AR 15 break in process?

judah7 · Mar 18, 2017

One of my rifles have been giving me the blues, people tell me it needs to be broken in. It's a NFA lower and a radical upper. I really don't know if its these gen 3 pmags that's causing the jams, and when it does chamber a round and I pull the trigger its a click....no boom.

What is going on with this rifle? A couple folks down the range just said lubricateYou it and break it in. And maybe they are right and im being hard on a brand new firearm but damn. I've never seen a gun have a failure to feed just trying to chamber a round.

Also something else wierd is that when I pull the trigger and it doesn't fire, if I take the mag out and pull it again the rifle fires. Why is it firing 100% without the mag and iffy with the mag?

Please help, id like to keep it but if if it's going to be a headache forever I'll dump it and replace it.

lazarus · Mar 18, 2017

I've never heard of an issue with firing a round with a mag in vs mag out unless the round isn't actually chambered. Sounds like you may have more than one issue and no, this isn't a break in needed thing. Something is fundamentally wrong is going on

There certainly can be feeding issues with certain mags and certain lowers, but failure to go bang should have nothing to do with that. Did you assemble the lower yourself? Chance the hammer spring is on backwards?

iH8DemLibz · Mar 18, 2017

Did you or anyone else d*ck with/replace the hammer spring?

Meaning is it a stock GI weight spring or a reduced weight spring?

Cuzz reduced weight and hard primers equals no Boom-Boom.

Outside of that, lube the ole girl up and give her another whirl.

PS: On-line reports say an AR needs at least a 3,000 round break-in period before they'll function correctly. Could be an urban legend though...

judah7 · Mar 18, 2017

lazarus said:
I've never heard of an issue with firing a round with a mag in vs mag out unless the round isn't actually chambered. Sounds like you may have more than one issue and no, this isn't a break in needed thing. Something is fundamentally wrong is going on

There certainly can be feeding issues with certain mags and certain lowers, but failure to go bang should have nothing to do with that. Did you assemble the lower yourself? Chance the hammer spring is on backwards?

No, all I did was get a bcg from palmetto and put the upper on the complete lower. First time I go to pull the charging handle back (jam) failure to feed. Try it again the round feeds, pull the trigger (no boom), take the mag out, tries to rack the round out of the chamber and the round doesn't come out, so I pull the trigger again and boom.... Round sent down range, shell ejects. Stuff like this has been happening too often for my liking.

I figured something is wrong with it though.

mopar92 · Mar 18, 2017

1. Use a quality lube generously. I like Slip2000EWL but is 'spensive. Mobil 1 0w-40 synthetic works just about as well.
2. How are you chambering the round? Proper procedue is either. Pull charging handle all the way to the rear (until it stops) and release, or pull charging handle to rear, press bolt hold open, insert magazine and then press bolt release.
3. I doubt the PMAGs are at fault. Failure to fully chamber a round is generally caused by excessive friction slowing down bolt speed.

judah7 · Mar 18, 2017

iH8DemLibz said:
Did you or anyone else d*ck with/replace the hammer spring?

Meaning is it a stock GI weight spring or a reduced weight spring?

Cuzz reduced weight and hard primers equals no Boom-Boom.

Outside of that, lube the ole girl up and give her another whirl.

PS: On-line reports say an AR needs at least a 3,000 round break-in period before they'll function correctly. Could be an urban legend though...

Is frog lube any good? It's what I used when I first put it together, haven't lubed it since and that was 2 years ago, but it's never shot up until now.

iH8DemLibz · Mar 18, 2017

Not busting kiwis here.

Another PSA/my sh!t ain't workin' story.

When are folks gunna stop buying parts from PSA?

Regardless of great parts return customer service.

mopar92 · Mar 18, 2017

Also break in period on an AR is internet ********. You should be able to pick up an AR, lube it and shoot it.

iH8DemLibz · Mar 18, 2017

judah7 said:
Is frog lube any good? It's what I used when I first put it together, haven't lubed it since and that was 2 years ago, but it's never shot up until now.

What post #5 said.

Good luck with her, OP.

judah7 · Mar 18, 2017

mopar92 said:
1. Use a quality lube generously. I like Slip2000EWL but is 'spensive. Mobil 1 0w-40 synthetic works just about as well.
2. How are you chambering the round? Proper procedue is either. Pull charging handle all the way to the rear (until it stops) and release, or pull charging handle to rear, press bolt hold open, insert magazine and then press bolt release.
3. I doubt the PMAGs are at fault. Failure to fully chamber a round is generally caused by excessive friction slowing down bolt speed.

I've always pulled the charging handle back and let it go forward on it's own.

judah7 · Mar 18, 2017

mopar92 said:
Also break in period on an AR is internet ********. You should be able to pick up an AR, lube it and shoot it.

