Anyone else have problems with firing with a loose grip ?
In other words, if I let the gun move much at all when firing, it fails to even chamber the next round, and it just dry fires. As long as Im holding it in a normal shoulder fire postion it’s fine, shoots great. But from the hip is where I have trouble (yes I now this has no merit), and bump fire is out of the question (again, I know pointless and a waste of ammo). But my old Bushy never had these troubles. Im guessing maybe my S&W (Stag), has tighter tolerances or something. I’ve only put 70 rounds through it so far, just wanting to know if this is something to be concerned about.
Another thing I noticed different between my M&P and my Bushy, is on the M&P the gas rings fit a lot tighter, making the bolt stiff to move back and forth.
Take it easy on me though, as Im still pretty new to AR’s in general.
Edit: Also Im using 62gr Wolf ammo, if that makes a difference.
Clean it real good…Lube the crap out of it. https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=31
Hold it the correct way.
If it still will not run then return it. You should not pay good money for something that is brand new and you have to tinker with it to make it run.
AMMO: Wolf… I stopped using that stuff long time ago. I had a BM that would eat everything but that crap. Some folks have good luck with Wolf, I did not. Try some S&B, UMC, BlackHills or American Eagle.
Magazine??? What are you using for a mag? I’ll guess that it came with a new one.
I have the mag it came with, and one US made Thermold. It’s not jamming though. Its like the bolt carrier doesnt come back far enough if you let the gun give any. You can see the scratches on the top round in the mag, where the bolt goes over it.
Im just considering trading it for another Bushmaster.
Most modern magazine followers are so poorly designed they repeatedly fail to deliver top cartridges into the proper feeding position against the feed lips of the magazine. They allow “bolt over cartridge base” and “bullet nose diving” malfunctions to continue at a rate much higher than the old 20 round straight box magazines with aluminum followers.
Regarding M-16, 20- and 30-round magazines, I recommend loading only 18 and 28 rounds maximum, respectively. Some say it doesn’t matter, but I’ve seen numerous bolt-over-base failures with fully loaded M-16 mags. The bolt does not strip the round from the mag, but instead rides over the top, dents the cartridge case and causes an irregular shape. The round will not chamber and all attempts to force the round into the chamber using the forward assist simply create a greater problem. A bolt-over failure requires clearing the weapon and recharging with a fresh round.
Additionally, anyone who has attempted to seat a fully loaded magazine when the bolt or slide is forward and in battery knows it can prove difficult. Why? A fully loaded mag has maximum spring compression. As the magazine is locked into the magazine well, the top round presses against the bottom of the bolt or slide. If more pressure on the top round in the magazine will not further compress the magazine spring, the magazine catch will not engage and lock in place. The first sharp movement (or firing the weapon) can cause the magazine to fall from the weapon.
Thanks for the help. I will try a new mag first. But is it really possible that my factory mag and my Thermold are bad ?
Although when used normally, it will fire just as fast as I can pull the trigger with no troubles. But as I said, if you let the gun start moving, or try something like bump fire, thats when it does it.
Your description of the problem makes it sound like it is short-stroking (the bolt is not going far enough to the rear to pick up the next round). That is normally an indication of an issue with ammunition. The intriguing part is that you say it only occurs when held loosely. Personally, I’d try a different brand of ammo first. Preferably something a bit hotter, like XM193, Q3131, or M855 (i.e a good quality 5.56 NATO load).
What about the White Box Winchesters ? Could the weight have anything to do with it ? These are 62’s, and I always used 55’s in my Bushmaster, so I cant compare them on that respect.
Ill swing by Wally World on my way home tomorrow and grab some 55’s just to try.
I’ve never shot one loosley (bump fire, hip, ect…) so I don’t know if that would have an effect or not. The system should run even if the only thing touching it was your trigger finger.
Thats what has me confused. My Bushmaster ran fine any way you wanted to hold it. So like I said, it’s very tempting to just trade it back in. My dealer is a good friend of mine, so I got this S&W at a REALLY good price, thinking I was moving up in quality. Didn’t really want to have to start tinkering with it, or start getting special ammo to get it to run at 100%. :mad:
Wolf ammo is typically pretty weak. Try this…take several empty mags and load each mag with only 1 round at the range. Shoot the 1 round and see if the rifles locking the bolt back everytime when it runs empty. If it’s not doing this everytime then it’s either leaking gas is leaking somewhere (loose gas key on the carrier or a loose/leaking gas block) or your ammo is much too weak. It also maybe that it’s just needs a little breaking in and more lubrication in the right spots.
Try a little more powerful ammo and see how it goes. Also run it very wet with oil per Pat Rogers article on lubrication an cleaning here.
I use Militec-1, Slip2000 Gun Lube, and the new ‘Machine-Gunners/10-8 lube’ whichever I happen to have handy in my range bag/rifle case.
If it’s locking back when empty (rifle shouldered properly) then nothing is wrong with the rifle. If you want to bump fire it, it’ll probably take a little more break-in.
It was never about bump fire really. I just wanted to be sure there was nothing wrong with the rifle. Thanks for all the help guys. Ill just give it some more time, and feed it a lot of ammo.
