Author: Sourav Chowdhury

This isn’t a terribly common occurrence but it does happen from time to time. All of a sudden for no apparent reason you can’t pull the trigger or move the safety on your AR15. The hammer is stuck in the cocked position and will not move no matter how hard you try to pull the trigger.

Nine times out of ten this is because a primer blew out of a case as it was fired and fell into the lower. The primer rolls under the trigger and jams underneath the back of the trigger. If this happens clear the rifle and remove the lower from the upper receiver by pushing out the takedown and pivot pins.

First try shaking the lower upside down while trying to move the hammer, trigger and safety. Sometimes you can jar the blown primer loose and shake it out of the lower. If this doesn’t work than it is a fairly simple matter of removing the hammer and the trigger and removing the blown primer.

First look into the lower and note how the parts fit into the lower receiver to make it easier when you reassemble. Note how the legs of the hammer spring are on top of the trigger pin. To remove the hammer and trigger pins use a punch that is about 1/8″. Punch the hammer pin out of the lower. The hammer will probably be stuck to the rear still. Keep in mind that the hammer is under tension and is going to come flying out of the lower when it is released. So have the lower pointed in a safe direction and also where the hammer can’t get lost when it comes out of the lower. You may have to pull the trigger to get the hammer to release from the lower.

Once the hammer is out you may see the primer inside. You may be able to get it unstuck without removing the trigger at this point by using a small pick or punch.

If not just drive out the trigger pin and remove the trigger. The disconnector will also come out with the trigger. Note its orientation.

You will see the primer in the lower at this point. Also make sure there isn’t any other debris in the lower that might interfere with the proper operation of the rifle.

Reassemble the trigger and disconnector and push them back into the lower. Line up the hole in the disconnector with the holes in the hammer and push the trigger pin back in. Then reinstall the hammer making sure the legs of the spring rest on top of the trigger pin and push the hammer pin back in.

Blown primers do happen from time to time with reloads or factory ammunition so when you find a blown primer it doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with your rifle. However, if you are experiencing blown primers commonly with factory ammunition this does indicate that there may be a chamber problem with the rifle.

The Mission First Tactical EVolV 2.2″ rail allows you to attach a forward pistol grip, flash light – or any other item that mounts to a Picatinny rail – to your stock carbine hand guards very easily.

First make sure weapon is unloaded!

Then remove upper receiver from lower receiver. Remove handguards by following the instructions on Page 23 in your Owners Manual.

Remove screws from the MFT Rail Segment and note that one end of the rail is thicker than the other. The thickest end of the rail will go towards the front of the handguard. This difference in thickness positions the rail so its mounting surface is parallel with the bore. With a set of needlenose pliers, remove the inner heat shield.

Line the mounting screw holes up with two vent holes at the desired position in the handguard – them install the mounting screws.

Snap the inner heat shield in, and the mounted Rail Segment should look like this. You can mount the rail further back if you so choose.

Make sure weapon is unloaded!

Push takedown and pivot pins out and remove lower from upper receiver. Remove buffer and spring from lower by pushing the buffer retainer down and pulling them out of the buffer tube (as shown on page 25 in your owner’s manual).

Put lower receiver in a magazine well vise block and loosen castle nut with a properly fitting telestock wrench. Twist buffer tube clockwise slightly and remove takedown pin spring.

Hold buffer retainer down and unscrew buffer tube. Slowly release the buffer retainer and leave it in its hole in the receiver. If you don’t hold the retainer when unscrewing the tube the buffer retainer and spring will shoot out of the hole and can become lost.

Unscrew the buffer tube all the way out of the lower receiver and remove the stock endplate. Slide the tactical endplate on in its place with the raised area up as shown.

Screw buffer tube back into the receiver. Hold buffer retainer down and screw the tube in all the way until it stops against the retainer post, then back it off one turn. Insert takedown pin spring back into the hole in the back of the receiver.

Turn stock so it is straight and press the endplate up against the receiver compressing the spring straight back into the hole. Screw castle nut up against the endplate.

Re-tighten castle nut and replace buffer and spring.

Pretty much daily I get the question “Is it okay to shoot steel cased ammo in my Windham Weaponry AR15?”

With ammunition in short supply and good ammo priced very high, many people are buying cheaper steel cased, bi-metal jacket ammunition from Wolf, TulAmmo, Herter’s, etc.

