Gunsmithing Feeding issues on Howa 1500

[stello1001]

Hello,

I've recently purchased a Howa HCR and have noticed that feeding is very rough. I need to attempt really fast and really forceful for the round to go into the chamber. If I try to be gentle with it, the round will stop the bolt from pushing it into the chamber. I feel like it gets stuck right at the ramp. I've been playing with it a bit by loading the mag and just feeding rounds into it to see if I can notice anything that might help me identify the issue. While doing that, I noticed one round, it happened to be the last in the mag, got stuck halfway up the ramp. I pulled the bolt back and had to manually get it out from it being halfway in and out of the mag. As a result, the shoulder of the brass has become real dented. Aside from that, all the brass has become really scratched up and i can see so much debris in the action and chamber of the rifle. I will post pics and a vid to show this. I have contacted legacy sports and they said I could return it if I want to for them to investigate it but that I could also look around and find some simple fixes for getting it to feed better. Does anyone know if there is a simple fix to this? I would hate to have to send it back and wait or be without the rifle for some time. If there is something you guys know of that might be a solution, please let me know. By the way, I have never owned a chassis style rifle before this one and idk if this is how they all are. But I have had 300 dlr rifles that are simply just for hunting and they feed way way smoother than this does. If it matters, it is a factory hornady black round.

Vid
https://youtu.be/nD2xp396RY4

**edit**
In the pics, it is very difficult to see all the brass debris in comparison to having the rifle in person. However, we can see how the ramp has taken some abuse.

Pics below

 

[MarinePMI]

Caliber/cartridge?

 

[MtnCreek]

Video says 6.5 creed.

Do do you have another mag to try?

 

[stello1001]

At the moment I do not. Yes, it is in 6.5 creed. Last round of mag really gets jammed and causes the brass to dent.

 

[MarinePMI]

Mtncreek may be correct in suspecting a magazine problem, based on the last round hanging up. I'd also look at the position of the magazine; it sounds like its a tad low or off angle (downward slope to the front end). You may need a longer magazine catch to raise the mag/feedlips up a smidge (assuming the mag feedlips aren't already raised up against the bolt body, and you have some room to play with).

 

[308pirate]

Before you do or consider anything else, get another magazine or two and try again. If possible in a different brand from the mag you already have.

 

[stello1001]

This is one thing I was considering, getting a new mag. Before I do so, is there any brand you all can recommend? Or a specific style/model? I've never owned a rifle that accepts mags like these and I have no idea what to look for.

 

[MtnCreek]

I have three AICS mags (10 & 5 rd) and they all feed 6.5 creedmoor perfectly. I have one Accurate Mag (10rd) and it does not feed the last couple of rds well. They may be great mags and I just happened to get a bad one. Edit: This is in a R700.

 

[308pirate]

is there any brand you all can recommend? Or a specific style/model?

Everyone, at one time or another, has had a problem with every single brand of AICS-style magazines. Luckily, those bad examples are few and far between.

I would be willing to bet that another magazine, same brand and model as the one you have, will likely work just fine.

The only recommendation I would make is to try some Magpul AICS Pmags. Mostly because they are the least expensive quality mag out there.

Edit: Can you tell us who made the magazine that is giving you problems? Is it a 5 or 10 rounder?

 

[stello1001]

Everyone, at one time or another, has had a problem with every single brand of AICS-style magazines. Luckily, those bad examples are few and far between.

I would be willing to bet that another magazine, same brand and model as the one you have, will likely work just fine.

The only recommendation I would make is to try some Magpul AICS Pmags. Mostly because they are the least expensive quality mag out there.

Edit: Can you tell us who made the magazine that is giving you problems? Is it a 5 or 10 rounder?

My chassis system is made by accurate mag, magazine itself says that on it so I'm assuming they're both made by accurate mag. It is a 10 round but I can fit 11.

 

[308pirate]

It is a 10 round but I can fit 11.

How many rounds are in the magazine when the rough feeding happens, 10?, 11?, doesn't matter how many?

 

[stello1001]

I can have 11 rounds in there or i can have 4 rounds in there, it doesn't matter. I'l get home from work today and try again just to make sure. But from my previous observations, it didn't matter how many rounds the mag had.

 

[stello1001]

How many rounds are in the magazine when the rough feeding happens, 10?, 11?, doesn't matter how many?

I just attempted 4 times to replicate my feeding issues. I attempted 3 times with only 6 rounds in the mag. I had to be forceful once again in order to get the rounds into the chamber. With 6 rounds in it, I noticed that once I turned the bolt down into the locked position (Don't know proper terminology for this) it got heavier each time after the 2nd round. Meaning round 3, 4,5, and 6, I had to use slightly more force to get my bolt down once round was fully pushed into the chamber. I then tried with 11 rounds. I was able to get all rounds to feed into the chamber just fine but I had to be forceful again when pushing each round out of the mag and into the chamber. I was expecting the last round to jam going up the ramp since I now had loaded the 11 rounds into the mag. To my surprise, it did not jam. I tried again with same results. If it matters, I had noticed the last round jamming when I was using hornady black. Now I tried hornady eld-x since I no longer have black. I know the brass is the same, but with the hornady black line, boat tail hollow point bullets are used. While I still had to use a lot of force to get rounds up the ramp and into the chamber, these did not jam. I tried pushing a few out of the mag gently but that didn't work out. I felt so much friction and the rounds would stop about halfway unless I started applying more force again. These were my observations.

End result:

I've conclude the boat tail hollow points get jammed when trying load the last round into the chamber. Regardless of which round I use, it still requires me to be forceful in order to successfully load a round before I can engage on any target. I will try to buy a new mag sometime soon.

 

[MarinePMI]

This sounds more and more like a geometry feeding issue, not a magazine issue (per se). Can you push the magazine deeper into the well while chambering and see if it makes a difference? Sounds like your cartridges are striking the feed ramp at too perpendicular of an angle, causing increased resistance. If the magazine was higher, or the front end of the magazine to be more precise, it would change the angle at which the cartridge strikes the feed ramp, and allow smoother feeding. Maybe opening up the front of the feed lips on the magazine (thereby allowing the cartridge to sit up more on the front end) would resolve the issue if the magazine is indeed seated as far as it will go?

JMTCW...

 

[stello1001]

This sounds more and more like a geometry feeding issue, not a magazine issue (per se). Can you push the magazine deeper into the well while chambering and see if it makes a difference? Sounds like your cartridges are striking the feed ramp at too perpendicular of an angle, causing increased resistance. If the magazine was higher, or the front end of the magazine to be more precise, it would change the angle at which the cartridge strikes the feed ramp, and allow smoother feeding. Maybe opening up the front of the feed lips on the magazine (thereby allowing the cartridge to sit up more on the front end) would resolve the issue if the magazine is indeed seated as far as it will go?

JMTCW...

I've tried pushing the magazine further up but there is no wiggle to it. It feels like that's as high as it'll go.

when you say to open the front of the feed lips on the magazine, what does this mean? Is this something that can be performed by a DIYer? Would this pretty much mean me filing around the inside edges of the mag in order to make a bit more room? Sorry if my questions are too ridiculous. I'm barely wanting to get into long range shooting so I don' know much about these things.

 

[CavReconScout]

I sent you a PM.

 

[308pirate]

Dude, buy a Magpul AICS magazine and try that before you go screwing with the current magazine. Otherwise you're just guessing and worse yet you're not very experienced at messing with rifles like this it seems.

In the meantime, if you need to use the rifle just single feed it.

 

[stello1001]

I'm gonna end up doing that