I’ve had this rifle a while and it has always given decent performance. About the same reliability as a good semi auto 22LR with good ammo.
Well, it turned into a jam-o-matic this last Saturday at a pistol caliber carbine competition.
Lots of feed issues.

Rounds were getting a smiley mashed onto their noses, and it was doing so with enough force to cause serious bullet setback.

Lots of double feeds (with 8 different mags...7 Gen4 33rd Glock mags, a gen3 33rd Glock mag, and one ETS 30rd mag)
This happened with three different types of ammo;
Some 147gr Freedom Munitions with their “performance” hollowpoint
Some 147gr flat nose lead reloads that have functioned in it before.
Some unknown 124gr fmj that I had several mags of laying around.

Also, inserting a mag is VERY hard with the bolt closed. Even a mag downloaded by several rounds. I rarely put more than 25 rounds in these mags.

A live round stuck in the chamber was the last straw. I cleared the rifle, put it in my truck, and spent the rest of the day just helping the squad get through the match.
Very frustrating.

I haven’t looked at the rifle yet (still a bit mad at it).
But has anyone else had these kinds of issues with this rifle?

Was inserting a mag with the bolt closed difficult in the past?

quote:

Originally posted by Skull Leader:
Was inserting a mag with the bolt closed difficult in the past?

I wanna say not AS difficult, but my memory may be sketchy. The ETS Mags (IME) are hard to insert in anything fully loaded. But I don’t recall having as much trouble with the factory clock Mags. Especially with them downloaded a few rounds.

Got my rifle back tonight.
Friend of mine polished the trigger, chamber and “feed ramp”. He told me the chamber was VERY rough, as well as the feed ramp, which is really more of a forcing cone.
He also noticed my buffer was about 1/2 the weight of the one in his gun.

Several of us have these rifles, and mine is the oldest by serial number.
There have been several changes from mine xxx0208 to the newer ones xx4000.
Mine had the light buffer, and a one piece bolt with a pinned in weight.
The newer ones had a two piece bolt with one “piece”basically being the weiight.

The buffer springs seem about the same, but one of the guys put in a hydraulic buffer and .308 spring. Everyone that has shot his rifle says it made a real difference in the recoil. Since he installed the hydraulic buffer in his rifle, he gave me his factory buffer to put in mine.

I ran a magazine of Freedom Munitions 147gr HP through it tonight with my Octane on it and it ran flawlessly. This was one of the bullets it had trouble with at the match. I also ran some 124gr fmj through it that had caused issues Saturday. It ran fine.
The only ammo it still doesn’t like is some reloaded 147gr lead truncated cone type rounds.
I can live with that.

Magazine insertion is also much easier now. I think a lot of that was due to my frustration during the match.

Now I’m pumped for next month.