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Saint Victor .308 Butter Butter Jam

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straydoglogic

Elite
Hi All,
I tried to find this in the forum so as to not bring up something that's already been addressed, but I wasn't able.
I took my Saint Victor out for the first time yesterday. I was so excited! Then, after my 2nd rd it jammed. I cleared it and tried again, same thing, again and again. It was double feeding like crazy or just jamming before the feed. The bolt also wouldn't lock after the last round. That happened a few times as well. Needless to say, my excitement turned to frustration rather quickly, which then ended in a bit of disappointment. After about 70 or so rounds I'd had enough.
I'm hoping that it's just the cheap ammo that I'm using (I didn't bring any really good ammo with me because I wasn't expecting this, plus the range closes at sundown so I ran out of time). Unfortunately I didn't get pictures, but the bolt was essentially eating the brass about halfway down on each round that got jammed. Has anybody else had any problems like this?
 
Yes, I has those problems with a batch of Lake City brass when I first bought the rifle. It was supposed to be ready to go brass but I learned the shoulders hadnt actually been knocked back yet. Getting different ammunition sorted that problem out.

It was also grouping on the target like a shotgun at 100 yards even after I switched to different ammunition. That cleared up markedly after I put a couple hundred rounds through it. It works great now with 147gr, 150gr, and 165gr bullets.

I suggest getting a few boxes of decent .308 or 7.62 NATO ammunition and go through those. Don't expect too much precision, just break the rifle in.
 
Did you clean & lube it first?
I like to use a cleaner extension rod with a drill to clean the chamber with a shotgun patch. If necessary, one can put some jewelers ruge on it, but you would be amazed at what a good pre cleaning will do.
* a little nickel anti-seize is always good on potential high wear areas (enclosed areas).
 
Classified said:
Did you clean & lube it first?
I like to use a cleaner extension rod with a drill to clean the chamber with a shotgun patch. If necessary, one can put some jewelers ruge on it, but you would be amazed at what a good pre cleaning will do.
* a little nickel anti-seize is always good on potential high wear areas (enclosed areas).
Click to expand...
I'll be honest, I was naughty and of the 5 new pieces I brought out, that was the only 1 I didn't pre-clean. It will definitely be cleaned and lubed before the next outing.
benstt said:
Yes, I has those problems with a batch of Lake City brass when I first bought the rifle. It was supposed to be ready to go brass but I learned the shoulders hadnt actually been knocked back yet. Getting different ammunition sorted that problem out.

It was also grouping on the target like a shotgun at 100 yards even after I switched to different ammunition. That cleared up markedly after I put a couple hundred rounds through it. It works great now with 147gr, 150gr, and 165gr bullets.

I suggest getting a few boxes of decent .308 or 7.62 NATO ammunition and go through those. Don't expect too much precision, just break the rifle in.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I was using cheap Steel City 149gr brass .308. I was hitting the gong consistently at 100yds when it fired. Grouping on target at 50yds was just okay through the iron sights, but I quickly gave up on sighting in and focused on clearing jams and just getting rounds through it. I have some Speer Gold Dot 150gr that I'll try this week and I'll also pick up something else. Fingers crossed.
 
The only production ar10 I've bought was a RR and it shoots everything I put in it (function, but haven't tried 0ing it yet). Make that 2 RR (18 and 26" barrels) and got stuck with high dollar fal mags.
 
I run Lake City 175 gr M118 thru my Victor .308 and have had zero problems. Also Win Core Lockt 180 grain with zero problems. 800+ rounds of M118 and prob 400 of the Core Lockt have gone thru it.

I would clean, lube and try some different ammo.

My Springfield M1a refuses to run the M118 and does to me what happens on your Saint .308 . I switched to commercial good quality ammo and had no issues after.
Some guns hate some ammo
 
straydoglogic said:
I'll be honest, I was naughty and of the 5 new pieces I brought out, that was the only 1 I didn't pre-clean. It will definitely be cleaned and lubed before the next outing.

Yeah, I was using cheap Steel City 149gr brass .308. I was hitting the gong consistently at 100yds when it fired. Grouping on target at 50yds was just okay through the iron sights, but I quickly gave up on sighting in and focused on clearing jams and just getting rounds through it. I have some Speer Gold Dot 150gr that I'll try this week and I'll also pick up something else. Fingers crossed.
Click to expand...
I purchased my SA Victor .308 in early August this last summer. I bought the SAME Steel City Ammo ZSR 149 gr 500 round bulk pack also and it will not cycle in my rifle either. I have already tried all the suggestions from members here and called SA support, nothing works with this brand of ammo.

The ammo is actually 7.62x51, not .308. It's pressure is too low to cycle my .308 properly. And don't play games with the adjustable gas block for this ammo either. The .308 came with the Mode 1 set screw installed and that set screw already diverts the maximum amount of gas to cycle the bolt already.

All you can do is 1)insure the gas block Mode 1 set screw is tight, 2) clean and lubricate your rifle (mine was pretty gritty inside when I first took it apart) and most importantly, 3) just go buy some good .308 ammo. I have found 2 brands, Norma and Igman, of .308 150 gr at Rural King that shoot excellent, cycle great and have had no failures, both are reasonably priced.

I have noticed on the forum that a few members with the SA Victor .308 use 168 gr or higher with excellent results as @KillerFord1977 stated above. But then again, he's busy knocking down wild boar on a regular basis.

