There is no such thing as a “bad day at the range”, but some are less optimal than others. My new normal-capacity magazines for my Baby Eagle (review to be forthcoming when I get around to it) worked exactly as advertised/intended, but the Tactical Solutions SBX upper I purchased for Buy a Gun Day was a complete and total fail.
When the magazine was inserted, the bolt would not go all the way home, and when the magazine was removed, the gun would not fire.
I removed the bolt, and pushed the firing pin to the back, inserted everything back together, found it still would not close the bolt with the magazine inserted, removed the magazine, and managed to fire a single hand-loaded round. Then I tried to hand-load another round, and it would not fire. Disassemble the gun, push the firing pin to the rear, put it back together, hand-load a round, and it fired again.
Why would the bolt not want to go home with the magazine inserted, and why would the firing pin not “recover” from its forward position? I have written TacSol, but I am wondering if anyone out there has encountered something similar.
It is surprising to hear of your experience with the Tactical Solutions upper. I have one of their flat top target free-float uppers and it runs (with good ammo) like a sewing machine. Beyond just mine, I have had the occasion to shoot three different TacSol uppers and they all ran without complaint. Please let us know how TacSol resolves the issue.
You have a bad build, send it back for warranty work.
If the bolt won’t close on the magazine it means the geometry of the bolt or magazine is off, and since those magazines are pretty much an industry standard item it is likely the bolt.
If the firing pin won’t reset that is likely that it is binding on something, possibly an out of spec spring or metal chip.
@ 1With A Bullet: See, that is exactly what I have heard about TacSol in the past too… I am really hoping I just got a bolt that snuck past quality control, and there is an easy fix.
Nothing from them yet, but it is the weekend
.
@ AM: Is there any way the firing pin could be whacked forward hard enough to get stuck or something? I do have an aftermarket CMC Trigger in the lower, and while it does have the squared-off hammer .22 uppers recommend, it also has a lot more… snap… than its “milspec” predecessor.