[tenchu74]

Well I finally got my XCR with light barrel after a lot of research and much lurking. for the last year and a half I'd been planning on getting a piston driven .223. For the longest time it was going to be the long awaited Sig 556. Unfortunately it wasn't what I thought it should be. So in the end, the XCR was what I went with.

My initial impression was that it was a well put together weapon. I got it about 3 weeks ago but only got to the range today. I was shooting Guatemalan surplus ammo on an indoor 25 yard range with the gas setting on 4. Because of the short range and shooting offhand the rifle did well but a more thorough accuracy evaluation will have to be done on the 100 yard range at a later date. I put 80 rounds through it and unfortunately had numerous jams. Most of them seemed to be a failure for the bolt to fully feed the round into the chamber. When this happened the bolt had to be retracted with a decent amount of force to eject the unfired round. The other problem I seemed to have was magazines were hard to fully seat and lock into the mag well with the bolt closed (they were usually loaded with 15 or less rounds).

Hopefully these problems are part of the break in process and the parts wearing in. I will finish up the 300 round break in process before I judge the weapon harshly or contact Robinson Armament.

If anyone has experienced these problems or advice, comments are appreciated. Thanks!

Steve

 

[LoadedDrum]

Does it have the new or old style gas block? I do not know what the back of the gas valve looks like on the new block because all of my XCR's have the old gas block. If it is the old style gas block, I would remove the gas valve from the rifle and soak it in the carbon solvent of your choice. Next stick a 1/4 inch drill bit into the valve and HAND turn it while moving it in and out of the gas valve. If my suspicions are correct, a whole lot of carbon will come out. This caused short stroking in mine until I cleaned it out. Don't get any oil in the gas valve and do not use a foaming bore cleaner. Both cause fouling to build up. This may also work on a gun with the new gas block but I don't know because I have never seen the back of one.

The mag thing is kind of weird because I have only had that problem with full 10rd mags.

 

[MickeyC]

Full magazines can be hard to seat on a closed bolt but part full should have no issues at all. Carbon can be the issue with shirt stroking. I'd reccomend a complete top to bottom clean and then oil the crap out of it, turn the gas up and pop 300 or so rounds to break it in.

 

[tenchu74]

It has one of the new gas valves. I guess I will totally clean the crap out of the gas valve and see how things go after that.

Steve

 

[gunner69]

Trench, Look under the cleaning section. There are a lot of good tips there. If you don't have any, I suggest you buy some Militech1 to lube the gun with. During the breakin period lube it like your first girlfriend. After all it's your XCRs first time! ;D Use hot ammo, you can try the cheap shit (where the hell can you get any now???) later. Use the soakit and strokeit approach. Once broke in you can try different ammo. The XCR is a LOT less fidigety on ammo than an AR. Enyoy.... you have made the right decision. :rapidfire:

 

[Aussie Arms]

It seems like the people that post who have problems with feeding and ejecting are using somethingother than good factory ammo. In my attempt to break in my XCR I shelled out for 500 rounds of good Federal red box .223 ammo. I haven't had one issue with the whole box.

My suggestion, if you can spring for some decent factory ammo for the breakin period and see how you go then. I suspect you won't have any issues with it if you clean your rifle good first.

Just my :2cents:

 

[EricCartmann]

Guat is good stuff (not accurate), it is M193 and within NATO specs.

+1 on a good thourough cleaning, leave gas setting at highest setting, and oil the crap out of it.

 

[gunner69]

Eric, Hell, there is no accuracy in a jungle environment at 15 yards. That said, the Guat should work well during breakin. Isn't that "Clean the crap out of it and lube the shit out of it?" Just kidding ;D During the breakin period (as with ANY firearm) weard shit can happen. It's man made so what the F! After the breakin period it is LESS Prone to F up. For, at least 3 times, use your lube in excess. It WILL make a difference. Remember the last time at the beach?....... when a little sea water was a blessing? ;D ;D ;D

 

[ny32182]

I'm still in my break in period on my rifle, but I'm using new 2007 production Win Q3131 (brand new production spec M193). First range trip 140 rounds, no problems. Gas setting on 4. When I got the rifle I broke it down for a normal field strip, did a normal cleaning, and then made sure the bolt/carrier were dripping with Breakfree CLP before the first range session. Same routine I use for every other rifle.

Is this Guat the stuff from AIM from a while back? I thought I remembered reading that some of that stuff was corroded/not stored in the best of conditions. If I were you, I'd switch to brand new production hot milspec for the break in period. Expensive, yes, but you want to eliminate as many variables as possible.

Also, this doesn't sound like short stroking to me, if the next round is getting picked up out of the magazine. How far are the fired cases ejected? Does everything function normally if you cycle rounds by hand?

So, in summary:

-Lube the hell out of the bolt/carrier group, my personal favorite is Breakfree CLP.
-Get new production milspec ammo.
-Try a few different magazines if you haven't already. If you're using a single magazine, that could be the problem if its out of spec.

 

[MickeyC]

I used a mix of reloads and Radway for my break in and just turned up the gas and lubed the crap out of the gun. Smoke was terrible but in the end a sweet running rifle, except for the shitty trigger but that's being discussed in a different forum topic.

The secret is gas volume and lube. Use plenty of both.

 

[aziator]

Not much more to add that already hasn't been said, except I will echo gunner, get some militec. It works great and keeps all my stuff running smooth.

 

[gunner69]

You want Militech1, we forwarned there is a Militech2 but thats a grease. I used to use Breakfree but switched to Militech1. GOOD Stuff.

 

[TerraShrewsbury]

Yes... make sure you are using good ammo. American Eagle should work great.