You can follow my struggle in this past thread -

www.thearmorylife.com

SA Victor .308 low pressure gas block adjustment

My new SA Victor .308 shoots .308 win cartridges absolutely fine. Most shells eject out at 3-4:30 o'clock while some are slightly over pressure ejecting out at 2 o'clock. THE PROBLEM is I have a pile of ZSR 7.62 that will shoot but has very low pressure ejecting cartridges out at 5-5:30...
www.thearmorylife.com www.thearmorylife.com
 
Bear007 said:
I purchased my SA Victor .308 in early August this last summer. I bought the SAME Steel City Ammo ZSR 149 gr 500 round bulk pack also and it will not cycle in my rifle either. I have already tried all the suggestions from members here and called SA support, nothing works with this brand of ammo.

The ammo is actually 7.62x51, not .308. It's pressure is too low to cycle my .308 properly. And don't play games with the adjustable gas block for this ammo either. The .308 came with the Mode 1 set screw installed and that set screw already diverts the maximum amount of gas to cycle the bolt already.

All you can do is 1)insure the gas block Mode 1 set screw is tight, 2) clean and lubricate your rifle (mine was pretty gritty inside when I first took it apart) and most importantly, 3) just go buy some good .308 ammo. I have found 2 brands, Norma and Igman, of .308 150 gr at Rural King that shoot excellent, cycle great and have had no failures, both are reasonably priced.

I have noticed on the forum that a few members with the SA Victor .308 use 168 gr or higher with excellent results as @KillerFord1977 stated above. But then again, he's busy knocking down wild boar on a regular basis.

You can follow my struggle in this past thread -

www.thearmorylife.com

SA Victor .308 low pressure gas block adjustment

My new SA Victor .308 shoots .308 win cartridges absolutely fine. Most shells eject out at 3-4:30 o'clock while some are slightly over pressure ejecting out at 2 o'clock. THE PROBLEM is I have a pile of ZSR 7.62 that will shoot but has very low pressure ejecting cartridges out at 5-5:30...
www.thearmorylife.com www.thearmorylife.com
Click to expand...
Thank you for this Bear. I broke it down last night and wanted to kick myself because it was pretty dry, so my fault on that one, I know better.
I'll follow your recommendations and report back later. These things happen when one tries to be cheap and now I'm actually going to be spending more. Live and learn.
 
straydoglogic said:
Thank you for this Bear. I broke it down last night and wanted to kick myself because it was pretty dry, so my fault on that one, I know better.
I'll follow your recommendations and report back later. These things happen when one tries to be cheap and now I'm actually going to be spending more. Live and learn.
Click to expand...
AR’s can run dirty but like to run wet, and a good ammunition is paramount. Don’t buy a lot of one manufacturer’s ammunition until you know what your rifle likes.
 
straydoglogic said:
Thank you for this Bear. I broke it down last night and wanted to kick myself because it was pretty dry, so my fault on that one, I know better.
I'll follow your recommendations and report back later. These things happen when one tries to be cheap and now I'm actually going to be spending more. Live and learn.
Click to expand...
We've probably all been there one time or another. So now I just have a bunch of ZSR 7.62 to shoot through my old Sears bolt action (Winchester made).

P.S. - don't forget to pop out the buffer and buffer spring to clean and lightly lube there also. Mine was dry and gritty there too.
 
Keystone19250 said:
Don’t buy a lot of one manufacturer’s ammunition until you know what your rifle likes.
Click to expand...
I wish I had thought of this beforehand. Now I have a bunch of this crap with nothing to shoot it with.
Bear007 said:
P.S. - don't forget to pop out the buffer and buffer spring to clean and lightly lube there also. Mine was dry and gritty there too.
Click to expand...
Will do Bear. She's getting a nice lube down today; the rifle will, too.
 
Update-
I gave it a good cleaning and lube job. Took it out yesterday and ran the bad brass (ZSR 7.62 148 or 149 gr) with a single shot in each mag. It fired just fine though it was a feeding issue that I was concerned with, but I didn't dare stack the dirty ammo because I was short on time and didn't want to deal with it if it happened. I don't want to knock the ammo as a whole, the Victor just doesn't seem to like it. After that I loaded 10 Speer .308 150 gr in a mag and it ran flawlessly. I quit there because it was getting dark, I had to work out the new KS7, and the ammo isn't cheap. Thanks again @Bear007 , I feel a lot better about this now.
 
If you take all your mags and just keep loading 1 round each with the ZSR ammo and just keep shooting 1 round at a time, it should start NOT holding the BCG open after you fire. When mine is cold I can get a fair number of shots in before it fails to hold open the BCG. When it's hot I'll get 2 or 3 tries before it fails to hold open. After it fails you can clear everything, load a full mag of good .308 ammo and it will work fine. I know, I've been there when I was learning about my new rifle lol.

My opinion, ZSR ammo = single shot only ammo, ugh.

Btw, your failure to load is because the BCG doesn't cycle rearward fully on the low pressure ammo but far enough to catch the next cartridge. So now it doesn't have full spring strength and momentum to strip the new cartridge and close and lock the BCG. Mine would not eject the empty and try to strip the new one and jamb the 2 together.

Good luck StrayDog!
 
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