# new AR15, fail to fire issues



## DLYskes1976 (Sep 15, 2015)

Ok, so monday ( 4-4-16 ) i picked up a nice Spikes Tactical w/ a red/green dot sight, and some other stuff for a good price... well a couple hours later i get to my dads to do some shooting and first round fires.... second round, i pull the trigger and all i hear is a click... i cycle the bolt and nothing ( just the hammer dropping ) ... so after a few tries and nothing, i switch to some 5.56 ( yes the barrel was a 223/5.56 ) and i get off 5 or 6 rounds before the same thing happens... 

After some more trying i could get a round off every now and then, but the following round wouldnt fire... so i put the rifle away..

Now i will say the bolt and charging handle felt tight....so when i got home i broke down the rifle and cleaned and lubed up everything really well, and racked the bolt about 20 times, and the charging handle and bolt felt like it was a lot smoother.. 

So i am not sure if the firing pin was just tight in the bolt and not getting a good strike on the bullets or what,, i did keep all of the bullets that didnt fire, and noticed all of them did have a pin strike.. 

my dad's first thought was the bolt head spacing might be off? 

just curious if anyone has had this issue.... i plan on firing off a few rounds in the morning or atleast trying, and if the same thing still happens, to take it back to the dealer, since he told me if i had any issues with the rifle to bring it to him..


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

Might be preservative material within the firing-pin channel.
Might need to be cleaned out.

Worth a look, anyway.


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## DLYskes1976 (Sep 15, 2015)

right......i did forget to add, the guy had put a Fail Zero bolt into the rifle too... so initially all i did was drop some lube on the outside of the bolt.. cuz ya know it does say it doesnt need oil lol....


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## VAMarine (Dec 25, 2008)

Is the whole gun a mutt? Bad firing pin, weak hammer spring or other assembly issues are possibilities.


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## DLYskes1976 (Sep 15, 2015)

VAMarine, Well i took the rifle in tuesday morning and had the owner look at the rifle, and i told him i completely cleaned the bolt when i got home monday night. he checked everything out on the gun ( re-cleaned the bolt and polished it up ), head spacing check, firing pin, and everything was good... i even had him check the hammer spring cuz when the gun was broke down, the hammer sounded weak, when i'd pull the trigger. So he put in a stronger hammer spring, and took it out back and fired off a full mag.. he gave me another 20 free rounds which i fired off when i got home without issue.. 

My thoughts are it was a weak hammer spring, cuz i showed him some of the bullets that had firing pin hits but didnt fire, vs a couple of bullets he had fired off and you could see the difference in the firing pin hit.... 

on the plus side, i did buy a new Burress 3x scope from him for my AR....


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## DLYskes1976 (Sep 15, 2015)

ok, so after a couple of times out to my dads shooting my AR, i think i've figured out that my AR is just picky about ammo... so i bought 200 rounds of PMC bronze off the dealer i bought my AR from... and have had zero issues with the ammo... the American Eagle black box stuff .223 and 5.56 i still have issues with, a lot of the times i can get the bullet to fire on the second time around.. i even bought some Federal .223 from wally world 100 round box, and even had some issues with that stuff too.. and same thing a lot of the time i could get the bullet to fire the second time around. 

i've heard that some AR's can be picky when it comes to ammo.. not sure if that is true or not.. but i'll be trying some other stuff come monday lol just to see what this rifle will shoot and will not shoot


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## berettatoter (Sep 1, 2011)

My DPMS has worked like a champ with any type of .223 & 5.56 I have fed it. I used to have a M&P 15, and it was the same way. Man, still sounds like there is something going on with yours that keeps the firing pin from going deep enough into the primer. I have quite a bit of the Federal American Eagle and Black Box stuff, and have never had any issues with either AR.


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## Wyoming_1977 (Feb 24, 2016)

An AR shouldn't be picky about ammunition. That simply doesn't make sense.

There is a mechanical failure someplace, and where I would be inclined to look is in the Bolt Carrier Group. It sounds to me as though you have a failure somewhere in that particular cycle of operations. I would first off recommend as thorough a disassembly and thorough cleaning and lubrication as you can manage.


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## MoMan (Dec 27, 2010)

I have a Spikes Tactical and it eats anything I've tossed down it. There is a problem somewhere in your rifle.


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## DLYskes1976 (Sep 15, 2015)

Well i was thinking the same thing, that it's something with the BCG, since it shouldnt be picky about what it's getting fed, i've cleaned the bolt inside and out several times, ran it dry and lubed... So over the weekend i bought a Spikes Tactical full auto bcg, to try out.. So i will give a update come thursday when i have a day off to do some shooting..

this is the BCG i bought
Spikes Tactical AR15 Complete Bolt Carrier Group 5.56MM - ST5BG01


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## DLYskes1976 (Sep 15, 2015)

So I found out some bad news tonight the spikes tactical that I bought was a build  and I didn't know it... fml... on the plus side I did buy a Windham Weaponry carbon fiber ar15 and this thing is awesome.... had it sighted in within 6 shots and it just is the cats ass... plus it's so much lighter... and the groups I was getting with this rifle are pretty nice... 

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk


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## berettatoter (Sep 1, 2011)

DLYskes1976 said:


> So I found out some bad news tonight the spikes tactical that I bought was a build  and I didn't know it... fml... on the plus side I did buy a Windham Weaponry carbon fiber ar15 and this thing is awesome.... had it sighted in within 6 shots and it just is the cats ass... plus it's so much lighter... and the groups I was getting with this rifle are pretty nice...
> 
> Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk


That happened to me once, but not with an AR. I bought this Siaga AK once, about 7 years ago, and all the pins kept walking out of the gun. It was not very reliable either. The gun store I had bought it from is out of business now, but found out that the owner's son was "building" these, but they were selling them as guns from Russia. Well, I don't have that one anymore, and I have learned a bit more about what to look for with an AK. Basically, I got ripped off. Too bad the place went out of business before I had this gun checked out. The gunsmith that I took it to was big on AK's, and he showed me a number of things that did not make it a Siaga.

Live and learn. :smt076


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## DLYskes1976 (Sep 15, 2015)

Well on another plus side....... i traded in said Spikes Tactical to a big box store lol..... and bought another Windham Weaponry MPC ( flip up sight version ).. while i took a bit of a hit on the trade in vs what i did pay... i figure in the long run i am better off accuracy wise and reliability and with having a awesome warranty too..... so now i have two Windham's lol


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