FOGeologist

NOT busy; although the last time I went the local law enforcement authorities had the 300 yard range locked up for some kind of weird departmental training. Doesn't seem to happen often. You can shoot at shorter distances on the longer ranges. It's a great range. Fees are about $25 and you can stay there from 0-dark morning until sunset. There's no pestering dopey Range Police constantly bothering you, either.

Ouch, that's pretty much dreamland.

Thanks for introducing me to a new component that I haven't yet heard of - 8208 XBR is a powder that hadn't been invented back in the 1830s when I started reloading my own cartridges. Looks like pretty good stuff. Certainly an option for the other 2000 powders that could work in its place, if only any 1-2 of them were ever in stock. Seriously, folks, do people now just go to Sportsman's Warehouse 46 times per week and literally buy every last component that arrives on the shelves or something? No primers, 1 out of 97 powders available (and invariably it's a shotgun powder), a selection of 50-some-odd 90-grain .455 caliber slugs made of tantalum or grass-fed butter, some arrowheads made of carbon-fibre and spun silk ($12.26 each), and 34 sleeping bags from a Moldovan manufacturer. Getting so friggin' sick of struggling to find basic stuff!

It certainly looks like a 1.5 MOA group if nothing else. Only you can tell us if you have the skills to bring about a sub MOA group to anything you shoot. I certainly used to be able to do it, although with my advancing age and lack of practice, it's not something I could guarantee I could pull off like I did routinely when I was in my forties. It looks to me like you're pretty durned close. I think you've got something to be proud of here; IMHO these AR-10s are nowhere near as inherently accurate as many AR-15s, which, in the right hands and with the right loads, could (and routinely do) shoot MOA or less. Not meaning to state that NO AR-308 is capable of such accuracy, as I have seen a bunch of AR-308 folks shoot less than MOA with their rifles.

I have been shooting lately at Great Guns. Range goes out to 300 yards. Not too busy and STILL a great price.

That is quite impressive! What powder?

Keith or Fudd? LOL😆

I have a Varget load listed in the Speer manual (it's about 14,500 years old, so it pre-dates written history, lol). Do you guys load up any bulk with 150 grain? I did shoot a bit in the gun before I rebuilt it and did not have sterling accuracy.

I haven't read any other responses, but BOY, does that sound correct!

I have just fire-annealed, lubed, resized, trimmed, chamfered and deburred 450~ish cases from several manufacturers. In tumbling these shells, I noticed the insides of cases don't become polished. How come the corn-cob media, which 100% fils the inside of every case, knows not to vibrate and clean those cases? Do you really think that the tumbler (an RCBS unit, so it should be good) hasn't got the power to vibrate the inside of the cases?

Belt-fed... .22? Cue "Homer eating a cheeseburger" meme... "BELT. FED. MMMMMMMM!"

Update: I am still waiting on my headspace gauge from 4D Reamer Rentals, which was ordered and paid for on 09/05. So the guy is renting gauges that he doesn't have, nice. I should buy a set and rent them to guys on here.

Seems like a good way to see any problems you might be having. Or do you just stick to 100 yards?

Great videob you brought data to the forum!

You guys are both right. My new borescope reveals a barrel and chamber that are pretty great. gas port hole. A touch of erosion going forward.

Meh. The small arms in Soviet service probably DID NOT in any way help the RA win on the battlefield; probably it was more like the 100mm+ gun tubes of the artillery (and the rockets) and the tank corps that did the trick. The Soviets probably won IN SPITE of their relatively poor small arms (with the possible exception of the PPSH). It's arguable that individual small arms haven't been much of a game-changer since WW1 in battle in general.

You guys may be on to something... I have perhaps 140 rounds on the barrel. I also pulled out primers that had been hammered into the bolt face - it's possible (probable) that there was a piece of brass or grit stuck in the chamber area that got scrubbed out when I took the barrel out of the upper receiver and hosed it down aggressively with spray cleaner and put a chamber brush in a drill and burnished the chamber for a bit. (No, I didn't do any damage to it) I have a cheapo borescope on the way to see inside the barrel so I can confirm my chamber and gas port look good.

