There are many peculiar things a person who is new to AR-15’s may notice about AR rifles in particular. Unlike normal handguns and common grade hunting rifles, this firearm can be pretty complicated to use. The fact that it is gas-operated does not help in this regard by any means. Common issues AR15 owners tend to face include feeding failure, rifle jamming, short strokes, and more. An amateur AR-15 owner may be less familiar with AR-15 accessories and fire arm parts, or and may wonder about the reason for these malfunctions. If you are riddled with doubts in this area, below are some of the common AR rifle malfunctions and their corresponding solutions.
Rifle stoppage is one of the most frequently encountered issues when it comes to AR-15’s. In fact, it is quite natural for you to encounter a situation where your AR rifle fails to act as you expected. There may be instances where you find it hard to pull the trigger, it feels unresponsive or short on action, or get no more than a clicking sound instead of a normal firing action. Sometimes, the weapon may fail after you have fired once or several times. All of these symptoms point to AR-15 stoppage which is one of the common malfunctions. In simple terms, this refers to the failure of your rifle to perform a full cycle of operations in the right way.
This can be a result of either manual or mechanical fault. If the stoppage is caused by human error, it should be easier to tackle. For instance, after you pull the trigger without chambering the first round, nothing will happen. This is actually a simple mistake, and can be resolved at the firing range itself. When it comes to other errors, immediate action is actually defined as ‘tap, rack, and reassess’.
In the first step, you tap your rifle magazine in order to ensure its proper placement. Then, rack and pull the charging handle of and release it cleanly using ample force. Finally, reassess and make sure that it is safe to fire the rifle. Many studies in the field report that around 95% of AR rifle stoppages can be tackled using this immediate action. If you fail to fix the problem even with that, you may be facing severe or complex issues such as the stovepipe jam, double feed, chambering failure, magazine issues, spring malfunctions, a brass-over-bolt error, short stroke, firing failure, etc. In such cases, it is best to consult an expert and get the problem fixed.