Failure to eject

[Dippah]

I took my AR to the range yesterday and it was a complete fail.
During Covid I swapped my barrel for a Faxon pencil barrel and every shot or two jammed. Any idea what the issue could be? It’s clean…I wiped it down and re-lubed it today

Covid took me away from my routine but no rust or anything like that

 

[brianns]

Did you check headspace with your bolt after swapping the barrel? Is the extractor spring still good and didn't fall out during some maintenance? Just guessing here.

 

[4g64loser]

I took my AR to the range yesterday and it was a complete fail.
During Covid I swapped my barrel for a Faxon pencil barrel and every shot or two jammed. Any idea what the issue could be? It’s clean…I wiped it down and re-lubed it today

Covid took me away from my routine but no rust or anything like that

Lots of things can cause FTE. Since you mention the barrel swap, I'll ask if you checked gas port alignment. This is a very common source of trouble.

 

[Dippah]

I took my AR to the range yesterday and it was a complete fail.
During Covid I swapped my barrel for a Faxon pencil barrel and every shot or two jammed. Any idea what the issue could be? It’s clean…I wiped it down and re-lubed it today

Covid took me away from my routine but no rust or anything like that

Is it a gas block issue? Should I go back for safety’s sake?

 

[Dippah]

Lots of things can cause FTE. Since you mention the barrel swap, I'll ask if you checked gas port alignment. This is a very common source of trouble.

I haven’t and don’t know where to start…please advise

 

[wilcam47]

Lots of things can cause FTE. Since you mention the barrel swap, I'll ask if you checked gas port alignment. This is a very common source of trouble.

yep

 

[Dippah]

I haven’t and don’t know where to start…please advise

I’ve cleared it 3x and watched YouTube videos but I need to know that it works before traveling 40min to test it

 

[Dippah]

I’ve cleared it 3x and watched YouTube videos but I need to know that it works before traveling 40min to test it

*Cleared it 3x at the range 40min from my house

 

[brianns]

What kind of gas block is on it? Did it come on it or did you have to reinstall the old onto the new?

 

[4g64loser]

I haven’t and don’t know where to start…please advise

The pro way involves a bore scope. The joe way involves slipping the gas block to look for the carbon "bullseye" that is (hopefully) centered around the gas port in the barrel.

In theory, the gas port could be undersized but that's highly unlikely. Gas leakage or gas port misalignment is more likely.

If you eliminate the gas system, it's time to go into the running gear.

Post your general location (or pm me if you don't want to post it).

 

[Dippah]

Did you check headspace with your bolt after swapping the barrel? Is the extractor spring still good and didn't fall out during some maintenance? Just guessing here.

Everything worked perfect before the barrels swap…nothing to do with springs I think

 

[smokey]

What did you do when you "swapped your barrel"? The easy way to align a gas block is "the spaghetti trick". With the gas block off and the gas port facing up, put spaghetti(a size that fits without too much play in the gas port, but moves freely) in the port and snap it off flush with the outside of the barrel. Then move the gas block in to rough position over it and turn the barrel upside down so the gas port is facing down. When aligned, the spaghetti noodle falls through the port and in to the gas block. Wiggle to center the block and tighten it down. Then rotate the barrel gas port up again and push a cleaning rod up the bore to snap off the spaghetti noodle and push it out the front of the barrel a couple times. Get the pieces and make sure they add up to the original piece(so there's not one hanging out in the gas block) and you're all done.

They sell gas block aligners that do this that are segmented plastic pegs.... but spaghetti is cheap and plentiful. This is a trick if you don't have a bore scope handy to verify alignment.

 

[Dippah]

What kind of gas block is on it? Did it come on it or did you have to reinstall the old onto the new?

PSA

 

[brianns]

I just got done investigating my 6.8 barrel. When I pushed some pin guages through the gas port to see what diameter it was I did find some leftover metal from the drilling of the port or the bore that wasn't punched off. I don't think it was the issue on that rifle, but sometimes the port could be obscured too from debris. That chunk stayed on through 100s of rounds but did pop off with pin.

