I have owned several ar-7's so I can give a little advice on how to enhance reliability.Throat the chamber with some jewelers rouge and a dremel tool or carefully with a small rat tail file.And try and locate some ram-line magazines as these incorporate a sort of feed ramp in the design.I also cut a quarter inch off the recoil springs if the gun is particularly finicky.Armalites are the best CharterArms are the worst but the design is sound and has been in prodction for almost fifty years,An interesting bit of trivia is that the ar-7 was engineered by the same man who designed the M-16, eugene stoner.