This video was a requested video on how to polish and buff the feed ramps on the M4 rifle (M4 Barrel Extension) using a Dremel and some polishing compound and finishing it off with some flitz polish for a quick buff.
I use a small sanding drum that is basically the same diameter as the ramp shape. I sand it down while installed to blend the ramps into the M4 ramps in the receiver perfectly. Also, polish the chamber if it's not fully feeding, as some AR barrel chambers are very rough and have a feed stoppage about 1/2" back from full battery.
I need to do this. I shoot with a 1oz buffer (weights removed) and a low mass carrier. On top of that, I shoot suppressed 90% of the time. Once it starts to get dirty, rounds get caught up on the feed ramp.
Great video,I have an AR 10 I'm having issues with right now,it doesn't matter what mag I use it jams all the time.My rifle was built by an Armor for the Marines all good quality parts used and I see a lot of issues with AR 10s/308s having the same problem.I would have to ship the rifle back to him so I believe I'll try this 1st.Thank you
I noticed most of the jamming issues with any M4 type feed ramp issue isn't the lack of polishing feed ramps unless surface is very rough, but the sharp edge at the end of the feed ramp on some barrels gouge bullets and case during the feeding. Quality barrel manufactures such as FN deburr and slightly radius the end to prevent any gouging to prevent resistance or distortion.
Funny this old video is getting comments still. I would say anyone who doesn't under stand the benefit of polishing the feed ramps only shoot military FMJ 5.56 ammo. If you reload your own ammo and shoot other than 5.56 you will discover how nice it is to have polished feed ramps. I reload my 7.62x39 with 220 grain round nose bullets that are very blunt. The standard m4 ramps are just a tiny bit narrow and steep for a round nose bullets. However a good polish job made them so slick that it doesn't matter if the bullet smacks straight into the ramp. Polishing increases feed reliability no matter the bullet cartridge combination. Look at a 1911 in standard military configuration, you're lucky if it will feed a hollow point, give it a chamber polish and feed ramp polish and the next thing yo know you can feed the biggest hollow points available.
@lookingupforjesus Since the AR platform has an integrated barrel extension, incorporating the locking lugs that will work the bolt lugs, headspace is normally a non-issue. Headspace will be always a fixed datum, since barrel locking lugs and chamber will be a single item.
Any downside of doing this? I’ve got a little bit of feed trouble and i think it’s the super sharp feed ramps on my aero/ba barrel. Pretty sure this thing was done on a Friday afternoon cause the gas port appears to be a little off center depending on how you look at it as well. Thanks man great video
Gas port first.... use thread ocker between the barrel and the gas port and make sure it's properly aligned Micrometer helps. scribe a line on the barrel to mark it so the gas port is spot on and a if it's a rail use a bubble level on top. and lock everything down. then you can polish the feed ramps and check it with a mag to make sure it's feeding dead on. I also recommend using thread locker when you seat the barrel. it will improve accuracy.. then check your bolt carrier. slip it in place and look at the gas tube. if the gas tube moves when the bolt is closed that means you very slightly bend the tube (with it in place but bolt carrier pulled back. had to do this with all 300+ M16 series rifles in my unit. when it's adjusted correctly it should not move or cause any additional friction. your rifle should work perfectly every time. Weaponeer does not get any money from RU-vid, which keeps this disabled vet fairly poor. I would love to do all these tricks on video (18 years as an armorer in the Army and now a master armorer with nearly 40 years doing it. so I know a trick or two lol one big one is how to clean the gas tube so it's bright again. I use kit string. yu loop it two times around the tube and with CLP you work the string back and forth and it cleans it up perfectly. you can then add some polishing media on the string, work it in and clean it up with dry string and it will get a little less carbon buildup. lol, I guess the weaponeer channel needs to use Patreon to get the funds and parts to demo all this and support the channel. I hope the tips above help
@weaponeer Cool. I was just messing around about cutting M4 ramps video. I may try to do another one when I get my new gunroom completed and have some better lighting to work with. May do a .50 Beowulf project sometime, not sure yet.
