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Thread: Brownells AR-15 magazine reliability

  1. #1
    Member That Guy's Avatar
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    Brownells AR-15 magazine reliability

    My girlfriends rifle (Colt 6920) ran into some issues today. We're talking about a barely used rifle that has worked flawlessly until now, but on the last (ie. second - now this is some high speed low drag training! ) magazine of the day the gun suddenly had multiple failures to feed (bolt over base). This was with a brand new, never before used Brownells aluminium magazine. Ammunition was the same Lithuanian 55gr FMJ (made by GGG) that has worked well in both our guns before. Since the gun has been running fine until now, I'm thinking this must be the magazines fault.

    I've understood that this sort of thing ought to be fairly rare with "B-mags". But how rare of an occurrence are we talking about here? So far I've got ten of the bloody things stashed away (in addition to my training magazines, that is), and I'm hoping to buy many, many more while I still can - firing thirty rounds through each and every magazine in order to test fire them would be way too expensive to be economically feasible. How likely will I end up stashing junk magazines with my plan?

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    Member StraitR's Avatar
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    Bolt over base malfunctions are caused by the inability of the magazine (specifically the spring) to keep up with the cyclic rate of the bolt. That doesn't necessarily mean it's always the magazines fault though. Oversized gas ports, worn out buffer springs, worn out magazine springs, too light of buffer, out of spec mag, out of spec lower, ammo power factor, or any combination of the above can contribute.

    When you say, "the gun has been running fine until now", how are you qualifying that statement?

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    Quote Originally Posted by StraitR View Post
    When you say, "the gun has been running fine until now", how are you qualifying that statement?
    The gun had been fired, by my count, some 450 times with zero malfunctions. Once this one particular magazine was inserted, many malfunctions. Either something in the gun just flat out broke right there, or it's the magazines fault. I'd say the odds are that the magazine is faulty.

    (Obviously I can hopefully get her to the range as soon as possible with her rifle and some known good magazines to verify my theory, but at this point it seems the most plausible.)

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    Member StraitR's Avatar
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    You're free to diagnose as you see fit, I simply gave you the various factors and causes of your malfunction.

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    And I explained the reasons why I came to the conclusion the magazine is probably at fault. Do you see some fault with my logic? If the issue were with something like an oversized gas port or another faulty or worn out part, I don't see how the malfunctions could have started so suddenly. (And a gun with under 500 rounds through it should not have worn out parts, I would think?) Different ammo might have explained it, but it was the exact same ammo as before, and in fact ammunition loaded from the exact same box to another magazine worked fine just minutes before. So in this particular instance, I feel the magazine is the likely culprit. But if you think I am wrong in this, I am always more than happy to learn why.

  6. #6
    Site Supporter JSGlock34's Avatar
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    Do you number your magazines?
    "When the phone rang, Parker was in the garage, killing a man."

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    Member StraitR's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tony1911 View Post
    And I explained the reasons why I came to the conclusion the magazine is probably at fault. Do you see some fault with my logic? If the issue were with something like an oversized gas port or another faulty or worn out part, I don't see how the malfunctions could have started so suddenly. (And a gun with under 500 rounds through it should not have worn out parts, I would think?) Different ammo might have explained it, but it was the exact same ammo as before, and in fact ammunition loaded from the exact same box to another magazine worked fine just minutes before. So in this particular instance, I feel the magazine is the likely culprit. But if you think I am wrong in this, I am always more than happy to learn why.
    It's hard to say. The magazine is most likely the culprit, but then again, magazines are more often than not the biggest contributor to malfunctions anyway. It's difficult to use MRBS (aka. trigger pulls vs malfunctions) to determine gun reliability without a significant number of rounds through the gun. 450 is better than a couple boxes, but it's not significant. Guns can run on the ragged edge of functionality right out of the box, but it often goes unnoticed until some kind of operating variance (mags, ammo, lube, dirt) flushes out the issue which was hiding skin deep from the start.

    I'm not saying this is the case with your Colt, what I'm saying is I'm not familiar with your level of knowledge when it comes to AR's and diagnosing gun malfunctions online is a "try this, ok, now try this" thing at best anyway.

    That said, I would suggest disassembling the problematic mag, inspect it for burrs or abnormalities, wipe it down and put it back together. Take it back to the range with some other known good mags and see what happens. I would load the magazines to capacity, being that full spring compression and max weight of the rounds often make a difference in magazine functionality. I would also take a few more new Brownell's mags and see if you can recreate the issue with those.

    As JSGlock34 alluded to, numbering your mags to track issues like these.

  8. #8
    Site Supporter JSGlock34's Avatar
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    Every manufacturer can produce a lemon, but if we're talking about a factory complete 6920, I agree the more likely suspect is the aftermarket magazine, even if Brownells is considered a quality product. I think StraitR has provided good advice on inspecting the magazine for defects. If you've got a bad one, stomp on it with your boot and toss it in the trash.

    If you've lost confidence in the Brownells magazines, there are other quality options (I recommend Magpul PMAGs, or Okay/Colt magazines if you must have aluminum). I'm not familiar with the Lithuanian ammunition you're using, but if problems persist I'd consider some Lake City (M193 or M855) 5.56mm ammunition for comparison.
    "When the phone rang, Parker was in the garage, killing a man."

  9. #9
    Hillbilly Elitist Malamute's Avatar
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    A while back someone mentioned a bad batch of Brownells mags (from several years ago). The feed lips had a noticeably different curve than normal. It was obvious looking at the mag with a round in it compared to a good one, only the tips of the lips touched the round instead of the curve of the lips matching the curve of the case. There were pics, but i dont recall exactly where or when i saw it, maybe here, maybe m4c.net.
    Last edited by Malamute; 05-21-2017 at 12:59 AM.

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    An update of sorts: while I still haven't been able to drag my girlfriend back to the range for rifle shooting, I did some dryfire with the magazine in question. Same thing, lots of bolt over base. Quite clearly a faulty magazine, which has by now been discarded.

    Still a little unsure as to how rare an occurrence a faulty Brownells magazine is exactly. Apparently they should be good magazines. Just a little jarring to see a brand new magazine act this way, coming from the AK side. Hopefully I won't run into any more of those.

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