The 2 Worst AR-15 Malfunctions – Ever

I was once practicing clearing bolt overrides, and the round I set up to simulate the BoR got completely jammed underneath my gas tube, bending it all out of whack. Managed to get it out with a screwdriver.

My friend and I had a similar malfunction to the second one you described in his AR 10. We were using deer season XP ballistic tip 308 ammo and the plastic ballistic tip sheared off and got stuck in the gas key. This can’t happen it’s rare but this isn’t the only time it’s ever happened.

My personal worst was when a frangible bullet stuck in the barrel, fortunately not far enough down to allow another round to chamber land lock…
The craziest I'm aware of is one I saw on video where a bee flew into a receiver during a reload. The next round squashed it into the chamber, where the heat cooked it, locking the cartridge into the chamber and the gun up completely.

I was shooting at a range just outside Cincinnati Ohio a few years back and I had a guy a couple rows down from me that was there with his son. After about 15-20 minutes of fire I saw the gentleman and his son take their AR-15 back to the bench and they appeared perplexed. I was going back to my bench to swap out guns and the dad said "Do you have any experience shooting AR-15's" Of course I told him that I have been shooting AR-15's for almost twenty years. So the man said "take a look at this malfunction" What I came upon was a S&W M&P 15 laying on its side with what looked like a case that just wouldn't feed. Well upon further inspection I discovered that the round originally chambered had suffered a case head seperation and had somehow cycled enough to eject the back half of the chambered round and pick up a new round from the magazine and the new round smashed in the chambered case forcing the new round to wedge inside the separated round. Worst malfunction I have ever seen to date.

Use quality ammo from reputable manufacturers, good mags like magpul or lancers and quality weapons like BCM, Troy, DD, aero and you’ll have far less problems. I own all of the brands i mentioned except Daniel Defense and have taken numerous classes and shot 100s of thousands of rounds. I can count on one hand the malfs I’ve experienced. You need to clean inspect and replace parts if you shoot alot. Dont wait for them to break before you replace them.

You have the greatest luck… like this guy I read about that got ran over by an LAV…

Just watch Honest Outlaw’s video on the Springfield Saint. He can help you out with these little problems….NOT! That guy is a phenomenal shooter, but sucks at troubleshooting malfunctions. He just beats the crap out of everything with a hammer

First malfn happens when you reload and decide to not appropriately toss out projectiles you ran over with a truck tire. Doesn’t feed no matter how smooth those ramps are, either pushes into cartridge neck or pops off and powder spills out.
I simply rubbed my pinky in the chamber to clean and slammed the bolt back into battery and fired the next one. Yes, there was extra smoke. But by being so impatient, I’m pretty sure I fire formed my chamber a bit tighter and it’s never been more accurate. Not recommended tho

Idaho Ordnance Factory are scumbags. Back just before the big ammo craze they were taking pre-orders for are huge batch of ammo being produced. They said the ammo would ship in about 2-3 months. During that 2-3 months things started getting crazy with riots and covid and ammo jumped up in price everywhere. IOF canceled everyone's order and told them to place a new order…the problem is they denied the previous normal price for the ammo which was around 30 cents per round for 9mm. They wanted you to place a new order with pricing around 70 cents per round.

I didn't think that the bolt carrier moved rearward enough to allow a malfunction like that.

Could you have possibly pulled out both take down pins and separate the upper from the lower to get inside to get to the broken bullet by the gas key/tube?

What do you mean by "…his vast experience shooting that platform?"

Worked on a range a while back. Saw a forward assist break off and wedge between the reciever and the bolt. Bolt was stuck to the rear and it took work to get it out. Also saw buffer retaining pin and spring come out and lodge in the fire controll group making the firearm inoperable.

The fix for your worst malfunction ever is to pop both takedown pins and slide the upper forward and up to remove it from the lower.

I had a primer from a new un-fired round pop out and jam the trigger assembly. This was some of my reloads. I now use a hand primer so I can better judge the resistance of the primer going in. Shit happens. I always take a spare rifle to the range with me now.

one of the worst ive had was a steel case stuck in the chamber. i had to get a metal cleaning rod and push it out, no other option, now i always have 3 piece brass rod in my gun case jic.. though recently i learned that you can use a paint can opened for this.

My Ars are boring,they've never malfunctioned.I bought three Colts from Wal Mart in 2012,two M4a1socoms and a tan Magpul edition 6920.I always use 62gr green tips from Lake City,the weapons and ammo have been 100%.Even my Arsenal Sgl21 has had 4 failures to feed over 9yrs.

Cam somebokody explaikn wkhy you cant just remove tkhe BCG/bolt one the second one? I dont get it

Hey cool I didn’t know you lived near my area

Sh!t happens I guess. I had 2 AR bolts breaking about a month and a half apart! 🤷‍♂️

That's gnarly! I'm glad you're ok. I had a similar malfunction shooting frangible. The projectile broke off inside the chamber and was lodged, essentially creating a squib. It must have happened when I cleared the weapon on the range one day because I didn't discover the issue until I went to the range next and couldn't chamber a round. Luckily I was able to break the weapon down and realized there was a problem when I couldn't see light through the barrel. Just glad another round couldn't be chambered because it would have been a lot worse. I've never heard someone with a similar experience until now, glad to know I'm not crazy. (I was shooting Fiocchi factory frangible).

I had a primer somehow get lodged in the chamber once locking up the bolt into the chamber about 80%. Couldn't get the bolt to go back or forward to clear the malfunction and eventually had to mash the forward assist a bunch to get the bolt to go forward enough so I could separate the upper and lower and eventually fix the problem. Still can't figure out how a primer got stuck in there.

The armorers could very easily tamper with the zero of your rifle. Think about that. It's ethically horrible, but…

More story time!

Could you see yourself liberating known prostitutes that struggle with addiction from abusive tyranny, and putting them into a humanitarian recovery program, if rewarded handsomely with money?

Idaho ordinance is local to me too the owner has a dicey reputation at best

So you're telling us to use good ammo?

As a reloader I know all about a projectile separating from the brass and powder getting everywhere, the worst

I had one of those crazy rounds that turned backwards over the next round, and it locked my bcg too far back to break the upper.
So I pulled both pins and it came free from the lower.
Cleared the jam in less than a minute, and it's never happened again.
Federal Eagle 55gr.

Had a steel case get stuck on top of a primer blow out. That was fun.

Moral of the story: If you're using your rifle for serious usage, make sure you have quality ammo in it!

Your first malfunction happens to reloaders all the time. Some dudes reload their cartridges extra long to reduce the bullet jump to the lands. Sometimes they cut it too tight and the bullet will get wedged into the rifling upon chambering. If you don't shoot that round and try to extract it, you will only pull the case out and dump powder everywhere…. while leaving yourself a nice squib lodged in the throat of your barrel.

Bad days. That's why I never load my stuff that close because shit happens.

Have not carried let alone ever fired an POS AR-15/M-16 what ever after the 3rd buttstock breaking off on a mission! Don't trust my life to and pos! M-14 has never failed from the first day since!!!!!