I agree, that's why im annoyed and just gave up on the rifle after it's first time out. Something is wrong with it.

GTOGUNNER · Mar 18, 2017

Disassemble the bolt, firing pin etc. and clean it.
Clean the Upper and the Barrel, check for packing material and grease.
Check for damage on the bolt face.
Check that the gas key is on straight and tight
Check for damage in the upper and the barrel at the feed ramps
if after all that you still have a problem, Take it to a gun smith.

iH8DemLibz · Mar 18, 2017

mopar92 said:
Also break in period on an AR is internet ********. You should be able to pick up an AR, lube it and shoot it.

It certainly is.

But these break-in period stories sure do make the rounds.

judah7 · Mar 18, 2017

iH8DemLibz said:
Not busting kiwis here.

Another PSA/my sh!t ain't workin' story.

When are folks gunna stop buying parts from PSA?

Regardless of great parts return customer service.

So I should dump the PSA bcg? I have no problem doing this, I thought they had good quality stuff though. My firing pin is very stiff though. Might be one of the few issues with this build. But I'll order another bcg and give it another shot after that.

GTOGUNNER · Mar 18, 2017

BTW, Welcome and please introduce yourself here.https://www.mdshooters.com/forumdisplay.php?f=119

iH8DemLibz · Mar 18, 2017

judah7 said:
So I should dump the PSA bcg? I have no problem doing this, I thought they had good quality stuff though. My firing pin is very stiff though. Might be one of the few issues with this build. But I'll order another bcg and give it another shot after that.

Keep the BCG and lube it and try again.

If your firing pin is stiff, that's friction too.

Friction will slow the pin down and it may not strike the primer with sufficient force.

You may want to have a respected/qualified AR guy take a look at her.

Major03 · Mar 18, 2017

huh...I'm not an armorer, but I've fired the AR platform for about 25 years now.

Failure to feed sounds like either the mag isn't seating correctly (try tapping hard on the mag when you first seat it, and then pull down on it to ensure it's seated before racking the charging handle) or maybe whoever built the upper messed up the feed ramps and barrel extension.

Not extracting the chambered round when you pull back the charging handle seems odd. Make sure you're pulling the charging handle fully to the rear. If you are, is this happening on every round...or just when you have a misfeed...or randomly? Perhaps it's a bad extractor? Can you take a pic of the extractor after it has been removed from the bolt, specifically looking at the lip that faces the bolt face? Maybe it's damaged? Replacing the extractor and extractor spring may solve that problem...or contacting Palmetto and returning the bolt and having them send you a new one (probably what I would do).

What kind of ammo are you shooting? Reloads or factory/surplus? If factory, then what brand? If reloads, did you case gauge it?

When you pull the trigger and you get a failure to fire, did you inspect the primer? Was it dented?

Bisleyfan44 · Mar 18, 2017

iH8DemLibz said:
Not busting kiwis here.

Another PSA/my sh!t ain't workin' story.

When are folks gunna stop buying parts from PSA?

Regardless of great parts return customer service.

Failure to properly lube it causing these issues ain't a PSA problem, it's a lube/operator problem. None of my PSA stuff gives me a problem. YMMV

LimaVictor · Mar 18, 2017

Throw the AR in the trash and get an AK.

I keed, i keed!

judah7 · Mar 18, 2017

Major03 said:
huh...I'm not an armorer, but I've fired the AR platform for about 25 years now.

Failure to feed sounds like either the mag isn't seating correctly (try tapping hard on the mag when you first seat it, and then pull down on it to ensure it's seated before racking the charging handle) or maybe whoever built the upper messed up the feed ramps and barrel extension.

Not extracting the chambered round when you pull back the charging handle seems odd. Make sure you're pulling the charging handle fully to the rear. If you are, is this happening on every round...or just when you have a misfeed...or randomly? Perhaps it's a bad extractor? Can you take a pic of the extractor after it has been removed from the bolt, specifically looking at the lip that faces the bolt face? Maybe it's damaged? Replacing the extractor and extractor spring may solve that problem...or contacting Palmetto and returning the bolt and having them send you a new one (probably what I would do).

What kind of ammo are you shooting? Reloads or factory/surplus? If factory, then what brand? If reloads, did you case gauge it?

When you pull the trigger and you get a failure to fire, did you inspect the primer? Was it dented?

Yes I make sure the mags seated properly and that im pulling it all the way back, I am a AR novice but I pretty much did my homework on how they operate,i don't know how to take apart the bcg so I'll have to look that up on YouTube and get that picture for you.

Im shooting all factory brass stuff and yes theres always a dent but I've heard an AR firing pin bumps the round naturallyand leave a dent, so im not sure if that's just the AR doing what it does or from the trigger pull.

AR 15 break in process?

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