olympic arms ar15 not feeding

daveInME

New member
I bought used olymic arms AR 15 yesterday.
i bought a box of remington EMC ammo also.

it is in pristone condition, as if the last person never shot it or he was a mega clean freak, not a scratch anywhere on it, including the bolt.

it was dry as a bone, so I put a light coat of breakfree CLP over all the moving parts, then took it out back to test fire and sight it in.

the gun is very tight, and even with iron sights this gun is very accurate at 100 yards.

but (there's always a but) it won't feed properly, the 2nd round never goes in until I manually cycle the bolt.

any suggestions?

TIA
 
Check the 3 rings on the bolt and make sure the split in the rings are not lined up. They should be split equal thirds around it. That was the problem when mine did the same thing.
 
If you mean the first round feeds fine,you fire it and the second won't feed???
See if the second round is stovepiping. By this I mean the bolt will catch the round from the rear and as the round is released from the mag,the nose of the round will want to tip up.If the angle of the round isnt right, it will stovepipe every time. You should be able to manually cycle the rifle outdoors and see what it happening.Most likely a used mag someone took apart and put the spring in wrong.May also just be a mag with a wore out catch.(Worn area where the mag catch holds the mag high enough for the bolt to feed the round properly).Also,most rem brass has a rough case head.This hinders smoothe feeding.Has never stopped any of my ars from feeding but I can feed the difference when manually cycling the bolt. Manually cycle it and let us hear more. Dont stuff your mags as it takes alot of inertia to strip a round from a fully loaded 20 or 30. Add in all new or nearly new parts and you may have friction problems.

jerryboy
 
Sounds like a magazine issue to me too.
What kind of mag is it?

Try a GI mag like Labelle, OK Industries, etc.

Oly makes a tight gun...it will lossen up to where most manufacturer's make them at about 3-5000 rounds.
 
Spend $30 and buy the AGI DVD on the AR-15 armorers course. Best money you will evr spend if you want to learn how to do basic stuff to your AR.
 
Quote:
If you mean the first round feeds fine,you fire it and the second won't feed???
See if the second round is stovepiping. By this I mean the bolt will catch the round from the rear and as the round is released from the mag,the nose of the round will want to tip up.If the angle of the round isnt right, it will stovepipe every time. You should be able to manually cycle the rifle outdoors and see what it happening.Most likely a used mag someone took apart and put the spring in wrong.May also just be a mag with a wore out catch.(Worn area where the mag catch holds the mag high enough for the bolt to feed the round properly).
jerryboy



thanks, this seems to be the problem, one sorry old mag with a weak spring and a worn catch.

I've got a couple new mags on order.

thanks for the help.
 
My buddy had a similar problem with his new Armalite. Turns out it was not lubed properly and just needed a little break in. Now a full mag full goes through it like a hot knife through butter.
 
Crimped gas tube, no gas tube, off kilter gas block, ammo, buffer spring underpowered, gas rings lined upt, etc. How does it do after you manually cycle the second round? This may be more than a mag problem, let us know what the new mags do.
 
Change out the magazine before you do anything else. Then shoot it to break in. Feed problems are almost always mag problems. I would go lightly on the lube or it will be full of dirt.
 
ok, fixed the problem.
I bought a couple of new bushmaster mags, and they didn't change the feed problem at all.

in taking the gun apart looking for other problems I noticed that one of the bolts holding the exhuast port on the bolt was just slightly loose. not be a lot, not very obvious, unless you put an allen wrench on it.

snugged it up, and the gun fires flawlessly now.
all in all very happy with it.

now for the fun part, customizing it with a flat top, scope, etc.

thanks to all for the help.
 
Would we be correct in assuming that by "exhuast port" you are referring to the bolt carrier key which is how the gas to operate the action gets into the bolt?

Jack
 
daveInME, Was the carrier-key staked? In other words: Were there marks on either side of the two screw that hold the carrier-key?

I have NEVER had an Oly carrier-key come loose the way they stake them. I have seen many carrier-keys loose that were not staked, and just a couple of keys that were staked, but from another manufacturer.
 
Then it wasn't factory assembled. I get my bolts from Olympic Arms, in parts. I have to assemble, and stake, the bolts. Factory guns from Olympic are always staked. Take a look on the carrier and see if you can see any stamp, it may not even be an Oly bolt.

I am an Olympic Arms warranty deopt and it's not uncommon to get guns sent to me from customers thinking they are an "Olympic Arms" gun. Often times, after a quick look, it's easy to tell that, not only is it NOT a factory Olympic Arms gun, but some of the parts aren't even made by Oly!
 
no mark on the bolt that I can see.
when i bought the AR, I didn't pay too much attention to the upper, as I always planned on utting a custom upper on it anyway. I was going to buy a stripped lower at first then thought I may as well buy the complete AR as it would give me something to play with while I collected parts, r had the upper built for me.
 
An Olympic Arms bolt will have a large "O" with a "Y" in the center of it. This will be stamped on the carrier and bolt.

Some of the AR companies have a different name on the stripped lowers that they sell. Armalite AR-10's for instance. If it says "ArmaLite" on the receiver, it was factory built. The stripped lowers will carry the name "Eagle Arms".

Olympic Arms, as well as several other AR manufacturers, get the blame for many malfunctions of "parts guns" they had little to do with.

Glad you found the problem!
 
Glad you found the problem, now be sure to stake the bolts on the Carrier Key so it does not happen again.
 
The keys are staked by a press at the factory. I stake mine with a center punch. Just set the carrier, flat on an anvile or the jaws of a vice. I center-punch 4 spots around each of the two screws.

key.jpg


Here is the picture of a Colt carrier-key(right) and one that I staked. (left) The factory staking looks, and probably is, more effective, but I have yet to have one of mine come loose. I have had to remove a carrier-key that I had staked and it is really surprising how difficult the screws are to remove.
 
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