M4 feedramps and unreliable feeding/failure-to-feed?

**jvencius** · 20 July 2008, 18:19

The last two (the only two, actually) times I've had my AR to the range, I have had some problems with feeding where cartridges coming up both sides of the magazine would "catch" the tip of the bullet on the point between the barrel extension and the upper receiver. I've only used three different types of ammo (Winchester WB 55 gr., Federal bulk pack 50 gr. JHP, and PMC 55 gr.) but it's happened with all three loads and the bullet profile is the same between the three. The FTF happens both with PMAG's and the OEM G.I. mags (green followers). When I stripped my rifle, I saw that the feedramps are cut pretty bad and there's a very definite ridge where you can see that the two parts of the ramp (receiver and barrel extension) weren't cut at the same time. Based on the picture, is this something I can attempt to fix myself, i.e. Dremel the ramps smooth, or is it worth contacting Sabre to see what they say?

**docsherm** · 20 July 2008, 19:19

I would contact Sabre Defense. I could be the result of poor QC. I would not start messing around with it till you contact them.

**m24shooter** · 20 July 2008, 19:41

Roger the contact to Sabre. It appears you have an upper with M4 cuts but your extension does not. Pretty much guaranteed to shove the projo nose into that lip.

**rockm4** · 20 July 2008, 19:42

Docsherm, is right see what saber defense has say, before you void what ever warranty they offer. Patriot

**jvencius** · 20 July 2008, 19:53

Got it--thanks all for the info. I'll give Sabre a buzz in the morning and post what they say here (and a few other places). If they admit "Hey, we screwed up and we'll make things right" then IMO it's all good since no person/company is perfect.

**TigerStripe** · 20 July 2008, 21:16

I would tell them what is happening and more or less restate what M24 told you. That is the problem.

TS

**Stickman** · 20 July 2008, 22:29

That is 100% UNSAT. The weapon never should have left the factory in that condition. Get ahold of them, and let them make it right.

**12131** · 20 July 2008, 23:50

Man, someone in QC blew it on this one.

**jvencius** · 21 July 2008, 07:49

I just got off the phone with Aloysius @ Sabre and even though he didn't want to believe me when I described my problem, his exact words when I sent him the picture (emailed it to him as I was on the phone) were "Ewwww, how in the heck did we let that out of here?" He seemed genuinely surprised that Sabre would let a rifle with an upper that jacked-up pass their QA inspection and said that if I send my upper back to them they'd put a whole new barrel and extension on it, turn it around within a day and express it right back to me so I can't really complain about that level of service. If he had jerked me around even a little bit then I would rip them but as long as they fix the problem quickly, I can't get pissy about how they treat me. He admitted that "You're paying a lot of money for a quality weapon and you have a right to expect it to work properly so we'll get it fixed for you."

**Stickman** · 21 July 2008, 08:23

Good to hear they are taking care of you. Its not the first time a rifle extension was put on the wrong barrel.

Any company is going to have mistakes, how many, and how they make those mistakes better is what defines them.

**jvencius** · 21 July 2008, 10:07

I just sent the upper off and it was nice that the lady at the FedEx place didn't ask me what was in the box so I wouldn't have to give my "machine parts" answer. The hardest part about sending it out was that with the box sticking out the top of my backpack, I couldn't lift my head up high enough on my bike (with #2 diesel @ $4.50/gallon I ride my bike everywhere I can) to see all that well. I didn't go splat on the road so it all worked out, but crossing some of the busier streets in town was a little sporty since folks around here, especially with all the tourists coming to watch the rodeo, generally drive like fools.

**Eric** · 21 July 2008, 13:36

You'll find that customer service in the firearms industry is typically better than other areas. They understand that things can slip out that shouldn't and they can't afford to have their reputation trashed because of a unhappy customer (within reason, that is). Of course some are better than others, but I was confident SD would take care of you.

Charles Daly · 21 July 2008, 19:10

Just out of curiosity, did Sabre issue a "Call Tag" or did they make you pay the freight for getting the defective upper back to them?

**jvencius** · 21 July 2008, 20:15

The guy said they'd cover the shipping back to them, so I'm guessing they'll cut a check for the $13 or so I paid FedEx ($11 and change plus $500 worth of insurance).

**jvencius** · 29 July 2008, 10:45

I just got an email back after I messaged my contact at Sabre--my upper shipped out yesterday so I should have it by the end of the week. If the guy at Sabre hadn't responded within 24 hrs, then I would have called but I figure that, considering Sabre probably isn't a large outfit with a horde of customer service folks, a day is a reasonable amount of time to wait for a response.

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