AR-15 double tap

[Chromedhearts]

A thread on an other forum reminded me of the time it happened to me. I had bought a used Bushmaster at a pawn shop, had it a few days before I got to shoot it, and when I first shot it I thought it double tapped, fired two rounds with one pull of the trigger. Come to find out it wasn't really a double tap, it would fire a single round when the trigger was pulled, but when the trigger was released it fired another. After pulling, I held the trigger back for a few seconds and released it, BANG. Tried it again but with the trigger held back I engaged the safty, let go of the trigger, ok, no bang. Then pointing down range, finger off the trigger, I flipped the saftey to fire and BANG. This ain't good says I. Back to the pawn shop I go, tell the owner what has happened, and he gladly gave me my money back.
Later I found out that the pawn shop resold that AR-15 as it was to another unsuspecting guy, who went out to shoot it and shot a hole in his brand new Dodge truck. I don't know what happened after that.
I don't know what would make an AR do that, but I suspected some one had fiddled with the insides trying to make a machine gun out of it.
I learned a lesson about that pawn shop, not ethical.
And it reinforced the rule "Keep it pointed in a SAFE direction"!

 

[Gary]

I remember years ago I stopped by to see a friend and he had his AR apart filing on the bolt. He was trying to make it full auto. He wasn't successful and it cost him a good amount to get repaired. I wouldn't be suprised if the one you had suffered from similar treatment.

 

[Raider]

I bought a M1C Garand back in 1976 that had the same problem. Pull the trigger and fire one round; release the trigger and fire another. Guess thats the reason I got the rifle really, really cheap. Return it? No way. I bought a spare hammer from Numrich and replaced the part. Fired just perfect after that. Today its worth 20X what I paid.

Charlie

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

When I went through IOBC at Fort Benning in 1979 my M-16 double tapped until I took it to the armorer. That one was so old it had a 6 digit SN beginning with "1" and the original open flash hider. The armorer confirmed my diagnosis of worn disconnector.

 

[venomballistics]

AR 15's are pretty easy to set straight.
all parts to populate the lower are widely available as are complete uppers.
I'd not have sold it back ... Id have set it straight and had a proper rifle

 

[Gutpile Charlie]

I just put together my second AR. Finished the lower here a while back and spent a little bit of time just "studying" the trigger.

Normally, when you pull a trigger, you pull it and hold it back...gun goes bang...you relax.

Well on the AR, when you pull the trigger, bolt carrier slides back, resetting the trigger before it travels back forward. Just as soon as you relax your pressure on the trigger, the trigger moves forward and the hammer "falls" forward (after being retained) and comes to rest on the sear that controls the let off.

I know that doesn't make much sense, but it's all controlled by the trigger, which in a regular AR, is a very inexpensive part.

A simple replacement of the trigger should have solved this problem.

 

[Chromedhearts]

I wish now I had kept it and fixed it. I also wish I could find one at that price now days.

 

[venomballistics]

check back ... it might make a return trip if you didnt burn your bridges.

Now you know ... you wont repeat this mistake

 

[Dennis The B]

I wouldn't touch something like that - period!

If your AR15 "double taps", you could possibly be prosecuted for illegally owning a Class III weapon.

David Olofson owned an AR15 which malfunctioned after he loaned the rifle to a friend. He was convicted of illegally conveying a fully automatic weapon. His case has been appealed through the Seventh Circuit Court, which upheld the conviction. It's now been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Reading the story sends chills up your spine.

 

[venomballistics]

im aware of the case and it would seem to be a case where Olofson was railroaded with the "help" of an idiot he loaned the rifle to.
Most any semiauto could do the same thing leading to the same result. In fact even the battle tested and soldier approved 1911 is on record as one to go chatter gun.
fix it and move on.

 

[canoeguy]

I used to be into AR-15's, shot them in High Power Rifle and Three Gun Competition.

Had two with trigger problems, one was a carbine built by some guy in Richmond Va., he would use surplus, out of spec or worn trigger parts and assemble whole rifles. The one I bought had a multitude of troubles, including doubling, that was cured with a whole new set of fire control parts. It was an OK rifle after that. One of the times the rifle doubled is when I loaned it to one of our local Sherrifs Deputy to fire at the range, he started asking me some very pointed questions about why the rifle was firing two rounds with each trigger pull...

The other one really wasn't a trigger problem, I was shooting a High Power Match with an Olympic Arms 20" rifle, and it started firing when the bolt was dropped. Very embarrassing, load the rifle, drop the bolt to chamber a round, "Bang", rifle fired. Everyone assumed I had my finger on the trigger, "Safety Violator!", etc. Tried it again, same thing, chamber a round, rifle would fire. Turned out a fired primer had backed out of a cartridge case, dropping into the trigger group, tripping the trigger each time a round was chambered. Fortunately, this happened on a slow fire portion of the match, the rifle was being loaded one round at a time. If this had happened with a full magazine, it would have gone full auto and emptied the mag.

Lever action rifles excite me more, as I get older and don't play High Power Rifle Competion any more (too expensive). I still compete in any .22 rifle game I can find, and I will shoot a 100 yard High Power Match at my club this weekend, using a Marlin 1894 .357 carbine.....

 

[Smithhound]

That can be a pretty common problem with the AR trigger system, the hammer following the bolt down, easily fixed. AR's are showing up more and more with some good prices now that the 'scare' has died down, you shouldn't have a problem finding another.
My Father had a Ruger MKI .22 pistol that had gotten so dirty from years of neglect it would occasionally slam fire the reamining contents of the magazine, you couldn't make it do it, it just sometimes would, which was unnerving to say the least.
I finally took it away from him and cleaned it thouroughly, he bought it new in '72 and I don't think he ever cleaned it. there was so much crud in the bolt and firing pin recess I'm surprised it worked. Haven't had a problem since with it.
I've heard about .45's that have had ametuer trigger jobs done on them 'running away', would not want to be anywhere near it frankly.
RD