I have a FAL with a 16" barrel. It didn't start out that way, it was shortened, so it seems to be a little undergassed. Works reliably on the max-gas setting, but less so on other settings, whereas when it had a longer barrel, it ran fine with the gas regulator on roughly the middle setting. I'm not looking to make any physical changes to the barrel/gas/etc. That's not what this thread is about, I'm just giving you the background information so that the rest of the thread makes sense.
Given that the gun seems to be undergassed, and that using a slower burning powder in a semi-auto results in higher pressures at the gas-port, would it be a good idea to try working up a handload that uses a slower-than-recommended powder for 7.62 NATO? Nothing drastic, obviously, but maybe the RL17 or H414 I discussed using with .308 in some threads from earlier in the year when it was near impossible to find IMR4895/Varget/RE15?
Is my line of reasoning sound, or am I completely missing some important detail?
Given that the gun seems to be undergassed, and that using a slower burning powder in a semi-auto results in higher pressures at the gas-port, would it be a good idea to try working up a handload that uses a slower-than-recommended powder for 7.62 NATO? Nothing drastic, obviously, but maybe the RL17 or H414 I discussed using with .308 in some threads from earlier in the year when it was near impossible to find IMR4895/Varget/RE15?
Is my line of reasoning sound, or am I completely missing some important detail?