Having just taken the leap into the world of MSRs and purchased a LR308 I am having a FTE issue that I need some help with.

The gun is a Live Free Armory LF308 with a 20" barrel. DPMS-style upper/lower and BCG.

First day to the range was yesterday. I was doing the barrel break-in and would shoot one round and then clean the barrel. After 7 rounds I went up to 3 rounds between cleaning. The first 10 rounds didn't have any issues. After that I began having a failure whereby the spent round wasn't ejected but the new round was being jammed up under it as it was trying to enter the chamber. After a few times I fully cleaned the barrel and BCG, lubed, and switched ammo. (I used Federal 165 gr BTHP the first 10 shots then switched to Winchester 150 gr when it first jammed). The third box of ammo was Hornady Black 150 gr. I loaded 3 rounds in the mag and the first two shot fine but the third was just laying on top of the empty mag with the bolt locked back. Went back to the original Federal 165 gr. and it jammed again after the first shot where the spent round was on top of the new round entering the chamber.

I got tired of fooling with it and decided to do single shots from the magazine for another 6-7 rounds. Some rounds kicked out okay but more of them didn't. They didn't stovepipe, would just lay on top of the mag.

Fully cleaned and lubed up the gun again last night and tried again today. I thought that maybe I had too much oil around the chamber area and that the extractor was slipping off of the round as it started back. So I cleaned out the chamber area pretty well but today it did the same thing. Add in Hornady 150 gr ammo as well today with the same issue. I managed to get up to 3 rounds working before the 4th jammed in the mag with the 5th under it.

I was using a Magpul 10 round P-mag and tried the 20 round mag as well with no difference. I don't think it is the mag because even on the last shell the extracted round would be laying on top of the empty mag with the bolt locked back. Since the bolt will lock back on the empty mag and leave the spent round on top the mag, I don't think it is an issue with the BCG not cycling fully.

I'm pretty new to this so any tips or things to check would be appreciated. I can get a hold of the company on Monday but I figured that the most likely cause of the error is ME - being new to the semi-auto gun world.

Thanks in advance,

Brian

I assume the ejector of that gun is similar to any AR-type rifle and consists of a spring-loaded plunger in the bolt face. If so, I recommend checking the ejector by pushing it in with a punch. The ejector plunger should resist being pushed in and should move back out strongly.

If the plunger doesn’t move or there seems to be some resistance other than the spring, that could be the problem. I encountered that once with an AR and as I recall the officer said the problem was similar to what you described. After I took the ejector assembly apart I couldn’t find any reason for why it got stuck, but after I put it back together everything worked fine, so that was definitely the reason for the issue.

Thank you. I'll check that first thing in the morning. When it does eject, it ejects hard at the 3:30-4:00 position and will throw the spent round about 10+ feet (from a bench rest shooting position). Not sure if that helps any.

Sounds more like the BCG may need a little more lubrication. Over the years, virtually every FTE I've ever experienced was immediately cured by adding some oil or grease on the BCG.

On the other hand, I know nothing of that brand and sigfreund's idea may well be valid.

I have the bolt out and I can hook a spent round in the extractor and then use torque to straighten the round and push in the pin. The force isn't always consistent. You can't just push in the pin with your finger but with the round clipped in most of the time I can straighten it and push in the pin without too much force. Other times it seems to stick and I have to really force it to make the pin pop in.

Nikon, I don't think lubrication is the issue. I had it oiled and greased to the point at one time I would get the white grease on the top of my mag and had to wipe it off. The bolt has no problem sliding back and staying locked open on the open chamber.

quote:

Originally posted by Tiburon91:
The force isn't always consistent. ... Other times it seems to stick and I have to really force it to make the pin pop in.

I believe you have found the source of your problems. What you describe with the ejector is perfectly consistent with the failures you experienced (and which you described very well, BTW; not something everyone does).

If you can, remove the ejector, check the spring and the ejector itself, clean everything, and if you have a spare spring replace it. Okay, I realize that’s unlikely, so contact the manufacturer about whatever you discover if just taking everything out and cleaning it doesn’t fix things.

The problem could, unfortunately, be due to the bolt itself, but my first concern would be about the ejector or/and spring. Replacing both would be the simplest even if not necessary for both.

If replacing both ejector and spring doesn’t cure the problem, then it’s probably something to do with the hole that the ejector and spring fit in, and that might/probably would require replacing the bolt.

If you’re not equipped to do all that checking, I would contact the manufacturer, explain what’s happening, and say you’re going to send the bolt assembly back to them to repair or (hopefully) replace. Or better yet, for them just to send you a replacement immediately without sending yours back.

I also agree that lubrication is not the issue. It’s always good to consider that first, but it doesn’t fit with free movement of the bolt carrier and erratic ejection failures as described.

Yep, check the ejector spring. Seems to be a bad batch of springs making it to the field. My 270AR is doing the same and I run all of my ARs wet. I plan to replace the spring before I shoot it again. I also plan to polish the chamber as well.

I'm not sure if this helps identify anything but today I inserted a 5 round magazine (outside in a safe direction and on safe) and manually cycled the charging handle back. The gun kicked out all 5 rounds at the 3:30-4:00 position. I repeated this again with the same positive results. I kind of figured it would leave some rounds in the chamber.

Considering that the problem was erratic to begin with, a ten-round manual cycling test doesn’t necessarily mean much. But if you fiddled with the ejector, perhaps that loosened something up. Does the pressure necessary to press it in still seem inconsistent?

I didn't fiddle with anything. just put it back together and tried manually ejecting rounds.

The ejector still takes inconsistent force to compress.

quote:

Originally posted by Tiburon91:
The ejector still takes inconsistent force to compress.

Tiburon;

sigfreund has you on the right trail.

If there is inconsistent force, that means a few things, not many.

First, tho the spring could be weak, springs don't oppose with variable force unless certain things are also happening.

Holes machined incorrectly with burrs and/or oblong can offer a pathway that offers variable friction to the ejector and/or spring.

Send the rifle back to the maker. If you can offer some video of the functioning/malfunctioning of the gun.

I have a feeling you have burrs on the ejector hole or a poorly machined ejector hole or an ejector that is poorly machined or a combination that is causing misalignment of the spring or ejector plunger. It is possible that the spring itself is out of spec which would/could produce the same variable pressure w/ otherwise in-spec parts.

Get the company to fix this {AKA give you a new bolt or other parts that are squared away}.

Thanks. That's what I intend to do. I'm calling them tomorrow. Hopefully I only need to send back the BCG.