Our two favorite firearm info straight-shooters, Brownells Gun Techs Caleb Savant and Steve Ostrem, have some tips on why your AR-15’s bolt won’t close or, to use the technical term, “go into battery.” It’s a pretty common problem, and guess what? There are multiple reasons why an AR bolt doesn’t close. REASON #1: An overloaded magazine – 31 rounds in your 30-round mag. Just because you can shove an extra round into the magazine doesn’t mean the bolt has enough oomph to overcome the mag spring’s pressure and strip the round out of the magazine. REASON #2: Packing grease in the chamber. This is common on brand-new guns. Overzealous application of rust preventative by the manufacturer, and maybe in your eagerness to hit the range you forgot to do a thorough cleaning. REASON #3: A weak buffer spring – common to old rifles with a LOT of rounds down the barrel. Buffer springs are easy to replace. REASON #4: You’re “following down” with the charging handle instead of just pulling it to release the bolt catch and letting it go. The AR-15 is designed for hard use, so letting the bolt smack home won’t hurt the gun. REASON #5: Reloaded ammunition with improperly resized cases. An oversized case won’t chamber!
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What does it mean if the round goes all the way in yet the bolt doesn’t close completely ?
Can anyone tell me what handgaurd is on that AR ?
I assembled my AR15 and without thinking forgot to install the charging handle. How do I remove the bolt now?
Jesus Loves You
What does it mean if my charging handle doesn't snap back and I have to push it in ?
Or a black rain ordnance ejector pin staying fk it and the guts landing in the chamber with a live round to boot
Some uppers are very finicky on what bcg cam pin is moving around in there, most of the time I probably wouldn’t notice but I built a 300 blackout with a faxon upper and every bcg I tried rubbed the anodizing off the cam pin cut out and dragged the bcg , put in a faxon bcg and no problem, tolerance stacking is real
I have to commend you guys – I’m new to AR’s and I was making the mistake of following the charging handle down. Pulling it back and letting it go worked wonders. Thank You
Kyle Lamb says the proper way to charge your rifle is to lock the bolt back, set the charging handle, and then send it home with the paddle/release. And for good reason. This is a common problem with mags loaded to the hilt. But, done this way, problems gone forever. Or until you need a new buffer spring.
I had this issue today at the range. The bolt wouldn't rotate and go into battery and it got stuck in the chamber. When I got home I separated the upper from the lower and gently tapped on the carrier with a brass punch and it came out. Even by hand it was super tough to rotate the bolt I don't know what happened but after a few times of trying it, something came loose or whatever because all of the sudden the problem stopped and it worked as it should. The BCG was WMD btw.
What optic is on the rifle?
God I feel like a dumb ass I kept riding the bolt home on my new side charging ar thinking they gave me a faulty upper!
Thanks guys for the great video. I am a new AR owner so I found this very helpful
When I try to charge my AR it will not rack completely if I take the takedown pins out it charges perfectly I don't know what my problem is
Segue into a sales pitch for the Brownell's AR Chamber cleaning rod and Nylon Chamber brushes. Indispensable stuff for proper maintenance of any AR in my humble opinion.
I have seen this hundreds of times. A grunt drops the bolt and carrier assembly and dents the gas key. They are really quite soft. Sometimes you can reform them, sometimes not.
I had a "bolt won't close" issue on my UTAS XRT-12 (ar10 shotgun) finally got it apart at home and found that the cam pin was bent. no more 1600 FPS slugs through that. I know what I have with that firearm, I'm keeping it because I want to like it but it is not something I would bet my life with.
Maybe someone can answer this. I bought a 300 blackout upper to put on my ar lower. When I pull the charging handle back and release the bolt closes. If I do the same thing with a mag inserted the bolt won’t close unless I hit the bolt release. Why is this? Any help would be great! I have not put any rounds through it yet. Btw I used standard 556 mags I do have 300 mags being delivered. TIA
On a new build, I had installed one of those melonite (sp?) coated gas tubes. Bolt would not go into battery about every fith round. Finally took it apart and found really Tight fit into gas key. Tried in a new gas key; found that the tube fit WAY too tight in the new gas key too. I had to buy a new key to confirm it was the tube out of spec and not the key.
I would add to check your bolt as well. Make sure the bolt is rotating as it should along the cam. That will prevent it from locking all the way.
“Military style “?? AR was designed for civilian sport shooting and hunting before even the military decided to adopt it!! And as we ALL know rifles in the military the have totally different pattern on material for working parts!!! Respectfully disagree with that term!!!
I happen to know a great source of buffer springs for my AR's. Same company carries the full spring change out for my M1 Garand. Its a little place in Montezuma Iowa, not far from Sig's manufacturing. I just can't remember the name…. 🙂
Every new 1911 I buy I have to change out the plastic mainspring housing for one made of real metal. I prefer the chain link pattern and your service department NEVER dissapoints. Thank you for your excellent service over the years and I intend to keep using you as a primary source of parts.
Look at those EARS ! Holy smoke must bring em in a case they can't be oem
You did not say a word about headspace if the head space is too tight because you matched together a bunch of mil-spec parts that are on the opposite end of the spectrum and then you don't have headspace in the bolt won't close I seen that happened several times people
If you do your own reloading, after firing the same shell case 2 to 3 times, the shell case starts to grow longer. When you resize the shell case the resizing process makes the case still grow even longer. Eventually the case grows to be too long and will not let the cartridge enter the chamber completely. After you pull the trigger the rifle goes "click" imitating a hang fire. At this point it is very difficult to remove the cartridge from the rifle because you have to beat the charging handle back to remove the cartridge. When you eventually do get the cartridge out of the rifle you'll notice a small dent in the primer. The reason this happens is because the bolt didn't fully seat the cartridge into the chamber making the bolt not go into full battery. This is known as a head space problem. To correct this you must trim the shell case to a maximum length of 1.750". After you trim the shell case to the proper length the problem should disappear.
…or if you're like me, you just so happened to get the one of a thousand made defective and it needs to be sent back for warranty repair. Last one I sent out was due to a design flaw in the weird looking silver bcg. It was swapped with a black one with different cuts + new barrel and it was fine after.
I’m surprised that you didn’t mention to check for a squib/bore obstruction.
Is anyone else having audio problems on this channel? Thanks.
Mine won't cycle because I don't have primers…
Because it’s an AR-15, get a real rifle and there will be no worries.
Bent gas tube?
…because you built a Frankengun out off high-tolerance parts which have no business beings assembled together, but for the stat sheet you downloaded?!
Because you didnt want a forward assist hahah
Doesn't matter. Uncle Joe say no, no,