Jfludd

Finally got a chance to go to the range. After swapping the spring to the sprinco red and drilling the gas port larger. All is well! She cycles like a charm! Thank you all for the help! Greatly appreciated.

Understood! Thanks all for the help. I’ll swap the spring, drill the port and keep you all posted! Thanks again

Just checked and yes. It will manually lock back open on an empty mag. What would the harm be if I drill the gas port on the barrel larger? In theory I could just tune it down with the adjustable gas block, if it then resulted in over gassing? From a few other things I’m finding/seeing the gas port should be something like .093 or .096. I certainly don’t have that right now.

I've probably only put around 60 rounds of Winchester .308 147 grain boat tail through it thus far. I'll double check on the empty mag/hold up question. But just so I'm sure I'm following you correctly, by that you mean I should be able to insert an empty mag, pull the charging handle back and the bolt should remain cocked back (as if I had pressed the bolt catch) and I can see right into the ejector port? The gas journal is .750, I could only get a 5/64 drill bit into it, and not a 3/32.

Thank you! I was able to measure last night and the inner tube measures 9-5/8". I can fit a 5/64 drill bit into the gas port, but not a 3/32 I'm tending to think the gas port may be the problem the more I read

I recently completed my first .308 build. Went to the range loaded the first round, fired fine, went to fire the 2nd round and click...nothing. I have an adjustable gas block that I have played with 1/4 at a time to full open and it makes no difference. For some reason it just wont "grab" and chamber the next round. I basically have a bolt action rifle at this point lol. I also noticed that it won't lock back open after firing the last round in the mag. I have read a few different things it could be and was hoping to get some help and ideas before just going out and buying more parts. Below is the list of parts I used: Aero M5E1 Enhanced Upper 20 inch Criterion Barrel (rifle length gas) Aero stainless rifle length gas tube Aero M5 Rifle buffer kit - rifle buffer spring - buffer length is 5.3" -buffer weight is 5.6oz - I can measure the actual tube length, but its fairly long. I would guess something like 11" or so. Seekins low profile adjustable gas block Brownells Nickle boron BCG I'm pretty certain i have aligned the gas block properly as i spent some time to do so when assembling but I will double check that. In some of my research it was recommended that the hole on the barrel might not be large enough to match the hole on the gas block and to drill out the barrel to enlarge the gas port...is that okay to do? I was told that it could be a tension issue on the spring? So i added up to 4-5 quarters (individually) to the back of the spring inside the buffer tube- it made no difference. In reading through some other posts on this forum it sounds as if most common practice is a carbine buffer system, could it be as simple as that? The rifle buffer tube is just to long and the bolt isn't traveling back far enough to allow the next round to up form the mag? Could I get a lighter spring rather than change the entire tube? Any recommendations? Its a lot going on, I know lol! Hence why I'm looking for a bot of guidance to try and narrow down some of the possible solutions. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Jacob, what did you use for a charging handle?

Jbarry, did you find a solution/charging handle that fits? I am having the same issue in my aero M5E1 upper. My first build so I’m no pro. I’ve tried a radian raptor and Breek arms and neither fit. Both say they are dpms compatible and the M5E1 according to the aero site accepts dpms parts. I’m at a loss. All the videos I’ve watch make it look as if the handle just drops in and slides forward, no forcing or pushing hard. But my attempts are snagging just as yours did.