While you were in there you should have ever so slightly rounded off the 3 lug edges that generally put a spiral marring on the rounds when they chamber
@weaponeer Thanks for the answer. I decided to by one with the M4 feedramps.I own a RRA lower and i found out the Rock River does not put them on their uppers so i wound up buying a Daniel Defense upper.The ironic part is that DD has so many order that they stopped selling their lowers so i have a franken AR. No biggy for me but some people get very worried about not having the same logo throughout their build. Thanks again.
I've got a bushmaster 6.8 that is eating the tip off soft tip ammo, an really digging into copper ammo. I've started to look around on the net. Seems to be a problem for some makers of 6.8 not using m4 feed ramps. Should I just change the ramp or grind the ramp down? Seen were some have ground it down but wonder bout mess up the finish. Any thoughts, thanks
** Super Answer** The M16/AR15/M4 Series Barrels that are Mil-spec are made from SAE 4140 chrome-molybdenum or "chrome-moly" steel or 416R stainless steel and the Barrel Extensions. (for those new to the AR15 the barrel has a threaded barrel extension installed on the chamber end of the barrel. inside the extension where the bolt lugs lock into. You have standard extension without the feed ramp's and you have M4 barrel extensions which have the feed ramps) The feed ramps built into the barrel extension are either chrome-moly steel or 416R stainless. I have never seen any corrosion on barrel extension feed ramps (polished or not) But, there are two feed ramps on a mil-spec M4. 1. the Barrel extension 2. the upper receiver (also known as an M4 Upper). Now I always buy M4 uppers with feed ramps because without the feed ramps the tips of the projectile can hang up on the very edge of the upper. adding that ramp in the upper receiver solved that problem but that modification required the M4 barrel extension to also have feed ramps installed (like all other rifles). NOTE: the M4 is a product improvement of the M16A2, so it took the best of the M16 series and molded it into the new M4. which is why the M16A2 did not include feed ramps. Now polishing the feed ramps on the upper receiver so they match the barrel extension feed ramps is a requirement for feeding reliability especial under full auto fire. the outer layer on the aluminum upper is andodizing which can be rough and can cause the bullet tips to hang up (especially for non-milspec) so you can polish the andizing to match that of the barrel extension (The number one cause for bullet tips to hang up is misalignment between the barrel extension feed ramps and the upper receiver feed ramps on M4 uppers especially under full auto fire). Now, since upper receivers are aluminum and if you were to polish past the anodizing into the aluminum to match up and/or polish the feed ramp. then it's possible to have the aluminum oxidize if the rifle is not maintained. if this happens, then the feed ramps would then need to be repolished and the owner smacked upside the head. It's been reported that the new M855A1 ammunition has been reported to be causing wear on feed ramps (I assume the upper receiver feed ramps because brass is not harder than chrome-moly steel, so wear should be nil.) This typically would have more to do with the Magazine then the M855A1 ammunition. it's the feed lips responsibility to align the ammunition and especially the projectile tips onto the feed ramps "correctly".
@weaponeer (cont) Those new HD digicams give you very nice bokeh from a true camera lens, fast autofocus and ease of operation. Beats a camcorder + DOF adapters any day of the week and twice on sundays. Audio? I have Premiere pro CS3 and with a decent audio recorder synced with the digicam's audio, you have the best of both worlds.
does the barrel come with a4 extensions or is it somehting you have to buy seperate from the barrel.. ive come to the barrel part of my build. im waiting for a chf barrel from DD. and i was wondering if i have to buy anything else thanks great vid..
what kind of wheel & compound did you use for polish job? what is "flitz"? where did you get them? i've been looking for polish apparatus for my dremel, to do my m4, but have been reluctant to "try out" just anything because i figure i got one shot at it. thanks for the vid.
