Jammed AR 15

[scudzuki]

Remove the scope if it has one.
Mortar it starting light then progressively harder on a wood bench or the like with the muzzle pointed straight up and you body clear of the flight path.

I've done it at least dozen times successfully especially to an AR with a Daniel Defense barrel (obviously a relatively tight chamber) until I figured out that after FL resizing 30k cases I'd worn the die .002"(so the cases were slightly barrel shaped) halfway between the rim and the shoulder. Took me a while to figure out what was going on being as I had no stuck cases in the other half dozen ARs I fed the same ammo.

Shoulda seen me resizing approx 7k loaded rounds, that was more of a nail biter than mortaring out a stuck case.

 

[Yellowhammer]

I had sticky FTE AR reloads (hand cycling dummy rounds) that required mortaring when my sizing die wasn’t set up right. I got the hornady headspace comparator tool after that.

 

[bghartm]

I have mortared an AR extremely hard with no ill effects. I just made sure the safety was on and went to town. I have also tapped the charging handle with a rubber mallet. Both were effective.

 

[Rocketvapor]

I can't believe this has made it to page two
The malfunction in the original post was a Failure to Fire.
Live round, Hammer likely on the pin, cannot be put on safe.
Mortaring will first move the Carrier back until all slack is taken out, pin is retracted before the bolt starts to unlock.
It also almost always, usually, probably works. When it doesn't the rifle will need to be taken apart.
I have seen mortaring pull the bolt off the cartridge rim leaving a damaged fired case in the chamber.
Haven't seen a live round with a ripped rim, but could happen, maybe
I'm going to guess the OP wasn't in a battle situation, left and came home.

 

[Cutthroatdave]

View attachment 7380064

It worked, I got my ear pierced for free too.

 

[Cutthroatdave]

I can't believe this has made it to page two
The malfunction in the original post was a Failure to Fire.
Live round, Hammer likely on the pin, cannot be put on safe.
Mortaring will first move the Carrier back until all slack is taken out, pin is retracted before the bolt starts to unlock.
It also almost always, usually, probably works. When it doesn't the rifle will need to be taken apart.
I have seen mortaring pull the bolt off the cartridge rim leaving a damaged fired case in the chamber.
Haven't seen a live round with a ripped rim, but could happen, maybe
I'm going to guess the OP wasn't in a battle situation, left and came home.

No I wasn't in a battle situation, I did leave the range to go home and take care of the problem in a safer environment. I don't think the RSO would have appreciated me mortaring my rifle, even if I had known about that as an option. I did get the round out by separating the upper receiver and lower receiver and with a screwdriver (and padding to protect the lower receiver) I pried the bolt carrier group open, it actually came out fairly easily. I just didn't feel like a had an appropriate place to mortar the rifle. The live round in the chamber came out easily.

 

[Rocketvapor]

Glad you got it out. Now we can continue on to page 3

If the RSO had been an AR person, they could have called cold, taken the loaded rifle to a safe spot and helped you.
The one I go to it depends on who is there. Some know how to help, some are anal and require you to be escorted off.
Why is taking a loaded rifle home better than clearing it safely at the range?
Use volunteers, you gets what you pay for
Most are really nice folks though.

A good chamber cleaning and evaluation of your reloads so it doesn't happen again.

 

[Cutthroatdave]

The case had a damaged rim that wouldn't allow the bolt to fully engage with the case and therefore the firing pin didn't strike the primer.

 

[BullGear]

The case had a damaged rim that wouldn't allow the bolt to fully engage with the case and therefore the firing pin didn't strike the primer.

Can you post a picture???

 

[Cutthroatdave]

Can you post a picture???

I can tomorrow, I left it at work in my tool box.

 

[Strykervet]

I can tomorrow, I left it at work in my tool box.

Not good enough, now go back and get it.

(Just kidding, couldn't resist)

 

[Cutthroatdave]

Can you post a picture???

 

[BullGear]

That damage to the rim is from you trying to rack the round out of the chamber. That area is from the extractor trying to do it's job. There's something else going on here.

 

[Yellowhammer]

If it were me I'd get a hornady headspace comparator tool & check shoulder on a factory round vs one of your reloads.

 

[Rocketvapor]

Picture is sort of out of focus. The rim damage looks to be extractor slip over (on the back side of the rim).
You probably have an O-ring on the extractor spring and it is tight.

But, I doubt the rim kept you from extracting the round.

This may have been a one time event with a reload.
Things to look for are headspace as stated in post above,
Crimp bulge,
Chamber residue from steel case/polymer coated rounds.
BCG cam pin digging into upper receiver.
Using the forward assist to turn a little jam into a big jam

 

[10ring1]

Here is my mortar hack. Instead of using my fingers to grab the charging handle, I have a loop of rope that I put on the charging handle making sure it pulls the latch. They are loop of rope is long enough it goes down about 6" off the ground. I put my foot in that, then mortar using the downward weight of my foot/leg while mortaring on the edge of a table. Just be mindful of where the muzzle is pointing

 

[Sincerd]

Sarcasm, right? LoL! You're too funny! Mac

Nope...or...gasm

 

[Cutthroatdave]

If it were me I'd get a hornady headspace comparator tool & check shoulder on a factory round vs one of your reloads.

I check all of my loads in a Lyman case size gauge, once after resizing and once after seating the bullet. I've used the Hornady headspace comparator tool before on my bolt rifles. I haven't done it with my AR yet.