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Sounds like the same issue a friend of mine had with his new M&P this summer. I don't recall what his issue was. Improperly sized hand loads I believe. To big at the web. Also, instead of lightly lubed, add a quart. AR's like to run wet, especially when breaking in.

Auggie D.
 
ZREXER said:
I am using a regular RCBS full length sizing die. I have it set as close to shell holder as possible. Should I be using a small base full length die?
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Before you mess around changing your reloads, I'd go with what has been suggested already. Run factory rounds through it and lube it up. If it does the same then you know it's something with the gun, if not then it's a good chance it's your ammo.

Side note, which range do you go shoot at?
 
ZREXER said:
What it did a few times is it would fire, eject the round, pick up the new round. When squeezing the trigger, I could hear a click, but it did not fire. After dropping the magazine and attempting to clear, the charging handle would not move. I was not able to open it up after sliding out the rear pivot pin. I needed a block of wood and a good shove on the charging handle to clear it. No obvious marks on the extracted round.
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Definitely sounds like oversized cartridges. The rounds are too big to be seated fully, and because the bolt is not fully forward the firing pin doesn't reach the primer and you get a click. But the bolt slamming home wedges them into the chamber nice and tight so they are hard to extract.

RCBS has a nice racket going making .223 dies sloppy big, then offering to fix the "problem" by selling you small based dies too. You will need another die set, either their small base or better yet switch to a less annoying brand.
 
celtic1123 said:
Before you mess around changing your reloads, I'd go with what has been suggested already. Run factory rounds through it and lube it up. If it does the same then you know it's something with the gun, if not then it's a good chance it's your ammo.

Side note, which range do you go shoot at?
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Tofield Gun Club. 100 yard only, but since it is one range you can shoot .22, handgun and centre fire rifle from one bench.
 
As some people have stated it's probably a 99% chance it's an ammo problem (not completely sized or possibly the brass needs trimming). Try some factory .223 & I'll bet the issue goes away. However, if not try to find a GO headspace gauge. If the bolt won't close on it you likely have a very minimally short chamber. This occurred to me on one of the very first builds I did. The gun drove me nuts by shooting a few rounds, jamming on one or two, shooting a few more then jamming again. Tried the GO headspace gauge and the bolt wouldn't fully close. My gunsmith buddy made about 1 turn with a finishing reamer and the gun shot like a champ after that.
 
ZREXER said:
I had my new M&P 15 out to the range today and some random jamming issues. Prior to shooting for the first time it was thoroughly cleaned and lightly lubed. It was about 4C today in Edmonton, so not that cold.
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I found your problem.
 
It's funny, for about 20 years, from the first Gulf war onward, the US military taught all its soldiers to run their rifles dry in dirty conditions. It was only after several years involvement in the desert regions for the second time that they changed this policy to have all soldiers run their rifles with generous lube. It took literally billions of rounds fired to come up with data points to decisively prove the difference between zero lube and generous lube. And now ten years later there are internet experts who think that major system malfunctions can be confidently attributed from afar to a modest lack of lubricant.
 
I'm 99% sure it's your ammo not being properly resized. I had the same problem when I started reloading 223 for my ARs. Look and see if the bottom of the die is kissing the top of the shell plate when the ram is all the way up. Lower the ram and turn the case 90 degrees and size it again. Dry fit it into your AR's chamber and see if the bolt closes properly. If it still sticks, you might have a tight chamber and might have to pick up some RCBS small base dies or from what I've read, Lee dies are already the same as the RCBS small base ones.
 
I had the exact same issue over the winter, and initially blamed it on the -20 weather. Ends up it was reloads afterall. Factory loads ran like butter. Checked the reloads in a chamber checker and they were ever so slightly too long. The reloads would run in everything except the M&P I’m guessing due to tight tolerances which isn’t neccessarily a bad thing.
 
ZREXER said:
I had my M&P 15 out to the range today and had zero jams in about 200 rounds. All of it was with reloads, but all cases carefully trimmed to spec and sized with more contact with the shell holder than my first go around. I just threw on an old Bushnell 3 x 9 on to it with some high mounts. My best target at 100 yards is attached. 5 shots into 1.17". So dam near MOA. A 10 round group on another target yielded a 2.18" group.

I am quite impressed with accuracy of my cheap AR-15.
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Try some 55gr V-Max. That and W-748 produced amazing results in the M&P Sport I owned. One more I shouldn't have sold...should have parted with a kidney instead.

S&W Jammomatic15
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Jam-o-matic...I find it interesting that "cheap" guns are called junk by a few people, more interesting that when I have personal experience with these "cheap" guns they generally run flawlessly.
 
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