just bug for the ear, i had a high power that would jam when hot so i polished the ramp and no help there. so i took a cartage and manual slid it up the ramp and it stopped when it hit the top of the barrel inside there was a grove in there and i polished it out now no problems. so check the inside were the cartage hits
boardstretcher1 this might be my problem. My lr 308 was failing to feed. So I polished the ramp .. although the polishing the ramp didn't help I did notice the same marks you did on the inside top of the barrel where the tip of the bullet touches. And also the proble arieses after 10-15 rounds have been fired as it heats up. You know where I can find more info on ths?
kk i seen some videos on how to cut and bend the springs il just buy some, (jp has good reviews, going off ur recommendations) not sure how il polish insidde the trigger and sear pin holes or the pins but thank you sooo much, i appreshiate ur time,
ok so i should poish for reliability and make my rifle parts last longer (cheaper then going to titanium haha) what do u mean by "pin area" like inside the hammer and sear holes? or the pins them selves? im acutally sitting here with my dremel going off as i read haha, im in the process of building my first ar-15. and where exactly would i need to polish to lighted trigger pull?
@weaponeer Your gun videos are probably the most professional you'll ever find here, right after MidwayUSA's ones. That said, I enjoy A LOT you using a lapel mic or personal mic all the time, it's great... Although I think your camera having auto volume level spoils a lot your efforts. If you ever had the chance to shift to a camera with manally selectable imput levels, that would be an unimaginable improvement.
Awesome! You got to this video quick. The tooling marks on my AA Grendel were bad enough I had to start with an emery impregnated rubber tip. The Sabre had a finish on it that I buffed off. I've never tried the Flitz but I pretty much do it the way you do. This is the video I TRIED to make! Cool man ***** Now do a video on cutting M4 ramps into your upper receiver LOL ;) I tried that one too.
Today I was playing with my ar15 I put a empty brass in the chamber it scrach the feed ramp really bad is that a big issue or I shouldn't worry about it.
What the hell brand barrel is that so I know not to buy them :D My DPMS thin profile ain't as nice as your polish job but is 10x better than the before side.
That barrel has survived 30,000+ rounds of wolf, with 90% of that being all Bump-fired (before obama) magazine after magazine, and a few 100 round Beta C Drum Magazine dumps without stopping.. it's burned more oil than my piece of crap 20 year old ford explorer. yet it rarely has any reliability problems even with the dirty wolf ammo (run's like an AK, yet just as accurate today as it was years ago after building it (approx 1 MOA). This rifle has also been Bump-fired faster than the full auto m16A1 (no fun comparing 3 shot burst rates of fire.. lol) Remember, the barrel extension looks, have nothing to do with the barrel accuracy
Disabled veteran with 16 years service in the Army, and qualified every single year as Expert (our rifles had far more rounds through them), owner of weaponeer.net, master armorer with 30 years experience. Take care of your firearms and they will take care of you ! During the first Gulf War I was carrying a rifle (M16A1) that had served in Vietnam, and still had no problem with me qualifying Expert (remember, that's with Iron sights) When I was on one of the Shooting teams (combat handgun shooting 1911's) you were required to shoot with a rack grade 1911. the 1911 I used was from WWI, and at my best finished 3rd in state. as for wolf ammo, it may be dirty, but it's consistent and accurate. Brass, and copper are softer than steel.. take a brass case or a copper bullet and with a cutting motion try to use it to cut through the barrel, maybe then you will understand why it's not a big deal.. handgun's get shot up to 25,000 to 50,000 times all the time without loss of accuracy.......
a questoion, ive heard of people pollishing their hammer and sears on rugfer 10/22 and 1911, would that help or prevent wear on my ar if i was to polish my hammer on my ar?
@weaponeer Uhm. I wouldn't mind much After Effects. All of the world's "tutorial-like" videos don't rely much on special effects and postproduction. Lights. Lots o' lights, and smooth ones at that. Uniform lighting. A DOF adapter? for what? You'd go crazy spending 3x the time to setup a shot - especially in macro mode. Also, DOF adapters waste a lot of light. I could think about having one of those HD-capable digicams of today, like Taofledermaus' ( don't you already have one? ) (cont)
I have a question; I have an AR-15 BushMaster that fire fine the first 10 rounds, Then the second 10 rounds it would feed a round into the chamber ok but would just click when pulling the trigger. If I removed the mag leaving the round in the chamber, It would go ahead and fire...The mags all fed ok but would not allw a fire. , Whats wrong ??
