I am hoping the community of firearm owners can pitch and lend a suggestiono on what to do.

I just made my first rifle purchase - S&W M&P 15 OR


First trip out to the range, failure to extract on every other round, fired about 30 rounds.

Ammo was "Monarch from Academy, American Eagle, and Federal"


I know the extractor is working, as it is ripping the lip off my casings. ( fired casings do not fit eaisly back in the chamber either, they have swelled. ) I am 99% sure it is a chamber issue.


Went home and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned.....2 hours later with a severaley broken in G.I chamber brush......



Went back to the range again.........


First shot was a failure to extract, then the next 99 shots worked perfetly. (American Eagle ammo)

Last shot of the day was back to the Monarch ammo from Academy and again - failure to extract.



I understand there is supposed to be a "break in period for a rifle" and that "some rifles are picky"

but I do not feel confident with my rifle, as far as I know, it only works with American Eagle ammo..... It should always fire anything right?!?!?!?! ( just like a Glock)

What should I do?

Ship off back to Smiths HQ?

Hope for a new barrel?

Hope for chamber polishing and or tolerance check?




Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge and expertise.


Please ask questions , give answers!!!

BTW the Monarch is not the steel stuff.

I'd give S&W a call before doing anything else. Your rifle is new out of the box.

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Did you save any of the spent cases with the case rim ripped off? When the case rims were ripped off, leaving a spent case in the chamber, how hard was it to remove the spent case? Did you have to tap out the case with a rod?

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-John

The rifle should have been detail stripped and cleaned prior to firing. Now that you realize the error in not doing so first, try lubing the gun in accordance to instructions with the recommended lube. Lube is cheap. Don't be stingy with it.

A properly lubed AR should fire from the first shot with quality ammo. If it doesn't, keep sending it back until it does.

Sounds like a chamber issue. Burrs, out of spec, foreign material. Your aggressive chamber cleaning seemed to support that theory. Get it looked at if you can`t find the culprit or send it to Smith.
Good Luck
Jim

Maybe I am misunderstanding, but it sounds like it is now working fine with ammo other than Monarch. If that is correct, avoid Monarch.

At first blush, without seeing it in person, it sounds like a dirty chamber.

The .223Rem round builds about 55Kpsi when fired. The 5.56 NATO round builds about 60Kpsi. If there is dirt/oil/carbon/rust inhibitor/etc. in the chamber, this pressure can press the foreign stuff against the chamber wall. Repeated firing can add more dirt and compact it more in the chamber. This is probably why cleaning the proverbial snot out of it helped.

Give it another "white tornado" clean and shoot another 50 rounds and see what it does. You may have fixed it already.

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