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Had a great day at the range until this happened....

The case/round, which I am not sure if it is spent or live, is stuck as shown in the pictures. I can't pull the charging handle back, the case is wedge in tight. The manual says to take it to a gunsmith. I just might have to but thought I would try here first to see if I can get ideas to safely remove it myself. The upper and lower won't come apart, probably because of the stuck charging handle. I can't think of a logical way to extract this case. Any ideas?

Thanks
 
I know you said the upper and lower won't come apart... but did you try pulling the front pin as well as the rear? Pull both pins, and you may be able to seperate them, depending on how far the BCG is rrecessed back into the buffer tube.

Now take this advice for what it is worth, coming from a random guy(who is propably wearing panty hose in his mother's basement:s0131:), as I am no gunsmith or AR expert... but...

Since the Bolt carrier group is far back enough, can you place a non-marring object(like a small diameter dowell) against the face of the bolt carrier, and lightly tap it rearward?
 
I know you said the upper and lower won't come apart... but did you try pulling the front pin as well as the rear? Pull both pins, and you may be able to seperate them, depending on how far the BCG is rrecessed back into the buffer tube.

Now take this advice for what it is worth, coming from a random guy(who is propably wearing panty hose in his mother's basement:s0131:), as I am no gunsmith or AR expert... but...

Since the Bolt carrier group is far back enough, can you place a non-marring object(like a small diameter dowell) against the face of the bolt carrier, and lightly tap it rearward?

I could pull the front pin but not the rear. The gun wouldn't seperate. I was hoping that would work and give me access but not happening. I also had tried pulling pretty firmly on the charging handle rearward to but it is wedge tight. Sort of afraid of tapping the BCG as suggested because it will have to "tap" thru the case to break free. See what I mean? Seems like it will damage the bolt carrier on it's way thru the case. Sort of damned if I go forward and damned if I go backwards.
I will give it a few more hours for more responses and then try a light tap if that seems to be the consensus.
 
You guys are great! It was so easy using the dowel and not even a tap, just a good push. Maybe I made too big of deal out of it but in the past I have had a glock problem that taught me a lesson (long story). So this time I used lots of caution. Now I know what to do next time.
It was a live round. Any ideas why it happened?

Thanks for all the help!
 
That malfunction is called a "Bolt Override" whereas the bolt has gone forward and wedged a cassing in the upper receiver.

An Operator's View of M4/M4A1 Carbine (and AR-15 Carbine) Malfunctions

This is classified as a "complex malfunction", and there are a few things you can do to get it out. What I recommend doing is just simply get yourself a pair of needle-nose pliers, grab the cassing, and bend it out of there while pulling the bolt to the rear. Make sure the upper is appart from the lower first so that the stock spring isn't pusshing the bolt forward (making your life harder). Just push out both takedown pins (use some man power here) and push the upper in the opposite direction of the spring (since part of your bolt is still in the stock).

You can pull the bolt out by force but you risk bending the charging handle.

DO NOT put a dowel down the barrel and "tap away" sine it more likely will just push the cassing up further. However, you can tap at a rubber or wooden dowel on the underside of the bolt assembly directly once you take the firearm apart (as described above).

There is nothing wrong with your firearm or the ammo. I've seen this malfunction many times.
 
There's nothing wrong with being cautious around firearms....
When was the last time the chamber or the rest of the rifle was thoroughly cleaned?
What ammo are you using?
J

i was using my reloaded ammunition. Firearm is cleaned after every outing. I rarely fire more than 60 rounds a session.
 
You can fix this on the range without tools too. Collapse the stock. Pull rearward on the charging handle and mortar the gun straight down into the ground while keeping pressure on the charging handle. Do it until you feel the charging handle move, even just a little. Keep pressure on the charging handle, reach in to the ejection port and put pressure on the bolt to keep it in place. Chop the charging handle forward while keeping the bolt in the place with your other hand and the stuck casing should come loose.
 
You can fix this on the range without tools too. Collapse the stock. Pull rearward on the charging handle and mortar the gun straight down into the ground while keeping pressure on the charging handle. Do it until you feel the charging handle move, even just a little. Keep pressure on the charging handle, reach in to the ejection port and put pressure on the bolt to keep it in place. Chop the charging handle forward while keeping the bolt in the place with your other hand and the stuck casing should come loose.

mortaring is what i was gonna suggest, for future reference.

as to why it happened; guns will malfunction without explanation every once in a while.. but i'd guess you've got a magazine with a cracked spine or warped feedlips.. the round popped out with too much force. or maybe its just a freak occurrence.
 
Surprisingly a lot of my soldiers did not know how to clear this malfunction in the field. I guess that is good if this rarely happens. I always jokingly called it "the God hates you jam." Mortaring is a lot easier to do when its not your personal rifle... :)
 
Not likely to break when mortaring. Really what is happening is your using inertia of the weight of the bcg, slamming of buttstock against hard surface and your hand pulling the charging handle typically clears your malfunction very quickly. It better if you have the magazine out when you do that.
Most importantly do not have your finger gripping anywhere inside the trigger guard.

You should be safe.
 
I see... so you're relying more on the inertia of the heavy BCG, and some constant pressure against the charging handle. You're not actually using that teqnique to yank down on the charging handle.
 
You should be safe.

I love this one. Like it was said earlier...directions easier given than followed. Just stay away from the muzzle and keep your hands away from the ejection port, right?

Live rounds are really pretty inert even with major impacts. I've had some pretty weird malfunctions on my AR. It is a new build and after much work I've gotten the list of possibilities down to the ammo was problematic somehow. I just won't use that ammo any more.

In your case, it has to be something physical, causing the charging process to foul up. In my case, the rounds, themselves, were misshapen and not seating correctly causing FTF's.

Not many things more disconcerting than squeezing the trigger and just hearing "click".
 
Not likely to break when mortaring. Really what is happening is your using inertia of the weight of the bcg, slamming of buttstock against hard surface and your hand pulling the charging handle typically clears your malfunction very quickly. It better if you have the magazine out when you do that.
Most importantly do not have your finger gripping anywhere inside the trigger guard.

You should be safe.

Be careful when slamming any stock from an AR-15 platform on a hard surface. The free-floating firing pin has a way of find the primer of a live round when this happens...I've seen it firsthand, twice.

Only do this if you are getting shot at and you need to clear this malfunction ASAP.
 

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