Hi all. I have my first AR build, and I’m stuck lol. After everything is put together, I was having issues with the bolt not going fully into battery sometimes but otherwise functioning properly. I switched to a stronger buffer spring, fixed the battery issue, but now the bolt won’t go back far enough to catch either the next round or the bolt catch on an empty mag. I keep adjusting the gas block more open, but I’m almost fully out and not sure if I’m missing something else I should be doing. Maybe a different buffer?
Wilson combat barrel, adjustable gas block, Full auto np3 bcg, regular rifle buffer

[img]http://s36.photobucket.com/user/Kitkat6174/media/FCC02E2D-11E3-4DA1-9409-BA8E88E7EA3C_zpsqp3dtr6c.jpeg.html][IMG]https://i36.photobucket.com/albums/...-4DA1-9409-BA8E88E7EA3C_zpsqp3dtr6c.jpeg[/img][/URL][/img]

I apparently forgot how to post pictures, but the link works. That’s as far as the bcg will go so far. Bcg will catch but the bolt will not

Is your stock an adjustable style stock or a fixed position rifle stock?

How long is your barrel and what length gas system? Not shooting subsonic ammo with a suppressor are you?

Fixed stock, A2 length tube.
Barrel is 16” match, rifle length tube. Not suppressed, milsurp 62gr and Barnes rounds. Mag is new and I don’t know if I’ve tried a different mag, have to check that tomorrow but don’t see anything that looks wrong with it

Trapper Alex, it is very difficult to get a rifle length gas system to run in a 16" barrel, that is why most of the "dissipater" type rifles have a carbine, or mid-length gas system and a regular sight tower at the rifle position. With the adjustable gas block you may be able to get it to run, the problem with the rifle length gas system on a 16" barrel is the dwell time of the bullet in the barrel relative to the gas port, in effect it doesn't give enough back pressure to feed sufficient gas into the gas tube before the pressure drops as the bullet exits the barrel thereby causing the bolt to "short stroke".

If you go to heavier bullets, 75 or 77 gr, they may help the problem as the bullet velocity is lower but with the same volume of gas, so this in effect increases the dwell time relative to the bullet exiting the barrel. Thus "tricking" the gas system into acting as if the barrel is longer. Where the rifle length system shines in a 16" barrel is when a suppressor is used, the suppressor increases back pressure and the rifle length system works but reduces the over gassing issues with suppressed firearms.

could be a misaligned bas block. its not getting the required pressure, to cycle the action from the sounds of it. If I recall Wilson uses set screws in their gas blocks, easy to have a little off. Also the adjustable gas system is junk.

Your spring swap fixed one issue and caused another. So go back to the original issue. Most feed issues or not going into battery are magazine issues. See it all the time and far from uncommon. It's a new build also and sometimes you just need to shoot the darn thing to get a little wear on the parts to make them flow like they should. You could polish the feed ramps too I've done that on several with feed issues and it has helped some of them. K91773 is right on the gas systems too and that might be something to investigate as well. Another possibility is that alignment of the gas tube with the gas key. I've seen it in numerous self builds and two factory rifles. It may not be misaligned enough to really damage the gas tube but may be riding it enough to slow down the bolt to prevent the next round from going into battery. These things are fun to build and shoot but they can be finicky sometimes for not so obvious reasons.

sounds under gassed.

is it also dropping brass nearly at your feet?

is your adjustable gas block fully open?

do you see evidence of gas escaping from around the gas block? I have had a gas block from the factory not fully tightened and it walked forward and started causing issues. you can usually see the exhaust on the finish with a bit of carbon.

Keep it simple stupid. RGW was spot on. I had “help” and frustration, and because of that I tried multiple things at the same time to fix battery issue. Swapped the old spring back in, everything runs great. Even threw a pic in (above) now that it’s working and I’m not disgusted with it anymore lol.
Thanks guys

Glad you got it going. Nice looking build too. I'm finishing up a 458 SOCOM right now and still getting it to feed and run like it should.

pm coming your way to experts