So I think I had a slam fire with my M305??

Tikka223

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Hello folks, took my M305 out to the range for the first time today and was shooting Winchester Super X 150gr. ammo and I think I had a slam fire. I was putting 3 rounds into the mag, shooting a group then reloading. I pulled the trigger and then POP POP ... WTF? I pulled the bolt back wondering if the 3rd round had been cycled into the chamber and surprise surprise, I ejected an empty piece of brass from the chamber. I'm confused. The rifle definitely fired off two rounds but only ejected one case.

I fired off my other box of 20 one round at a time ... *Edit* I have read a couple of stories of M305s exploding in people's faces *Edit* has me a little spooked. Other than that, the rifle functioned great and seems pretty accurate. I picked up the rifle on the EE and have been speaking with the previous owner. They say they have never had anything similar happen.

I checked out all the brass and they all have solid primer strikes and none of the pieces of brass seem stretched or bulged or anything abnormal. I noticed that may 4 of the 40 seem a little sootier than the rest but that's about it. The rifle seemed pretty cool too so I can't see it being a cooked off round. As well, the recoil felt fine, the gas system has been unitized but it seems to be working fine.

Should I be worried?

Any ideas what happened?
 
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So you pulled the trigger twice but 3 cartridges discharged and the third cartridge failed to eject? Be sure to ask the previous owner if he did anything to the rifle. Anything at all, peening the op rod, using arrows to stiffen the forestock, anything.
Also, did you give the rifle a good cleaning prior?
That's all I can really say.
 
Correction, there were 3 rounds in the magazine. I put in the magazine, let the bolt forward, pulled the trigger, then 2 rounds went off. The first round fired and ejected, the second round fired but did not eject, and the third round stayed in the magazine.

I will have to give the rifle a good clean and while I'm at it, I will look up how to take the bolt apart so I can clean inside it.

I'm not sure what "peening" is but there are two small welds on the gas block, so I'm assuming that's what the "unitized" gas system is all about.
 
Not sure about the failure to eject, but it can be easy to accidentally double-tap with these things if you don't have a deliberate follow-through on your trigger squeeze.
 
You said "all these stories of M305s exploding in people's faces has me a little spooked". . .what stories? Am I missing something? Where are these stories because I haven't heard/read about too many on the net (maybe the odd one). I have two Norinco M14's should I be worried???
 
You said "all these stories of M305s exploding in people's faces has me a little spooked". . .what stories? Am I missing something? Where are these stories because I haven't heard/read about too many on the net (maybe the odd one). I have two Norinco M14's should I be worried???

Fair. "All these stories" may actually total 2 that I've read about on here. All I can say is that I was a little paranoid every time I pulled the trigger and was hoping that the Oakley M-Frames I was wearing would save my eyes should something catastrophic happen.

I have break cleaner and I'll give the bolt a good soaking tomorrow.

Other than that I think I will really like this rifle. After a few years of nothing but scopes and small groups the iron sights are a lot of fun!
 
Give it a thorough cleaning and many times that will fix it. I had a old Winchester do that once and the cleaning fixed it for me.
 
^Yes, this is actually fairly common with persons who are new owners of semi-auto rifles.

The more I think about the more I think it is possible, for one I was wearing gloves because it was cold out, and second, I was shooting off my elbows which were resting on a carpeted table. A few times the elbow of my trigger hand slid off the table under recoil.

I will say though, I've owned an M305 before as well as black rifles so it hurts to think I may have made a newbie error. However, the only way this would explain what happened is if the action didn't cycle because I didn't have a good enough purchase against my shoulder due to the recoil of the first shot. I've seen this happen with inertia drive shotguns.
 
This could be easily proven or disproven, merely by allowing someone else to try this rifle.

It only happened to me once out of about 20 rounds. If the rifle is safe to fire from the mag then I will gladly give it a clean and head back to the range with more ammo.
 
All these stories of these rifles exploding in peoples faces?????:confused::confused:



Do the hammer follow test as stated above by Frank and keep the gloves off till you have this sorted out.

A double tap is possible with any firearm producing enough recoil to allow the rifle to move rearward far enough while the trigger is re-set and rifle is returned to original position from your shoulder tension with your finger staying in the rearward location. This however only rarely occurs from inexperience and control of the firearm, or with large bulky gloves as you had, or just a limp grip around the stock during firing. I have never had any center-fire, auto loader, double, from Winchester 100's through Remington 742/7400's through Franchi SPAS 12's to AR's to FN-FALs to M-14s. Never under any conditions, in over 35 years and that's with alot of cold weather work as well.

Watch those silly bump-fire video's on youtube if you want to see where a double can come from.
 
I heard about one falling apart.

Most other issues are from people putting one in the tube a d letting the bolt fly.... a big no-no with the M14 type guns.

AFAIK no one has ever been killed or seriously injured...although there were a few people who left with poop in their pants.
 
I heard about one falling apart.

Most other issues are from people putting one in the tube a d letting the bolt fly.... a big no-no with the M14 type guns.

AFAIK no one has ever been killed or seriously injured...although there were a few people who left with poop in their pants.

As someone without a whole lot of experience with M-14's can you explain what you mean by this?
What exactly should be avoided and what are the consequences of not doing so?
 
THE biggest known NO-NO known to man is to drop a round in the chamber and letting the bolt fly.

Always load rifle by letting the bolt strip the round from the magazine.

Failure to do this will result in the round going off without the bolt being fully seated or not seated at all.
 
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