AR 15 jamming question

[johnace]

Hi everyone a quick question, I'm looking at purchasing a used AR 15, haven't tried it yet but the owner says it works great, except it jams on cheap Wolf 223? Wwile would be interested in using that ammo, sounds like something is wrong? Sellers as he took it to the gunsmith who says everything is fine, any thoughts?

[Capybara]

Some ARs just don't like steel cased ammo. Not much you can do about it, either don't shoot cheap, steel cased ammo or buy another AR that does like it.

[DFence]

Rifle may be chambered for 5.56 and won't cycle the lower powered .223

What type of AR is it?

[alfred1222]

Some guns don't like cheap steel. My CMMG doesn't, my LMT and LWRC doesn't mind them

[mod8guy]

Its been my experience that wolf and tula .223 ammunition is inconsistent in its load. Also the coating on the shells can foul up the chamber. I have had to rod out a couple shells that failed to extract.

[negolien]

I'd be wary of buying it if the 1st thing he tells you is "it jams".. Him saying he took it to a gunsmith and the gunsmith said everythings ok.. The "he took it to the gunsmith" should be a red flag as if it was only some cheap ammo he wouldn't have taken to a gunsmith. as a side note my 18" chews thru anything I feed it.

[Wildeman_13]

If it is not a chamber issue, you can also play around with the buffer weight. Buffers are fairly inexpensive, easy to swap out, and you can always find friends who might be willing to lend you a couple to try out to see if it fixes it. I ended up using a H(eavy) buffer in my two lowers and both have no problem chewing through everything I feed them.

[Dee_Dub]

I hope its strawberry

[killmime1234]

Steel cased ammo usually has an anti corrosive coating that has the unfortunate side effect of making it stick to chamber walls after firing. This means it takes more energy to extract and less energy is available for cycling as well as having the added effect of changing the timing. An AR with a tightly toleranced chamber would be more succepatble to something like this.

[mark501w]

The gun is not designed to shoot steel cased ammo!

[Mail Clerk]

Hi everyone a quick question, I'm looking at purchasing a used AR 15, haven't tried it yet but the owner says it works great, except it jams on cheap Wolf 223? Wwile would be interested in using that ammo, sounds like something is wrong? Sellers as he took it to the gunsmith who says everything is fine, any thoughts?

johnace,

Wolf ammo is weak and should never be used to test fire any new/used rifle for the first time.

Clean and oil the rifle again and use good ammo that is made in America instead like Remington, American Eagle, Winchester etc.

Like some others said some AR's don't like Wolf or any ammo made from steel. Avoid these brands until you get the rifle working/cycleing in good order.

Mail Clerk

[FeuerFrei]

Hi everyone a quick question, I'm looking at purchasing a used AR 15, haven't tried it yet but the owner says it works great, except it jams on cheap Wolf 223? Wwile would be interested in using that ammo, sounds like something is wrong? Sellers as he took it to the gunsmith who says everything is fine, any thoughts?

Take it out and shoot it with several types/brands of ammo and confirm weather or not it jams. Then get back to us with the results.

[hoarder]

Steel case no go for me either. Not as bad as jams all the time but only a couple make u not buy them. Shoots the s#*t outta reloads though. All kinds! Usually cycle through a bunch of reloads before i put in the good ammo in. Saves me alot.

[Josh3239]

Saying it jams means nothing. That is like going to the doctor and saying I am hurt. There isn't enough info. However these are common reasons why Wolf causes problems:

Wolf is notoriously weak, if a the load is too weak and/or the gun is slightly undergassed that can cause feeding and possibly extracting or ejecting issues.

Wolf is steel cased. Steel has different properties than brass. The expanding and retracting of the brass cases is meant to work in the chamber a certain way. Changing the material of the casing may cause issues. Essentially, the steel will not expand as the brass will, this decreases the potential of a proper seal and allows more carbon to blow into the actions. More importantly, steel doesn't retract real well. So it essentially becomes oversized in the chamber. That can causes issues with it being pulled out of the chamber.

The AR was really designed for brass casings and it runs that way best. But your mileage may vary, it may run it well or not.

On the other side, Wolf is within SAAMI spec. My understanding is that Wolf no longer uses the coating that can melt off into the chambers and cause stuck cases.

[Wildeman_13]

On the other side, Wolf is within SAAMI spec. My understanding is that Wolf no longer uses the coating that can melt off into the chambers and cause stuck cases.

Not really directed at you so much as commentary on Wolf ammo...

Not sure when the change occurred (or if it did) but I have never had a problem shooting Wolf/Steel case out of my DPMS 5.56 chambered upper. Maybe the combo of cheap ammo and cheap DPMS upper means it doesn't care... who knows. I changed buffers after having some trouble with Privi ammo and Wolf/Steel case still shoots fine.

OP:
Shoot whatever your rifle eats well until all parts wear in. Then play around with different ammo types/brands/weights/primers/whatever until you find what your rifle does and doesn't like. Changing out the buffer weight can then help to reliably fire the stuff that didn't work well at first. YMMV, I"m not a high speed low drag operator, I have just had my fair share of finding ammo my rifle likes.