Tavor failure

bongoz

bongoz

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Hey guys, took the Tavor out to the range for the 3rd time today. So far it's worked flawlessly until today...

The first 20-30 rounds ran great. Then I began to have issues with the bolt failing to lock back after firing the last round. This happened about 50-60% of the time. I probably fired another 100 rounds through it to see if it would sort it's self out, but it continued to fail about half the time, after the last round. When I was nearing the end of my ammo it even failed to feed the last round in my magazine once (Bolt was closed after four shots but there was still one in the magazine and nothing in the chamber.)

My Tavor probably has around 300 rounds through it and has the left hand bolt installed. I'm running Gen 3 PMAGS and this issue happened when I was using any of my five magazines. I cleaned and oiled my rifle with CLP two days ago thoroughly while watching a movie so I don't think it's a matter of being too dirty.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Other than this issue I love this rifle!

EDIT: forgot to add I'm shooting PMC .223
 
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I know this might sound really stupid obvious but is the magazine cleanly seated?
If you insert an empty magazine now and rock the handle backwards does it lock the bolt back?
Did you check your bolt for the bolt catch riding on the bolt?
Did you carve out a groove in your magazines?
Does it do the same thing with the original 45 round metal mag?
 
Yup I made sure the magazines where all seated properly.

Just tried all my empty magazines now and there is no issue. Locked the bolt back every time.
 
bongoz said:
Yup I made sure the magazines where all seated properly.

Just tried all my empty magazines now and there is no issue. Locked the bolt back every time.
Click to expand...

with the rifle on safe, using a flashlight through the ejection port when seating a fully loaded magazine in, does it lift the bolt catch ever so lightly? it should not move at all.
 
mikethebike said:
with the rifle on safe, using a flashlight through the ejection port when seating a fully loaded magazine in, does it lift the bolt catch ever so lightly? it should not move at all.
Click to expand...

Loaded with 5 round there was hardly any movement, maybe a tenth of a mm at most, barely noticeable.

With 1 round loaded there was about a half mm of rising but it still has a ways to go before it would be close to being flush.
 
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All the surfaces seem normal, it feels very smooth when I rock the handle back so I don't think anything is binding. Yup I bought it brand new from wolverine supplies.

I'm going to try applying a little more CLP to the whole BCG next time I clean it before I head to the range to see if that helps at all, although I have my doubts that it will fix anything.

I really have no idea on what the issue could be..I guess the first step is to test with a different magazine...which I don't have, at least it gives me an excuse to buy some more magazines...
 
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I was not running a sling when I was experiencing these issues. But I use a vickers BFG when I'm running a sling.

Could it be possible that the PMC .223 is just too under powered for my Tavor? or that it needs some more rounds through it for everything to loosen up before I use .223 ???
 
I had a similar issue when using Norc 223 once.
Every couple rounds, sometimes one right after another, empty cases would eject but the bolt wouldn't pick up a new round. Bolt wouldn't always lock back either. This happened on one range trip where all I had with me was Norc. It really pissed me off.
I packed up early and cleaned the rifle right out, then went back again a few days later, this time with the same Norc ammo and PMC and American Eagle too. The rifle still didn't like the Norc, though the malfunctions were fewer for some reason. The rifle then ran flawlessly with the PMC and American Eagle. My conclusion? The Norc ammo must've been underpowered or something, because it wasn't cycling the action reliably. My Tavor has never malfunctioned before or since then, so I steer clear of the Norc. Funny thing tho, I also had my DD AR with me and it ran fine with the Norc ammo, so I don't know what's up with that.
Maybe try get some hotter ammo, like some federal 5.56, or any different brand of ammo and just see if still malfunctions. PMC 223 is well known to be lightly loaded ammo, but like I say it has always been perfectly fine in both my Tavor and AR's. Strange really..
 
My Tavor runs both Norc and PMC no issues. This is very weird. Lube the sh!t out of it and give it a run again with some Fed 556.

Something must be binding up. :confused:
 
Took it to the range today. Ran about 150 rounds of PMC through it without any issues!

I just applied a little extra lube to the whole BCG and that seems to have fixed the problem? Guess the Tavor likes being run wet.
 
I had tons of issues with my Colt Canada first range trip. Then I realised it was never lubed... LOL...

Glad it worked out !
 
mikethebike said:
I know this might sound really stupid obvious but is the magazine cleanly seated?
If you insert an empty magazine now and rock the handle backwards does it lock the bolt back?
Did you check your bolt for the bolt catch riding on the bolt?
Did you carve out a groove in your magazines?
Does it do the same thing with the original 45 round metal mag?
Click to expand...

Original 45 round mag?
 
mikethebike said:
yep, 45 pinned to 5
Click to expand...

How long is that mag? Also did anyone else receive a 45 round capacity mag with their Tavor? Mine came with the standard 30 round mag (pinned of course) which is approximately the same length as my 30 round pmags, but slightly longer than a USGI 30 mag.

My apologies for going off topic.
 
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