AR: Case stuck in chamber - can't get it out

calsdad

calsdad

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Took the AR down to try and get it sighted in and make sure everything was kosher before taking it to the Appleseed tomorrow - and I somehow got a
case stuck in the chamber.

Initially the bolt was stuck and I could not extract it. I removed the upper from the lower and managed to get the bolt unstuck and that is when I found the case stuck in the chamber (I think the bolt was stuck because the extractor was stuck on the case rim). I did see some brass shavings in the locking lugs area but I cleaned those out.

I am 99% sure this is just the case and not a full round, I have a primer strike, and I counted holes on the target I was shooting at and matched them up with the empty cases I had.

I tried putting the rifle back together and tried cycling the bolt hoping the extractor would grab the case - but no dice.

Any suggestions as to how to get this out? Brass rod down the barrel and pound it out?

I wanted to take this rifle to the Appleseed tomorrow - now I am having second thoughts.
 
If it was wolf, you need to clean it more often. If you clean it every time you use it, spray the breech down with break free every mag or two.
 
MassMark said:
Brass rod or your cleaning rod should do it...If it was Wolf and that's all you have, I'd have second thoughts too...
Click to expand...

The round in question was a Qmmo reload. I had actually just cleaned the barrel - I am wondering if maybe I had left some liquid behind in the chamber and that somehow caused the case to get stuck in there.

I do have some non-reload Federal XM-193 and other .223 so I am not completely stuck without options.
 
Just got back from the hardware store - they didn't have any brass rods but I got a long piece of aluminum rod. Took a spent .22LR shell casing with me as a size gauge an found a rod that just inside the casing.

So I fed the very slowly and carefully down the barrel and got the casing out with one tap with a hammer (not very hard). It's not apparent to me why the casing got stuck in the chamber - the rim is mangled where the extractor was ( the bolt was originally stuck pretty good - I finally got it out but may have mangled the rim on the case in the process)

I will clean the chamber out good and inspect it - maybe the case got stuck because the chamber was still wet?
 
calsdad said:
Just got back from the hardware store - they didn't have any brass rods but I got a long piece of aluminum rod. Took a spent .22LR shell casing with me as a size gauge an found a rod that just inside the casing.

So I fed the very slowly and carefully down the barrel and got the casing out with one tap with a hammer (not very hard). It's not apparent to me why the casing got stuck in the chamber - the rim is mangled where the extractor was ( the bolt was originally stuck pretty good - I finally got it out but may have mangled the rim on the case in the process)

I will clean the chamber out good and inspect it - maybe the case got stuck because the chamber was still wet?
Click to expand...

Maybe because it was wet, but not likely because oil does not have strong surface tension. Check the case and see if there is any obvious expansion points. Also save it and bring it back to Alan. He would know better why it got stuck. It may have been loaded one too many times.
 
calsdad said:
Just got back from the hardware store - they didn't have any brass rods but I got a long piece of aluminum rod. Took a spent .22LR shell casing with me as a size gauge an found a rod that just inside the casing.

So I fed the very slowly and carefully down the barrel and got the casing out with one tap with a hammer (not very hard). It's not apparent to me why the casing got stuck in the chamber - the rim is mangled where the extractor was ( the bolt was originally stuck pretty good - I finally got it out but may have mangled the rim on the case in the process)

I will clean the chamber out good and inspect it - maybe the case got stuck because the chamber was still wet?
Click to expand...

Well, for starters you should own a cleaning rod. The preponderance of people who think a single boresnake is all they'll ever need to clean their gun is amazing. Get a cleaning rod as it can serve many purposes, and can be combined with a chamber brush to ensure that your chamber is clean. It also serves as a useful ramrod.

As for the case getting stuck, sometimes it just happens. Even with the best ammo and mil-spec chambers.
 
vellnueve said:
Well, for starters you should own a cleaning rod. The preponderance of people who think a single boresnake is all they'll ever need to clean their gun is amazing. Get a cleaning rod as it can serve many purposes, and can be combined with a chamber brush to ensure that your chamber is clean. It also serves as a useful ramrod.
Click to expand...

I have a cleaning rod - it is a steel one though, and a tight fit down a .223 barrel. I was looking for something made of a softer metal to avoid possible damage to the rifling.
 
calsdad said:
Just got back from the hardware store - they didn't have any brass rods but I got a long piece of aluminum rod. Took a spent .22LR shell casing with me as a size gauge an found a rod that just inside the casing.

So I fed the very slowly and carefully down the barrel and got the casing out with one tap with a hammer (not very hard). It's not apparent to me why the casing got stuck in the chamber - the rim is mangled where the extractor was ( the bolt was originally stuck pretty good - I finally got it out but may have mangled the rim on the case in the process)

I will clean the chamber out good and inspect it - maybe the case got stuck because the chamber was still wet?
Click to expand...

Glad it's out - same thing happened to me with Wolf. You should be able to run an AR drenched in oil if need be, so wet chamber does not sound like the culprit, but could have been just dirty.....Use XM193 and have a nice day...[cheers]
 
calsdad said:
I have a cleaning rod - it is a steel one though, and a tight fit down a .223 barrel. I was looking for something made of a softer metal to avoid possible damage to the rifling.
Click to expand...

A lot of the rods you can get are coated with plastic or rubber.

-Mike
 
I recently had the same problem with one of my ARs. After about 30 or 40 rounds through a new DPMS barrel I had the same problem and removed the case with a brass rod. The problem was a rough chamber and the solution was to polish the chamber. This is the third DPMS barrel I have had this problem with and it is the last DPMS barrel I will ever buy.
 
