Mag and feeding problems

Talk about the AR15 style rifles chambered in 450 Bushmaster.

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Re: Mag and feeding problems

Postby Hoot » Thu Feb 09, 2017 8:48 pm

Welcome aboard sparkie! I can't hear that now and not think of Ron White. :lol:

I do not own, nor use polymer mags, but I'm quick to repeat what others have said: Don't store them too long, fully loaded, so as not to put too much strain on the lips, lest their spacing slowly get loose. Sorry to hear about you experiencing feed problems with metal, single stack mags. Most seem to be hit or miss without a little tweaking as discussed ad infinitum in this thread.

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Re: Mag and feeding problems

Postby Jim in Houston » Sat Feb 18, 2017 3:43 pm

sparkie259 wrote:I'm new here and also to the 450B. I just put mine together. It seems the big issue with it is with magazines and feeding them. I''ve seen a lot of chatter on using single stack followers in 223 mags. I tried that and it didn't work that great for me. There were cycling issues and LRH didn't work. Last night I was working on another AR and picked up the magazine and figured I just give it a try. It was a Lancer L5AWN 20 round 223 mag. With no mods to the mags I was able to load 6 rounds. Just got back from the range and they worked great. No cycling issues and LRH worked just fine. I was using factory Hornady FTX bullets.Maybe this has been tried by someone else but I either didn't see the thread. Maybe I just missed it. Either way I just wanted to throw this out to the group.


Whenever someone is looking for mags, I always recommend trying a standard .223 / 5.56 mag (not necessarily polymer, but whatever you have laying around) before beginning an exotic magazine search. I have found they work almost all the time, even with the double stack follower.
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Re: Mag and feeding problems

Postby Kelvarr » Mon Jun 05, 2017 1:50 pm

FWIW, I had problems with my factory mag. It randomly ejected 3 cartridges while walking from my truck to the shooting station. Then, when fired, it combination-failed with a stovepipe, and trying to chamber 2 rounds. It did that twice. I have contacted Bushmaster about it, and they are sending me a new mag.

Luckily, I had also purchased a Bartz aftermarket mag, and that went through 30 rounds flawlessly (in both the upper and magazine).
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Re: Mag and feeding problems

Postby Hoot » Mon Jun 05, 2017 4:11 pm

Kelvarr wrote:FWIW, I had problems with my factory mag. It randomly ejected 3 cartridges while walking from my truck to the shooting station. Then, when fired, it combination-failed with a stovepipe, and trying to chamber 2 rounds. It did that twice. I have contacted Bushmaster about it, and they are sending me a new mag.

Luckily, I had also purchased a Bartz aftermarket mag, and that went through 30 rounds flawlessly (in both the upper and magazine).


Welcome Aboard OM!

Did you compare the amount of spring tension in the two magazines. IMHO, Bushmaster and several other companies use way too much spring tension which again IMHO, contributes to many users problems with feeding. It only needs to be strong enough to lift the last round properly into place and then catch the BHO when its empty. Hopefully the new one they send you has actually been tested in a real weapon.

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Re: Mag and feeding problems

Postby Kelvarr » Mon Jun 05, 2017 5:05 pm

Hoot wrote:
Kelvarr wrote:FWIW, I had problems with my factory mag. It randomly ejected 3 cartridges while walking from my truck to the shooting station. Then, when fired, it combination-failed with a stovepipe, and trying to chamber 2 rounds. It did that twice. I have contacted Bushmaster about it, and they are sending me a new mag.

Luckily, I had also purchased a Bartz aftermarket mag, and that went through 30 rounds flawlessly (in both the upper and magazine).


Welcome Aboard OM!

Did you compare the amount of spring tension in the two magazines. IMHO, Bushmaster and several other companies use way too much spring tension which again IMHO, contributes to many users problems with feeding. It only needs to be strong enough to lift the last round properly into place and then catch the BHO when its empty. Hopefully the new one they send you has actually been tested in a real weapon.

Hoot


Thanks! I've been browsing for quite some time, and thought I registered before!

I did not test the amount of spring tension other than by using my fingers to push on the follower, and it feels about the same.

I my case though, the feed lips are too far apart. The cartridge casing can freely pop up right between the feed lips, without having to be forced forward by the bolt. When the Bartz and Bushmaster magazines were held so that feed lips were directly compared (one mag upside down on top of the other), the Bartz mag feed lips were a little longer, and bent in/down more, so they actually held the cartridge in place (you can't eject the cartridge straight up without damaging the magazine in the Bartz).
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Re: Mag and feeding problems

Postby Jim in Houston » Sat Jun 10, 2017 12:48 pm

SGWINK wrote:My Smith says that those rings need ALL TO BE rotated so NONE of them align with relativity to one another - meaning each ring should be rotated in positions so that no openings align...



I just completed a two day AR carbine course with a former Navy Seal instructor. According to him, alignment of the rings is not necessary. Originally, the AR was designed with a single ring; the other two were added for redundancy. I admit that I usually try and make sure they are not all aligned, when I clean the BCG, but it is really not necessary.
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Re: Mag and feeding problems

Postby papajohn » Thu Sep 06, 2018 7:47 pm

There is an interesting article on 450 BM feeding issues and fixes.........it may be old news to some, but I'm still a newbie with the 450 and found it interesting.

https://www.ammoland.com/2018/09/450-bu ... z5QNNdrx4w
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Re: Mag and feeding problems

Postby Mattc » Mon Jan 14, 2019 6:01 am

I am new to the site and looking for some input I bought a ruger 450 bushmaster ar and it will not eject the round when I fire a round but will eject it when I cycle it manually can anyone help me out thank you
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Re: Mag and feeding problems

Postby Jim in Houston » Mon Jan 14, 2019 5:03 pm

Jim in Houston wrote:
SGWINK wrote:My Smith says that those rings need ALL TO BE rotated so NONE of them align with relativity to one another - meaning each ring should be rotated in positions so that no openings align...



I just completed a two day AR carbine course with a former Navy Seal instructor. According to him, alignment of the rings is not necessary. Originally, the AR was designed with a single ring; the other two were added for redundancy. I admit that I usually try and make sure they are not all aligned, when I clean the BCG, but it is really not necessary.


I have heard the same - that the rings need not be aligned so that the slots are staggered and that the original had only one ring. I generally check that the slots are not aligned, but I'm not fanatical about it.
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Re: Mag and feeding problems

Postby TexMac88 » Thu Feb 07, 2019 6:48 pm

I purchased an upper from Bear Creek Arsenal and had the same issues with it not cycling. I decided to try the simple stuff first and see if I could resolve it w/o having to drill out the gas port. I removed the bottom plate of the Bushmaster magazine and removed what I guess is a lower spacer. Some folks have cut off some the spring, but I thought I would see what happened just removing the spacer. I then used some needle nosed pliers to very slightly open up the first 1/4” of the lips so the round would slightly tip. I loaded a few rounds and compared the angle to another magazine and I could see that the adjustment let the round tip up ever so slightly. I then took a fine stone grinder on my Dremel and polished the lips.
Out to the field for the test and the gun cycled perfectly.
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