1.7665" to ogive and 2.168" OAL for the factory 60 grain. Bullet profiles are definitely going to be different though. I'd highly suggest making a modified case and measuring distance to lands with that exact bullet and know how far it's mum and how far it's in the case vs just pulling an OAL out of your hat based on the depths of two different bullets.
- Thread starter Niles Coyote
- Start date
1.7665" to ogive and 2.168" OAL for the factory 60 grain. Bullet profiles are definitely going to be different though. I'd highly suggest making a modified case and measuring distance to lands with that exact bullet and know how far it's mum and how far it's in the case vs just pulling an OAL out of your hat based on the depths of two different bullets.
Midsouth has 88gr ELD's in stock at the moment...
Thanks. Got some.
you got some? my backorder from a couple weeks ago still shows as unfilled...
I had the same thing happen when starline brass became available. I emailed them and 36 hours later got a shipping notice...
Ok, I just snuck out while the kids were napping to run 3 rounds of a few different powders to check pressure and velocity. AA2520 is the clear velocity winner for the 52gr ELDm at 2.180. 28.0grs averaged 3343fps. Not sure temp stability though.
Varget seemed to group the best but it’s really windy and I was rushing so I’m not convinced on that. 27.0grs grouped the best and had the best ES. Averaged 3165. Sierra’s max listed 27.6gr and that posted a 3236 average.
RL15 was good velocity wise also. 27.0gr posted a 3152 and 27.5 was 3228. No pressure signs on any of my loads but my barrel is really pissing me off. Not one of these rounds cycled or held the bolt back on the last round. Not sure if my gas port is too small or what but I’m not getting near the gas I should be getting.
Varget seemed to group the best but it’s really windy and I was rushing so I’m not convinced on that. 27.0grs grouped the best and had the best ES. Averaged 3165. Sierra’s max listed 27.6gr and that posted a 3236 average.
RL15 was good velocity wise also. 27.0gr posted a 3152 and 27.5 was 3228. No pressure signs on any of my loads but my barrel is really pissing me off. Not one of these rounds cycled or held the bolt back on the last round. Not sure if my gas port is too small or what but I’m not getting near the gas I should be getting.
I forgot to add I’m running a 20” 1/7 twist Wilson Arms blank with a +2 gas system
I'm not a reloader, but isn't that pretty slow?
ETA- Not that 3200fps is slow, I would just think that is close to 223 velocities? Right?
ETA- Not that 3200fps is slow, I would just think that is close to 223 velocities? Right?
For real world 20” barrel semi auto velocity, 3200-3300 isn’t bad with the lighter bullets. I’d like to push it a little more and see 3400ish if it’s accurate. I imagine a factory 223 load in a 20” barrel AR is running around 2900 but I haven’t confirmed that.
I am still waiting on my barrel, but I did get the JP SCS builders kit so I can try to adjust for this in the rear end if it comes up.
New 88gr eld arived, the bullet length over ten shows 1.240-1.242"
I also bought the new Hornady seater with the A-Max/ELD stem, purchased separately, and it is giving consistent seating depth with no, let me repeat that... zero stem imprint on the bullet.
pictured with the 90smk for comparison.
I also bought the new Hornady seater with the A-Max/ELD stem, purchased separately, and it is giving consistent seating depth with no, let me repeat that... zero stem imprint on the bullet.
pictured with the 90smk for comparison.
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Mine should be showing up tomorrow. Still waiting on dies though.
Is the Hornady stem compatible with Redding dies? If so, do you have a part number for it?
@redneckbmxer24 while it will fit in the hole of my 223 redding die (I don't have a valkyrie die from redding) it is longer. Pictured with the part number.
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Have a med contour 22” on order from JP. I have SL brass and grabbed up some 88ELD’s. Looking to get some dies. Email to Redding and they are producing S type dies for the Valkyrie. Could one of you fine gentlemen provide some measurements of outside neck dimensions of loaded round using Starline brass. This would greatly assist me in ordering some bushings for the dies.
JM
JM
Thanks! Greatly appreciated. Now to track down the dies...
Did some initial load development today with Varget and Power Pro and 95gr SMK.
Barrel: Craddock Precision 22" 6.7 twist Rock Creek +2 gas
Brass: 1x fired Federal. Match prepped. Deprime, SS tumble, Redding FL sizer .003" bump, Sinclair expander mandrel, trim to 1.590" on Giraud.
