The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - New Un-Fired AR-15 with a loading/extracting issue

IDT · April 29, 2013, 01:57 PM

Ok - So after finishing my AR-15 build the other day - the weather has been too crappy for me to go test fire it. However, I did load up a few magazines and run manual tests on the loading and extraction.

It FELT like everything was fine. However, as I was picking up the rounds off the floor, I noticed that EVERYONE of them had a new scratch on the bullet and on the case.

It's difficult to see in the photo as I'm trying to photograph with an iphone but there is a "stretched horse shoe" scratch on each bullet - I've outlined it in the photo below:

As you can see above, the scratch extends from the case to near the tip of the bullet the turns back around for a bit. EVERY SINGLE round that I chambered and extracted now has this mark.

Is this indicative of a problem?

Also, I noticed that it appears that my extractor is digging into the lip of the brass a bit too much as seen in the photo below:

Again, difficult to see so I've circled it here:

Now, I haven't made a practice of manually cycling rounds through an AR-15 before so that first scratch may be fairly normal - especially for an un-fired AR-15...I don't know. But that extractor nick has me a little worried.

EVERY round cycled perfectly fine manually - but those scratches have me a bit concerned.

Anyone have any idea what's causing them?

April 29, 2013, 01:57 PM	#1
IDT Member Join Date: November 6, 2011 Location: West Virginia Posts: 70	New Un-Fired AR-15 with a loading/extracting issue - Diagnosis? Ok - So after finishing my AR-15 build the other day - the weather has been too crappy for me to go test fire it. However, I did load up a few magazines and run manual tests on the loading and extraction. It FELT like everything was fine. However, as I was picking up the rounds off the floor, I noticed that EVERYONE of them had a new scratch on the bullet and on the case. It's difficult to see in the photo as I'm trying to photograph with an iphone but there is a "stretched horse shoe" scratch on each bullet - I've outlined it in the photo below: As you can see above, the scratch extends from the case to near the tip of the bullet the turns back around for a bit. EVERY SINGLE round that I chambered and extracted now has this mark. Is this indicative of a problem? Also, I noticed that it appears that my extractor is digging into the lip of the brass a bit too much as seen in the photo below: Again, difficult to see so I've circled it here: Now, I haven't made a practice of manually cycling rounds through an AR-15 before so that first scratch may be fairly normal - especially for an un-fired AR-15...I don't know. But that extractor nick has me a little worried. EVERY round cycled perfectly fine manually - but those scratches have me a bit concerned. Anyone have any idea what's causing them?