Re: What constitutes a sticky bolt on an AR50?
Shooter, a lot of times if you run surplus ammo you can run into hotter rounds that will cause the bolt to be difficult to open. that is probably what you were seeing here. Could have just been hotter hand loads than he thought too. Hard to say really though. A dirty chamber or something could even contribute a lot there.
Powder lots can vary, and like Mechanic said, that could have been part of your issue triggerhappy. Surplus powder is especially bad. I never had much experience there with the 50 as I had one big order of 867 that i mixed together and did load workup (or I used good old H50bmg for the good rounds). If I bought more, I would do the same and rework the load for pressure.
I ran probably 500 rounds through my ar50. Most were loaded by me since the surplus ammo can be spotty AND expensive. As long as I kept charges in the normal range I never had to smack anything. I will say that the bolt was always heavier than any of my other rifles, even when there was no round in it. It was huge for one lol, but it was never quite as smooth either. I am pretty sure that just comes down to how it is made. Keeping it greased well did help.
I recently sold it to a friend, but if I remember right there was always a bit of resistance at the top of the bolt, even when empty. On mine it did feel different than when I had a hotter charged round. I do remember the bolt was stiffer the whole way through the throw, not just at the top.
When I was doing load workup and got to the stiff bolt pressures, it was consistent as well. Pretty much every hot round past 225g of my wc867 with 690 fmj in my conditions would do it (there were 4 I think). Bolt was harder to get moving up from the lowest position even. When I backed it off i could feel a noticeable difference in the bolt lift.
Stay safe and keep us posted.
