arnie

My first 308 AR slam fired on me until I discovered the builder of the upper used an Armalite firing pin in a DPMS bolt head .I changed the firing pin and just for a feel good feeling I put a spring on the firing pin .Its under the extractor .If you take a DPMS bolt head and remove the extractor you can see the channel where a spring can lay .I measured the diameter of that channel and the diameter of the firing pin and ordered a pack of springs from McMaster Carr . I have since built two more and put the spring in those two bolt head also with no problems .

A hand full of us meet every Tuesday at Sac. Valley Shooting Center on the silhouette range .

The trigger finger bolt release I was using is a Phase 5 . They take a regular bolt release and weld a steel arm on it because most 308 actions are so heavy ,there is no room to clamp the BAD type on .I have these on another side charger 308 and a 6.5 creedmoor and they work fine .They are noticeably heavier than just the bolt stop on its own .Im guessing because of the weight ,it cant move fast enough to operate . I recently bought a Tubbs weight to add to the carrier that's supposed to slow the cycling down .I haven't had time to try it out yet.

I was playing around with a bolt release that extends to the trigger guard so it could be activated by the trigger finger .Never did get it to make the bolt lock back on final shot so I removed it and put the stock one back in .I had played with opening the gas block to full open and never thought about setting it back down .Any way all of a sudden my accuracy was gone and it was acting like it had a bad crown .Three or four shots in group and then throw one 12 to 16 inches at 500 meters .I was going to try it with the muzzle break off but then noticed the gas block adjusting screw was way out so turned it to 1/2 turn out from bottomed and now its cycling ok and not throwing shots . I have it at 1/4 turn out now and will lock it down . Any one else have any thing like this happen ??

This thing has at least 500 rounds through it .The Phase 5 release was a new addition . I guess it was a good idea but I will just stick with the original DPMS bolt release .

I have thought about lightening the spring under the catch a little to see if that works .I have stretched the spring in the mag and tried different makes of mags but that didn't help .I know if I push on the bolt stop with my finger and fire it ,it will catch but boy does it sting your finger .

Any one using this ? Phase 5 Tactical Extended Bolt release . I cant get mine to work to lock back bolt on last shot of MT mag ,but it works fine when pulling bolt back by charger handle .I think the thing is just to heavy and cant move fast enough to work in the milliseconds when the bolt is back .I put my normal bolt catch on and it works every time .I have an adjustable gas block and have tried every setting but that doesn't help . If there was a way to slow the action down but not restrict the full rear ward movement of the bolt ,it might work .

I have a Black thorne 308 upper and it was very agravating to get it up and running properly . I changed the springs in the extractor and ejector (both were very soft ) and put a new extractor from another bolt head (with an oring over the spring)and it works fine now .The chamber is cut too short so i have to set the shoulder back about .005 more than the die will go so that took grinding the bottom of the die off . Because of this i cant use factory loaded ammo.

I have a 26 inch long bull Bartlien in 308 coming from Precision Firearms .Should be here this Friday . :)) I have a smooth side upper and carrier I modified to a side charger .