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Old January 28, 2016, 11:58 PM   #1
TheFineLine
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So the new Colt locked up

I recently got a NIB Colt LE6920 Magpul Slim and took it to the range. I zeroed it in and finished off the magazine of American Eagle 223. I loaded a second mag and slapped the bolt release and it jammed it pretty good. I tapped the forward assist but it didn't seat and I couldn't eject so I held the charging handle and slapped the butt against the wall and the round popped out. I think the locking up was due to insufficient lube. I had other guns to shoot so I put it up. I just stripped the weapon and there are some flakes around the bolt and inside the carrier. I would've just blown it off as excess carbon but with just 31 rounds...?. Doesn't seem right. What do you guys think? Clean and shoot, no worries, or issue?



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Old January 29, 2016, 12:58 AM   #2
marine6680
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Hard to tell... After only 30rd, if you had any lube in it at all before shooting, there should have been no issue.

It can't hurt to clean and lube, and then try again.
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Old January 29, 2016, 02:54 PM   #3
Tomas
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clean lube and shoot again.

Semper Fi

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Old January 29, 2016, 05:17 PM   #4
RickB
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I've shot my AR on only a dozen occasions, and on one trip the gun would not feed from two or three mags.
It was malfing constantly, but even using those same mags it has literally never malfunctioned even once, before or since.
Strange things can happen.
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Old January 29, 2016, 05:30 PM   #5
Bartholomew Roberts
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Difficult to say without being there; but if you have to use the forward assist after 30 rounds to seat a round, chances are high that round isn't sized correctly. I would guess ammo is probably the issue.
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Old January 29, 2016, 06:03 PM   #6
danco
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You said it was NIB. Did you clean it before taking it to the range?

I agree with the others, clean & lube, then try again...

FWIW, I've had to "mortar" every single one of my AR's at least once in their lives, so it's not *that* uncommon...
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Old January 29, 2016, 08:10 PM   #7
chris in va
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Quote:
I loaded a second mag and slapped the bolt release and it jammed it pretty good. I tapped the forward assist but it didn't seat and I couldn't eject
This is exactly why I don't like forward assists. Hey, let's jam a defective round in there even more!
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Old February 1, 2016, 04:27 PM   #8
TheFineLine
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Stripped, thoroughly cleaned and lubed, taking it back to the range Wednesday or Thursday and will try again. I manually cycled rounds through it after cleaning and no problem. Thinking it wasn't sufficiently lubed.
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Old February 1, 2016, 05:19 PM   #9
adamBomb
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Quote:
Stripped, thoroughly cleaned and lubed, taking it back to the range Wednesday or Thursday and will try again. I manually cycled rounds through it after cleaning and no problem. Thinking it wasn't sufficiently lubed.
Its amazing how a little lube can make it work that much better. I have had guns where I could barely get the magazine in when they were new and with just a tiny bit of oil they slid right into place without hesitation. Same goes for breaking it in. Good luck and let us know how it goes.
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Old February 1, 2016, 11:10 PM   #10
smarquez
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You shouldn't have to lube a chamber. That just sounds wrong. Clean with a chamber brush and then dry it with swabs. I like to use a .410 bore swab.
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Old February 2, 2016, 08:48 AM   #11
Mobuck
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"You shouldn't have to lube a chamber. That just sounds wrong. "

True,NEVER LUBE THE CHAMBER. BUT, there are lots of places on a new AR that DO need lubed.
More is better. If it's not smoking, it needs more lube.
Using this policy has given me excellent results and I'm sticking to it.
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Old February 21, 2016, 09:32 PM   #12
orsogato
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Direct impingement ARs must be run wet with lubrication on the BCG (not the chamber), the wetter the better. Kind of like, well there's a dirty joke in there somewhere but I'll refrain.
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Old February 21, 2016, 10:56 PM   #13
HiBC
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I do not know what went wrong.
There is a difference between preservative and lubricant.
A new gun needs to be cleaned CLEAN,and then appropriately lubed.Myself,I'd put a very small amount of grease on the cam/cam pin area of the BCG to get things going.
My guess,any contamination from the gas port to the bolt sealing rings ended up inside your BCG.But,thats a guess.

On running it wet,I run mine wet with CLP.FWIW,a Visine bottle fits inside a MagPul MOE grip.Just make sure the bottle is re-labeled somehow.Murphy's law,and an eyeful of CLP are not good.

HOWEVER!! The rifle gets run dry in Arctic conditions,and they run.
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Old February 23, 2016, 12:02 PM   #14
wpsdlrg
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An obvious thing to say....and everyone in the "AR community" already knows this...... but I will say it for the benefit of newcomers :


AR's do NOT like crud in the receiver and bolt group. Period. Some examples will malfunction, or lock up altogether, with a surprisingly small amount of crud in the action. Others are more tolerant of crud, depending on the relative tightness or looseness of the action.

So, it PAYS to keep your AR clean and lubed. When cleaning, it pays to do a thorough job.

Crud is certainly not the only cause of malfunctions, but it is the most common cause. Out of spec ammo would be second, but not uncommon.
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Old February 23, 2016, 12:12 PM   #15
Strafer Gott
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Put a little LSA on it! Whoops, sorry, Nam flashback!
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Old February 23, 2016, 01:32 PM   #16
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I'd lean more towards an ammo issue.
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Old February 23, 2016, 09:48 PM   #17
ndking1126
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I do not feel that it is a lube issue. I have run mine dry (but clean) at work and they run just fine. Maybe it needs some break in time but still doubt that's the issue.

Ammo is most likely culprit. I could see chamber size or chamber being dirty or obstructed.
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Old February 24, 2016, 09:39 AM   #18
Bartholomew Roberts
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Crud is certainly not the only cause of malfunctions, but it is the most common cause. Out of spec ammo would be second, but not uncommon.
I've kept a shooting log for my ARs and looking at malfunctions, the most common causes have bedn magazines, ammunition, and operator error in that order. Even with 700-800 rounds in a day and suppressor use, I've never had a malfunction related to crud*

*I did have 7-8 stoppages during a class when the bolt got too dry. Added more lube and it continued to run like a top the remainder of the day - so I guess you could attribute that to either "crud" or "operator error due to insufficient lubrication" depending on how you look at it. Even with that, magazines and ammo still account for the bulk of my stoppages.

Another big chunk of stoppages comes from adding aftermarket reliability/accuracy enhancing gimmicks. I classified those as "operator error" as well.
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Old February 24, 2016, 01:01 PM   #19
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I had one of my AR's malfunction on me once and it was due to lack of lube. I sprayed the bolt and it's area with LCP and it started running just fine again. I now perfer to run my AR's wet and havent had any other problems from there. Cleaning a new gun is one of the most common problems I see with new guns on our local range, that and running it dry.
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