Loki 3g failure?

twss · Jul 7, 2012

I ran my Loki 3g rifle today at a match and had what I think were multiple failures to go into battery. I didn't slow down to look to hard because I was on the clock, but I did notice one round had the bullet smashed to one side like it had rammed into the feed ramp or chamber area extra hard. I assume the rest were like this too. I plan to get out to the range with it and try to get the same failure and really look to see what's going on. Aside from the stuck Tulammo .223 case that hosed me on one stage I had probably 15-25% failures like described above. Bang, Bang, slack trigger, cycle the action Bang, slack trigger, cycle the action, Bang, slack trigger. You get the idea. It was ejecting live rounds when cycling the action. The one round I stopped to look at with the jacked up bullet had not been primer struck. I used a mix of Tulammo steel cased .223, Federal xm193, and m855. The gun was non prejudiced as to what ammo it malfunctioned with. This also happened once out of a box of 50rds. of Hornady steel match when I first got it a few weeks ago. I ran about 120 rounds of Remington UMC 55gr brass cased stuff with no issues.

Anyone had this before? I am new to AR's, this one being my first. I've only shot about 250 rounds through it so far. Maybe 350 rounds total with friends shooting it.Not really sure where to go from here except reaffirming the problem at the range and maybe contacting Loki. Any help or ideas is greatly appreciated.

Jeremy Moore · Jul 7, 2012

Oil, oil, oil

Wall · Jul 7, 2012

Try tuning the gas block, it may be over gassed.

Turn the gas almost all of the way closed & shoot it with only 1 round in the mag using your lightest power ammo.
Open slightly & repeat until the bolt will lock back on the empty mag.
After the tuning process, be sure lock the gas adj. screw down.

Jeremy Moore · Jul 7, 2012

Wall said:
Try tuning the gas block, it may be over gassed.

Turn the gas almost all of the way closed & shoot it with only 1 round in the mag using your lightest power ammo.
Open slightly & repeat until the bolt will lock back on the empty mag.
After the tuning process, be sure lock the gas adj. screw down.

Great advice!

Matt1911 · Jul 7, 2012

Going from brass cases to steel and back again Will cause malfunction sometimes too.

DoctorJJ · Jul 7, 2012

Magazines you were using?

twss · Jul 7, 2012

Jeremy Moore said:
Oil, oil, oil

Possibly, but I don't think so. I just oiled the bcg before the match and half way through the first stage it had it's first malfunction. The stuck case. I did pull the bcg at that time, maybe I wiped the oil off and didn't notice.

Wall said:
Try tuning the gas block, it may be over gassed.

I don't have an adjustable gas block.

DoctorJJ said:
Magazines you were using?

I had problems with a couple of different pmags and my friend was shooting usgi aluminum mags with the same thing.

Wall · Jul 7, 2012

twss said:
I don't have an adjustable gas block.

Sorry, I thought the 3G came with the Low mass operating system.
In that case, You might try a heavy buffer.

twss · Jul 7, 2012

Wall said:
Sorry, I thought the 3G came with the Low mass operating system.
In that case, You might try a heavy buffer.

Lmos is an add on. I didn't have the funds right away for it. I haven't tried a different buffer. I think it came with a standard milspec type buffer for the RRA A2 Operator fixed stock, but I don't know for sure.

Corey · Jul 7, 2012

My brother had a similar issue he added few drops of oil to buffer tube. This quieted down the spring sound in the buffer tube & his gun ran much smoother.

jtischauser · Jul 7, 2012

Loki was using some pretty tight chamber specs a mwhile back so that could be part of the problem. But I NEVER mix brass cases ammo with Steel cases ammo especially the dry cases like Tula or Hornady steel match. My Stag had failure to extract issues if my gun got dirty with the Hornady steel match ammo too. Try running 2-300 rounds of both all brass then all steel separately and see if the steel cases are to blame. I only use non laqeur coated steel for practice. I'll run the laqeur coated stuff like brown bear in local matches but never anything major.

dennishoddy · Jul 7, 2012

I'm going with Jesse on this one. My first thought was chamber. Other than some rounds I've been given, I never shoot the steel case stuff.
I know some that shoot it consistently, but it's just a thing with me I guess.

With the low round count you have on the rifle, I'd hold off mods untill you get a few hundred more rounds through it.
Brush the chamber, and if the problems continue, get a gunsmith familiar with the AR platform to do a chamber check.
It wouldn't be the first time a barrel came from a production line undersized.

ChrisC · Jul 8, 2012

my short barrel did this, it was due to the bolt, i swapped out the bolt... no problems... the gas rings on the old bolt were really tight..

twss · Jul 11, 2012

Looks like the ejector roll pin may have been the culprit. It was sticking out just a little on one side and I could tell it had been struck causing it to have a burr on it and stick up. I drove it back flush with a punch, cleaned the rifle, and lubricated generously. I ran 109 rounds through it after work today at USSA. 20 rounds of Federal xm193, followed by 20 rounds of PMC Bronze, followed by 69 rounds of Tulammo .223-55gr. I fired them in double and triple taps about as quick as I could trying to mimic the cadence of shooting in a match. All rounds fed, fired and extracted like a boss. I couldn't get more than 15 to 20 rounds between malfunctions at the match last weekend, sometimes every round for 10 rounds straight.

I hope it was just the burr on the ejector roll pin hanging up in the barrel extension. At least that what makes sense in my head. Your thoughts?

DoctorJJ · Jul 11, 2012

Makes sense to me. Glad you got it fixed!

twss · Jul 25, 2012

Since the 109 rounds that ran good I haven't shot until today. Took the rifle out and let a friend shoot it. He had a milsurp type magazine and was having Fail to Feed issues where the round would hang up on the feed ramps about half way down the case and smash the fire out of it. I thought maybe it was the magazine so I loaded a pmag and shot some NATO 55gr. stuff. Out of about 70 rounds I had one stuck case. It wouldn't extract from the chamber and the extractor stripped the rim of the case. The cleaning rod barely needed a tap to free it up. What is going on? I hate feeling like I can't trust a 1500 dollar rifle to be reliable. The rifle was cleaned prior to the 109 rounds shot last outing. The bolt was well lubed. My frustration level is rising. :-(