Ruger Woes - I May Need A Gunsmith

[DirectDrive]

On a piston gun, just up the gas.

He reported that he is getting no reaction by turning up the gas.
That's why I suspect the Ruger piston system as the #1 component to sort out.

 

[DirectDrive]

Approx. 750 - ish

4:00 & weak.

Yes, it used to have a strong ejection pattern.

I'll be checking the piston system again tomorrow. I've never oiled that area as per instructions from Ruger. I've cleaned the piston and other parts with a dry rag. I'll see if there is some form of carbon build up inside the piston casing.

Very thorough cleaning in all areas. CLP primarily, then a light grease on the rails and oil where required. I'll oil it up more than usual, except for the piston area, and g

I haven't modified this AR's action in any way and it is as it was manufactured.

Sounds like you on on the right track in the troubleshoot.
Let us know how it goes.

 

[powermad]

Did the gas port get some gunk in it from cleaning the barrel and then get baked in there?

When I had a FAL I would blast out the hole with carb cleaner and run a paper clip through it.
I do the same with the SR-762.

 

[NWCustomFirearms]

It shouldn't have this problem with all three green tip ammo you listed. That's all decent stuff.

And what @Cerberus Group asked...

And @ KKG there may be a couple smiths around qualified to diagnose an AR problem

I can think of 2

 

[DirectDrive]

Did the gas port get some gunk in it from cleaning the barrel and then get baked in there?

When I had a FAL I would blast out the hole with carb cleaner and run a paper clip through it.
I do the same with the SR-762.

 

[powermad]

It doesn't look like to much drama to get the gas block and such off if you need to break it all down for inspection.

This is a 762, the 556 is pretty much the same. Not my pic

 

[DuneHopper]

Check head space ??

 

[DirectDrive]

Could be the Wingate gear, but never overlook the muffler bearing.

 

[SA Shooter]

Thank you all for your input here. It's been informative and helpful.

I attempted tear down the rifle Tuesday morning. At first, after releasing the pins, the weapon would not break open and I noticed that the BCG was not fully seated in the closed position. It took quite a rap to get it to slide forward enough so that I could open the firearm and remove the upper from the lower. Suffice to say it was not sliding freely as it was designed to do.

The BCG and the inside rails of the upper appear to be badly scored. I am wondering if the BCG was wobbling around for some reason or another. Further, it WILL NOT move backwards out of the upper. I tried everything I could think of, short of forcing it backwards with a small bar, and it is firmly stuck.

So I have stripped all the accessories off the rifle and will be shipping it to Ruger in the next day or so.

More on the malfunction later after the folks at Ruger have an opportunity to tear it down and inspect it.

Right now let's chalk it all up to Defecation Occurs.

 

[DirectDrive]

Thank you all for your input here. It's been informative and helpful.

I attempted tear down the rifle Tuesday morning. At first, after releasing the pins, the weapon would not break open and I noticed that the BCG was not fully seated in the closed position. It took quite a rap to get it to slide forward enough so that I could open the firearm and remove the upper from the lower. Suffice to say it was not sliding freely as it was designed to do.

The BCG and the inside rails of the upper appear to be badly scored. I am wondering if the BCG was wobbling around for some reason or another. Further, it WILL NOT move backwards out of the upper. I tried everything I could think of, short of forcing it backwards with a small bar, and it is firmly stuck.

So I have stripped all the accessories off the rifle and will be shipping it to Ruger in the next day or so.

More on the malfunction later after the folks at Ruger have an opportunity to tear it down and inspect it.

Right now let's chalk it all up to Defecation Occurs.

It's been documented that some of those rifles had problems with "carrier tilt".
Hopefully Ruger will get it sorted and back to you quickly.

 

[Mikej]

Tagging.....

 

[SA Shooter]

Got the Ruger back today.

Included in the box was a receipt for the repairs, a Ruger cleaning cloth and a short note from the tech.

Apparently the gas piston had cracked and a small metal spinter, part of the piston, was found inside the gas block. So that was the problem that created the short stroking. There was some collateral damage caused to the transfer rod, transfer rod spring and the BCG as well. It seems that short stroking puts the system out of time so the BCG was moving forwards and smacking the transfer rod before the rod and spring had fully moved back forward.

So, they replaced the following:

1. Gas block
2. Gas piston
3. Gas regulator and detent
4. Transfer rod
5. Transfer rod spring
6. BCG
7. Fire control group. Basically they took out the Elftmann trigger and put their stock trigger in. I'll have to remedy that.

They inspected the rest of the upper, re-assembled the rifer, test fired 40 rounds with no failures and sent it back.

The receipt also noted the rifle had been adequately cleaned and lubricated when received.

Well, we'll see how it goes from here.

I appreciate everyone's input!

 

[bsa1917hunter]

So my question is, what are the benefits of having a piston gun over direct impingement? Ive never had problems with DI.

 

[SA Shooter]

I personally like them and this is the first time I've had a problem with one after thousands of rounds through several gas piston firearms. I also have DI firearms and like those as well.

My question to you is why does this thread have to morph into that discussion? It's already a dead horse.

 

[SA Shooter]

Oh, by the way.....

DING! DING! DING! DING! We have a winner! DirectDrive was spot on with his prediction in post #21.

 

[DirectDrive]

Oh, by the way.....

DING! DING! DING! DING! We have a winner! DirectDrive was spot on with his prediction in post #21.

OK, cool.
Now what did I win ?

 

[Mikej]

My question to you is why does this thread have to morph into that discussion? It's already a dead horse.

Maybe were not all as experienced as you?

 

[SA Shooter]

Maybe were not all as experienced as you?

Oh, I doubt that. And I don't doubt there isn't pages and pages of discussion available for anyone to read.

My intent was to document the issue and report on the resolution. Starting that discussion on DI vs. gas piston again would cause Joe to have to buy more server space!

 

[osprey]

Sounds like your piston had a factory defect, glad you got it worked out. So Ruger is like Glock an will take all non oem parts out evidently. Did they ship your fcg back to you?

 

[SA Shooter]

Sounds like your piston had a factory defect, glad you got it worked out. So Ruger is like Glock an will take all non oem parts out evidently. Did they ship your fcg back to you?

I've never dealt with Glock on an issue like this but that's exactly what Ruger did.

I had stripped all the Magpul and other accessories off the firearm before sending it to them.

And, Yes, they did replace the trigger with an OEM one and shipped back the Elftmann with the firearm. It is standard procedure apparently, and they address it in their return authorization documents, but then again given the cause of the failure they didn't have to.