While I don’t generally recommend steel cased ammo, it’s not going to hurt your rifle in limited amounts. If used exclusively however it will reduce the barrel life by about 4,000-5,000 rounds. Most if not all of this ammo uses a copper coated steel jacketed “bi-metal” bullet which increases wear on the barrel. In testing done by LuckyGunner Labs, rifles using Federal brass cased ammo were still shooting decent groups up to 10,000 rounds. With steel cased ammo the groups were all over the place at 6,000 rounds with many bullets tumbling and key holing.

The other problem with steel cased ammo is that the cases don’t expand the same way that brass cases do. This causes carbon build up between the case and the chamber wall. This build up can cause stuck cases. Sometimes these cases will stick so severely that it is difficult to remove them even with a cleaning rod. It is even worse if you fire a bunch of steel cased ammo then fire brass cased right behind it in a dirty chamber. Then the brass case expanding normally really sticks to the carbon left behind in the chamber.

So if you are going to use steel cased ammo I recommend breaking the rifle in with decent brass cased ammo first. Up to 100 rounds, the more the better. Another problem with steel cased ammo is a lot of it seems to be somewhat underpowered which can cause short stroking issues. If the gun is broken in first with brass cased ammo this helps seal the gas system somewhat which will make the lower powered steel cased ammo work a bit better. Also, make sure to keep your chamber clean. Keep in mind that it is going to foul pretty quickly with steel cased ammo.

Here are two excellent articles regarding the issues with steel cased ammunition that I always recommend. One of them is the excellent LuckyGunner test.

http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/edu18.htm

http://www.luckygunner.com/labs/brass-vs-steel-cased-ammo/

I get asked now and then “Why doesn’t Windham Weaponry stake their castle nuts on?” The reason we choose not to is because many people want to upgrade some part of the stock, usually the endplate, and this requires loosening of the castle nut and removal of the stock. It’s much more difficult to do this if the castle nut is already staked on. The factory torque of our castle nuts is generally tight enough not to loosen under normal wear and tear, but if you feel that you would like to stake your castle nut on to make sure the nut never backs off, it is very easy and takes less than 3 minutes. Here’s how:

First make sure weapon is unloaded!

Push in takedown and pivot pins and remove the upper receiver from the lower receiver.

Now with the lower on a non-marring surface, take a center punch and a hammer and punch the end plate in the areas shown. That is what the little square cut outs are for in the castle nut, pictured below.

For those wishing to install an ambidextrous safety selector, here are instructions on how to properly do so. This is the POF Ambi Safety that we sell in our catalog but most selectors install the same way. If you have a different type follow the manufacturer’s instructions.

First – Make sure the weapon is unloaded!

Remove upper from lower by pushing out the takedown and pivot pins. With a 3/16″ Allen wrench, remove pistol grip screw that is up inside the pistol grip. When removing the pistol grip be careful not to lose the safety detent which is in the small hole in the receiver under the safety. Also be careful not to lose the safety detent spring which is in a hole in the pistol grip and puts tension on the detent.

With the hammer cocked push the stock safety out of the receiver. Remove the screw from the ambi safety’s right side lever and insert new safety into the receiver.

Replace the right side lever on the ambi safety and tighten the screw back on.

With the safety detent spring in the pistol grip, line the spring up with the detent hole and push the pistol grip back on. Tighten the pistol grip screw back into the grip and receiver until snug.

The following are instructions on how to install a Harris #5 Bipod Adapter and the Bipod on M4 dual heat shield handguards.

Make sure weapon is unloaded!

Separate upper from lower and remove handguards.

First remove the inner heat shield of the handguard that will be used on the bottom of the rifle using a pair of needle nosed pliers

Cut the forward most heat shield tabs off with wire cutters.

Place THE Harris #5 backing plate in handguard as shown with the screw hole lined up with the second vent hole in the handguard.

Screw bipod stud into the backing plate and tighten down as shown. Just tighten until snug. Do not over tighten as you may crack the handguard.

Unscrew the knurled knob on the bipod until the bipod locking tabs can be pushed through and separated enough to go around the bipod stud.

Tighten knurled knob on the bipod. The legs of the bipod should be pointed in the forward direction towards the muzzle.

Install the sling swivel provided with the Harris #5 on the bipod as shown.

Sometimes it is necessary to replace the gas key on an AR15 if it becomes damaged or plugged or if a gas key screw is broken. I’ve seen blown primers get wedged down inside which turns the rifle into a single shot. Most times it is impossible to remove it so replacement of the key and screws is necessary. Also damage to the key can happen if the carrier is dropped on the key.
Since the keys are usually pretty heavily staked on, removing the screws isn’t always as simple as just using an Allen wrench and taking them out. Here’s what I do to remove and replace a gas key.

