I have a similar model in blued finish. If you haven't shot it yet, pick up some remington .223 ammo to shoot first before you try the nato rounds. Nato have a sligtly different case angle. I started shooting some Wolf ammo and had some hangups till I talked to some people at the range that gave me some .223 ammo to run thru it and then it would shoot anything without any problems. Hope the carbine works for you. I haven't liked the AR's much. Dave