Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles AR's are finicky

I've loaded ammo for every gun I've ever owned but the pistols, and the AR is the most finicky thing I've loaded for.

My Mini-14's will shoot ammo the AR's have issues with. They get dirty and start malfuntioning way to easy. If you need tacticool I guess an AR is your huckleberry.

If you want a handy little semi-auto that always works the Mini-14 is the way to go.

There's something wrong with your AR.



Travis

I'm thinken Travis is right

Snake

yep ive got one thrown together with parts purchased from here there and everywhere and it runs reliably so far without a single hickup.....have tried loading for it yet abut a number of types of cheap and expensive ammo has functioned fine....though i do run mine really wet out of habit....

I've never had any ammo issues at all with my multiple ARs.

never seen a finicky AR except one quality parts kit that had a barrel that was a cheapy, that would only shoot 40s.... or 45s IIRC that a friend had. I said thats what you get sometimes for model one sales stuff.

Now a mini being considered accurate is one thing I"ve never seen at all. Ever. But maybe you have the best mini and I"ve not seen the worst AR.

But you are right, the mini seems to be somewhat fool proof, about like an AK, if you can hit what you are aiming at with their accuracy and it makes you happy.

Me... I"ve rarely seen an AR that was much worse than moa or 1.5 moa. Most everyone I"ve had will get to .5 moa fairly easily.

To OP: Try H4895?

Also clean your AR and lube it so that it has a film of oil in the bolt carrier group.

Use a tooth brush and powder solvent and scrub the "teeth" of the bolt and where it locks up.

BigNate, I would go through the rifle and first make sure is as it should be; barrel torque, etc. The saving grace of the AR is that it's modular. If it's not right it can be made right with replacement parts. If it's assembled correctly I would start with the barrel and work back.

I've had a couple of AR's that were real stinkers. Most have been good rifles though.

The only finickyness I've seen is with my Rock River PP that won't chamber a fat little bullet that will work fine in the rest of them. So maybe you're right. I should sell that Rock River that shoots bug holes with everything else and replace it with a Mini 14 as soon as possible. Then all my problems will be over.

check the gas ring on the AR Bolt and make sure they are staggered. Most problems with the AR Platform is Operator Error

Please sell your AR and enjoy your mini.

The rest of us will be fine with our tacticool AR's.

Yeah, really. Whatever you do, don't bother to actually learn proper reloading procedures.

Do you find your jeep finicky to drive too? Could be a pattern there....

stay inside and away from sharp objects and stairs. With luck like yours maybe stay in bed all day as well.

Then all your holes will have "moved to the country" and live far, far apart....

Sounds like the nut behind the trigger is loose.

I agree with the above posters something is [bleep] up in your AR. Give it a GOOD cleaning including scraping the carbon off the bolt tail, lube it well with a good lube (typically Mobil 1) for me, and try it again.

Does it bobble with factory ammo as well?

If its clean, lubed and chokes on factories I would check the torque on the barrel then che k gas port size.

Most issues of unreliability I have ever heard of if the torque values are right are gas port related.

I can always count on you guys for kind works of encouragement.

Actually in five years of owning & shooting these I've had only one fail to extract, and a couple short stroke after switching from 22lr back and it was dirty. But I'm always amazed at how passionate some people are. Where's the finger smilely?

I know Travis is right.

Ernie

AR's should be far more reliable than the Mini-14. If yours isn't, then something's wrong. Do you have bad mags, bad bolt carrier? Are your gas rings at 120/240/360 degrees? Is your gun bone dry?