» Check your ammo…and your gun!!
By Vince on March 25, 2012
The other day on the range, I was one of the range masters that day. One of the shooters calls me over. His brand new AR-15 rifle is jammed.
This happens from time to time on a brand new firearm, especially during the break in period. So I went over and looked at it. The fired case was stuck in the chamber.
The extractor would not pull it, out even after repeated tries and judicious use of the forward assist. It took running a rod down the barrel to get the case out. Once we had the stuck case out, I inspected it. It was split down the middle.
Ok, I thought, bad ammo/bad case. We loaded him up again and nothing. The rifle refused to fire. I ran the charging handle, this time the round came out and once again we inspected it. Nothing. No indent on the primer indicating a light strike and no problem extracting…yet the previous case showed a very strong primer hit and we had to run a rod down the pipe to get it out.
I took the bolt out and inspected the firing pin. It looked pristine. Now I’m really puzzled!
We reassemble the bolt and reinstall it. Load up, point downrange and fire. The round goes off…but fails to extract again!
Once again the rod goes down the barrel, once again the case is split!
A suspicion arises…I ask the owner, “What caliber is this?” “.223/5.56”, he answers. I look on the receiver. Yep. .223/5.56 is stamped clear as day.
We go thru the whole thing again with the same results. Now I am REALLY beginning to doubt my sanity! Another idea pops into my head. I make sure the rifle is unloaded and look for the roll stamp on the barrel…
Well, guess what? That stamp says, “6.5”!! It was a 6.5 SPC barrel! No wonder the damn thing wouldn’t work!
I looked at him and told him my findings. He looked stunned! “I didn’t order a 6.5! I ordered a 5.56!!”, then he turns to the loading table behind us and picks up a box and he says, “Look here’s the box!”
Sure enough the FACTORY box is labeled “.223/5.56”!
So what does this little story mean?
It means double check everything! Even the factory can and does make mistakes!
It was a good thing this incident happened in a controlled environment or things could have turned out much worse!