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A frustrating range day.p

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A frustrating range day.p was created by Siscowet

Back felt better, so I hit the range this morning, eager to try out the
New chronograph and my two new reloads. What I did not take into account was a very nasty wind. 20 mph gusting to 40, and swirling around the range. I took myAR10T carbine, and my AR10A4 rifle. My reloads were, as mentioned elsewhere, 168gr SMK's BTHP and 175gr. BTHP SMK's. Both loaded with 42 gr RE15, half in Lake City brass, and half in M80 brass. All with Winchester large rifle primers.
I set up the Chrony, and had a tough time keeping it upright in the wind.
I was able to fire five rounds of Factory M118LR and found a 150 ft per second spread, from 2774 fps to 2924 fps in the carbine. I was also able to chrony the 168 gr reloads with an average of 2692 fps in the carbine, before the wind defeated me and I packed the chrony away.
For the carbine, i don't have M118 control group pictured, but it was two inches high of the bullseye, and roughly two inches across, which in this wind was all that could be expected.
When I went to shoot the 175's I had already put the chrony away, but only shot two shots in the carbine. Inspection of the primers should flattening, and as I was alone, and there is no cell coverage at the range, I decided to forego shooting anymore. Pictured below is one of them with a fired M118 case for comparison.






Cases were not bulged or deformed, so I may try them under controlled conditions.

When I tried the 168 gr reloads, there was no sign of primer flattening, so I went ahead. As the wind was bad, I made no attempt to fine tune the scopes on the rifles, and as you can see the carbine shot 2 inches high at 100 yards with all loads. Below is the best group at 100 yards with the AR10T carbine.






As you can see it was a six shot group with no malfunctions.

I next took out the AR10 A4 rifle and fired a control group with the M118LR, which is below.




Nothing special, but I can't complain with that brutal wind. Obviously the scope is better zeroed in on the rifle.
Then I shot a number of five shot groups with the 168's in the AR 10 rifle, a representative one which is below.







All and all I am very pleased with the performance of the 168's in those brutal wind conditions, and the rifle especially liked them. And a special thanks to Texaslongshot for recommending that load, it's a keeper.
The 175's I will need to decide whether to pull the bullets and start over, although I think the remaining 48 could be safely shot, but I think they are a little closer to the limit, especially in the m80 brass. Any opinions on that?
I will end with a couple pics of my '10's.




The following user(s) said Thank You: jtallen83, NightForce
Last edit: 9 years 10 months ago by Siscowet.
9 years 10 months ago #40321

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Replied by NightForce on topic A frustrating range day.p

Just getting to the range makes it a good day! :thumbs:

Occasionally things like this do happen. I'm glad you got to test those loads and for wind gusts between 20 and 40 mph those groups aren't too shabby.

Flat primers are "an" indicator of high pressure. If everything else looks good and the load groups exceptionally well I might load 10 rounds reducing the powder charge by 0.5 grains and test again. If these loads perform well and the primes look better then make this "the" load for that rifle.... :twothumbs:

I am interested in seeing what those loads clock at..... :cheers:
The following user(s) said Thank You: Siscowet
Last edit: 9 years 10 months ago by NightForce.
9 years 10 months ago #40324

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Replied by Siscowet on topic A frustrating range day.p

Thanks NightForce, I would have been curious as well. The fourh time the Chronograph went over, I figured I was asking for damage. No amount of bracing the tripods legs helped.
When a gust of wind hit it would take my crosshairs off the target, so I was trying to shoot between gusts. Not real conducive to accuracy. But they cycled well and the 168's are good as they are. Now to fine tune the 175's
9 years 10 months ago #40329

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Replied by jtallen83 on topic A frustrating range day.p

I'm curious how you prepped your primer pockets? I take it you had to remove the crimp or staking, did you swage or ream? I have read of issues with large primer pockets causing what looks like pressure issues but never seen it myself, same article mentioned swaging was preferred to removing metal. Wouldn't seem to be your issue though since only the one load had issues........
I don't mess with loads that flatten primers, anymore. As a kid I didn't back off till I saw gas leaks, figure I used up all that luck then so now I back off early!
LIBERTY FIRST!
9 years 10 months ago #40330

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Replied by Siscowet on topic A frustrating range day.p

I reamed out the military crimp and cleaned the pocket. I am thinking that might have something to do with it. I will try a few more when I can use the chronograph to watch velocity, and someone is with me.
9 years 10 months ago #40331

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Replied by 30CalFun on topic A frustrating range day.p

Sis, not bad groups in those high winds. I hate showing up to the range to test loads only to find wind. I have found that 3-5 mph at 100 yds. really doesn't do anything to the group. Regarding the primers, the pic was a little out of focus but I believe the M118 is on the left (crimped primer)? Maybe go back to 40.5 gr. and work back up to see what the primers look like then. Like I mentioned elsewhere (forgotten which post) I have loaded 43 gr in Fed military brass and things looked okay. I have been shooting 42.5 to 43 in Lapua without problems. This is still higher than Hornady's max and they are using thinner brass I believe. Maybe Hornady is overly conservative or maybe we are loading too hot??
9 years 10 months ago #40332

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Replied by jdizzle3id on topic A frustrating range day.p

Siscowet,
When you say "factory m118lr", is that the same thing as LCAAP "xm118lr" 175gr? I ask because those velocity numbers seem way higher than I was getting out of my ar10t 20" which averaged 2585 (20ft front of muzzle).
9 years 10 months ago #40335

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Replied by beltfed on topic A frustrating range day.p

Nice shootin and two nice AR's too. :twothumbs:
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9 years 10 months ago #40336

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Replied by Siscowet on topic A frustrating range day.p

That was what I meant. And yes it was distubingly high. I am going to go online and see what it should be. The other thoght is that the conditions were skewing the chronograph readings, as I did get a lot of "err" messages.
9 years 10 months ago #40347

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Replied by NightForce on topic A frustrating range day.p

Sisco,

Would you mind listing the components used to make these loads including the powder and charge weight?

Case - Manufacturer
Bullet - Manufacture & Weight
Primer = Manufacturer
Powder - charge weight
Cartridge Over All Length

I have some software called Quick Load. It's very sophisticated and I'd like to plug in your information and see what it spits out. When I get it finished I'll post the results as JPEGs here..
9 years 10 months ago #40364

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