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M16 registered reciever mag issue


Texascbr

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So after the long wait my PAWS/OLY registered receiver is home. The first trip shooting was fine except for a specific magazine did not want to stay in the gun while firing. Second trip, same thing with C-products mags but HK and PMAG magazines seemed fine. Took it out Sunday and damned if no magazines want to stay in the contraption longer than a shot or two, even in semi-auto. I tried swapping out the mag catch the same day and the symptoms continued. Of note the mag catch I swapped in as a spare was old. The gun runs like a sewing machine when the mags stay in place. I'm about to head to the garage and start measuring against a know good receiver and various mag catches with my trusty calipers looking for answers.  Any ideas or hints would be appreciated. Worst case if the magwell is out of spec is that something that can be corrected/shimmed?

Thanks,
Chris

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CHRIS, SORRY to hear you are having a problem with your M-16. over the years I have helped folks with AR-15's AND M-16's  that had any brand lower you can imagine. I also did repair for lots of the smaller shops.  a SAD FACT is several OLYMPIC AR-15 SEMI only rifles were in that mix JUST FOR THAT EXACT FAULT. even though a new complete gun from them had a WARRANTY, several had a YELLOW CARD attached stating the gun was only covered with the mags INCLUDED AT TIME OF SALE. calling them was NO HELP and I changed every part involved. often getting the mag to stay in was only half the battle because they would not feed so often I NEVER MANAGED TO CORRECT THE PROBLEM, NOR COULD ANYONE KNOWN TO ME! THE ONLY SOLUTION WE CAME UP WITH WAS HAND FITTING ORIGINAL COLT MAGS . AT THE TIME NO P-MAGS OR HK MAGS EXISTED. WE USED THE 30 RND WITH THE GREEN FOLLOWER . had about 70% success with them. original COLT and SIMPSON 20's we managed close to 90%. its obviously been a while for me but the adventure land and parsons mags we gave up on. if I owned a full auto and had the problem today I would use 1st or 2nd gen p-mags of HK. WE TEXANS MUST  HOLD IT OUT AND STICK TOGETHER, SO GOOD LUCK GUY! PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU MANAGE TO WIN, AS IT WILL COME UP AGAIN.  CHEERS MIKE

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Well after spending some time looking at the receiver and comparing to known good examples with my calipers I found the issue and she's running great and all mags are working. Running my fingers over the mag catch externally I noticed the mag catch on the PAWS was sitting higher than the other receivers which were sitting slightly under or even with the height of the receiver. Internally was the exact opposite where the main body of the mag catch would protrude slightly on working receivers but was not doing such on the PAWS.   Measuring the depth where the mag catch is inserted I find a normal receiver is ~.173 deep and the PAWS was only .149. The cheapest and easiest way to test was to take some material off a mag catch and test in the PAWS. I took .05 off a mag catch so it would seat deeper and reinstalled and all seemed well. Shooting today verified even my loosest mag staying in under auto fire with hundreds of rounds. Not a single mag retention issue today and only one failure to feed with hundreds of rounds of various ammo fired which very well could have been an anomaly. So to sum up today was a good day with the only bummer being the CMMG 22 kit was not wanting to cooperate at all.

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CHRIS, THATS DOING IT! use them cells they need exercise just like the rest of the bod. you approached the problem exactly as I would have. when uncle has parts and receivers made, the drawings allow only enough variation that either extreme will still function. to be kind civilian mfgr's can get lazy and you end up where your at. the CMMG kithas enough users out there im sure you can get over that hurdle even easier. my old mac kit still works so I have not tried any of the new stuff. I did borrow one of each type of new magazine (black dog, cmmg etc) and tried them with the mac and an airforce bolt. I had mixed results with 5-6 mags and 2 uppers so had to write it all down.

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