AR15 Gunsmith

[markthenewf]

Have had some issues with my RRA AR15 with it holding open after last round. I've spent about a month debugging it and another 2 weeks at another gun shop and still no fix.

I work on the west side of town (~BW8 and Westheimer) and live in Sealy, so somebody on the west side is a must.

I really don't want to discuss causes fixes and such. It just decided to start doing it one day. I'm tired of it and I've already blown my patience on it. I just want to hand it off at this point and get it back working.

[Skiprr]

I can offer only some minimal pointers. I've never used these guys, but have spoken with them and they're in my neck of the woods: http://www.rangerpointprecision.com/gunsmith-services. They're on Mills Road near Jones. If I needed a minor tweak to an AR locally, I think I'd try them...'course, as I said, they're close to me. They also work on NFA firearms.

Athena Gun Club, off I-10 just outside of the Beltway, works on AR-15s (http://athenagunclub.com/gunsmith/). They recently partnered with Wilson Combat, so their smiths may know what they're doing. Can't comment.

Definitely not close to you (he's in Webster), but the closest thing I think you'll find to a sure thing in the general area is Ed Vanden Berg: http://www.vandenbergcustom.com/. Been in business since 1987, trusted by a number of Forum members (including me; he worked on a 1911 for me), and also builds custom firearms. If you want to be certain it's done right, it would be worth contacting Ed and making the 55-mile drive.

I don't personally know of any smiths in the Katy Mills, Brookshire, Sealy corridor.

[remanifest]

If you find yourself near Austin at any point, ATX Armory makes AR-15s, so I'm sure they could do some smithing on it. Blackjack Gunsmithing (also in Austin) is awesome.

If shipping is an option for you, either would be a great choice (contact first, obviously).

[The Annoyed Man]

Before spending money on a gunsmith, have you tried just disassembling and cleaning the magazine thoroughly? It may be nothing worse than that.

[Rhino1]

I concur with the recommendation of Ed Vanderberg. He is not close to you but I indirectly learned a gunsmithing lesson from him. I had a simple problem with one of my M&P Pro pistols. Asked him if he could look at it. He declined saying, "I only work on 1911s, AR-15s, and (I think) Remington shotguns". (He did a fantastic trigger job on my STI 1911 BTW).

Lesson is that really good gunsmiths specialize. I had a local guy (chose because he was close to where I used to live) work on something that turned out to be pretty minor on my Benelli M2 3 gun shotgun. He said proudly (maybe arrogantly), "I can work on anything". After he went down a rabbit trail and the problem wasn't resolved, I sent the gun the Jeff Cochrum at C-Rums in Missouri who is a 3Gunner (also specializes). Problem was so simple I'm embarrassed that I didn't figure it out myself. But Mr. icanworkonanything missed it by a mile.

[markthenewf]

Thanks, guys. I did a bunch more research and still can't figure out why it's not cycling. Rather than have a rifle that I'm unsure of, I went ahead and got a new lower and a couple of new parts for it (ex. buffer tube,spring, weight). I know it is the lower because I asked someone to swap two other uppers from functioning rifles and the hold back didn't work. The place that I got the lower and parts from swapped the rest of the parts from my RRA lower to the new one for minimal cost and it now runs like a champ again. Now I have the RRA lower that I'm not sure what to do with since I'm not entirely sure what the heck caused the original problem.

[jb2012]

Could the lower possibly be restricting the magazine from being straight/fully seated? I'm talking voff by a very small margin, to where it would feed but the bolt would not hold back?

[warnmar10]

... Now I have the RRA lower that I'm not sure what to do with since I'm not entirely sure what the heck caused the original problem.

I'd be interested in your RRA lower receiver, assuming it is unmodified.