I fired 100 rounds at 200 yards a month back and had some really, really terrible results - first round flyers 9" to the right. I decided to anneal the brass after tumbling it and I noticed while annealing that... Every case had two nasty dents in the neck. There were long scratches that were much more apparent than before I annealed cases. I think Faxon may have sent me a "Monday after a holiday" barrel with an exceptionally poor chamber. I wish I had considered this more carefully before I inserted this barrel into my new upper yesterday.

Cool, well-considered response. Thank you. I have heard (it's probably apocryphal, but I'd bet you've heard it, too) that the Moisin Nagant Carbine shoots better with the bayonet unfolded. With a piece of Soviet junk, I'd challenge anyone to do enough research to tell. 😄

My guess is "nothing." Maybe you could add a device and get a point of impact shift?

You should consider it on your next build if you have some slop (like I did). It is wicked easy to do.

You're right; I can't believe how many guns that were made by grinding down humongous blocks of steel into receivers and other components, all because they had governments paying for them, and because they didn't care how much a weapon system weighed because the soldier's load was 65% of what it is now. This, in spite of the men all being midgets back then!

Update: All components save the headspace gauges are in. Receiver set from three weeks back when I got it. Shims (choice of three: 0.001, 0.0015, and 0.002) and proper, 15.5" length rifle gas tube from Armalite, compared to my (take off) AR-15 rifle gas tube at 15.125". I started the shim with the 0.001" stainless sheet; these came pre-cut at 1" and work for covering an extension; you have to cut an inch off the sheet or so to give you a long-enough piece to wrap around the extension without touching the other side (leave a gap of a few millimeters). I cleaned the extension and the notched sheet with brake cleaner and placed an extremely thin schmear of contact cement on the extension and the back of the sheet with a Q-tip to hold that springy little sucker in place until the extension is seated in the upper. The gap is located on the side of the extension to avoid any weird up/down motion. Once applied, the shim created an interference fit with the extension that prevented me from sliding the receiver into the extension. Because I knew I had that kind of resistance, I knew that a thermo-fit would work well to get a tight fit between the two. Per the JP Rifles video, I heated the threaded part of the receiver, turning it in my hands with it in the flame for six turns. My first attempt was unsuccessful because I was clumsy and rushing it, and had trouble holding the threads accurately in the flame front. When I tried to insert the receiver onto the extension, it went on halfway and got stuck. I applied a little heat and it came off. I did it again, taking my time and heating the threads, doing a full six turns, and it slid right over the extension. It is impossible to rock the barrel in the receiver in any way, or to pull it loose. So it looks like "mission accomplished." I probably should have waited until the headspace gauge was delivered as these guns are a little easier to headspace when the barrel is out of the receiver.

This is what I suspect; the phoney-baloney “machine-gun” market would come crashing down. Could you imagine companies setting up to make cool old wartime repros, like Degtyarevs and Lewis Guns and Colt Potato Diggers? And no, they wouldn’t be $50,000, because new industries would pop up to make components for weird old guns. it would be some fun days, that’s for sure… but I wouldn’t be hauling those money-eaters out to the range but once a year or so.

We are in a time of change with respect to gun laws. Many of the silly and unconstitutional laws of the past have been struck down by the Supreme Court recently, and the biggest one of those idiotic former rulings may be the grandaddy of them all, the NFA. If all or part of the NFA got taken down by the Supreme Court, would you folks consider switching any of your firearms (yeah, I know how hard it is to do on the AR platform, probably would be easier to just buy new lowers) to carry the Giggle Switch? I'd maybe consider going with one gun. I can't imagine blowing up more than two mags/year of overpriced ammo. And it would be .223, not .308, as I couldn't possibly see what use a full-auto .308 would be. Frankly, I'd be far more interested in shooting semi as suppressed.