new AIAE 260 feeding issues

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Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Jun 29, 2012
902
127
Florence, SC
Tried searching but havent found anything about them having feeding issues. Everything I find says they as reliable as it gets.

So, here is the problem. I load the mag and cycle the first round. No problem. Ejects fine and push bolt back forward and second round loads great. Ejects fine but when I go to push the bolt forward, the 3rd round is in a bind in the mag. Will not pop up to the top of the mag lips. If I take the mag out of the gun or even hold the release and let it drop a 1/4", the round pops up and does fine. This is with new ai mags both 5 and 10 round mags. The 5 rounders usually only do it on the 3rd round and dont do it every time. The 10 round mags do it every time and do it on the 3rd and 5th rounds almost every time. If I let the gun sit, the rounds do not pop up over time and cycling the bolt slow or fast, soft or hard doesnt make any difference. Is there anything I am forgetting? Is this something not too uncommon ? Anyone have this happen before? Shooting Lapua brass and 140 Amaxs. Shined a flashlight in the chamber and there appears to be clearance between the end of the mag amd the polymer tip. Could my oal be too long for the mag? Going to try to post some pics in a minute.

Thanks in advance.
 
Here is the view from the top looking at the stuck round. Really tough to get in there w the camera. The one of the tip of the amaxs is hard to see but it is actually clear of the top of the mag.
 

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Playing with it, it finally hung up on the other side. Looks like the base of the case is getting hung slightly on the receiver. Measuring the bullet. They are loaded to 2.880" oal.
 

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That might be your problem. I don't what the max length is, but if all of your mags are doing this, it might be time to roll a few rounds that are shorter and see how they perform.
 
new AIAE 260 feeding issues

What model AE? What mags?

It could be that MK 1 mag springs are not pushing the rear of the cartridge up hard enough at that OAL.

Because I load .308s to 2.960 in AE MK 1 mags with no issues.

But if it's an AICS mag I second LL's opinion.
 
AE mkiii. It was the stock ai mag that it came with and a couple of others I picked up in a trade. The 2.880 fit in the mag with a little room but were hanging up in the back on the action like in the last pic. I seated 10 down to 2.858 and it fed fine. Will have to shoot some now to see how it likes the little extra jump. Hopefully the same as before bc it really shot great.