AR15 - New barrel or fix feed ramps

[jeffsqartan]

I've got an 8.5" AR pistol chambered in 300 blackout. Up until recently, I hadn't had many issues with it. It was a Hardened Arms upper receiver and I ended up trading the upper out for an Anderson sporter style that doesn't have a dust cover.

Anyway, just before that change and now after, I'm having some failures to load. At first it was some hokey reloads I was making and I was fine with making something different. But now it doesn't even like to feed the v-max and other ammo that has shot just fine in the last two years.

I've checked it and compared with my other 300blk and I'm pretty positive that the feed ramps are the issue. I've got a quote that I can get them fixed for about $100, or I can look into getting a new barrel.
This isn't a gun I care too much about accuracy. It just needs to be reliable and eat about anything I throw at it.

Should I rebarrel or have this one worked on?
Ps- round count is about 1000-ish.

 

[Hop]

So it's now an Anderson barrel and Anderson upper reciever?

 

[dieselmudder]

So what does "fixing" it entail? A few minutes with a round file, and polishing with a dremel should clear up the issue. Unless you're not comfortable doing the work yourself. Otherwise to have it rebarreled by a gunsmith will probably be more than 100 bucks

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[natdscott]

So what does "fixing" it entail? A few minutes with a round file, and polishing with a dremel should clear up the issue. Unless you're not comfortable doing the work yourself. Otherwise to have it rebarreled by a gunsmith will probably be more than 100 bucks

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Seriously.

I'll do that sh@* for free just to see it work.

 

[Sniper 79]

Are you hand loading? Not all 223/556 brass will work for the 300. Wall thickness is too thick and they won't chamber.

Why would the feed ramp need work all of a sudden? If it is the feed ramps I would part it out and start over with better quality stuff.

 

[jeffsqartan]

When I changed the upper out, I swapped in a stripped Anderson upper and reused the Hardened Arms barrel and rail.
I am handloading. It's a mixed bag of cases. To my knowledge, none of it is reformed 223 brass.
The problem I have with these feed ramps, is that they look like they are at the wrong angle and I'm not sure if I feel comfortable correcting that.
I've got the tools for a barrel swap, as noted that I switched out the receivers. I'm comfortable swapping barrels.
What's a decent quality barrel going to run? $100 or so?
I guess my only fear is that I'd spend more time and waste more ammo trying to fix the issue, when I could have had a professional do it or replaced the entire barrel.

 

[rob63]

Does it now look like the one on the lower left?

 

[jeffsqartan]

No, because I did take a stone to it and blend it out to look more like the top right.
HOWEVER, it's not that misalignment that you see in the bottom left. The actual ANGLE of the ramps is steeper than on my other 300blk receiver. So, rounds feed and go nose up when they jam. I'll take some pix when I get home tonight and show you guys what I mean.
That's why I'm not sure if I want to mess with it; the actual angle of the ramp is off. Like, if the optimal ramp was a 30* angle, mine is closer to a 50* angle. Those are arbitrary numbers, I don't know what the actual angle * is.

 

[Hop]

In that case, it sounds like a tolerance stack-up issue with the upper and lower. It was probably marginal in the old receiver.

The cheapest, easiest thing to do imo is to get a Dremel with some felt SiC polishing wheels and make those ramps smooth and shiny. You've already stoned it anyway. Might as well give it another try.

 

[jeffsqartan]

I'm OK with that. It's frustrating, because the gun feeds just fine when hand-cycling. It only has issues when it tries to cycle itself, so the only way to test is to go to the range and potentially ruin some ammo.
At any rate, who's a good barrel company to go through for something a little cheaper? My mind says that I don't want to spend anymore than $150 on a new barrel, but I don't know how realistic that is. Again, not looking for the most accurate barrel out there; it is a 300blk after all. Just looking for something that's going to run reliably.

 

[d.kaufman]

Watch for sale and you can get a ballistics advantage barrel around $100

 

[seedubs1]

Why not just put it back in the old receiver where it was running correctly? Why did you swap it out in the first place? No reason to get a dust cover-less upper.

My money is on that Anderson receiver and possibly the barrel being out of spec. They make garbage parts.

Anyway, consider it a lesson learned. This is why you don't buy garbage parts. Parts aren't parts.

 

[jeffsqartan]

It was having issues prior to swapping out. Albeit, it seems worse now, I'm pretty sure that barrel has had issues since the day I got it.
I might swap it over for further testing. At this point, I'm not sure if it's worth testing and ruining more ammo and time. If I had the ability to shoot off my back porch like I did in the past, I wouldn't mind making changes, shoot a couple rounds, go back and change some more. But each time I want to change something, it's another trip to the range just to figure out if it's working. Time and fuel adds up quick on that.
Also, I personally just like running the dust cover-less model. It's just a personal preference.

 

[seedubs1]

Personally, I’d buy a Ballistic Advantage or Faxon barrel, an Aero stripped upper, and a PSA Premium or Toolcraft BCG. That combination WILL run. And it is pretty cheap.

Troubleshooting garbage components isn’t worth your time. Sell that junk on armslist (disclose the problems).

 

[Sniper 79]

Yep junk it and order from PSA,Aero, and I have heard good things about Faxon.

 

[masterdekoy]

Ballistic advantage makes a quality affordable barrel.

If it feeds when you hand cycle it might be something else causing the issue. Do you have adjustable gas block? Heavy buffer? What mags are you using?

 

[gmcttr]

Ballistic advantage makes a quality affordable barrel.

If it feeds when you hand cycle it might be something else causing the issue. Do you have adjustable gas block? Heavy buffer? What mags are you using?

Since it originally ran ok and later started having feeding problems, I also wondered about the mags (worn or spread feed lips).

Does it have the same problem with supersonic factory ammo?

 

[jeffsqartan]

When this started happening, we thought maybe the buffer wasn't heavy enough, as I was also just starting to shoot suppressed. Thought maybe it was over gassed. Picked up an H3 heavy buffer and CAR-15 recoil spring, didn't seem to make a difference.
I've tried 30 round metal mags, both old military mags and the new mags that came with my Rock River Arms rifle several years ago, 10, 20, and 30 round p-mags, and even some 20 round metal mags. It ONLY has this issue when feeding from the right side of the mag. Never hangs up from the left. No mag seemed better/worse than another.

Additionally, I haven't bought any factory ammo, except some 220gr S&B subs, in a super long time. It's been reloads for the last 500 rounds or so.

I've been wanting to build a 10.5 556 upper using that other upper. Might pick up a Faxon barrel, run that, and then buy another 300 barrel later on.

I tried to get pictures of the feed ramps to compare the angles, but I can't get it to show up on camera properly.
Here's a rough idea of how the malfunctions happen. Again, only when loading from the right side of the mag.

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[dieselmudder]

I had a very similar problem with a 9mm build. Would only happen on last round, which fed from right side. Opened up the ramps on the mag block, and all worked fine.