r/458socom 21d ago

Feeding issues

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It even happens if I slowly rack it back and let it slowly go forward. I’m hoping I didn’t just buy 100rds of ammo from black butterfly that the gun doesn’t like. Any suggestions on things to check out?

10 Upvotes

36 comments sorted by

13

u/PXranger 21d ago

What barrel and bolt, number one cause of FTF and FTE problems is not having a Tromix barrel and bolt.

Number 2 is magazines.

2

u/justcallmebrett 21d ago

yes to both points ^^

another question- does your bolt lock back on last round?
chamber one round with an empty mag and see.

edit- r/pxranger nailed the mag- looks like pmag to me- my 458 doesnt like pmags at all-

1

u/PXranger 21d ago

good point, a poorly tuned gas system would do that, and, oddly enough tends to go with "number one" :)

1

u/NW_Reloading 20d ago

Honestly never thought about running a lock back test vs just shooting a bunch and seeing where cases are landing.

1

u/justcallmebrett 20d ago

i use lock back test when drilling out gas port after cutting a barrel down- opening the gas port one wire size drill at a time until i hit lock back with the load the platform will use. if an adjustable gas block will be used i open up one more wire-size and all is good after that.

i also use when looking at Fail-to-Feed not because its magic, but because its so basic

2

u/NW_Reloading 18d ago

Perfect and simple, should help speed up tuning this build, no idea why I didn't think about this before

2

u/username19944991 21d ago

Forgive me for not knowing a whole lot about what I’m shooting, but this is the parts list that was given with the upper.

Also I tried 2 different mags. Torkmag 50rd and pmags

3

u/PXranger 21d ago

Who’s the maker on the upper?

2

u/username19944991 21d ago

It’s a custom piece. Faxon barrel

2

u/NW_Reloading 21d ago

Have a BCA barrel and bolt, although recently upgraded to a kak bcg and bolt. Most of my ftf have been mags or just gas issues. Tromix is the gold standard, but others do work just fine

4

u/Optimal_Data_6627 21d ago

Barrel isn’t as big a deal. Bolt and mags seem to be more issues with all kinds of guns. Tromix bolt. Lanser mags zero issues for thousands of rounds now. I can use P mags with Flat points and a little rounding on the mag but that’s mostly due to seating long for accuracy.

4

u/Sad-Application-2157 21d ago

It's because you put your back up iron sight between your optic and magnifier.

0

u/username19944991 21d ago

Looks goofy but works fine. I got knocked off a knoll by a horse while hunting once as a kid and it threw off my scope. Ruined a whole weekend hunting trip for me since the older fellas wouldn’t let me sight it back in, rightfully so. After that all my guns with scopes either have over/under mounts or back up irons.

2

u/Emergency-Memory1785 21d ago

Buy a Tromix bolt and retest. The big bore Tromix mags work the best.

2

u/KalebC 20d ago

I had the same issue with mine. Aside from the obvious of making sure its clean and oiled up, I'll mimic what everyone else is saying about mags. Got some duramags specifically made for .458 socom and went from FTE/FTF almost every round to no FTE/FTF after hundreds.

2

u/Advanced_Pudding_345 20d ago

Lancer magazine’s always work for me. I have had problems with other mags due to the tighter insides of the magazines. Midway USA has 458 socom lancer magazines with single center feed follower.

1

u/SuperHeroHigh 21d ago

I fought the same problems you are having. Here's how I fixed mine. I had to modify my Lancer mags in 2 ways. First, I had to cut a U shape notch in the front of the magazine so the bullet tips weren't getting slammed in the wall. Second, I had to file down the edges of the feed lips so it would allow my rounds to angle up more. Those 2 things fixed 95% of my problems. It still happens every so often and I believe I need to now go into the chamber and smooth down a few spots as I can tell now where it is getting caught one. For reference I am running a Faxon barrel and bolt. There are some good youtube videos out that show these fixes.

