dauntedfuture

There are lots of pretty good options out there for 150.00 for a nice trigger. I did try the Hiperfire duty trigger and its a very nice 4.5lbs. I think that they run 80.00 or so. I think that you are going to find that unless the rifle has a "match" trigger, and this is subjective, you will be at the mercy of the rifle parts that are thrown together. Standard AR triggers routinely run 8-12 lbs with lots of creep. A good trigger is one of the most cost efficient things you can do to help you get rounds on target. The other high benefit items are optic and a handguard.

I have used SR primers in a pistol. It usually works. It usually works better in a hammer fired pistol with more firing pin energy. I would avoid them for a pistol unless they are 1/2 price or something or you are loading .38 super or 9mm major.

I don't think that there will be a difference provided you can fit enough powder in the drum. I think that you can use the small drum and get 42g of powder in it but i cant remember. As far as consistency for .223 large vs small, i don't think you will see a difference especially with ball powder or small grain stick powder.

Yes, the Hornady gauge is better and that is what i use. In a pinch a case will work!

If you want a serious LR gun then get a bolt gun. No one serious shoots a semi auto in any of the big "tactical" LR shoots and you will not find a gas gun on the line at Camp Perry unless its a service rifle for LR. There are many drawbacks to a gas gun notably that you cant push the cartridge in a gas gun as hard as in a bolt gun. A semi auto gun vs bolt will perform almost the same at 600 yds and in. A bullet from a .243 or 6.5 Creedmoor etc make it to the target at a supersonic velocity at 1000 yds from a 22-24" barrel. Pushing a .308 of .223 to remain supersonic at 1000 yds is tough business. Is can be done in a 20" but it is hard to do and even then its marginal at best. Consider that a winning score at Perry for a service rifle at 1000 is normally in the low 190s and the real LR guns are shooting 200's with a high X count, they are not in the same class. If you are satisfied with .260, 6.5 or .243 performance out of a gas gun then go for it, you are still much better off then you will be with a .308. All three of those cartridges will still work well out of a gas gun at 1K but understand that you will be giving something up to the same ctg. in a bolt gun with a longer barrel. Also consider that DPMS uses relatively inexpensive barrels and they are just not going to perform like a high end barrel. A 6.5 creedmore barrel is going to last longer then a .260 or a .243. You need to see what twist rates the barrels are rated for; ideally you would shoot 115g Tubb 6mm bullets or 142g SMK or Bergers in a similar weight class. A 107g 6mm SMK would be the minimum you should consider for the .243 for 1000 yds. Also, don't forget to crono your ammo. You need 40 FPS or less ES at a minimum for a ctg pushing at 3K fps for 1000 yds.

If it was your local gunsmith that said he could do a rifle gas on a 14.5 barrel I would find another gunsmith. There are too many good options out there. Consider that I have custom high end barrels on my LR guns but my 3g rifles all have middle of the road stuff, I cant justify a Krieger on a 3G rifle.

well, on the bright side you could have loaded .22-250!

I loaded on a 550 for years and years. I bought a 650 after an ill fated LNL adventure 3 years ago...what was I thinking. I load all 9, .40, .38 and .223 on my 650 as that's what I load most of. I keep the 550 set up with the LP system and load .308 case head rifle and .45 ACP on that. I use my 550 a little more like a semi-progressive when I load rifle as I leave the case in the up position and pour in weighed powder charges for any LR stuff I load. It is faster then a single stage press. I really like the powder check station that the 650 allows. Now i'm thinking about a 1050.......

I still think you need an excuse to get another gun. You can even give me the bullets so ill have an excuse to buy a 929!

Shooting from the hand at 21' is not going to tell you much about accuracy potential unless you are a world class bull's-eye shooter. Even then, 21' is too close to tell. It looks like all your groups are the same size and had you been shooting at one target, you would have made one big hole in the target. I don't know where you got your information, but you are wasting lots of time in the method of how you load. On my 650 or 550, my pistol ammo makes one pass around the press, that's it. Use your Dillon 650 how Dillon intended and save some time. You do NOT need an M-die and I don't know where this information is coming from. A M-die is a useful tool for loading fragile lead based rifle bullets. It is not needed or required for pistol ammo. Your powder drop assembly on the Dillon machine bells the case just fine. Your crimp die, in reality for an auto pistol, just takes this bell out of the case. It does not really "crimp" Keep things simple when loading pistol and don't stress; its easy provided your load is SAFE. Most any combination will work for action pistol shooting in the accuracy department provided the bullets are stable and you are no damaging them or loading them improperly.

