or chucking a length of cleaning rod in your electric drill, and using a .410 shotgun mop coated with flitz or fine valve grinding compound. Stick the paste-coated mop in your chamber and spin slowly for about a minute, then clean thoroughly.

If the extractor spring is a bit weak, it can be beefed up with a stronger extractor spring, an extractor spring helper like the Olympic ExRing or Armforte' D-fender, or you can put in a heavy-duty black extractor spring insert.

[PBR]

I had a improperly adjusted mag catch do the same thing to a AR.

[Irishmilitant]

thx for info ya'll, I'll adjust the mag tension and see how that works, then do a light polishing.

[Irishmilitant]

ok ya'll I took a look at it and it looks like the points of the bullets are hitting inside the magwell just underneath the bottom of the feedramps, just barely. When I was pushing the bottom of the magazine forward though, the rounds were coming out high enough to feed flawlessly. So is this something I can fix by tightening the mag catch?? I looked all over and don't see how to do this. How do I tighten the mag catch? Thx for all ya'lls help!

[kanewtervalve]

E-mail me and I'll send you the link, forbidden to post it on this board.

[Irishmilitant]

you've got mail

[Irishmilitant]

thx a ton Kanewtervalve and gang!!!

I played around with the mag catch, did some light work on the feedramps too. All I need to do now is polish out the chamber; casings were starting to stick again at the range, but I used a chamber brush and solvent on it and she ran fine again. Here's a pic of the little lady before the tac-sling :D
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid31/p6c7b24e7b6af175bcf8a01fe7d9c279f/fd479e8c.jpg

[kanewtervalve]

Good to hear buddy.:D

[Meat-Hook]

I bought a new Eagle Arms AR, years
ago. I wont go into the nightmare
that evolved over the next 1 1/2
years. Ill condense the story only to
say:

I took it out of the box brand new.
After the very first shot, it malfunctioned.
Everything from failing to extract, to locking
on an empty chamber, ect, ect, ect.

what it turned out to be was the tiny 50c
spring that was inside the bolt release
lever. It was broke and catching the bolt
in "mid-flight" as it cycled.

I took the rifle to an expert shop that
specialized in the AR system. The factory
could not/would not fix it after over a
year of frustration. The specialty shop
had it fixed in less than 24 hours.

It functioned flawlessy after that.
------
Meat-Hook