On my 602 clone the guy who final assembled the barrel said you needed to be 15 degrees out to affect the gas. Thats in rotation of course. Need to look at the front to back to make sure that's good also. Gas block openings are supposed to be oversized some to allow for some inaccuracies in install or when you don't have an endcap between the shoulder and the gas block face.

 

[Dippah]

What did you do when you "swapped your barrel"? The easy way to align a gas block is "the spaghetti trick". With the gas block off and the gas port facing up, put spaghetti(a size that fits without too much play in the gas port, but moves freely) in the port and snap it off flush with the outside of the barrel. Then move the gas block in to rough position over it and turn the barrel upside down so the gas port is facing down. When aligned, the spaghetti noodle falls through the port and in to the gas block. Wiggle to center the block and tighten it down. Then rotate the barrel gas port up again and push a cleaning rod up the bore to snap off the spaghetti noodle and push it out the front of the barrel a couple times. Get the pieces and make sure they add up to the original piece(so there's not one hanging out in the gas block) and you're all done.

They sell gas block aligners that do this that are segmented plastic pegs.... but spaghetti is cheap and plentiful. This is a trick if you don't have a bore scope handy to verify alignment.

I legit changed nothing but the barrel

 

[Dippah]

I took my AR to the range yesterday and it was a complete fail.
During Covid I swapped my barrel for a Faxon pencil barrel and every shot or two jammed. Any idea what the issue could be? It’s clean…I wiped it down and re-lubed it today

Covid took me away from my routine but no rust or anything like that

 

[smokey]

I legit changed nothing but the barrel

... riiiiiiighht... the barrel has a gas block on it. I assume you took off the handguard... took off the muzzle device... removed the gas block/gas rod... took off the barrel nut.... yanked the barrel... put new barrel in... old barrel nut back on.... tossed the old gas block on the new barrel... muzzle device on... handguard back? So along the way, you yanked the gas block and then reinstalled it on the new barrel correct? In other words, it's more likely you screwed up than that you got a bad barrel. I'm trying to track down exactly where the screw up may have happened based on what you exactly did when swapping barrels. How did you align the gas port and gas block for starters?

 

[4g64loser]

I just got done investigating my 6.8 barrel. When I pushed some pin guages through the gas port to see what diameter it was I did find some leftover metal from the drilling of the port or the bore that wasn't punched off. I don't think it was the issue on that rifle, but sometimes the port could be obscured too from debris. That chunk stayed on through 100s of rounds but did pop off with pin.

On my 602 clone the guy who final assembled the barrel said you needed to be 15 degrees out to affect the gas. Thats in rotation of course. Need to look at the front to back to make sure that's good also. Gas block openings are supposed to be oversized some to allow for some inaccuracies in install or when you don't have an endcap between the shoulder and the gas block face.

Fifteen degrees may be true for some blocks but definitely not for others. Easier to spot rotational misalignment with the naked eye from a distance, too. You are correct about the front/back issue. The most common oops I find is the block too far back. Next after that is leakage due to poor fitment.

 

[brianns]

In some configurations, you can take barrels off without doing anything to the gas blocks and muzzle devices.

Ah ha! Are you sure the gas tube is right side up? If it’s a straight one that could go wrong.

 

[smokey]

Fifteen degrees may be true for some blocks but definitely not for others. Easier to spot rotational misalignment with the naked eye from a distance, too. You are correct about the front/back issue. The most common oops I find is the block too far back. Next after that is leakage due to poor fitment.

Some manufacturers have oopsies in their products as well. The PSA adjustable block on my 6.5 grendel was absolute dogsh!t. It burped gas front and rear, no matter how tight the screws were. A trip back to PSA and a (we returned it to factory settings) didn't fix things. I tossed an aero adjustable block on and the gun immediately ran like a top and stopped burping gas out all around the block.