New Grendel, dreaded fail to feed

[OneHitWonder]

From what I have read the PSA uppers have been coming with the gas block set perfect for all the reviews.

For magazines the 17 and 26 E-lander which have also had some glowing reviews. The 5.56 E-landers I have are flawless.

So I run this PSA 20” SS upper on a rifle buffer fixed stock lower of high quality. It has run with 4 different uppers (5.56) no problems. Bolt lock back after last round with Hornady Black and Wolf mil classic.

Now for the issue. About every third round I would get bolt pass over without picking up a round.

If it were a gas problem I would lean to over gassed at this point.

Only one of 12 FTF did the round nose down into the front of the mag. The others just nothing. If it was a magazine issue, maybe follower hang up on every spot weld. Could E-lander be that careless these days? Maybe the thick coating on feed lips is rough. Maybe the spring is too soft. Maybe the lips need bending? Filing the front or rear?

[sundowner]

I have a PSA 20"SS upper on a PSA lower , first question is where are your ejected rounds ending up whit you muzzle being 12 o'clock and you buttsock being 6 o'clock and you may have to open up your gas block . I had to upon mine up the adjuster is on the side and the locking set screw is in the front , You need a 1/16" hex tool to make the adjustment , I found one by MasterForce at Menard that looks like a small screwdriver .

[OneHitWonder]

Spent cases were about 5 feet away at 3:00. Shooting from a table.

I have a PSA 20"SS upper on a PSA lower , first question is where are your ejected rounds ending up whit you muzzle being 12 o'clock and you buttsock being 6 o'clock and you may have to open up your gas block . I had to upon mine up the adjuster is on the side and the locking set screw is in the front , You need a 1/16" hex tool to make the adjustment , I found one by MasterForce at Menard that looks like a small screwdriver .

[A5BLASTER]

Spent cases were about 5 feet away at 3:00. Shooting from a table.

Take the mag apart clean all the parts well, look to see where the follower is hanging up inside and fix that. Then load the mag up and let it sit for about a week, unloading and reloading it a few times every day to break the mag in.

[Wanderson]

Is your bolt locking back on last round every time?
Sounds like either rounds aren’t coming up fast enough or bolt isn’t coming all the way back.
If it’s locking back every time, doesn’t sound undergassed.

FWIW I cranked my PSA 12” upper’s has block down quite a bit, came out of the box wide open. Might be worth playing with the gas block.

[LR1955]

Take the mag apart clean all the parts well, look to see where the follower is hanging up inside and fix that. Then load the mag up and let it sit for about a week, unloading and reloading it a few times every day to break the mag in.

A5B:

Just when I thought I had seen it all!

Breaking in a magazine.

LR55

[A5BLASTER]

A5B:

Just when I thought I had seen it all!

Breaking in a magazine.

LR55

Hey it is what it is. Sorry to say but I had too do it to most of the elanders I had bought through AA's website.

The ones I had too do this too I had to clean gunk out the mag and the follower was hanging on a lil spot i had to file down.

Even then I they wouldn't work correctly, so I seen it posted here to break them in bye loading them up and keeping them loaded for a week are so and hand cycling the rounds out and reloading then letting them sit.

It worked that's all I can say, and that's the best advice I had for the gent since I don't have my hands on his rifle to help him figure out what's wrong and fix it.

[LRRPF52]

Sounds like you have a short-stroking issue, or sluggish cartridge stack lift.

What temperature was it when you were shooting?

Is your BCG lubed and what oil?

I personally inspect all my mags, no matter the cartridge, by depressing the follower with a dowel to see if there is any binding or sluggish lift.

If so, I disassemble and locate the burrs or whatever is causing the problem and fix it using basic deductive logic.

I have a new in the wrapper CProducts 25rd mag that had a sharp piece of metal protruding into the magazine body cavity that was binding up the follower, so I removed the burr with needle nose and the problem went away, but none of my other CProducts mags have done that.

[OneHitWonder]

To those that say low gas or short stroke. The bruise on my shoulder says I was over gassed and bouncing the bolt. I had good bolt lock back even on Wolf.

Will have tools to adjust the gas block next outing.

Will disassemble the mags and look for burrs on the welds.

Won’t be out for a couple weeks. Let you all know what happens.