I recommend that everyone number all of their magazines. this way you can take note of which magazines were in use during malfunctions. if you magazines are not new, I highly recommend that you rebuild mags that are a few years old, or less if you keep your magazines loaded at all times. if you want to keep 30 rounds loaded, only load 28 rds in them and try to rotate the magazines every 3 or so months. when you keep magazines loaded all the time, you can bend the feed lips, and you will weaken the spring. (this is why the P-Mags have little caps on them... if you intended to keep the P-Mags loaded, mag sure you attach the cap.. this prevents damage to the feed lips. It's a good idea to rebuild magazines that are left loaded all the time.. this replaces the spring, and adds an anti tilt follower (which also makes it more reliable. I have some USGI Mags that I have had on hand since the early 1980's, so I still have 30 round magazines that are 40 years old, and only one magazine has had issues. I also have a few 20 round mags that are Vietnam dated, but not-issued, and they work perfect. The AR15 is a very reliable rifle system, but if you do have problems it's typically operator error or magazine related
***** Springs Do Not Weaken, when they're compressed. That's a myth. What wears out a spring, is the constant compressing and decompressing. Leaving the spring constantly compressed or uncompressed...will not lead to weakening the spring. There's been several scientific studies revealing this. If looking for a stronger spring over Stainless Steel. Use Chrome-Silicone Springs.
CHAMBER PROBABLY "SNUGGED" UP A LITTLE FIRING FIRST TEN AND THEN DIDN'T GO TO BATTERY ON ELEVEN. DIDN'T INDICATE IF FACTORY OR HANDLOADS...COULD BE A LITTLE LONG...MIGHT POLISH CHAMBER...CHECK BUFFER SPRING AND TUBE FOR FREE MOVEMENT OF BUFFY.
To reduce and or eliminate the feed ramp from scratching or burring the bullet during feeding that will cause inaccuracy as bullet flies through the air
With all respect sir. Absurd "Changing angles" ...... You’re polishing 4140\4150 steel with a soft polish wheel, compound and a q-tip. You may be cleaning the pores of the steel but you ain’t budging that steel. Or at least it better not budge. Cleaning …. OK ……. Working out imperfections ….. nope.
This process will take the finish off, and the polishing compound, also takes that less than perfect metal finish, and turns that steel into a mirror finish (otherwise there would be no point to the process).. when I was on one of the Army Pistol teams, I had a been issued an incredible 1911 built just for that purpose, and it was new, and when you pulled back the slide, and let go, it would just stay (that's how tight the rails were) and to get those hardened steel rails to loosen up to the point that the slide would slap forward to the point that it needed just a slight push to close, I used the same basic polishing compound, which is just valve lapping compound, and just applied the compound to the receiver and slide rails, and hand lapped them by working them back and forth, until the two surfaces were perfectly matched (you would be surprised at how long it takes by hand (not all that long, and not all that much effort), so all i needed to do was clean up the parts to insure that ALL the compound had been removed, reassemble, and head to the range for 150 rounds for the finally break in for added reliability. after that at 75 yards, standing unsupported, we stuck a small exploding target, one of the old tiny ones that you had to hit the dead center (the size of a quarter) for it to go bang, and a friend took out his 7mm mag rifle and scope, and we both had a shoot out to see who could hit the target first (again, 75 yards, standing unsupported), and my 1911 Composite pistol won...(I have always enjoyed shooting out to 100 yards with any of my handguns). back to the polishing compound... the ultra high speed Dremel tool, (note: the polishing tip fits 100% perfectly, so that also helps a great deal) mixed with a good polishing compound takes just a few minutes to clean up both feed ramps to a nice shiny surface, with nothing the bullet tip can catch or drag on. The Flitz polish is just an ultra fine polishing compound, and while it's not really functionally needed, that flitz really brings out the shine to the point that you can just about see yourself. clean up and your done... so while it's true that the flitz is not enough (by itself) to fully polish the feed lips, the polishing compound by itself is more than enough polish, and shape the feed lips. (cutting new angles would be a big no-no..lol)
Im more concerned that your ramps are being utilized at all if youre not firing full auto. At semi auto rates of fire, your mag shouldnt have a problem keeping up, which is the only case in whuch M4 feed ramps come into use. BUY GOOD MAGAZINES, OR REBUILD YOUR CURRENT ONES if you shoot semi and think your feed ramps are being used. Odd video to not mention this.
