Problem with my Bushmaster .308

[KahrMan]

Have a problem and hope somebody can give me some guidance on what I should do. I bought this maybe 4 years ago. It has mainly stayed in my safe. The couple of time I shot it, I sprayed a little CLP down the barrel and ran a bore snake through it to clean it. After owning it for about 3 years I finally took the upper off the lower. The pins were really tight. I had to hammer a punch pretty hard to get that first pin out. The second pin came out easy.

I cleaned everything and went to put the upper back on. One pin would go in but the other would not. With one pin in, I used a flash light to look through the other pin holes and the holes in the upper and lower do not match up. The holes in the upper and lower are about 1/32" off. I don't know how they got it assembled at he factory but I guess that is why it was so hard to get the first pin out.

The quick solution to get it back together was to grind one side of a pin down till it fit. I haven't shot since I got it back together. I have manually cycled a 20 round mag thru it and everything fed fine.

What should it do? Should I leave it alone and not worry about it? send it back to Bushmaster? etc...

I would appreciate any opinions anybody has...

PS - The couple of times I have taken it out it has performed flawlessly. Never had a problem with it until now.

Edited February 25, 2009 by KahrMan

[Paletiger13]

ouch, try calling Bushmaster. I think it would be fine, I would still be worried though( just me)

[Guest Disney]

Does it still require some force to push the pin in and out? Or is it "sloppy" feeling in there? If it's still tight, it would be OK to run. Check the upper to lower mounting after running a couple rounds and again after a couple mags to make sure you're not seeing any elongation.

[KahrMan]

Does it still require some force to push the pin in and out? Or is it "sloppy" feeling in there? If it's still tight, it would be OK to run.

Still very tight. I took off little bits of the pin at a time until I could just fit it.

[Guest FroggyOne2]

You know.. that a tight fitting pin will keep the upper from wiggling around.. inhances accuracy.. as to removing your pins.. use a drift punch and a small hammer.. it will not be a problem..

[DaveTN]

If you had to grind 1/32†off one side of the pin to get it to fit…. Your gun needs a Doctor; don’t shoot it.

[musicman]

I'm with DaveTN. A precision rifle subject to massive forces should not be made with tolerances that far out of spec. I think the folks at Bushmaster should be expecting a call from you soon.