Alright boys.. let's see if we can solve this together. Because I cannot and it is driving me up a wall.
The build is as follows; I have two of everything below as I built one for my father and one for myself. both do not work as of now.
Aero M5 upper and lower
Wilson combat 20" barrel w/ rifle length gas system (Armalite @ 15.5")
Odin works adjustable gas block 0.875
Aero Rifle length buffer w/ standard weight buffer and spring
Aero NiB BCG and Nitride coated
Magpul 25 and 10 round magazine
1x muzzle break (GSL 7.62 two port break)
All major brands of ammo used
Bear with me... The Rifle came together beautifully. Initial shots were not cycling the action. The rifle appeared to be under-gassed since bolt would not lock back, extract the round or cycle the next round. Gas tube alignment was checked and confirmed to be correct both left and right as well as forward and back. Gas block was disassembled and confirmed to be in the completely open position. Rifle would not cycle next round. Gas tube and gas block was sealed with blue loctite in case there was a gas leak taking care not to plug holes. compressed air through the system confirmed that it was not obstructed. same problem. Carrier key appears to be properly staked. The BCG stands upright on the table when set on the bolt face and the 3 gas rings appear to be in order. Two different aero BCGs were used in my troubleshooting. The ar15 rifle length gas tube was swapped out with an AR10 armalite rifle length gas tube that is slightly longer. Gas tube now goes 2/3rds of the way past the center of the oval when looking into the upper receiver as opposed to 1/3rd with the ar15 rifle length gas tube. The rifle cycles intermittently. some shots appear to short stroke but get caught on the front of the ejection port and crushed as the bolt comes forward seemingly being a failure to eject. Other shots appears to be a failure to extract with the spent casing stove piping while the live round is jammed between the BCG and the feed ramps. Since I have two nearly identical rifles I was able to swap parts back and forth in order to trouble shoot. I was also able to borrow parts from my Aero 6.5 build that runs without issue. I have a JP silent capture buffer system that I installed. No change. The rifle does not cycle. I had noticed a small burr on the extractor face of the NiB BCG likely from when I mortared the rifle to dislodge a spent casing when gas block was closed 100%. NiB BCG was swapped out with an aero nitride BCG with no change in pattern. Thinking there was some bad juju with that upper I removed the muzzle break from the #1 upper and installed on the #2, somewhat identical upper that used a nitride aero BCG instead of a NiB one. 25 round Magpul mag loaded with an assortment of high $ ammunition all failed to cycle properly. I then tried the 10rnd magazine and again, did not cycle (spent shell stove pipe and live round jammed)
I then took the #1 upper with just threads at the end. It would not cycle with the 25 round Magpul magazine but would cycle the 10 round magazine. I swapped the Nitride BCG over to the #2 and shot the same ammo with the 10 and magazine. Only difference is the presence of the muzzle break. Rifle would not cycle.
I consider myself to be a patient person and somewhat competent when it comes to these things. But this just perplexes me. My thoughts right now are on a few things. Here they are from most likely to least likely;
1. It appears to like the 10 round magazine over the 25 round one. Why, I do not know
2. muzzle device. Since the rifle seems to cycle only the 10rnd magazine without a muzzle device, it leads me to believe the muzzle break is at least part to blame. I find this strange since I would imagine breaks to add back pressure, not decrease it. GSL was found by the guy who founded Gemtech. I cannot imagine this to be my issue since it is well designed and in my opinion unlikely to cause these issues.
3. Adjustable gas block: I have not noticed any presence of carbon after shooting that would indicate a leak in the block. I am unfamiliar with Odin works and their reputation. My thoughts are there could be a leak somewhere in the block itself that is decreasing the total gas in the system. I have yet to find evidence of this but its on my list.
4. Dwell time: This is an 20" barrel with a rifle length gas system. I am unsure of the port size. I trust that the engineers over at WC thought about dwell time and bored out the gas port to the adequate dimensions. But, since I cannot rule it out, it is on my list.
I really do not want to take this to a gunsmith for the sake of mostly my pride. It just does not make any sense to me. I have a mix of quality parts, all of which were unable to yield an operational/ reliable rifle. I knew 308 gassers were finicky but this is a new level for me. As far as next steps. I am thinking about getting a non adjustable gas block and different magazines. I did not want to run a non adjustable gas block since the rifle will be suppressed. Oh and the rifle runs 80% while suppressed but will not run properly unsuppressed. I assume all the back pressure from the can just beats the rifle into submission. Anyhow, If any of you have any thoughts or ideas, please. I am all ears.