The M4 ramps have nothing to do with the rate of fire (semi, or full), in fact, the M4 ramps also have nothing to do with the STANAG magazines ability to "keep up". A STANAG magazine with a weak spring effects the reliability and consistency, just as a magazine follower, and even bent fed lips can effect proper feeding, but this is true with rifle or carbine, with or without M4 feed ramps. As a Master Armorer with 30 years experience and a Disabled Veteran with 16 years Military Service, I'm surprised by the amount of misinformation there is on something as simple as M4 ramp's, even on ARFCOM you will see many posts stating the M4 ramps are for full auto purposes despite the fact that the M4 has three shot burst, rather than true full auto fire, as in the M16A1. so once again, the M4 ramps have nothing (zero) to do with the STANAG magazine. In fact, the M4 ramp's main purpose is deceptively simple. with the M16A1/A2 series rifle, you could insert a magazine, and if you very slowly, ride the bolt forward, while trying to silently reload the rifle, the bullet tip of the 5.56mm has the potential of hitting a small spot of anodized aluminum just below the locking lugs, and it's just enough to hang the round up, yet it will feel like the rounds chambered, even if you press the forward assist (and in combat, you may not have the time to visually verify that the round really did chamber) So while it's rare that bullet tip will prevent the round from chambering when lightly closing the bolt, it's potentially deadly for the user. (if you give the rifle a good smack on the butt, like you would when going prone, that jarring motion almost always bumps the bullet tip off the small ledge and into the chamber. otherwise, pull back the charging handle, and allow the bolt to properly slam forward to clear it). it's not a major issue with the M16 series rifle, which is why they never had a recall, and the ramps cut into all upper receivers. If you have a rifle or carbine without the ramps, you can check to see if your rifle will do it, but you should try this at the range with the barrel pointed in a safe direction.. you may find that it might do it, but it's pretty hard to do with most guns because you need to do it just right. one thing you should ALWAYS do is number your magazines (color coded and numbered is the best) this way, when you have an issue with feeding, or jamming etc.. you need to make note of the magazine, and if it happens again, check the number, and if it's the same magazine, first check to see if the magazine rocks back and forth when inserted into the magazine well, and if it does, retire that magazine, next double check the feed lips on the magazine. if they are bent, you can try to re-bend them to see if that fixes the problem, if the feed lips are fine, then it's worth rebuilding the magazine.. if you really want to stress out the old noodle, think about this.... it's possible to bump fire a semi-auto AR15 rifle, faster than a full auto of the same type rifle. Note: don't forget to check out the weaponeer website/forum at www.weaponeer.net weaponeer can also be found on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social media sites.
your choice is not reliable no toys or self defence. it's good to have junk guns for training. you learn how to push through issues. now be for you spend money on Frankenstein builds or low end rifles that have issues. save your cash and get a good platform that's reliable. I learn from others mistakes. my 6920 has been the best long gun that now I have 2. with that being said I work at a local gun range in Nevada and our customers put all guns through serious torcher test and I seen lots of guns fail. my boss can afford to replace the parts and we send them back to the manufacture and have it replaced. you can't. all you here is oh it needs a new buffer or lube or BCG. why should you make it work if it should work out the box. do your research and ammo has its part it plays.
Very cool video. I eventually want to change out my front sight post for a flip up one.. I'm not quite sure how to go about it, i just wanted to experiment if i would like having the flip ups better for using a red dot.
