Metal casings in my spikes ar15

[ZombieApocolypse]

Steel casings in my spikes ar15

I went shooting with a buddy last weekend, and while i was loading some mags, my buddy thought he finished his clip and put the gun down. When i removed the mag it still had 4 bullets in it. The bolt carrier was locked forward, and i cannot pull the charging handle back at all to release the bullet in there. We arent sure if theres still a bullet, or just an empty shell in the chamber.

I spoke with Spikes today (they called me back within a few hours, not too shabby if you ask me) and the guy said it was from shooting steel casings out of the rifle. Something about .223 have such a lower tolerence than say an ak47 that the steel casing will expand or something to that extent? I couldnt really ask any questions at the time because i was at work, but does anyone here have any experience with this that could maybe explain it better? I shot 300 rounds of these steel cases flawlessly out of the box, then about 100 in this round the "jam" happened. Needless to say i wont be shooting steel casings out of my ar anymore.

Beings im not sure if the gun is loaded, ill be taking it to a gunsmith in the near future to have this fixed, and if theres still any problem the guy at spikes said they would fix it.

 

[Sureshot129]

Pull and hold your charging handle back and smack the butt of the rifle on the ground or another hard surface while holding the handle this should get the bolt moving and clear the weapon.

 

[jblomenberg16]

First reply nailed it as far as clearing, just make sure the weapon is pointed in a safe direction in case there is a live round in the chamber.

And in terms of metal cases, I assume you mean steel? Brass is metal also, and I'm not aware of any non-metal cased .223 or 5.56 ammo out there.

 

[IndyGunworks]

Somestimes brass cases will do the same thing. The first responce nailed how to clear it but be carefull with collapsable stocks you can bend the locking pin siezing up your stock. i know because i did it TWICE, now i have a fixed buttstock since its on my SHTF rifle.

Mine was doing it w/ brass casings that were sized incorrectly, and will do it on rounds w/ any knicks or dings in the shoulder and sometimes on the body. Its a VERY tight wilde chamber so its picky if the ammo isnt pristine.

 

[Sureshot129]

Be careful with collapsible stocks you can bend the locking pin seizing up your stock. i know because i did it TWICE, now i have a fixed buttstock since its on my SHTF rifle.

QFT bent mine too

 

[ZombieApocolypse]

First reply nailed it as far as clearing, just make sure the weapon is pointed in a safe direction in case there is a live round in the chamber.

And in terms of metal cases, I assume you mean steel? Brass is metal also, and I'm not aware of any non-metal cased .223 or 5.56 ammo out there.

LOL yea steel my fault. Well the charging handle wont move more than 1/4 inch (if that), hopefully it will be enough, and if i dont feel safe trying this method ill just take it to the gunsmith.

Was kind of hoping someone could better explain how the jam happened?

edit: looks like you guys have.


Thanks everyone

 

[Aszerigan]

I'm going to call BS on their answer to the steel case issue. Shoot what you want, you had a bad round. It's not the gun.

Spikes makes a great product, and a call back 'in a few hours' is par for their course. Point it in a safe direction, and clear it as per post #1.

 

[U.S. Patriot]

I have had brass cases stick in chambers before. The case could have split casuing it to stick in the chamber. As others have mentioned, hold on to the charging handle and smack the butt on a hard surface. If not, you may have to seperate the lower and upper.

 

[45calibre]

i thought steel cased ammo will not expand?

 

[U.S. Patriot]

i thought steel cased ammo will not expand?

Steel expands when hot.

 

[jd4320t]

I'm going to call BS on their answer to the steel case issue. Shoot what you want, you had a bad round. It's not the gun.

Spikes makes a great product, and a call back 'in a few hours' is par for their course. Point it in a safe direction, and clear it as per post #1.

In the PD Training Carbine 1 class this summer I believe 6 of the 11 AR's had issues with steel cased ammo not running well. I know for a fact that 2 of these were Spikes uppers. Even Instructor small hands Justin's work M4 with Spikes upper didn't like steel cased ammo.

 

[windellmc]

Steel cased ammo does not expand to seal the chamber during firing as well as brass does so it tends to build up residue in the chamber. Eventually that residue build up can cause the casings to jam. 7.62x39 and 5.45x39 have much more taper to the cartridge so they naturally extract easier.

 

[Sigasaurus]

QFT bent mine too

Picked up an ergo m93 stock has a striker plate for clearing and the buffer tube is internally contained. Really sweet set up IMO. I am really happy with it so far and I found a really good price for it at $138 shipped. Probably going to change over ther rest of my AR's.

 

[Sigasaurus]

Oh and also I just avoid steel cased ammo altogether. I hear both side of the argument all the time, but IMO brass is a softer metal and reduces wear of internal parts.

 

[mkbar80]

I'm going to call BS on their answer to the steel case issue. Shoot what you want, you had a bad round. It's not the gun.

Spikes makes a great product, and a call back 'in a few hours' is par for their course. Point it in a safe direction, and clear it as per post #1.

I agree with shooting whatever you want, but I'd bet dollars to doughnuts your chamber is out of spec (not 5.56). It happens sometimes. I ran over 1,000 rounds of wolf during an EAG class last summer and never had any extraction issues. Another rifle did (it was not a spikes) and had to be mortared multiple times. Turned out chamber was out of spec and needed to be reamed. Afterwards it ran fine. I won't mention the brand to avoid derailing the thread, but they stamp all their guns 5.56 (if you really want to know pm me), but this one wasn't 5.56. According to both Sheriff Ken and Pat Rogers, this is common with many mid-tier and hobby guns.

 

[Fargo]

Steel cased ammo does not expand to seal the chamber during firing as well as brass does so it tends to build up residue in the chamber. Eventually that residue build up can cause the casings to jam. 7.62x39 and 5.45x39 have much more taper to the cartridge so they naturally extract easier.

This^

People frequently have a hard time if they shoot a bunch of steel and then switch back to brass. The brass seals into all the residue left in the gap where the steel didn't seal as well. They then end up ripping case rims and having to mortar the gun.

Is the stuck round brass or steel?

Best,

Joe

 

[windellmc]

M193 ammo keeps dropping in price too. It is not that much more than the steel cased stuff now.

 

[whocares]

We are not even clear if its a stuck round. As this is an assumption.
I had a similair issue with my AR and all the beating in the world would not have fixed it. The spring loaded retaining pin that guides the rods connecting upper to lower had fractured and during shooting got jammed up in the action. That was disheartening

 

[pinshooter45]

Were you shooting steel cased ammo? I did not see where you confirmed that. Although I did skim through rather quickly. I've also heard of this happening with certain Milsurp ammo like Norinco. Some are lacquer coated and if a round is left in the chamber and it cools down the lacquer tends to act like glue and the round becomes stuck, can be difficult to unstick! Even some steel cased stuff is lacquer coated.

 

[drgnrobo]

Does your AR have hard chromed chamber ? Ive noticed that alot of these rifles seem to be more problematic without the hard chroming (problem they had in Vietnam when the military thought the chroming wasnt necessary ) I shoot steel case in my Bushmaster all the time & have never had a sticking or jamming issue.