Tula and wolf sticking in my LMT chamber.

[colorider]

My new LMT upper does not seem to like wolf of Tula steel cased ammo. Brass show just fine. Chamber is 223/5.56 and I'm shootin 223 Tula 62 grain. It won't load the next round. The spent casings are really sticky in the chamber. I can't even put a spent casing back fully into the chamber. It will go a little more then 3/4 way in and then it's extremely tight. Is this something that will quit happening when I get more rounds through it ? It's my 1st AR and I have only put about 80 rounds thru it. Brass cycles just dandy. Thanks for all the help.

[BPTactical]

Steel cased ammo will stick in an AR. If it has a well made barrel with a snug chamber it will do it more frequently.
There was the mis-information that the lacquer coated cases were the issue and sometimes it was a contributing factor if the chamber was hot. That is why some of the new production steel cased ammo is polymer coated.
Here is why steel cased sticks in an AR:
Brass and steel are two very different metals with entirely different properties. Brass is a very elastic metal and as such is relatively flexible. Steel is much less flexible. When you fire a brass cased round the casing expands (fire forms) to the chamber and as soon as the pressure starts to drop it relaxes some and can begin the extraction phase.
When using steel cased ammo when fired and it fire forms to the chamber it tends to stay expanded and therefore sticks.
The problem is exasperated by an AR chamber being fairly straight walled. An AK chamber is tapered and when the case expands it actually aids extraction by "jacking" the case out of the chamber somewhat.
What about pistols?
Typically pistol chambers are not as tight as rifle chambers and pistol ammo usually does not reach the pressures that rifle ammo does.

You will also find that the Wolf is a much dirtier ammo and carbons up much more. With a GI AR this is important because the bolt and carrier carbon up badly. I have had to work on a couple that were so badly carboned up that the bolt would not slide out of the carrier, it had to be knocked out. The only way they came clean short of a chisel was by soaking it in Berrymans carb cleaner over night. Both had been fed Wolf as a steady diet.

You have a first class rifle in a LMT. It deserves to be fed the good stuff. You and the rifle will be much happier in the long run.

[68Charger]

I'll second all the comments made by BPTactical- if you want to shoot cheap Wolf ammo, get an AK (they even come in .223), even piston-driven ARs have tighter tolerances, and will tend to stick with steel cases.

AKs have looser tolerances, and were designed for steel-case and dirty ammo. you're not going to typically get AR-like accuracy with wolf, either.

FWIW, I'm doing an AK build in .223, but I still wouldn't use wolf or other steel-case ammo (but I will with 7.62x39 or 5.45x39, both have a tapered case, much more tapered than .223/5.56, and I've never had an issue with Tula or Wolf in 7.62x39)

[DeusExMachina]

My Sabre barrel shoots steel fine...if it didn't it wouldn't be useful to me. I assume your LMT is chambered in 5.56?

[Graves]

Cheap ammo with issues; imagine that...

[cofi]

sounds like you need to have your chamber reamed there is absolutely no reason your ar shouldnt be eating steel tula wolf(not the old green stuff though) is gtg i shot about 7000 rounds of tula last year through all kinds of ars.....i really feel that if your ar is not eating steel it is barely functioning with brass

[Not_A_Llama]

If it won't eat wolf, something is wrong with your gun.

I've had too many ARs that were fed a steady and heavy diet of the stuff to believe any of the rubbish about "cheap gas". Gods know I wouldn't have been able to shoot half as much through college if it hadn't been for Wolf.

It sounds like your gun is shortstroking, with it not picking up the next round. To allay concerns about a dirty chamber, I'd suggest a solid chamber scrubout with a variety of solvents. I gather from your description that spent casings are being ejected? I wouldn't worry so much about "sticking" cases, then. You might be undergassed. If you're running a heavier buffer, I'd pop down to a lighter buffer.

Anything further, like chamber reaming or gasport drilling, seems excessive for you, as a customer, to deal with. I'd maybe call LMT to see if they can help - they do have a good customer service reputation. Otherwise, if you intend to shoot Wolf/Tula more, I'm sure there would be a strong market for the upper on our For Sale subforum.

For what it's worth, my recollection is that LMT slightly undersizes their gas ports with a "proprietary" (*snicker*) gasport.

[Delfuego]

sounds like you need to have your chamber reamed

This would likely solve the issue, but at the cost of looser tolerances and losing some of the chrome off your chamber. LMT's have a tight chamber, my Sabre does too and would choke on Wolf, never had a single hiccup with brass, even cheap brass.

Listen to BP, he is the expert....

[BPTactical]

The rifle aint the problem

[68Charger]

OP stated it work fine with brass ammo- so it probably has a tight chamber.

If you want to shoot cheap steel stuff, get a different barrel- but don't ream an otherwise good barrel just to shoot the cheap stuff.

Personally, I'd reload before I'd mess with cheap .223
7.62x39 or 5.45, no problem- the surplus 5.45 is even steel case.