renaissanceman

I was hitting them pretty consistently with 75gr BTHP over CFE223 in a 223 last time around, but they wouldn't fall. 198gr 8mm bullets did the trick, but hitting them was rather tricky with Mauser open sights since the target was narrower than the front post. I have no doubt that the 168 launched from a 308 will get the job done.

I have a buddy with a membership to a private range that goes to 500m+ so just trying to be able to pound the knockdown targets on the 500m line with boring regularity.

Just put in notifications for primers of all types on Midway. What good is all the money in the world if you can't buy primers, anyway?

Haha, ok, I'll stick around. I'll be doing load development next. 168gr Hornady BTHP. Wallet in hand, but not much in stock to spend on these days...

Thanks! I'll be a lurking member...once the rifle runs, it's hard to have much to talk about, but I'll be reading in the shadows.

Seems to be fine, I'm working on load development now. It'll cycle min loads with 147gr FMJ bullets, so I think it's got the right size port. Not too gassy, either. Once I've got my pet load, I may tune the gas block down a bit if there's a bit more gas than I like.

Primers are what we need.

Care to share the math if there's a clean derived equation? I'd love to be able to set up a spreadsheet that predicts what is needed based on a QuickLoad predicted port pressure, but I think it'd be decently messy to derive.

All cycling issues have resolved -- it now cycles any ammo you feed it with bolt lockback every time. The recoil is quite mild and the empty cases land at the 4'oclock position about 5 feet from the rifle in a neat little pile. How's that for a happy ending?

Drilled to 0.938". First crappy dewalt bit couldn't handle it, second (new) one cut it smoothly and easily. Kissed it with a 0.125" bit afterwards for a bit of a chamfer to deburr. Bore cleaned and ready to roll, hopefully I'll get cycling and not have to give it another thought.

Will do. Last time I used a high grade bit and it kept grabbing the soft stainless and chipped all to hell on the cutting edges. This time I'll just use a crappy dewalt 3/32 bit on my cordless variable speed drill and take it slower with no guides or any other overthinking shenanigans. It'll probably work without drama and I'll be up and running tomorrow.

I'll take a drill bit to it soon -- I've done one in the past with a hand drill and a 3d printed guide to keep it straight and a 3d printed insert to keep the bit from going all the way through and into the opposite side. Sort of shady, but lacking a drill press...whatcha gonna do? Kinda strange that a rather large and reputable company (Aero) would under-drill a port -- I'm thinking a lot of AR10s are undergassed, despite everyone online seeming to think overgassing is the issue that causes chronic cycling headaches. Of all my buddies who have built one, I've still never seen one just run without issues.

No change. That 0.086" port is probably the culprit, as originally suspected. Any suggestions on what size to drill to? 3/32" (0.0938") perhaps?

The heavy buffer and spring arrived. Now to get to the range to test it.

I finally got around to ordering the heavy buffer. The first time the site's payment gateway was down, and then holidays hit and that was that. Looking forward to getting this thing running.