Primer: Remington #7.5 Small Rifle Benchrest seated .002" deep.
Bullet: 95gr Sierra Matchking seated 2.30" OAL. .049" jump to lands.
Varget ladder over Magnetospeed V3:
21.2gr 2280
21.4gr 2310
21.6gr 2328
21.8gr 2354
22.0gr 2356 21.2-22gr went through one little ragged hole, sub .1mil outside to outside
22.2gr 2437 .2mil POI shift left
22.4gr 2427
22.6gr 2446
22.8gr 2470
23.0gr 2488
23.2gr 2507
23.4gr 2519 light ejection mark
I picked what I thought may be 3 sweet spots and loaded 3 each to test. These are the ones you see on the top of the target:
21.9gr 2397, 2365, 2358. SD 20 .582" group
22.3gr 2416, 2432, 2418. SD 8.7 .475" group
22.9gr 2473, 2474, 2479. SD 3.1 .090" group
Retested 22.9gr because it had the best SD and group and the second string was 2480, 2483, 2487. SD 3.4 .295" group. The barrel was very hot at this point and I was taking longer to fire the rounds due to mirage off the suppressor which I believe is the reason for the slightly higher velocity and the group opening up some. Shots broke clean but the image was slightly distorted.
I got the info I needed and moved onto Power Pro 2000MR. Decided to do .3gr increments on this one since it was a wider window.
22.9gr 2361
23.2gr 2364
23.5gr 2392
23.8gr 2401
24.1gr 2443
24.4gr 2455
24.7gr 2481 this round shift down and left out of the main group. It's the one high center in the red dot. Broke clean.
25.0gr 2514 this round was still low but shifted back right some. It's the lowest one at 2 o clock just out of the edge. Broke clean.
25.3gr 2549 this round went partially through the same hole as 25.0. Broke clean.
25.6gr 2593 this round made it's way back up into the main cluster.
25.9gr 2611
26.2gr 2670 this round went high of the main cluster, the more left hole.
26.5gr 2685 this round is the one just to the right of 26.2. Possible light ejector swipe. Very faint
Test charges which you will see towards the bottom of the target:
24.3gr 2411, 2405, 2435 SD 15.8 1.028" group. All shots broke clean but the last shot went low and a little left. It also cooked in a chamber a few seconds longer than the others which may partially explain the velocity jump but not the flyer.
25.7gr 2582, 2591, 2592 SD 5.4 .248" The was some mirage off the suppressor but image didn't seem too distorted, doubt it cause the one to go out a little.
26.3gr 2639, 2653, 2676 SD 18.6 .437" group. Some good mirage coming off the can at this point but not much distortion is seemed. None of these rounds cooked in the chamber any longer than the other ones. I believe this just starting to get into pressure and doing weird shit.
Retested 25.7gr 2600, 2585, 2603 SD 9.6 group .423".. I dialed my dope down .5 mil so that I could use the same dot on this one since I forgot to put a 4th. I was battling heavy mirage off the suppressor on this one, there was no air moving at this point. Shot 1 and 2 I got a clean image but shot 3 I waited and waited and sent it with a distorted image when I figured it had cooked enough. Round 2 was in the chamber a solid 10 second less than shot 1 and probably 20 seconds less than shot 3.
All in all I'm very happy with the initial testing. The barrel is shooting great and seems to loves the 95 SMK's. I also got a reminder of how dirty power pro is, you can even see on the target how much blacker the bullet holes are on the paper from the fouling as it progressed. Pretty crazy.
Tomorrow I'll be testing RL15 and H4350.
Barrel: Craddock Precision 22" 6.7 twist Rock Creek +2 gas
Brass: 1x fired Federal. Match prepped. Deprime, SS tumble, Redding FL sizer .003" bump, Sinclair expander mandrel, trim to 1.590" on Giraud.
Primer: Remington #7.5 Small Rifle Benchrest seated .002" deep.
Bullet: 95gr Sierra Matchking seated 2.30" OAL. .049" jump to lands.
