I’m fresh into the AR world. Most of what I know, I’ve learned from this site. Glad to have it available, thanks.
Here’s the deal. While I was newly “in the market” and considering an AR, I came across a friend of a friend deal. He had an LWRC M6a2 with LOTS of extras all for a steal of a price. Looked briefly at lwrc’s track record, and figuring I could resale it regardless, I jumped in. So far I have been pleased with its performance and am really falling for ar’s. PROBLEM and point of this post is that I get a mouth/face full of gas every time I shoot it. I’m shooting xm193 and the gas burns my lungs and my eyes consistently. SO is this typical of ar’s in general or just limited to the piston/gas nozel blow off of the lwrc? Am I just a puss and are my hopes of preventing lung cancer an overly preemptive precaution? I’m not having a great time shooting it due to this and if the piston is the prob here, I’m thinking of dumping it and persuing my wants for a DI sbr. Well, I’m kinda leaning that way anyway, so if anyone could lend some thoughts, I’d appreciate it.
Seems to make sense that it would be coming from the charging handle area. How common is this and is it purely a tolerance/fitment issue or a bcg specific cycle issue? Am I sooting in the dark at the possibilites?..probably. Thanks for the help.
i suppose you could TRY a gasbuster, but i somewhat doubt that’ll help… the only gas that enters the receiver with a piston is back pressure, which, on an unsuppressed gun, shouldn’t be much. im not all that up on the different piston designs, but i’m sort of thinking you’ve got a crack/other leak in your piston assembly thats shooting it back into your face from the handguard area
It might allow more volume of gas back through the system, in effect making the “smoke and fumes” he’s referring to. More gas would escape back through the chamber as the BCG cycled due to the extra back-pressure from a suppressed setting. Still, it shouldn’t be that noticeable.
There is no mode selector for the m6a2, that’s the a3. I can’t say I have ever noticed the gas issue with any shooting speeds less than double/triple taps. So it does seem to happen under rapid fire. And yes, it would have to be a backpressure issue if there wasn’t something amiss with the piston system, being that the carrier key is struck mechanically or not pneumatically. Next step I guess is to contact lwrc or head over to their forums.
I’m with Templar, something ain’t right. I’d take it to a good AR Smith or call the manufacturer and discuss it with them. Send it to them and have them check it out. You have a leak some where.
If there was a suppressor selection it would let less gas through. A suppressor adds backpressure so you need to dial the gas pressure down accordingly.
How does your brass look? With my DI AR my brass comes out clean except maybe a small bit right at the neck.
How much lube have you been using? There is a post somewhere here about how to properly lube an AR if you havent looked at it yet. Im not saying its your problem but just something else to check.
Anyway as the other posters said thats not normal unless your shooting suppressed.
Yes, but in letting less gas through to the piston, it would create higher barrel/chamber pressures, resulting in more back-pressure when the bolt unlocks. This is how carbon still ends up all over the inside of both receivers on a piston gun. Yes, it’s not that much, but it’s still a possibility.