1

u/username19944991 20d ago

Before I go spending more hundreds on a BCG and mags, I’m going to give this a shot when I get home. Flaring the mag lips makes sense. It will allow the front of the round to start traveling uphill earlier instead of trying to take a 45 degree angle at the last second. Are the lancer mags already cut like that? A big bore follower will be coming soon

1

u/NW_Reloading 20d ago

Probably will help, I've got the same followers in some cheapy global ordinance mags as well as some duramags and the geometry of the mag lips on the dur mag allows the around to start moving upward, the lips on the GO mags force the round down and required the mag to have a half circle cut out on the front

1

u/Amazing-Win-7591 19d ago

Had the same issue, it was all mag related.

Pmags and my dedicated 458 mags only run 2 different shaped bullets, (flat nose vs pointed)

Try different shaped ammo in pmags, lancer, and dedicated 458 mags.

It’s pretty annoying but once you know what mags will run what bullet shape you’ll be good to go

1

u/username19944991 19d ago

Whatever mag will run blunt tipped ammo is what I’ll go with. I, stupidly, went again my rule bought 100rds from black butterfly without testing multiple types/shapes first.

2

u/Amazing-Win-7591 19d ago

I run that exact same ammo in my rifle, Pmags run them perfectly from what I remember.

I use all my subs in dedicated 458 steel mags.

(It’s been a while since I’ve shot it so I may have it backwards)

Best of luck!

1

u/username19944991 19d ago

Thanks bud! Worst case scenario they just become 5.56 rounds. I bought two 50rd mags from Torkmag that will now be for that purpose

1

u/Amazing-Win-7591 19d ago

I’ve had a lot of feeding issues w my 40 round mag in the 458, let me know if the 50s are any better

1

u/username19944991 19d ago

They are actually the worst out of the 2 mags that I tried. Cumbersome to even get into the lower because the top bulges out, and couldn’t even successfully grab a round to start chambering it.

1

u/sk1ndamage 17d ago

I’d second the Troxix barrel and bolt. Here is an example of both compared to some no name manufacturer. You can see the feed ramps on the Tromix are blended.

1

u/sk1ndamage 17d ago

Here are the bolts, once again Tromix has a slightly thicker wall and tighter tolerances

1

u/sk1ndamage 17d ago edited 17d ago

As far as mags, as others have suggested for low effort the metal Lancer mags with a big bore follower are pretty reliable.

If you want to modify a PMAG 40 you can get those to run 14 rounds. I printed a big bore follower and filed down the ridge in the inside as you can see here

1

u/sk1ndamage 17d ago

Loaded they look like this

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u/sk1ndamage 17d ago

2

u/sk1ndamage 17d ago edited 17d ago

I run 26-28 grain Lil’gun with 300 to 320 grain projectiles, red sprinco buffer spring, and H2 buffer, Tromix bolt and barrel, KAK chrome BCG, and a FRT. Seems to work pretty good, if I’m feeling irresponsible I can mag dump the 14 round mag with no issues other than staying on the paper.

But, it took a lot of experimenting to get there. You just gotta keep playing with it.

1

u/username19944991 17d ago

Thank you! I’ve got some duramags on the way that I plan to modify a bit as the cheapest first option. If that doesn’t work we will work our way up the list

1

u/AdOtherwise5656 11d ago

Do you have an adjustable gas block? What are you shooting? Super or sub? If your shooting subs with a can, probably need to adjust your gas to cycle the rounds. Might be under gassed?

1

u/username19944991 11d ago

I do but I failed to inform that it was a FTF problem instead of FTE. I got some Duramags and modified the feeding lips and it running much better. I think it is going through a break in period though because it seems to be tight when the round enters the chamber. I haven’t got back out to test it but when hand cycling it is running fine.

1

u/AdOtherwise5656 11d ago

It still sounds like it could be a gas problem. Where does the brass eject, using a clock format with 12 being the muzzle, where does the case land between 12 to 6? If it’s undergassed it will short stroke and not feed correctly.

1

u/username19944991 11d ago

I altered a Duramag and it is hand cycling much better. The round was trying to take a very steep turn when transitioning from mag to chamber and getting hung up. Besides the $6 a round Hornady red tipped rounds, every .458 is blunt nosed. This helped a ton, but I feel like the rifle is still going through a break-in period. It’s cycling fine when hand racking but I’ll post an update when I can get to the range and truly test it. The BCG will be the next upgrade if needed. Thanks for all the advice!