Thanks for the help and comments.

[LRRPF52]

Excessive cyclic rate can also cause FTFeed with the BCG beating the cartridge stack before it has time to get into presentation.

What gas port diameter, buffer weight, and spring are you using?

[OneHitWonder]

Excessive cyclic rate can also cause FTFeed with the BCG beating the cartridge stack before it has time to get into presentation.

What gas port diameter, buffer weight, and spring are you using?

Just got this upper. Barely anytime spent with it. Cleaned and oiled then 65 rounds in heavy crosswind.

Rifle buffer and Colt (I’m pretty sure) spring. Have not checked the port size, as this was a pre-built PSA.

I’m not in the same State as the gun most of the time so I can’t just play armorer at will.

[Sinclair]

Just got this upper. Barely anytime spent with it. Cleaned and oiled then 65 rounds in heavy crosswind.

Rifle buffer and Colt (I’m pretty sure) spring. Have not checked the port size, as this was a pre-built PSA.

I’m not in the same State as the gun most of the time so I can’t just play armorer at will.

Bummer, diffinetly hampers ones progress. I have found that just sitting and looking at the problem for awhile will sometimes bring about a solution. Sort of like Henry Jones in 'The Last Crusade'.

[JohnXDm]

H2 buffer

[OneHitWonder]

Got out again today. Tuned the gas block down to hold open on Wolf.

First 17 round e-lander fed till the last 3 rounds then bolt failed to pick up twice.

Second 17 round e-lander was full of fail. Fail to pick up round too often. Marked it. Have not numbered my Grendel mags yet. But will now to identify the ones of same type.

The 24 round e-lander also full of fail. Some nose down hang-ups.


Still running on the rifle buffer.


Too bad I don’t know any Grendel owners to try one of their proven mags in my gun. Since I think all my problems must be mag related at this point.

[Bigs28]

Sorry about your troubles. I use 5 round mags only and i have 1 that fails to feed the second to last round everytime. My other 2 magazine's work flawlessly.

[Mad Charlie]

Maybe do the rounded ejector mod?

[VASCAR2]

If you have a question about the reliability of your 6.5 Grendel mags you can usually load 3 or 4 rounds in a 5.56 Pmag magazine and verify the rifles function. I load new E-Lander mags to capacity and let them set loaded as they have very stout springs when new.

If you have the one E-Lander magazine that failed on the last three rounds curious if it will work if you load just five or ten rounds. I’d load five rounds in the 17 round mag and shoot the the rifle. If the rifle malfunctions then you still could have a magazine problem or a problem with the rifle.


This issue sounds very similar to feeding issues traced to the ejector. There is a mod to the ejector pin which is simple to do and can’t hurt anything to try. It’s best to try to isolate the the problem. Use one magazine till your sure it works with a few rounds consistently. If none of your mags work I’d suspect an issue with rifle.

Here is a link to the ejector mod.

http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2014...artridges/

[OneHitWonder]

Thanks for the advice. But I have yet to have a stuck case. Not a single fail to eject. All feed issues, so how can the ejector be at fault?

Maybe do the rounded ejector mod?

If you have a question about the reliability of your 6.5 Grendel mags you can usually load 3 or 4 rounds in a 5.56 Pmag magazine and verify the rifles function. I load new E-Lander mags to capacity and let them set loaded as they have very stout springs when new.

If you have the one E-Lander magazine that failed on the last three rounds curious if it will work if you load just five or ten rounds. I’d load five rounds in the 17 round mag and shoot the the rifle. If the rifle malfunctions then you still could have a magazine problem or a problem with the rifle.


This issue sounds very similar to feeding issues traced to the ejector. There is a mod to the ejector pin which is simple to do and can’t hurt anything to try. It’s best to try to isolate the the problem. Use one magazine till your sure it works with a few rounds consistently. If none of your mags work I’d suspect an issue with rifle.

Here is a link to the ejector mod.

http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2014...artridges/

[Mad Charlie]

The squared off edges of the ejector sometimes cause the cartridge on the left side of the magazine to hang up as the bolt strips the round from the magazine. Rounding the ejector lets the base of the cartridge slide up into the bolt face easier. Left side of mag=1,3,5,7, etc.