.223 AI Mags - Feed Lips Wearing?

[Hennig]

Hey fellas,

I noticed the other day at the range that my .223 was feeding, well, like shit. Constant jams. Upon further investigation it appears that the feed lips have been worn down both on the top side (from the bolt dragging along the surface), and even on the underside (where the case rim runs along), resulting in feed lips that are slightly too wide. Because of this, the rounds are prematurely jumping out of the mag and jamming in the action. I chucked my buddys brand new one in, and it feeds perfectly.

The downside of the polymer mags is that I cant easily just adjust the feed lips (bend them in), like you would with the steel mags. I considered trying to build up the lips a bit more with.. something (epoxy?), but am beginning to think it'd be an exercise in frustration.

Has anyone else encountered this? The mag has probably only fed a few hundred rounds, so it seemed a bit odd. I thought maybe I just got one from an unusually soft batch of polymer, so if no-one else has seen this happen, I might just grab another new one. Alternatively, Ill convert a 10round .308 mag for it and never worry about it again

Thanks guys.

 

[Hellbender]

Sounds like your bottom metal, or more probably your mag catch, is not properly adjusted, causing the bolt to drag too hard on the mag.

 

[Hennig]

Thanks for the reply Hellbender. The mags spent most of its life in an AICS setup, and only the last few weeks in the JAE700. It doesn't appear to be sitting too high, and with the new mag in, feeding is very slick - doesn't feel like its dragging too much. I guess I could just spend the $33 on a new one and file the retention notch down slightly and see what happens.