charging handle not coming back

J

jrcampbell

New member
i have a stag 15 and the charging handle isn't pulling back to eject live round. and also the bolt isn't staying open after firing last shot. any ideas what may be wrong, new to the ar's and am stumped. thought maybe chamber was gunked up, but have cleaned and ran brush through it several times.
 
What ammo are you using? If the brass wasn't sized correctly, they would extract hard. Could also be a chamber issue. I've had to polish the chamber before on some barrels. Is it chrome lined? Might look down in the chamber with a flash light to check for machining marks. Also look at spent brass for weird marks on the body and/or shoulder.
Sometimes the bolt catch on new builds can be sticky. You might separate the upper and lower and manually work it some to see if it binds at all. Could also be a magazine issue, so try a different mag if you have one around.
 
ammo is handloads, was running them before with no issues. no difference with new or once fired, they both stick. rem. and win. brass. no spare mag to try.brass appears fine. a buddy is reloading them and said he's not doing anything different. have no clue about it being chrome lined, its a dpms 24" stainless fluted bull barrel in .204 1-12" twist. will not come outwith upper and lower separated or with mag out. empties eject after shot. just baffled.
 
That barrel should be fine. I was assuming it was more of an M4 style and not stainless. I would try and bump the shoulder back just a tiny bit first, just to rule that out. Since you cleaned and used a chamber brush, that should have gotten it clean. Still might look down in there with a flashlight just to make sure it's spotless. As for the bolt not staying open I'd try a different mag first. And not a pmag since you have a .204. Bushmaster, cproducts, stoner, or something similar that is steel.
 
I reloaded some .204 rounds and at first attempt at seating the bullets I had a few where the case buckled a little at the shoulder. The .204 BS die was a little different set up than some of the others I was used to, even though they were all Lee dies.
I only had a few like this and I didn`t try them, but believe it would(could) have caused the type of problem you describe.
??
 
talked to my gunsmith and he said to separate upper and lower and pull bolt up and let it fall back toward chamber and see if it closes completely on its own. did that and it doesn't. gonna take it to him mon. and have him check it out. gonna get some factory ammo and see if it's sticking too.he said he thinks it's the gun but he'll make sure, if nothing's wrong its the ammo.
 
I think you could look the BCG over real good, give a good cleaning then lube and see if that helps.Have you tried that? Also the lugs at the barrel extension. There are probably you tube links to show how it`s done.
 
#1 First and foremost...I would never shoot someone elses hand loads in my semi-auto anything....its a for sure then if something goes wrong its MY fault.

#2 if the live round sticks and will not fire BE GLAD.That is what it is suppose to do,,not fire out of battery!


#3 Work it and lube it empty on a empty mag,,,does the bolt catch then?...when you slap it shut empty, will it dry fire?

If all that works,,its the loaded ammo.


Was the live round you removed rough anywhere?

X
 
Originally Posted By: coyotex#1 First and foremost...I would never shoot someone elses hand loads in my semi-auto anything....its a for sure then if something goes wrong its MY fault.

#2 if the live round sticks and will not fire BE GLAD.That is what it is suppose to do,,not fire out of battery!


#3 Work it and lube it empty on a empty mag,,,does the bolt catch then?...when you slap it shut empty, will it dry fire?

If all that works,,its the loaded ammo.


Was the live round you removed rough anywhere?

X

+1, This is wisdom
 
redleg: the gaps in the gas rings are staggered, can they go bad?

coyotex: any factory ammo i've tried doesn't group anywhere near what the handloads will. can cover 5 shot group with a nickel @ 100 yds with handloads, factory hornady and win. are between 1 and 2 inches. at the risk of sounding stupid what does fire out of battery mean? bolt is not catching on an empty mag and does dry fire. have shot approx. 80 of these loads, both with new brass and once fired with no issues.
 


I switched form oil to birchwood casey moly lube. Is a dry lube so it never runs off and carbon and fouling do not stick. It is some slippery stuff too!

As was said running someone elses loads is NOT advised, you have to know you are putting your safety in his hands. If that's something you can live with then that's up to you I guess.

Fire out of battery is when the bolt doesn't return all the way closed and the gun fires. battery is when bolt is fully closed and locked. If it goes out of battery you will most likely be seriously hurt.

As far as bolt catch,the only think I could see, is bolt isn't cycling far enough backwards to be held by the catch. I haven't had this happen on my ar only on pistol. Bolt traveled far enough to load the rounds but not enough for the catch to lock it open. Switched ammo and then no issues

If it were a mag issues I don't think the last round would load or you would have other failure to feed problems
 
I misread what you wrote, follow the gunsmith's advice. I thought you said it wouldn't go all the way forward when empty.
No need to worry about the alignment of the gas rings, as long as they don’t look damaged.

Careful with the reloads you use
 
had some issues today with rounds jamming when being chambered, about every other shot was jamming. 3 times in ten shots gonna get some factory ammo and take it to the smith along with the handloads im using and see if he can sort problems out. he's a gunsmith for the national guard or the reserves and knows his stuff about them.
 
Let a good gunsmith look at it. I had the same kind of problem with a Double Star carbine upper. I found that the barrel nut had loosened up enough to put the gas tube in a bind and this was causing the bcg to bind up when the gun was cycled.
 
gunsmith looked at it and determined that the back of chamber wasn't ronded off good and is causing brass to catch and sometimes actually dent the casings, he filed some of it off and is going to take barrel off and fix it. he determined that the bolt not locking back when last shot is fired and other chambering issues are being caused by underpowered loads. so, anyone out there shooting an AR in .204? if so what are your loads?
 
work up a ladder charge and find out what the gun likes. there is no shortcut for this. if your buddy is a serious relaoder he will already know this.
 
we already did that and the ones i'm now shooting grouped the best-5 shots covered with a nickel. there was one other that did fairly well so we're gonna try that. if that don't work, back to square one. i had no trouble until halfway through a box of around 40 he reloaded in one sitting. that has us confused now because they are the same loads. shooting 32 gr. hornady v-max with 22.7 gr. of imr 4198. i misspoke when i said all chambering issues. there was some gunk in the gas port on barrel which was causing rounds not to chamber, now only problem is bolt not locking back after last shot. isn't exactly a big deal unless it could be dangerous.
 
Originally Posted By: jrcampbell there was some gunk in the gas port on barrel which was causing rounds not to chamber,

Junk? What kinda junk? Must of been some pretty good junk to stay in the gas post. Got some major pressure there.

And why would that cause rounds not to chamber?
 
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