Gammon said:
I recently had the same problem with one of my ARs. After about 30 or 40 rounds through a new DPMS barrel I had the same problem and removed the case with a brass rod. The problem was a rough chamber and the solution was to polish the chamber. This is the third DPMS barrel I have had this problem with and it is the last DPMS barrel I will ever buy.
Click to expand...


This is a new LMT upper. I cleaned the chamber out as well as I could with some patches and it looks to be ok to me. It's hard to tell though. Thanks for the tip - I will try polishing it when I get a chance.
 
it's also possible with a reloaded round that it was over-loaded (excessive powder, excessive crimp or even a bullet too deeply set) or over-reloaded (reloaded too many times)

I've also heard of some problems with annealled brass. Most modern cases are intended to be hardened to a certain level before they are loaded an fired and if the brass is fully annealled, it will be weaker and expand more than expected.

Hopefully you'll figure it out and its easily fixed. There are few things worse than having a reliability problem and then having it "magically" go away without figuring out what it was because you will always have that nagging question of, "when will it happen again?"
 
The round in question might not have been resized completely. I was having a devil of a time with stuck rounds when I started loading .223 -- turned out the die wasn't adjusted down far enough. It was only a few thousandths too short, but enough where the shoulder wasn't getting reformed and the rest of the casing was. It's chamber fine then get stuck fast.
 
tele_mark said:
The round in question might not have been resized completely. I was having a devil of a time with stuck rounds when I started loading .223 -- turned out the die wasn't adjusted down far enough. It was only a few thousandths too short, but enough where the shoulder wasn't getting reformed and the rest of the casing was. It's chamber fine then get stuck fast.
Click to expand...

That, and not trimming to length will do it.
 
MassMark said:
Glad it's out - same thing happened to me with Wolf. You should be able to run an AR drenched in oil if need be, so wet chamber does not sound like the culprit, but could have been just dirty.....Use XM193 and have a nice day...[cheers]
Click to expand...

Just keep in mind that XM ammo is actually rejected by the military and can have its own set of issues.
 
tele_mark said:
The round in question might not have been resized completely. I was having a devil of a time with stuck rounds when I started loading .223 -- turned out the die wasn't adjusted down far enough. It was only a few thousandths too short, but enough where the shoulder wasn't getting reformed and the rest of the casing was. It's chamber fine then get stuck fast.
Click to expand...

Without doing some more experimenting it won't know for sure what caused this.

I just got back from the Appleseed and put just under 200 rounds thru the rifle with no issues. I used some Federal 100 count bulk pack that I think I picked up at Four Seasons. It was "FC" headstamp and all seemed to shoot fine.

I have some Federal XM-193 and also some UMC and some other Federal that I picked up at Riley's that I will try out tomorrow. I want to stay away from the reloads if possible because I don't want any malf's at the shoot.

After that I will try out the reloads again and see if I hit the same problem. At least this time a stuck case won't kill me at the range. I put the rod in the gun case.

When I got home last night I took the uppper off, cleaned the chamber out as good as I could, and cleaned and lubed the bolt associated parts. Maybe that helped. Maybe the rifle just needs to get broken in some more. I'm not sure.
 
Just a suggestion:

http://www.deweyrods.com

Dewey makes nylon coated rods that, IMO, are the best of the best. Plus, the customer service is great. You can order online or call the directly. Everytime I've called directly, I've always gotten one of the Deweys (It's a family operation).
 
Took the rifle to the Appleseed over the weekend and used all Federal XM193 from a couple of different batches I bought - with absolutely no issues.

When I have a chance I will take the rifle back to the range and try out some more of the Qmmo reloads and see what happens. At least I know it's not the rifle - I must have gone thru 800-900 rounds this weekend.
 
calsdad said:
Took the AR down to try and get it sighted in and make sure everything was kosher before taking it to the Appleseed tomorrow - and I somehow got a
case stuck in the chamber.

Initially the bolt was stuck and I could not extract it. I removed the upper from the lower and managed to get the bolt unstuck and that is when I found the case stuck in the chamber (I think the bolt was stuck because the extractor was stuck on the case rim). I did see some brass shavings in the locking lugs area but I cleaned those out.

I am 99% sure this is just the case and not a full round, I have a primer strike, and I counted holes on the target I was shooting at and matched them up with the empty cases I had.

I tried putting the rifle back together and tried cycling the bolt hoping the extractor would grab the case - but no dice.

Any suggestions as to how to get this out? Brass rod down the barrel and pound it out?

I wanted to take this rifle to the Appleseed tomorrow - now I am having second thoughts.
Click to expand...

u can buy the broken shell extractor from cheaper then dirt in the ar15 section that is for when the bullet is stuck in the chamber if you ram it out you will risk damaging the crown at the top of the barrel then you will lose accuracy.
 
Reloads happen. Q makes good stuff so it is likely an isolated incident. But you should definitely bring the case with you to him for him to check out.
 
TXDMERC said:
u can buy the broken shell extractor from cheaper then dirt in the ar15 section that is for when the bullet is stuck in the chamber if you ram it out you will risk damaging the crown at the top of the barrel then you will lose accuracy.
Click to expand...

I already had a broken shell extractor in the buttstock toolkit well. That wasn't the problem - the entire case was stuck. I was trying to think ahead because at last years Appleseed somebody did have a broken shell.

Before I knocked the case out I very carefully put the rod down thru the barrel until it bottomed out. Then I pulled it out and checked the length to make sure all I had was stuck case - and not a stuck bullet or complete round (it had a primer strike on the primer).

My rifle bag now has a rod in it - in case this happens again.
 

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