I just returned from the ORA CQB Carbine Clinic. Great opportunity to learn good techniques and practice a certain drill over and over until we got it right (or at least until we showed some improvement.)
In CQB we also serve as the Safety Guy for another shooter, so we get to watch another shooter close up. After a competition we have the experience of what went well/or sucked for both ourselves and for the other guy.
After 5 years of experience, I would say that the single most common AR-15 glitch is a magazine not being properly seated. This is the most common problem I have had and I think it is the problem I most usually see with the other shooter.
In competition we learn to recognize that if the gun does not go bang on the second shot it is because the mag is not seated and we can identify and correct the problem fast enough to still get all our shots off. Unless the mag falls out.
In the real world, someone using the rifle for real could pay with his life. So it is a serious issue. We have to learn to seat the mag EVERY TIME.
There are two parts to the solution. Seating the mag and then testing it before carrying on. A simple tug on the mag after seating will save the day.
Seating the mag is mechanically a bit different if the bolt is locked back vs a tactical load when the bolt is closed.
If the bolt is locked back, the mag should easily insert and click into place. I try to lock my bolt back at the start of each shoot, before I insert the mag. This means the top round does not offer any resistance, since it does not hit the bottom of the bolt. Some mags are pinned at 5.1 rounds instead of at 5.7 rounds, so the resistance against the bottom of the bolt can be quite high.
Locking the bolt back is particularly useful when starting the modified prone. I see more poorly seated mags in that stage of the shoot than in any other. I think this is because the position is rather awkward and mags don't get seated with as much authority as when standing. Locking the mag back before laying down makes it easy to latch the mag into an open rifle.
Many of the loads at the start of a stage are with the bolt already locked back. The rapid fires always follow a previous stage, so the rifle bolt is locked back. If you only have one mag with a 5.1 round capacity, mark it clearly and use it for the 4 shot rapid fire. It will load easily because the bolt is always locked back. If you have several 5.1 round mags, mark them with a big "R" and use them for the rapid matches, since loading will be more reliable.
The other half of the drill is to tug the mag after seating it. This simple step would eliminate the glitch.
One thing that I learned at the Clinic was that hitting the bottom of the mag enthusiastically when seating it can cause the inertia of the rounds to depress the column of ammo and then scramble them so that the next round won't feed. If you seat the mag by pushing on the bottom with the palm of your hand you will get a better latch engagement than if you seat just by gripping the side of the mag.
All you mags should be tested for additional clearance when loaded with 5 rounds. By pushing down on the top round, you should have enough compression to almost load another round. This makes it easier to latch the mag when loading under a closed bolt. I call this clearance a 5.7 round mag. I have had a number of mags that I can barely get the last round into and they have no additional movement. I call these 5 round, or 5.1 round mags.
The fix is easy peasy. Just file a bit off the bottom of the follower, where it hits the rivet, to allow the column to depress a bit further. Just a tenth of an inch would make a big difference.
There is not enough room to drill a new hole for a rivet. It would be too close to the old hole. So remove the rivet, take the mag apart, file some off the bottom of the follower and install a new rivet in the old hole.
In CQB we also serve as the Safety Guy for another shooter, so we get to watch another shooter close up. After a competition we have the experience of what went well/or sucked for both ourselves and for the other guy.
After 5 years of experience, I would say that the single most common AR-15 glitch is a magazine not being properly seated. This is the most common problem I have had and I think it is the problem I most usually see with the other shooter.
In competition we learn to recognize that if the gun does not go bang on the second shot it is because the mag is not seated and we can identify and correct the problem fast enough to still get all our shots off. Unless the mag falls out.
In the real world, someone using the rifle for real could pay with his life. So it is a serious issue. We have to learn to seat the mag EVERY TIME.
There are two parts to the solution. Seating the mag and then testing it before carrying on. A simple tug on the mag after seating will save the day.
Seating the mag is mechanically a bit different if the bolt is locked back vs a tactical load when the bolt is closed.
If the bolt is locked back, the mag should easily insert and click into place. I try to lock my bolt back at the start of each shoot, before I insert the mag. This means the top round does not offer any resistance, since it does not hit the bottom of the bolt. Some mags are pinned at 5.1 rounds instead of at 5.7 rounds, so the resistance against the bottom of the bolt can be quite high.
Locking the bolt back is particularly useful when starting the modified prone. I see more poorly seated mags in that stage of the shoot than in any other. I think this is because the position is rather awkward and mags don't get seated with as much authority as when standing. Locking the mag back before laying down makes it easy to latch the mag into an open rifle.
Many of the loads at the start of a stage are with the bolt already locked back. The rapid fires always follow a previous stage, so the rifle bolt is locked back. If you only have one mag with a 5.1 round capacity, mark it clearly and use it for the 4 shot rapid fire. It will load easily because the bolt is always locked back. If you have several 5.1 round mags, mark them with a big "R" and use them for the rapid matches, since loading will be more reliable.
The other half of the drill is to tug the mag after seating it. This simple step would eliminate the glitch.
One thing that I learned at the Clinic was that hitting the bottom of the mag enthusiastically when seating it can cause the inertia of the rounds to depress the column of ammo and then scramble them so that the next round won't feed. If you seat the mag by pushing on the bottom with the palm of your hand you will get a better latch engagement than if you seat just by gripping the side of the mag.
All you mags should be tested for additional clearance when loaded with 5 rounds. By pushing down on the top round, you should have enough compression to almost load another round. This makes it easier to latch the mag when loading under a closed bolt. I call this clearance a 5.7 round mag. I have had a number of mags that I can barely get the last round into and they have no additional movement. I call these 5 round, or 5.1 round mags.
The fix is easy peasy. Just file a bit off the bottom of the follower, where it hits the rivet, to allow the column to depress a bit further. Just a tenth of an inch would make a big difference.
There is not enough room to drill a new hole for a rivet. It would be too close to the old hole. So remove the rivet, take the mag apart, file some off the bottom of the follower and install a new rivet in the old hole.
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Smart shooters. So I bought a bunch of them LAR 10 round pistol magazines from SFRC in Eastern Ontario. Now I'm pairing them up with the GS Design mag extender block so the contraption looks and feels like a 5/30, but behaves like a 10/30 setup.
