In an AR, what plays in the brass trajectory ?

[Niko-PG]

I know it's , but I wonder why my brass flies from 02.00 to 04.00 shooting factory ammo and not making a nice pile easy to pick.
So hot gas, extractor...what else ?

 

[Shelldrake]

In the old days, we would snip off one twist of the ejector spring, and then the brass would eject a couple of feet out at around 0200 in a nice neat pile. It was done to correct a certain type of stoppage where the force of ejection was too high, and the casing would bounce around inside the ejection port.

All in service C7s have long since been modified with differenct ejector springs to correct the problem.

If you want to experiment, clip off a row from your ejector spring and give it a try. Take too much off, and it won't get out of the ejection port. Springs are not expensive.

The caveat of if it ain't broke, then don't fix it still applies though.

 

[cancer]

What are you shooting for factory ammo? I was shooting 55gr Federal AE last weekend and it made nice little piles 1 foot in diameter 4 feet to my 4:00. When I ran out of that, I used 55gr Remington UMC and it would spread 4-5 feet out between 3:00 and 4:00. So, it could just be the ammo...

 

[KevinB]

Ejector Shape, Ejector Spring strength, Extractor shape and spring tension, and bolt velocity all play a part in the way brass ejected.

 

[NavyShooter]

I was going to comment, but KB, SD and C have it pretty much handled...

NS

 

[Silverado]

My friend has constant weak ejection in his AR; I believe it's a RRA upper and a Stag lower.

His brass ejects every time, but only spits out a little to the right of the rifle.

Any suggestions I could give him?