Got in an Armalite in .416 Barrett today, and noticed the plunger ejector has very little movement and the empty brass just sort of trickles off the side of the gun. Anybody know how much the plunger ejector should protrude from the breech face of the bolt for reliable ejection? The plunger spring seems plenty stout, just doesn’t move much (about .075).
On constant tension/plunger ejectors the live rounds feeding out of the magazine and up the bolt head onto the breech face will determine how far out the ejector can stick. If it sticks out too far the live feeding rounds will catch on the ejector and not feed so we want the ejector to stick out as far as it can and not prevent the live rounds from feeding up into the chamber and onto the bolt face. Double check your extractor as the fit to them is very critical for correct ejection. Ken
Follow-up question
This bolt has a deep recess, and requires the extractor to snap over the fresh round as the bolt is closed. So I should be good as long as the plunger remains short of the front edge of the bolt. I tried attaching a photo of the bolt face, but it would not upload. Electron
Answer
Correct on the ejector usually slightly below flush with the front of the bolt works and sometimes you can have them stick out to flush. The extractor does snap over but make sure the extractor hook is as close to the bolt face as it can be and still snap over the rim fully. This is important for this type of extractor/ejector system to work reliably. Ken
