Help PSA upper.

[rallo87]

I purchased a PSA assembled upper minus bolt carrier and charging handle. I test fired it last week and it cycled fine for the first 4 rounds...on the fifth round the bolt would not close. I was using a brand new fail zero bolt. The bolt was stuck in the closed position and it was extremely difficult to pull back and extract the live round. I suspected it was either the bolt or chamber. Today I retested with the same bolt and the same thing happened. It was stuck on the fifth round, it is definitely happening when the chamber gets hot and expands. I am using federal brass ammo, perfecta brass, and hornady brass all factory loads. I brought 4 bolts with me including the fail zero. An aero precision, a smith bolt, and a stag arms. I can assure you it is not the bolt. I believe my chamber was cut to tight because the other bolts won't even sit in the chamber. Please advise. I will contact PSA ASAP on Monday, I really hope they can remedy this situation for me.


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[SVT-40]

If the chamber "expands" it would get bigger... That would be the opposite of your issue...Since your issue is having a round not fully chambering....

Bolts don't "sit" in the chamber....Maybe take some photos... You said you tried different bolts. Did you try different carriers?

[rallo87]

Yes I used complete bolts with carriers. Maybe my bolts are expanding but either way I believe the chamber is too tight


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[rallo87]

This only happens after the first 4 to five rounds.


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[Glocked@45]

A friend of mine just had the same issue with his PSA upper and he also tried other bolts and bolt carriers. He called and sent the upper back to PSA.

My last two builds have been good minus a bolt carrier. I had one bad one out of the three PSA bolt carriers.

[rallo87]

Did PSA help him out?


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[5.56Geo]

[jimbo74]

Did you headspace it?

[Sailormilan2]

I'm no "expert", and I did not spend the night at a Holiday Inn Express, but I do have one PSA PA10 that had some issues when I first got it.
The primary issue was a failure of the bolt to go fully home with a loaded round. Causing a jammed round. It turned out to be an overly strong extractor spring that PSA uses. Once I replaced that with a standard AR15 spring, it has function just fine. This was a recommendation from several sites when I researched the problem when it reared its ugly head. Apparently, it is a fairly common problem.
I have a buddy who was having issues with his PA10, and when I took the extractor off, I found it had two rubber O-rings on the spring, rather than the required one. No wonder it wouldn't work.
There have been reports that PA10s have tight chambers. However, when I checked mine, using my pull through .308 reamer, it appeared to be just fine. Yours may have a combination of a tighter than average chamber and the super strong extractor spring, causing your problem.
If it were mine I would replace the extractor spring first thing, and see what happens. Quickest and cheepest fix. Then go from there.

[jimbo74]

are you using the same carrier, or just different bolts?

I don't think it is a crane mod issue

what gas system are you using?

where is the brass exracting?

[rallo87]

Brass was extracting fine for the first 4 rounds as mentioned. I am using my complete bolt and carriers. I tried my aero precision bolt, smith enterprise bolt, fail zero bolt, and stag bolt. That's why I can rule out the oring/extractor issue. I am going to clean the chamber really good and try it once more. It is a carbine system.


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[Glocked@45]

Did PSA help him out?


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They did email him a shipping label for a return and he has not received it back yet.

PSA will make it right.

[geoint]

Curious to see what happens with OPs problem.

PS: Next time share info about what kind of upper it was since PSA had several different quality levels to choose from.

[edgerly779]

Rough chamber or headspace incorrect possibly/ If you are in socal Randall is the guy. I bet on headspace.

[rallo87]

It's so strange because when it is cool the bolt cycles and goes into battery with no issue. When it warms up that's when the problem happens. Where is Randall located?


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