Range report on Williams G1

[gunnut1]

Well, I wish I had better news. I could not get my newly bulit G1 to cycle at all. Oh damn, I thought, there is a problem with the Williams receiver. Seems the rifle would not cycle the bolt with the gas regulator fully closed. I also had a problem with the bolt not going into battery.

1st problem:

This problem is not receiver related in any way. I would shoot the gun and the bolt carrier would move about a 1/4 of an inch. I finally worked the gas regultor all the way to 7 and nothing changed. I removed the dust cover so we could watch the carrier and I shot a round. Same thing. Nw I know why it is moving only 1/4 of an inch. It is hitting the hammer and stopping. Not enough gas to push the hammer back and lock it. I removed the piston and dropped it through the tube. Dropped right through with no problems. WTF! I think that maybe being "new", I need more lubercation. Soaked with Ballistol. Chambered a round, pulled trigger and the bolt moved back about 1/4". WTF X 2!! Now I am stumped. Heard another shooter say "hey, my gas tube came out when I shot!" WTF! I looked over and he had a G1 also. His is one that was bulit yesterday at Sledgehamers house also. Sure am glad that isn't what my problem is! I shot about 60 rounds before I had the fore site to remove the hand guards. Found the problem. The gas tube had blown out of the gas block. Damn it. That IS what my problem is. (I have got to get rid of this invencible attitude) Bad threads on the tube. I hope. Opened up the threads a little, at TEX762s suggestion, using a gas piston and it almost cycled but the tube had moved back a little causing a gas leak. OK, I'll open the threads a little more. Took an Imbel gas piston (didn't want to take a chance on bending the DSA piston) inserted the head of the piston in the threaded part of the gas tube and heaved away. Looks better. Let's do that again, this time with more force. Inserted the piston in the tube one more time to spread the thereads and snap! Damn it, broke the threads on the tube. That ended my day of shooting. Like a dummy, I had only taken my new G1 to the range. (That will be the last time I do that!) No more toys to play with. Pack up stuff an make the hour long drive home with a busted G1 and my lower lip hanging low. Got home and have ordered one from Brad at Gunthings.

2nd problem:

I am not sure if this is the receiver or not. Had several times when I manualy cycled the bolt to chamber the round that the carrier would hang up half way on the return stroke. And some times it would almost close but not quite all the way. I could pull the charging handle, uh sorry, operating rod, back and let fly home and it would close all of the way. It did this with or with out a magazine in the gun. I don't know if the carrier and/or bolt is hanging on a burr in the receiver or if the bolt is hanging on the hammer some how. I AM NOT CRITIZING THE WILLIAMS RECEIVER. PLEASE DON'T LET THIS ADD TO THE FUSSING OVER THE WILLIAMS RECEIVER. AND PLEASE DON'T START LAMBASTING WILLIAMS! BECAUSE I HAD A PROBLEM. I know if I have a problem, they will take care of it. I will not be able to determine the closing problem until I get the gas tube problem fixed. I should have a chance to go back to the range next Sunday or Monday and see if things are better with the new gas tube. If I get the new gas tube that is! ;)

Any suggestions short of replacing the reciever are welcome.

[ October 14, 2001: Message edited by: gunnut1 ]

[ October 14, 2001: Message edited by: gunnut1 ]

[screech-fnfal]

M16's/AR15's, assemble and shoot. Now we know why the USA chose the M16!

Ha, Ha, Flame me! :D

[msnyder]

If you think the carrier is binding on a burr
in the receiver, try taking the bolt out and
just slide the carrier inside the recevier.
Should be smooth.

[Zak]

Without the cover in place, cycle slowly. I'll bet the point it stops at is just before the hammer comes out from under the carrier, might need to take any sharp corners / edges off the top of the hammer,

Also check to see if the spring is binding, use a cleaning rod to push the spring back into the buttstock, see if there are any rough spots.

Zak

Edited cuz i cnt spel

[ October 14, 2001: Message edited by: Zak ]

[1006587]

when I manualy cycled the bolt to chamber the round that the carrier would hang up half way on the return stroke

My Frankenfal century POS does the same thing. Its an Imbel receiver. Shoots fine. I did smooth up everything I could. It's better now but I can still get it to hang up if I pull the bolt back to just the right spot.

[ October 14, 2001: Message edited by: 1006587 ]

[kotengu]

New Imbels sometimes run "stiff" for a little while until they wear smooth. I was lucky enough to meet a guy (Thanks States!) that showed me where those "spots" were, and I pre-wore them with a file. I'd be a little hesitant to do that with an aluminum, though - I have no idea how deep the hard anodizing goes. Like you said - fix your gas problem and run some ammo through it and see what happens....

[awp101]

Gunnut, swing by my house and I'll let you hold my L1A1 kit while I, uh, "diagnose" your problem at the range. ;)

[gunnut1]

I figured out why the carrier is hanging half way. As we all know, the hammer protruds through the upper when it is cocked. If I take the bolt out I can cause the carrier to hang on the hammer spur every time cycling by hand. Even with the bolt in place, I can make it hage once in a while. I am using FSE HTS parts. I think I will put the G1 parts back in and try them and see what happens. I may have to grind down the spur just a little. I am using FSE in my Imbel and they work great.

As for the almost closing problem I beleive this is receiver related. When the bolt strips a round from the mag, the extractor opens to snap on the rim. It looks like to me that the "well" that the extractor has to open in is not deep enough and the extractor can't open all of the way to snap on the rimwith out rubbing on the receiver wall. Or, the nub on the G1 bolt is taller than normal. I filed on the nub on the bolt and now it works OK. I didn't have to take a lot off either.

[ October 14, 2001: Message edited by: gunnut1 ]

[Gaspipe]

Originally posted by awp101:
<STRONG>Gunnut, swing by my house and I'll let you hold my L1A1 kit while I, uh, "diagnose" your problem at the range. ;)</STRONG>

Just build that kit already, AWP...

I have never seen a gas tube blow out of the block. If for some reason the bolt carrier won't go back when the piston whacks it (maybe something lurking in the recoil tube or a big ol' honkin' burr), the gas has to escape somewhere before the bullet leaves the barrel.

I'm thinking that the gas block threading is worn out. Especially if the gas tube is not deformed around the threads where the pin goes through. I'd look there if there isn't some reason why the bolt carrier isn't going back.

You may need to braze in a 'improved' StG style short tube to resurrect it if the threads are tired, and the block bore itself isn't eroded too far.

??