AR's wont shoot Steel Case Ammo. ????ss

[supermario]

I have a few questions for you experienced AR owners. First off, I know I should be feeding them brass cased ammo etc, but it was all that was available at the time.

Anyhow, onto the Questions.
I attempted to shoot two Brand new AR's. ONe is a Daniel defense upper with BCM bcg and the 2nd AR was a Colt 6920 and all Colt. Carbine gas of course.

Both ARs were cleaned and lubed before shooting. They shot the brass cased PMC 55.grain ammo perfect. Then we tried to shoot some cheap white box Russian steel cased ammo.

They did the exact same thing, first round shot but did not eject. And it did not look like a FTE, the chamber didnt even attempt to open. Almost like a single shot. We had to manually eject each time.

I was thinking, either the ammo was soo cheap it didnt have enough power to eject itself? Or perhaps the chambers are so tight that the steel casing just stuck in chamber?

On a second note, My PWS Diablo AR pistol shot that same ammo perfect, as well as my brand new DD 12.5 Pistol.
Only the 16" ARs would not cycle the steel case ammo.

Another question is, what is reaming the chamber? Is that were they use a tool to basically scrape out the chamber to make it "looser". Would that allow me to shoot steel case ammo?


I know if I shoot decent ammo the AR's will shoot excellent as they did, However it would be nice to know they CAN shoot any and all ammo.
I really dont think they need to be broken In, because they shot the brass case ammo.

FYI, we only shot about 30-40rounds out of each AR.

[DinoPJR]

wow. sounds weird. I shoot only steel case out of my ARs. are you using the 10/20 or 30 pmags?

[supermario]

Pretty sure its not the mag, we swapped from 10/30 to 10rounds. And the bcg never even tried to open after the round was fired. My DD 12.5 AR Pistol was awesome and ate it all. I fell in love with that Pistol. Accurate too.

wow. sounds weird. I shoot only steel case out of my ARs. are you using the 10/20 or 30 pmags?

[DinoPJR]

dont blame ya ar pistols are sweet. dont know what to tell ya man. maybe those guns just need some breaking in. I used steel cased from day one and havent had any problems since. happy new years brother!

[DRM6000]

i had a similar problem with an lmt upper. i tried, buffers, springs, fsb alignment, etc. i ended up opening the gas port a little and now it'll eat anything.

[supermario]

So opening up the gas ports, gave you the extra gas needed to cycle anything huh? Does it seem to beat up your rifle more or more recoil? Just curious. Maybe I will have calgunner AR15 barrels do this to mine.

I think Im gonna try to break them in a lil more before I do that.

i had a similar problem with an lmt upper. i tried, buffers, springs, fsb alignment, etc. i ended up opening the gas port a little and now it'll eat anything.

[TKM]

Opening a gas port is pretty easy. Just go slow and check at each step.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r69wc5HSII

A couple of minutes in....

[Jet Setter]

Try running your chambers more "wet" so the rounds don't get stuck. My RRA shoots the steel rounds without issue. However, I did have a very badly stuck case a month ago. I had my upper sitting in the safe for over a month. I lubed the bolt again before shooting but forgot about the chamber. 39 rounds into shooting and FTE. Round was stuck and would not come out. Even bolt would not open very easily. I got the RSO to help me. He had to use a long brass rod to pound out the stuck case. My extractor tore off a piece of the cartridge when trying to pull Change back (that is how stuck it was). Packed up, went home and I cleaned the upper and made sure the chamber was very well cleaned and free from the polymer coating from the steel case. I made sure the chamber was wet when put away as I knew I was going out again the next morning to test my theory. Next morning, hit the club and test fired 100 rounds. No issues at all. I believe it helps to run more 'wet' than normal when using steel case ammo. However, please do check to make sure it is safe to do so.

I was using Tulammo .223 55 grain.

[EL_NinO619]

When I am not shooting reloads, I am shooting Tula etc. My AR chews it up and spits in out at any rate of fire, Even dry (well with frog lube)

[supermario]

It seems like its hit or miss when it come to AR's shooting steel case ammo.
I did have my ARs lubed but it wasnt dripping either.

[unusedusername]

What kind of steel cased ammo was it?

Some older stuff has laquor on it that gets nasty if the chamber is too hot.

They stopped making that kind a while back and now either use a ploymer coating or zinc on the outside of the steel, however there is a lot of the old crap still floating around...

[OIF0708]

My M&P has had nothing but Golden Bear and Silver Bear shot through it and not one hiccup.

[railroader]

My 2 del-tons are fine with most russian ammo. I stay away from wolf because it seems to be the most underpowered. I have a bunch of herter's and tula and I have no issues with that ammo.

[sd_shooter]

My 16" mid length BCM likes Wolf (Camo box and Black box) and I've also tried Herter's. I only shoot Russian ammo although I managed to find a small pile of AE at Walmart one day and decided to buy it.

If it didn't, I'd definitely enlarge the gas port. I couldn't live with a gun that only shot fancy ammo.

[SoCalXD]

My ARs are 100% with Zinc Plated Silver Bear, though they are a bit under powered compared to 5.56mm MilSpec Ammo. If the brass will manually extract from the chamber without sticking, it's a gas issue, not a chamber issue. Opening up a gas port a bit will probably solve the issue, but you will feel a bit more recoil firing 5.56mm ammo. So long as you don't open it up too much, you should be GTG for all ammo without battering up your bolt carrier or buffer.

Make sure you have the correct min/max diameter for your barrel length/gas length. As i recall, there is a good reference post for that on arfdotcom. I was able to clear up a similar issue a few years ago buy just reaming out the park. from the hole, without taking out any fresh steel.