Just took the 22 ARC plunge

[Zeneffect]

Was looking at capability at different barrel lengths, and I did the exact opposite of what I would normally do. Went with a proof research carbon 16". Should show up Wednesday. Have whidden die set for 22arc and a whole lot of starline to convert. Going to build something light to carry around and not a match rifle.

[Remington Jim]

Is there not a 22ARC forum ? Just wondering 🤔🤪 lol

[StoneHendge]

Was looking at capability at different barrel lengths, and I did the exact opposite of what I would normally do. Went with a proof research carbon 16". Should show up Wednesday. Have whidden die set for 22arc and a whole lot of starline to convert. Going to build something light to carry around and not a match rifle.

Very interested to see how a shorter length works out with gas timing. Also curious about your chamber neck dimension.

[Zeneffect]

I am too. Ive never ran a 16" with a rifle length gas system or a proof barrel so a couple of firsts. I have about 60 pieces of starline brass made up to sammi spec so we will see how it goes. Whidden die ftw, going straight from 6.5 grendel to 22arc in 1 pass.

[Lemonaid]

Something to think about when necking down brass is if the neck thickness is going to be a problem. If the fired brass does not let a bullet easily slip through it is likely a sign the brass needs to be neck turned (painful as that is.) Even though a loaded round chambers o.k. if it is in that boarder line area, some rounds may have a bit of extra neck tension from being just a bit too thick and some may not, leading to erratic accuracy and velocities. Sort of like bullets in the lands, either be firmly in the lands or not in at all, if you are barley in the lands, some times it in and sometimes out leading to poor accuracy. I have had this happen to me on Starline 6.5 Grendel brass sized to 6 ARC brass and 6.5 Grendel brass to 6 PPC brass. Harder than normal chambering is also a sign that the neck is too thick.

[Zeneffect]

StoneHendge

Did you anneal before sizing down? I was using some fully prepped starline (sized, annealed, trimmed, etc) and then bumping back to sammi a hair over minimum spec while resizing the neck with a .251 bushing.

I will be annealing again, bumping back another .001 and use a .249 bushing next. My hardness tester is showing the brass is fully hard at this point so I want to anneal and avoid excessive and inconsistent spring back. Barrel should arrive tomorrow, I will measure neck thickness once this lot of 120 or so gets out of the wash in about 6 min. I suspect a donut to be forming by shiny marks during resize operation but won't know until I measure the thickness in several places.

*edit*

I'm getting about .01470-.01530 depending on where I'm at on the neck and that range seems fairly consistent from the 5 cases I spot checked real quick. Maybe if I can turn .0007 that should put me about right (I'm never going to get that exact...)

[Zeneffect]

22arc is in the march 24 quickload update. just fyi. (22 creed is also... still no staball match powder to be seen)

Is there not a 22ARC forum ? Just wondering 🤔🤪 lol

I dont know. got banned from snipershide after my 1st post and never went back. is there one? id genuinely like to read a little more user experiences so i know what to look out for.

[Zeneffect]

Ok, got 50 rounds fired.

Zero issues or hiccups. Ran 28.9gr of 2520 with 75gr eldm at 2.26. sounds like a salt shaker, lots of space inside left. Velocity is... its something. 2800fps with 75gr eldm is not something I've ever done from a 16" barrel. The 5 shot test at 29.2 was at 3000fps (was expecting way lower velocity from start so had a quick test at max charge loaded if the gun played nice, which it did) Primers aren't bad but more flat than I'd like.

What was surprising to me was the lack of any issues. It ran perfect, 3 sight in shots and a 5 round test group showed very good potential. Es/sd not bad considering I have zero actual chamber dimensions.

I'm at the point to where I feel like I'm pretty well setup out of the gate and ive skipped the possible feeding, neck, etc issues. Cycled every time, locked bolt every time, now I want to put an adjustable gas block to dial back the gas a hair. 16rlgs over gassed slightly... never would have thought it was possible.

Fired case neck measures .253 which with .001 spring back i would say chamber neck dimension is .254. This is giving me .003 of expansion from my loaded rounds.

shoulder moved forward .011... glad i annealed and ensured i was at the same hardness as factory new. Should maybe tame this speed and bring it to more reasonable levels.


This is with 28.9gr 2520.



Quite literally the very first shots on this rifle so zero dimensional data or load workup. "Thin air" load that was supposed to be safe-ish. Picture includes sight in. Trash holes off the stapled target are not mine. Public range with public target stands...

[Lemonaid]

Looking good. Hodgdon's data max load for that bullet-powder combo in .223 Remington is 24.7 = 2863 fps out of a 24 inch barrel, so some real added benefits.

[Zeneffect]

I'm at a hair under 8# with optic and ammo (15rds). 24" .223 rem performance while able to mag feed 75, 80, and 88eldm is all I was looking for, anything more is a bonus.

[LRRPF52]

Grendels, Guitars, and Guns....