Varget ladder over Magnetospeed V3:
21.2gr 2280
21.4gr 2310
21.6gr 2328
21.8gr 2354
22.0gr 2356 21.2-22gr went through one little ragged hole, sub .1mil outside to outside
22.2gr 2437 .2mil POI shift left
22.4gr 2427
22.6gr 2446
22.8gr 2470
23.0gr 2488
23.2gr 2507
23.4gr 2519 light ejection mark
I picked what I thought may be 3 sweet spots and loaded 3 each to test. These are the ones you see on the top of the target:
21.9gr 2397, 2365, 2358. SD 20 .582" group
22.3gr 2416, 2432, 2418. SD 8.7 .475" group
22.9gr 2473, 2474, 2479. SD 3.1 .090" group
Retested 22.9gr because it had the best SD and group and the second string was 2480, 2483, 2487. SD 3.4 .295" group. The barrel was very hot at this point and I was taking longer to fire the rounds due to mirage off the suppressor which I believe is the reason for the slightly higher velocity and the group opening up some. Shots broke clean but the image was slightly distorted.
I got the info I needed and moved onto Power Pro 2000MR. Decided to do .3gr increments on this one since it was a wider window.
22.9gr 2361
23.2gr 2364
23.5gr 2392
23.8gr 2401
24.1gr 2443
24.4gr 2455
24.7gr 2481 this round shift down and left out of the main group. It's the one high center in the red dot. Broke clean.
25.0gr 2514 this round was still low but shifted back right some. It's the lowest one at 2 o clock just out of the edge. Broke clean.
25.3gr 2549 this round went partially through the same hole as 25.0. Broke clean.
25.6gr 2593 this round made it's way back up into the main cluster.
25.9gr 2611
26.2gr 2670 this round went high of the main cluster, the more left hole.
26.5gr 2685 this round is the one just to the right of 26.2. Possible light ejector swipe. Very faint
Test charges which you will see towards the bottom of the target:
24.3gr 2411, 2405, 2435 SD 15.8 1.028" group. All shots broke clean but the last shot went low and a little left. It also cooked in a chamber a few seconds longer than the others which may partially explain the velocity jump but not the flyer.
25.7gr 2582, 2591, 2592 SD 5.4 .248" The was some mirage off the suppressor but image didn't seem too distorted, doubt it cause the one to go out a little.
26.3gr 2639, 2653, 2676 SD 18.6 .437" group. Some good mirage coming off the can at this point but not much distortion is seemed. None of these rounds cooked in the chamber any longer than the other ones. I believe this just starting to get into pressure and doing weird shit.
Retested 25.7gr 2600, 2585, 2603 SD 9.6 group .423".. I dialed my dope down .5 mil so that I could use the same dot on this one since I forgot to put a 4th. I was battling heavy mirage off the suppressor on this one, there was no air moving at this point. Shot 1 and 2 I got a clean image but shot 3 I waited and waited and sent it with a distorted image when I figured it had cooked enough. Round 2 was in the chamber a solid 10 second less than shot 1 and probably 20 seconds less than shot 3.
All in all I'm very happy with the initial testing. The barrel is shooting great and seems to loves the 95 SMK's. I also got a reminder of how dirty power pro is, you can even see on the target how much blacker the bullet holes are on the paper from the fouling as it progressed. Pretty crazy.
Tomorrow I'll be testing RL15 and H4350.
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I just spoke to Redding regarding the seater stem on my premium die set leaving a ring on 95gr SMK's, 90gr SMK's, and 88gr ELD's. I can't figured out for the life of me why they wouldn't supply the Valkyrie set with the VLD stem since the whole point of this round is long high BC bullets at mag length, but...
If you get them you will need the entire Redding VLD replacement assembly which is part number 09183 and retails for $39.99 at midway. This also drops into their standard die set, so you don't have to buy the premium die set and then buy this. The premium die set does get you the carbide sizer button which would be $30 to add to a standard set if you like to size like that.
If you use an expander mandrel like myself and only plan on shooting the longer bullets I'd suggest buying the standard die set and then getting the VLD micrometer stem assembly. You'll save a few bucks in the process too.
Hope this helps. Also it was reported that Redding is offering a competition Type S FL bushing comp die set as a standard option, according to the rep I spoke to that is false. They're offering it as a custom die set currently but have no plans to offered it as a standard item unless the round catches on more.
On another note, Midway seems to have the best price on the seater stem, and they currently have 95gr SMK's on sale, and they have a free shipping code that applies to sale item orders. Needless to say another 1K 95gr SMK's and a seater stem is on the way.
If you get them you will need the entire Redding VLD replacement assembly which is part number 09183 and retails for $39.99 at midway. This also drops into their standard die set, so you don't have to buy the premium die set and then buy this. The premium die set does get you the carbide sizer button which would be $30 to add to a standard set if you like to size like that.
