AR ejection problems

[SarcoBlaster]

I was at the range today with my AR and was having some issues that I've never had before. No changes were made from the last time it worked properly, so I'm not sure what the problem is. Anyway, throughout the day, I would get random failures to eject and in the pictures below, you can see what I mean.

The bolt has the black extractor insert and o-ring, the gas key screws are staked and aren't loose, and the gas rings are still good.

In the first two pics, the empty casing would stovepipe. I removed the magazine, pulled the charging handle back, and the casing would fall out. There was a live round partially in the chamber, but the base of the empty case kept the bolt from going into battery:




In the next two pics, the empty casing ended up getting caught on the front edge of the ejection port. You can see in the last picture that there is a live round that was just getting stripped from the magazine, but due to the position of the empty casing, the bolt couldn't move forward. When I locked the bolt back, the casing was still being held by the extractor with very light pressure, but fell out when I touched it.




It wasn't isolated to any one magazine and would happen randomly. However, the one thing that I did notice when I would get the failure to ejects was that the ejector was not all the way forward. I took the BCG out to examine it and when I used a bullet tip to press down on the ejector, it was very sluggish.

Once I got home, I put a drop or two of oil on the bolt face near the ejector and worked it a few times with a punch. Brass shavings were brought to the surface and now the ejector moves freely.

Finally, The bolt was clean before I used it today, so the problem didn't appear until my 5th or 6th magazine through the gun.

Based on all that info, would the most likely culprit be the ejector being clogged up by the brass shavings? I was shooting Privi Partisan 5.56 (the kind with the nasty red primer sealant) and brass shavings seem to be plentiful when using that particular ammo. Haven't tried any other ammo yet to see if I get brass shavings also.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[epikeddie]

it's definitely the ammo that you're using. That nasty primer material and brass shavings are the culprit. I can even see that gunk in your photo with the bolt back.....

Stick with quality ammo and make sure to keep the BCG clean.

[Merc1138]

Well like you said, the ejector wasn't working properly till you took it home and cleaned it out with some oil to get the brass out of it. The crappy red primer sealant everywhere is one thing, but with brass shavings? I'd try some other brand of ammo to see if it was just the batch you got. If it's still doing it, I'd consider trying to find the cause of the shavings.

[ronas]

Is it possible that the rounds were not loaded hot enough to cycle you action?

I had problem with a new pistol and it would have at least one or two FTE for every magazine. The new pistol was a S&W Compact 9. I was using 4.7 grains of 231 with 115 grain bullet in 9mm. I've used this load for years with Beretta 92FS and never had a problem.

I increased load to 5.1 grains of 231 and out of 400 rounds fired no FTEs. Last week I reduced load to 5 grains and shoot about 150 rounds with no problems.

With factory ammo you sometimes don't know exactly what your are getting as far as loading data and quality control.

[FeuerFrei]

The is my best WAG;
Slowing bolt/BCG should help with the stovepipes. H buffer and or heavier carrier.
The BCG is moving so fast the the case cannot clear the port before the next round is clear to feed into the chamber. Brass shavings are a good clue.
Try some Wolf poly steel cased ammo and you'll get some stuck cases and FTF/FTE issues.
Caveat, I am not an expert, only experienced shooter.

[dieselpower]

Well like you said, the ejector wasn't working properly till you took it home and cleaned it out with some oil to get the brass out of it. The crappy red primer sealant everywhere is one thing, but with brass shavings? I'd try some other brand of ammo to see if it was just the batch you got. If it's still doing it, I'd consider trying to find the cause of the shavings.

I agree. You have been neglecting the ejector. Its not uncommon. Its a PITA part to clean and isn't on my normal cleaning either. A lot of use just spray it with some gun scrub, work it back and forth and think its good...thats not. You need to pull that sucker out and clean it, the spring and chamber out on a regular schedule.

[crazychinaman]

sound like the ammo. Try to shoot Fed.or win.

[SarcoBlaster]

Well like you said, the ejector wasn't working properly till you took it home and cleaned it out with some oil to get the brass out of it. The crappy red primer sealant everywhere is one thing, but with brass shavings? I'd try some other brand of ammo to see if it was just the batch you got. If it's still doing it, I'd consider trying to find the cause of the shavings.

Good point. I ran a magazine of Federal XM193 through it and didn't have any issues. Probably the Privi combined with a dirty ejector?

Is it possible that the rounds were not loaded hot enough to cycle you action?

With factory ammo you sometimes don't know exactly what your are getting as far as loading data and quality control.

Possibly, but it's worked fine before and this ammo is from the same batch.

The is my best WAG;
Slowing bolt/BCG should help with the stovepipes. H buffer and or heavier carrier.
The BCG is moving so fast the the case cannot clear the port before the next round is clear to feed into the chamber. Brass shavings are a good clue.
Try some Wolf poly steel cased ammo and you'll get some stuck cases and FTF/FTE issues.
Caveat, I am not an expert, only experienced shooter.

Good point; didn't think about slowing the bolt down. That will be my next step once I clean out the ejector and use more of the Federal ammo.

I agree. You have been neglecting the ejector. Its not uncommon. Its a PITA part to clean and isn't on my normal cleaning either. A lot of use just spray it with some gun scrub, work it back and forth and think its good...thats not. You need to pull that sucker out and clean it, the spring and chamber out on a regular schedule.

Any suggestions on how to take the ejector out without that jig I've seen on Brownells? Looks like it would require 3 or more hands to accomplish!

sound like the ammo. Try to shoot Fed.or win.

The Federal XM193 I put through it worked fine, so that might have been a factor as well.

[killshot44]

Look at the fired brass. Do you see shiny spots or imprints on the casehead? It sounds like you're getting a little bit of the casehead brass "flowing" into the ejector area, that explains the shavings you see.

That's usually a sign of too much pressure rather than not enough. (weird, becuase stovepiping is almost always caused by not enough)

Take it apart, clean and lube, don't use that ammo.

[SarcoBlaster]

Well, I pulled the ejector out and this is what I found



When I tapped the roll pin out, I had my thumb over the face of the bolt so the ejector wouldn't launch into oblivion. Well, it didn't go anywhere at all due to all the crap in the ejector channel. The thing stayed where it was even with the roll pin out.

It moves freely now after I cleaned it out and I'll see if the brass shavings return during my next range trip. I also removed the extractor o-ring to see if that might have been causing the brass shavings.

[mmbasser]

HMMM, Privi and brass shavings? Sounds familiar.

Try this, measure that Privi brass rim diameter. I'll bet it's about 0.005" larger than spec.

I had Privi brass that I had deprimed/resized and it would not fit in a layman cartridge Gage. Reason, the rim was too large.

[dieselpower]

Well, I pulled the ejector out and this is what I found



When I tapped the roll pin out, I had my thumb over the face of the bolt so the ejector wouldn't launch into oblivion. Well, it didn't go anywhere at all due to all the crap in the ejector channel. The thing stayed where it was even with the roll pin out.

It moves freely now after I cleaned it out and I'll see if the brass shavings return during my next range trip. I also removed the extractor o-ring to see if that might have been causing the brass shavings.

yup...I'm due myself. Its a PITA isnt it.

[Toten Kopf]

This is the tool you need to easily take the ejector out. No more "launched" ejectors or springs...

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/default.aspx?productNumber=231625

[lgm118icbm]

I had the same thing happen to the ejector in my bushmaster.

[$P-Ritch$]

This is the tool you need to easily take the ejector out. No more "launched" ejectors or springs...

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct...tNumber=231625

+1, it is makes for a very pain free re-installation of the ejector as well.