In my Bushmaster manual it says:
At another location in the manual it says:
Well, I guess I don't follow their instructions because I am constantly on the lookout for low-cost ammunition and the lowest cost ammunition I can find is reloaded ammo. I guess lowest price reloaded ammo doesn't fit Bushmaster's admonition to use "quality" ammunition but I believe they put statements like that in their manual for liability reasons. In my opinion properly reloaded ammunition should be as good as newly manufactured ammo.
What I learned the hard way, however, is that you can get in trouble with reloaded ammunition. When examining the lower-cost ammo that I purchased I noticed a couple rounds that had dents. One of them was severely dented and I knew I didn't want to put it in my rifle and a second cartridge with small dents that I figured would be okay but to be safe I put it aside. But after happily going through a few hundred rounds of this ammo my rifle cycled a round but the bolt didn't completely close. The first thing I did was to tap the forward assist with the heel of my hand to no avail. Second, I removed the magazine and tried to pull back on the charging handle. I couldn't move it. What to do? What to do?
Fortunately I was at the range with people around me that know more what they are doing than I so I called for help. Two experts came over and tried the things that I had done and then tried to remove the lower but since the bolt carrier stuck back into the buffer we couldn't get the top to separate from the lower.
To make a long story short, I took my Bushmaster to a gunsmith and for a few dollars he disassembled the rifle and then tapped the offending cartridge from the chamber. The culprit was a dented cartridge that I hadn't noticed when loading the magazine. When he showed me the cartridge that caused the gun to jam I was surprised how small a dent would cause so much trouble.
I now check my rounds very carefully before inserting into a magazine. I guess Bushmaster really knows what they are talking about in their manual.
At another location in the manual it says:
Well, I guess I don't follow their instructions because I am constantly on the lookout for low-cost ammunition and the lowest cost ammunition I can find is reloaded ammo. I guess lowest price reloaded ammo doesn't fit Bushmaster's admonition to use "quality" ammunition but I believe they put statements like that in their manual for liability reasons. In my opinion properly reloaded ammunition should be as good as newly manufactured ammo.
What I learned the hard way, however, is that you can get in trouble with reloaded ammunition. When examining the lower-cost ammo that I purchased I noticed a couple rounds that had dents. One of them was severely dented and I knew I didn't want to put it in my rifle and a second cartridge with small dents that I figured would be okay but to be safe I put it aside. But after happily going through a few hundred rounds of this ammo my rifle cycled a round but the bolt didn't completely close. The first thing I did was to tap the forward assist with the heel of my hand to no avail. Second, I removed the magazine and tried to pull back on the charging handle. I couldn't move it. What to do? What to do?
Fortunately I was at the range with people around me that know more what they are doing than I so I called for help. Two experts came over and tried the things that I had done and then tried to remove the lower but since the bolt carrier stuck back into the buffer we couldn't get the top to separate from the lower.
To make a long story short, I took my Bushmaster to a gunsmith and for a few dollars he disassembled the rifle and then tapped the offending cartridge from the chamber. The culprit was a dented cartridge that I hadn't noticed when loading the magazine. When he showed me the cartridge that caused the gun to jam I was surprised how small a dent would cause so much trouble.
I now check my rounds very carefully before inserting into a magazine. I guess Bushmaster really knows what they are talking about in their manual.
![[laugh]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/012.gif "Laugh [laugh]")
![[rofl]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/013.gif "ROFL [rofl]")