If you use an expander mandrel like myself and only plan on shooting the longer bullets I'd suggest buying the standard die set and then getting the VLD micrometer stem assembly. You'll save a few bucks in the process too.
Hope this helps. Also it was reported that Redding is offering a competition Type S FL bushing comp die set as a standard option, according to the rep I spoke to that is false. They're offering it as a custom die set currently but have no plans to offered it as a standard item unless the round catches on more.
On another note, Midway seems to have the best price on the seater stem, and they currently have 95gr SMK's on sale, and they have a free shipping code that applies to sale item orders. Needless to say another 1K 95gr SMK's and a seater stem is on the way.
Thanks for the info on the dies Niles. My info came from Redding via email. Apparently the right hand doesn’t know what the left is doing there. They ( Redding) suggested I contact Grafs to order the die. Grafs has no such die set on their web site, so perhaps I misunderstood their email, or as I said, they have coms problems between reps. I will contact Redding via phone and find out what the scoop is and if the FL S die can be had.
They can be had but as a custom die set. About twice the price of the off the shelf Type S com die sets. I spoke to Redding today about them.
I'm watching how the die situation sorts out. I still have time as I don't even have my barrel in hand yet. Plus I can easily start out shooting one of the factory loads, especially if Hornady has their 88 ELDM load out soon.
I'm really happy with the Reddings aside from the seater stem. I would have bought a type S comp set if they were available and not at a $400 custom option (that's ridiculous), but I'm not going to get rid of these to get a set if they make them for the standard pricing.
The dies on my Co-Ax are producing ammo with less than .001" of runout which is phenomenal. The only thing I'd take into consideration is the seater stem. If you're going to take advantage of the cartridge then you're probably best off just getting the standard Redding die set and then adding the VLD micrometer stem.
The dies on my Co-Ax are producing ammo with less than .001" of runout which is phenomenal. The only thing I'd take into consideration is the seater stem. If you're going to take advantage of the cartridge then you're probably best off just getting the standard Redding die set and then adding the VLD micrometer stem.
Duly noted. Thanks.
88 eld & 95smk with varget and Starline brass at 100. @redneckbmxer24 there does appear to be a good shooting load right around 22.9, I'm not sure if my flier was me... it felt good at the time of release, I'll give that area a look at some distance. This was using new starline brass so maybe once fired will be even better.
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I will be honest with everyone here, I've had a mother fucker of a time withe my valkyrie. When you have to go back to a bolt gun or another AR just to make sure you can still shoot decent groups it's bad. I started out with 90smks and 4 kinds of powder and couldn't get a group under 1.5 inches. If you run around 2450 fps you get good groups but when you go to the 2600 to 2700 range it blows cock. But then again if I stretch fgmm out to 500 yards it's good. I just got power pro 2000 and it changed everything. I tried 95smk and 88eld and 80smk.They all were under an inch. My best combo is 80smk with 26 grains and a 35 thou jump. I already know what you strokes are thinking, who wants to run the 80smk but my groups were 3/8 of an inch. The 95 was around 3/4. The 88 ELD's were the same as the 95s but those 80 smks were impressive. I thought it was the crown royal but it did the same thing today. Sober. By the way its the craddock rock river on a billet mega upper lower with a leupy vx6. Thanks to all you strokes for posting your info. At the end of the day this communication between us helps everyone.
What is the velocity on the 80, 88 and 95s?
Mine is hammering with 22.9gr but I'm running 1x fired Federal brass. I'll be shooting some Starline tomorrow for the first time and will be doing a similar short development like I did with the 1X Federal. I'll post my results and see how they compare.
For those having issues finding accurate loads in an AR, I found this on the new 224V forum:
It seems there is a bunch of bad reamers going around. If you can load a 90gr SMK to 2.3 without jamming the bullet into the lands the reamer used to cut the chamber was out of spec. The SAAMI spec for freebore is 1.676 from the base of the cartridge.
Turn a flat based .224 bullet around and seat it upside down in a 224 valkyrie case. Seat it so it barely touches the lands. Measure from the base to the forward most part of the .224 diameter of the bullet. It should be very close to 1.676"
http://www.224valkyrieforum.com/index.php?topic=75.0
It seems there is a bunch of bad reamers going around. If you can load a 90gr SMK to 2.3 without jamming the bullet into the lands the reamer used to cut the chamber was out of spec. The SAAMI spec for freebore is 1.676 from the base of the cartridge.
