@Glenn24 I’m super glad you got it sorted out. Thankfully I’ve never had to mortar a stuck round out, but it’s a good technique to know “just in case”.
I want to echo @Nathan57 's questions though, they can provide valuable insight and we want to try to be mitigate the chances of it happening again.
Was this due to a faulty extractor/bolt? The bolt and colt carrier group are basically the heart of an AR and substandard materials or QC can really affect reliability. Do you know what brand and/or the materials used on this one were?
Or…
Was this an ammo problem? It doesn’t sound like a squib (under-powered), so perhaps the round was over-pressured? Was it ammo you’ve used before? Did any of the ejected cases show anything weird like the case was split or the primer popped out? What brand was the ammo, some of them have had known issues over the years (Hornady Frontier is a recent one that comes to mind, early runs of PSA’s AAC were very inconsistent, IMI loaded very high maybe 10 or so years ago).
Also, do be sure now that the obstruction is cleared that the barrel and chamber are also clear and undamaged.
I.O (INTERORDINANCE) AR-15 Sportster. It is rated for 5.56 or .223 ammo. (I.O is a local company that appears to have gone out of business. Their web site is still up, but the “Contact Us” link goes to another company in a nearby city.) The gun shop I bought it from went out of business about a decade ago, when several closed.
Several years ago I replaced the whole bolt carrier group with one from Stoner, because the original had intermittent problems with ejecting brass. The ejector wouldn’t grab the brass to eject it. That is why I had the spare pin to replace the broken one.
I have shot 400-500 rounds through the rifle.
The ammo that I have used is mostly General Dynamics 5.56 AB American Ballistics SS109 and Federal American Eagle .223
The round that jammed was a General Dynamics 5.56 AB American Ballistics SS109.
I don’t usually inspect spent brass this closely, but it does appear to have more nicks and scratches on it than normal.
It look clean and normal. Maybe too clean. It hadn’t been to the range and cleaned and oiled in a long time, maybe too long. I have decided that I am going to add a can of oil to my range bag, just in case lack of oil was a contributing factor.
