Psa upper. Newbie to adjustable gas block

[Rockhound]

Took the grendel out in the back yard today, I chambered a round and took the mag out, fired the round and the rifle didn't lock back.( to be honest I dont know if an ar will lock back without a mag). I was a bit concerned, but I stuck the mag in and fired off 5 rounds as fast as I could pull the trigger. Everything functioned and cycled fine. The brass on the first shot ejected ar about the 3 position but follow up shots ejected about the 2 position. I'm guessing it's a little undergassed. The bolt not locking back doesn't concern me much, but I'm worried it may cause problems in the future (short stroking) on hunts. What direction do I turn the screw to adjust, in or out? Ammo used was hornady black. The recoil on this rifle is amusing at best, it can be compared to my magnum research 22 mag.

[Kswhitetails]

Bolt locks back on empty mag only; will not lock back without the mag. Insert an empty mag, draw back the BCG. Inspect for effect.

I don't know off the top of my head an AGB that uses a left handed gas adjuster, so right all the way would be off. Which gas block do you have?

Generally, I start from all the way open and adjust down until my brass falls where I want it to, and my carrier locks open reliably on an empty mag. Can take a few rounds, especially to test sufficiently, but is easy to do.

[Rockhound]

[A5BLASTER]

Righty tighty, lefty loosey always and forever.

That includes your gas adjustment screw on the gas block.

If you think it's a lil under gassed back the screw out bout half a full turn and try again.

[Rockhound]

Am I right on thinking it needs adjusted if the brass are ejecting at 2 o clock?

[A5BLASTER]

Give it a half turn more open for a lil more gas and see what it does.

That's the only way to figure out if it is are not.

[Sticks]

2:00 sounds over gassed, especially if it didn't lock on the empty after the 5 round rapid fire.

Under gassed would land 5-6:00 and more likely to short stroke causing a stoppage or just putting the round back in the chamber. Click

ARejectionpattern.jpg

[Sixoeight]

PSA is usually over gassed from the factory so it cycles everything. It's probably wide open.

[Rockhound]

Ok so it's over gassed, my bolt mot locking back was caused by my lack of magazine.

[Eagle103]

Which upper is this? My new PSA 20" throws both Hornady factory loads right around 4:00.

[Rockhound]

18"

[grayfox]

Late to the thread. I was gonna say righty-tighty lefty-loosey but A5 beat me to it. You should also check to see if the AGB has a set screw AND a lock screw... 2 on top of each other.
I also vote for the over-gas as Sticks above.
The rifle may not smooth out until ~50 rounds or so down the tube, all the parts need to wear in to each other, chamber lugs, bolt, bcg, etc etc.
Try 1 round inserted to mag, pull back chg handle and release to load it, then shoot and examine the lock back to see if it's all the way back.

[Lastrites]

Something else to check for brass being ejected forward, see if the bolt face when you manually pull back all the way till it stop on the charging handle. Bolt face should stop in front of the back edge of the ejection port by a 1/8" to 1/4", of it disappears into the receiver the brass can tag that edge and make the brass to do all sorts of things.