Turn a flat based .224 bullet around and seat it upside down in a 224 valkyrie case. Seat it so it barely touches the lands. Measure from the base to the forward most part of the .224 diameter of the bullet. It should be very close to 1.676"
http://www.224valkyrieforum.com/index.php?topic=75.0
New twist rate and speed data from Sierra for 90gn SMK. Look at the red writing.
Will be testing a new build with 26" +3 gas 1:7.5" Rainer UM build this weekend with 69gr and 77gr TMK. Im going to look for some 80gr smk and maybe 88gr ELDM but have a a few powders to try: R17, R15, Target and CFE.
Will be testing with OCW method; I sold my magneto speed but may break out the optical Chrono for a few reference velocities within each group. I'm hoping we find a few more good "chocolate ice cream" loads between all of us on here. Seems as though there's either accurate loads or day loads but tough to find both.
Looking forward to helping build the Depot!
Will be testing with OCW method; I sold my magneto speed but may break out the optical Chrono for a few reference velocities within each group. I'm hoping we find a few more good "chocolate ice cream" loads between all of us on here. Seems as though there's either accurate loads or day loads but tough to find both.
Looking forward to helping build the Depot!
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I have an 18" BA barrel with some 88gr ELD M and 70gr RDF bullets that I will be trying out soon. Results to follow, hopefully by the weekend.
I feel like there is going to be a tweaked reamer for long-range/heavy-bullets, or a 'Wylde' chamber/throat mod that is optimized as the bullets, cartridge, powder are all dialed in. Solids like the Warner's show better advantages the bigger the bore, right? It all looks good now, it just seems like there is another ah-ha to come?
Would someone do me a huge favor and get me a CBTO measurement on a factory 90SMK? I'm wanting to duplicate that round with the Hornady 88gr ELD-M, and I have strong reason to believe someone shot off all my 90's. Thank you.
I'm sure there will be specific throats for loads as the product develops. The same thing happened with the 6 and 6.5 Creedmoor, many gunsmiths spec different throating options depending on what bullet or even factory ammo you want to shoot.
When my first barrel is done I'll be ordering #2 with the same chamber, it's perfect. However Craddock specs their current reamer is perfect IMO, I haven't found anything that doesn't hammer.
1.738"
Be careful though, they appear to have a bit different ogive profile so I wouldn't count on them being the same jump. If you're gun if throated for FGMM at .010" off you may be in the lands with the 88.
1.738"
Be careful though, they appear to have a bit different ogive profile so I wouldn't count on them being the same jump. If you're gun if throated for FGMM at .010" off you may be in the lands with the 88.[/QUOTE]
I thought this may happen. I dont have any 88's yet, and I'm still waiting on my tapped casing to try and get a more precise headspace measurement. As if right now I've just been using the old sharpie method.
Be careful though, they appear to have a bit different ogive profile so I wouldn't count on them being the same jump. If you're gun if throated for FGMM at .010" off you may be in the lands with the 88.[/QUOTE]
I thought this may happen. I dont have any 88's yet, and I'm still waiting on my tapped casing to try and get a more precise headspace measurement. As if right now I've just been using the old sharpie method.
Quick addition to the 224 Valkyrie load library. Will be posting full results in next week or two (have to travel a lot for work next two weeks).
26" Rainier Arms Ultra Match 1:7.5T Fluted
Aeroprecision M4E1 Enhanced Upper & Lower
(Super impressed with barrel weight; feels much lighter than expected)
Note: ran this load through Quickload and verified pressure "safe" in my barrel and I tested for pressure. No signs other than slight crater in primers. Happened with factory ammo too.
69gr Sierra Matchking @ 2.220" OAL
CCI400 primer
Powder: CFE223
Federal brass: 32gr H20 volume after firing
Node @ 27-27.5gr
Tested 27.0 gr through 29 grains. 27gr should be around 3025fps and 29gr hits ~3205fps. Will verify with chrono during complete test.
Leftmost group is Federal Factory 60gr Nosler Varmint as control. Squeaky clean CCB is high left, next 4 into .29" just right of POA.
Complete bullet test will include 69SMK, 69TMK, 73 ELDM, 75BTHP, 77SMK, 77TMK, and 80SMK (if I can find them).
Powders will include R-17, R-16, R-15, CFE223. May try Varget if Quickload shows any promising loads but nothing jumped out so far...
