Quick history on the rifle- it use to have a 18" Black Hole Weaponry barrel, now it has a 16" Alexander Arms barrel and it is usually suppressed with my AAC 7.62SDN-6 suppressor.
I use to run 100Gr Barnes TTSX bullets with great results in the 18" 1:9 twist barrel with the bullets seated at 2.250" COAL
The new Alexander Arms 16" barrel has a 1:7.5 twist ratio so I wanted to take advantage of that and run 120Gr bullets.
I loaded up a batch with 120Gr A-MAX annnnnnnd... thats when my nightmare began. The bolt wasnt closing 100% and trying to manually eject the case was next to impossible without using a hammer on the charging handle. It seemed as though this new barrel does NOT like 2.250" COAL - and perhaps the bullets are hitting the lands. BUT ---- I re-seated the bullets down to 2.239 and they still prevent the bolt to close into full battery - and still require a hammer to open the charging handle.
*** My old leftover 100Gr TTSX bullets cycle fine.
***Factory Hornady 123Gr SST ( 2.239" COAL) cycle fine. ***
*** to the naked eye the reloaded 120Gr Amax loads look identical to the Factory Hornady ammo, and the caliper measures the cases pretty much identical so I dont think my dies left the reloaded cases wider than they should be.
Any Ideas ?!?!?!?!? Ditch the 120Gr Amax bullets ? Seat the COAL even shorter ?
I use to run 100Gr Barnes TTSX bullets with great results in the 18" 1:9 twist barrel with the bullets seated at 2.250" COAL
The new Alexander Arms 16" barrel has a 1:7.5 twist ratio so I wanted to take advantage of that and run 120Gr bullets.
I loaded up a batch with 120Gr A-MAX annnnnnnd... thats when my nightmare began. The bolt wasnt closing 100% and trying to manually eject the case was next to impossible without using a hammer on the charging handle. It seemed as though this new barrel does NOT like 2.250" COAL - and perhaps the bullets are hitting the lands. BUT ---- I re-seated the bullets down to 2.239 and they still prevent the bolt to close into full battery - and still require a hammer to open the charging handle.
*** My old leftover 100Gr TTSX bullets cycle fine.
***Factory Hornady 123Gr SST ( 2.239" COAL) cycle fine. ***
*** to the naked eye the reloaded 120Gr Amax loads look identical to the Factory Hornady ammo, and the caliper measures the cases pretty much identical so I dont think my dies left the reloaded cases wider than they should be.
Any Ideas ?!?!?!?!? Ditch the 120Gr Amax bullets ? Seat the COAL even shorter ?
Comment