It wasn't epic, but still a lot of fail for one day...

[1911luvr]

I thought I'd share my recent unhappy experience in hopes those with the same setup can learn from it. Since part of this incident is specific to my upper, I need to mention I'm running a NFA 9mm Glock lower with the NFA LRBHO side-charging upper that has a couple thousand round through it, and a Wilson Arms barrel with just under 1K rounds through it.

 

While shooting a USPSA match this weekend I had a failure after firing my couple shots, where I saw a flash out of the corner of my eye and heard an oddly loud bang close to my face. Looking through the ejection port I can see the bolt is locked back and twisted pieces of brass are sitting inside the receiver. I was thinking I may have had a round fire slightly out of battery so I dump the mag and tilt the rifle so the brass drops out. I tried to cycle the bolt but it's stuck and will not go forward, so I exit the stage and head to the repair bench and open up the rifle.

 

At the bench I see a piece of brass mangled around the bolt hold open lever so I remove it, and another piece of brass was sitting in the little cut out behind the magazine. I removed it also and then noticed half a 9mm casing still in the chamber. I've had this problem a couple times before with another barrel, so I'm expecting this to be a nightmare to remove like before. I had to make my own broken case extractor for it since nothing else would remove it. Unfortunately I forgot that tool at home, so I figured I'd try a bore snake and hope to get lucky. The bore snake stops half way down the barrel, so I also have a squib stuck in the barrel. As luck would have it, the night before I just finished trimming to length a prototype set of weighted brass squib rods my buddy is making, and I brought them with me to show some friends. The carbine length rod solved my problem quickly and I went on to try the bore snake. I got lucky again and the brass ring came out easily with the snake.

 

Now, thinking I'm good to go I rack the bolt several times, check the trigger and bore, and everything looks good. I went on to shoot a round so I'm thinking everything is fine. Then, after six shots on the next stage I hear the same bang and again see brass shards inside the ejection port, so back to the repair bench I go.

 

After clearing the brass pieces, I found what I believe may have caused the second out of battery discharge. In between front of the receiver and the side-charger arm that pulls the bolt back is a small strip of brass, which is wedged enough to keep the charging arm from moving. With a pair of pliers I was able to tear the brass out and the arm freed up so I could clear the other half of the brass strip out of the space in front of the side charging arm.

 

When I was at the bench last time, the side charging arm was in the forward position while the bolt was back (charging arm doesn't reciprocate when shooting), so I didn't notice there was a space in front of the charging arm, and never knew to check that it was clear of brass. Anyone using this upper should make sure this area is clear of foreign material or the bolt cannot go all the way forward, leaving it slightly out of battery. Obviously my rifle fired with the bolt slightly out of battery, so I'm not sure what I can do to prevent this in the future. Someone did suggest a stiffer firing pin spring may help, but not sure how I could safely test that as a solution.

 

In any case, I hope this information helps someone else out there.

 

 

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[mwray]

No doubt it was a shitty day. Best of luck next time out


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[GringoBandito]

Glad to hear you made it through without injury and thanks for letting others know what to check if this happens to them. Much appreciated!

 

[Aircooled6racer]

Hello: Sounds like a lot of work to be done during a match. Glad you figured it out. I have a young guy here with the same upper and he just found a broken firing pin spring after I told him what to look for since the last time he shot it it was a single shot or no shot with light strikes. I am kinda glad I went with a standard upper instead of the side charger now. Sometimes simple is just better. Thanks, Eric

[rowdyb]

if that's what you call regular fail for a day i'd hate to see what you call epic! hahahaha

[TheHunter]

Glad you brought this post around. I have been thinking about building a side charging upper. But after what you've said I think I'll stick with my rifles that run 100%.

[Flatland Shooter]

Is it the side charger or the LRBHO causing the problem?

 

Can the LRBHO device be removed?

[1911luvr]

The initial problem wasn't caused by the side-charging upper, and to be fair to the upper, the second problem was due to me not being completely familiar with the nuances of the side-charger. However, I'm quite well versed in it now!

 

This problem was not the fault of the upper, by my fault for not sorting my ammo to remove rounds with the case dimpling like I normally do. After the second time a case separated with my old barrel, I began sorting all my rounds before taking them to a match. Unfortunately this time I picked up some reloads from a friend right before the match and didn't have time to properly sort them.

 

In any case, I love this upper and I would definitely buy it again, especially now that I'm more familiar with it.

 

 

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[Aircooled6racer]

Hello: from what I have seen here it is the bolt and firing pin spring giving the problem. Light strikes and not going bang because the firing pin spring was broken. Everything else so far was working. Thanks, Eric

[rowdyb]

what do you mean when you say "remove rounds with case dimpling"? are you talking about the cannelure marks?

[1911luvr]

what do you mean when you say "remove rounds with case dimpling"? are you talking about the cannelure marks?

Yep



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