Always wear safety glasses when doing this!

First disassemble the Bolt Carrier. Then put a small grinding stone in a Dremel tool.

Right on top of the stake carefully grind through the staking and slightly into the screw. You need to relieve the area where the steel is pushed into the screw

Do this to all four stakes.

Remove the screws. In this case the front screw came right out with no problems.

The rear screw however still did not want to budge. If it doesn’t want to come, out apply torch heat to the screw and surrounding area. Usually a little heat will help you loosen the screw. It’s important not to damage the screw head. If this happens and the Allen wrench can no longer get a bite on the screw, then you will need to drill the entire screw out. It can be done but you will need a very hard drill bit, so try to avoid that.

Remove the key and screws, and discard.

Clean the mating surfaces of the carrier and the new replacement gas key. If there is any carbon build up use a solvent and a brush to get all of it off. Also if there is carbon build up in the gas hole (the hole ahead of the screw holes), clean all of that out as well.

Screw the new gas key into place and snug the screws down. You can do this by hand if you just snug them up good and tight, but if you have access to an inch pounds torque wrench, that is best.
The mil-spec torque is supposed to be between 50-58 inch pounds.

To re-stake the key, I have the luxury of using the gas key press we use on the Production Floor. You most likely will not have access to one of those, so you can stake the key by using a cold chisel to push the edges of the gas key into the screws, or you can use a center punch on top of the gas key next to the screws.

If you ever have questions about your rifle, you are always welcome to call Windham Weaponry Customer Service (Toll Free: 1-855-808-1888). Shoot Safely!

Now and then I get the question “Is my flash hider or muzzle brake removable?”

The majority of rifles we build have removable A2 flash hiders but we also build rifles for states that have banned some features of modern sporting rifles. One of the banned features in those states is a flash hider or barrel threads that you can access. For those states we weld on a muzzle brake which is not removable.

Sometimes one of these rifles makes it to a state in which there is no law against having a flash hider and I am asked if the brake can simply be removed with a wrench. This cannot be done without professional gunsmithing to drill through the welds to get the pins out. If you put a wrench on the brake and force it off it will destroy the threads and also most likely put a stress ring in the bore at the muzzle that will destroy the barrel.

Here’s the difference between a removable flash hider and a brake.

This photo shows an A2 flash hider that is removable:

Here is a muzzle brake that is NOT removable:

We also make 14.5″ barrels that have welded flash hiders on them to make the overall length of the barrel 16″.
Under Federal law any barrel under 16″ is considered a short barreled rifle or “SBR” and you need a $200 tax stamp from the ATF to legally possess a rifle with a barrel under 16″
So our 14.5″ barrels we offer for commercial sale have flash hiders welded on them to bring them to the legal length of just over 16″. These flash hiders have to be non-removable to comply with Federal law regarding SBRs.

We make them with both Vortex Flash Hiders and extended A2 Flash Hiders:
Vortex:

Extended A2:

Note that all of these brakes and flash hiders are pinned and welded on both the top and the bottom

In the many years I’ve been repairing AR15s I’ve seen a lot of ruined barrels where people tried to remove a pinned and welded brake or flash hider. Before trying to remove one, be sure that it is not welded on.

If you ever have questions about your rifle, you are always welcome to call Windham Weaponry Customer Service (Toll Free: 1-855-808-1888). Shoot

First make sure the weapon is unloaded!

Then remove the upper from the lower half of the rifle.

Using a 1/16″ Allen wrench, remove the bolt catch pin. A long straight Allen wrench as pictured is easiest, but you can also use a small L shaped Allen wrench as well.

Place the Phase 5 bolt release in the bolt catch slot and reinsert the bolt catch pin. Tighten down with the Allen wrench. You can also put a small drop of blue 242 Loctite on the threads to insure that the pin will not work loose over time.

Now by simply using your trigger finger you can release the bolt from the locked back position. This makes it very quick and easy to release the bolt after a magazine change without having to move the rifle from your target or your left hand from the handguard.

The Phase 5 Extended Bolt Release for .308 is available on-line at windhamweaponry.com/ through the link below, or in our catalog, or call Sales / Customer Service at: 1-808-855-1888

BUY IT HERE

If you ever have questions about your rifle, you are always welcome to call Windham Weaponry Customer Service (Toll Free: 1-855-808-1888). Shoot Safely!