26" Rainier Arms Ultra Match 1:7.5T Fluted
Aeroprecision M4E1 Enhanced Upper & Lower
(Super impressed with barrel weight; feels much lighter than expected)
Note: ran this load through Quickload and verified pressure "safe" in my barrel and I tested for pressure. No signs other than slight crater in primers. Happened with factory ammo too.
69gr Sierra Matchking @ 2.220" OAL
CCI400 primer
Powder: CFE223
Federal brass: 32gr H20 volume after firing
Node @ 27-27.5gr
Tested 27.0 gr through 29 grains. 27gr should be around 3025fps and 29gr hits ~3205fps. Will verify with chrono during complete test.
Leftmost group is Federal Factory 60gr Nosler Varmint as control. Squeaky clean CCB is high left, next 4 into .29" just right of POA.
Complete bullet test will include 69SMK, 69TMK, 73 ELDM, 75BTHP, 77SMK, 77TMK, and 80SMK (if I can find them).
Powders will include R-17, R-16, R-15, CFE223. May try Varget if Quickload shows any promising loads but nothing jumped out so far...
I just finished testing the Starline brass with Varget and 95gr SMK's. In addition to the change in brass from before (1x fired Federal) I'm also using a different lot of Varget which seems to be about 25-30fps slower than the lot that I did the initial development with. I'm still using the same lot of Remington 7.5 BR primers however.
I didn't do a full ladder test like I normally would and went against my normal process and loaded 5 at 22.9gr the same as before and got a baseline. Just a slight hint of an ejector mark (not enough to be of concern) and accuracy and consistency the same. I loaded up more to test and they're cutting ragged holes with the ES running 10-12 per 5 round string at 2454fps avg. I did have one string go 6fps ES and 2.4 SD.
I loaded up 10 rounds with once fired Federal brass the same as before to confirm the lower velocity was for the powder lot and not the brass and those two 5 round strings averaged 2460 and 2462.
Next week when I have more time I'll do a full ladder with the Starline brass just to confirm.
I didn't do a full ladder test like I normally would and went against my normal process and loaded 5 at 22.9gr the same as before and got a baseline. Just a slight hint of an ejector mark (not enough to be of concern) and accuracy and consistency the same. I loaded up more to test and they're cutting ragged holes with the ES running 10-12 per 5 round string at 2454fps avg. I did have one string go 6fps ES and 2.4 SD.
I loaded up 10 rounds with once fired Federal brass the same as before to confirm the lower velocity was for the powder lot and not the brass and those two 5 round strings averaged 2460 and 2462.
Next week when I have more time I'll do a full ladder with the Starline brass just to confirm.
Got my modified case back and starting to work up loads for the 53 grain Varmageddon (IMR 8208 XBR and AA 2520), 70 grain RDF (IMR 8208 XBR and CFE 223 or RL 15) and 88 ELD-M (RL17 and RL15). The ELD-M's are long, .069" longer than the 90 SMK.
That is excellent velocity for an 18" barrel. Seems to be an ideal length imo.
wow you're a little faster with 18" 1-7 than i am with 24" 7.5twist! i was using one of the 'old school' pro-chrono's, although you're slower with the fusion's.
al
Yeah, that's odd. There are a couple of blogs on barrel length vs speed and they found a 26" to be the same speed (and slower in once case) as a 23-24". I wonder if the factory 90gr has a relatively fast powder than can't keep accelerating in the longer tubes. I have a 26" that I'll pick some up for and try over Chrono.
@bigbore74 what is the lot number of your 90gr SMK Federal?
@davsco do you have your lot number by chance?
I thought I read of a couple guys getting major swings lot to lot of the early batches (really fast early lot and then they slowed it up). Could be mistaken though.
This is what I had happen with an early lot of Federal 90 SMK...extractor swipes and ejector marks. These were the three worst of maybe 10-12 that showed marks. And dummy me, I didn't save the box for the lot number. No such problems with other factory stuff or any handloads (so far). I'm also thinking of getting a heavier buffer spring or a JP H2 to maybe head this off in the future. What do you guys recommend? I'm running a Sanders Armory 24" side-charger upper with a rifle +2" gas tube, non-adjustable gas block. I have a Magpul PRS on a rifle-length buffer tube. I've been shooting for over 60 years, but I'm pretty new to the AR game, so suggestions are most welcome!
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