It sounds like you have lots of good questions out there. Building, changing and modifying your rifle is all part of the fun. In general, when one starts into a shooting sport, what ever it is, there is a fairly steep learning curve. During, after or with the first few matches shooters generally improve at an exponential rate. Most of time what ever rifle and ammo combination you would be handed would not make a difference. Provided the set up is reliable, to a new shooter, a 5K rifle with everything would not do much for them compared to a very entry level rifle. What you will find is that as you progress improvements in your shooting skills and effects on target progress at an ever smaller and smaller rate then when you first started. It is at this level of competition that you can start to take real advantage of some of the "more refined" improvements. For example, learning to better hold, position, grip etc. on a rifle will do much more for recoil control then switching comps and adding a low-mass system, its also less expensive. Without knowing anything about your current rifle other then its 16" and has a vortex razor; about all I think you might really need is a good trigger, a free float hand guard and almost any comp. Another thing to consider is that when you start making drastic changes to the R system, you CAN have more issues with the rifle and have to know how to deal with them and properly adjust for them. For example, if you put a uber LW carrier system and adj. gas system with full power ammo and don't adjust the gas down enough to start there is a possibility that you will damage parts. Reference some of you technical questions about time with X vs Y barrel etc and ammo at X vs Y fps: its going to be hard to tell as there are so many differences between setups. I dare say that no two custom built rifles are same and no two shooters are the same. This is to say that again, its hard to compare and shooter perception has lots to do with it. If you are getting into three gun I grantee that time spent learning to manipulate and load your shotgun will pay off much more then putting parts into your rifle at this point in the game.

You also cant have a rifle gas system on a 14.5 so i am not sure where you noticed this barrel for sale; you can do carbine or mid on a 14.5. I don't see this as an issue but your going to spend big money on that barrel. I think that it will far exceed your needs. If it was me, i would opt for a less expensive and more durable barrel. If you are looking on the Obermyer page and barrel prices, your going to pay much more then that listed price for a barrel to have it chambered etc. I would look at a lightweight CHF 16 with midlength or rifle gas. Weight gain over a 14.5 is marginal and you can change comps around if you don't like it. I would look at Faxon, Voodoo, or Ranier for a barrel. There are lots and lots of choices.

Ok, it is easy to set up your FL die. Start by cleaning your chamber and bolt face and action well, you will get a better reading and ensure you don't have crud in there. Method 1. - Take 10 fired cases and measure to a datum point 1/2 way down on the shoulder. You can use a .40 s&w case flipped over so the neck of the .308 is inside the .40 case and the mouth of the .40 case rests on the shoulder of the case and obtain a measurement, it does not matter what it is its just a reference. Most of the cases should be the same, 1-2 might be short .001-002 and one or two might be long. -Adjust your FL die so its just touches your shell holder, lock die. Size a case. Measure again with same .40 case. Keep adjusting until you set the shoulder back .002. You need to size a "new" fired case each time you adjust your die down a little bit. -Once this is set, size and attempt to chamber 5 other five cases. If they all chamber easily with about the same force, your dies are all set. Method 2. - Size a case fired case and try to chamber it. -Adjust die. Size another fired case and try to chamber it. - keep doing this until case easily chambers. - Size 5 cases to verify setting. The only down side is that you might crank the die a little too much and be setting the shoulder back a little more then necessary. You can also apply a small piece of masking tape to the shoulder of a fired case and try to chamber it. It should chamber. the tape is .001-002 thick. Both methods work just as well. There are specialized tools and inserts to measure to the shoulder as well. Its quite hard to oversize cases and much as to do with your dies and shell holder combination. Hornady dies are on the very tight side. On a custom min-spec barreled rifle you might have to machine down the die a little so you can screw it down enough. Redding has special shell holders to allow .001 adjustment as well.

You just don't have your FL die set up correctly. You need adjust your FL die properly so that the shoulder is set back. This is far different from bumping the shoulder and there is lots of confusion. When you FL size you size the neck, set/ bump the shoulder back and size the body of the case. IN THE OLD DAYS we had Neck and Full length Dies: If neck size (NS) you are only sizing the neck. Depending on your rifle and brass you can usually go a few time until you have to Full length (FL) size your brass again. Most HP shooters FL size all their brass each time you shoot it. Provided you set up your dies correctly you are only sizing the brass just enough. Most of the time the Primer pockets open up before the necks split. NOW we have shoulder bump dies that will size the neck and set the shoulder back and will not touch the body of the case. We also have body dies that only touch the body and not the shoulder of the case or the neck. In short we have created lots of options that have niche uses. 99% of shooters are well served with a standard FL die, remember that most shooters are not shooting competitions. Even with that said, unless you have a custom rifle you will likely not see an accuracy improvement between fancy dies and standard dies provided they work properly. Bushing dies are another matter all together. In your specific case: the first time you fire a new stick of brass it grown the most as there is plenty of room between the case and the chamber. After you FL size it again and shoot it, it will grow less and I suspect you will not have an issue NS the brass. If you are running hot loads you will need to FL/ bump brass more. Most Neck sizing of brass is done within the BR crowd and they are shooting mild to moderate loads out of cases with thick webs and rims. If you are hammering a .308 then the brass will grow more. If you are in a position where you have inconsistent bolt close on a bolt rifle you need to size your cases so that bolt close is consistent. If I'm closing the blot on a loaded round in competition and its tough to close i'll remove the loaded round and try another. Typically "tough" to close cases shoot high in my Palma gun. Your factory rem chamber is HUGE compared to a custom rifle with lots of freebore. I don't think you will see a difference in how you size your brass for that gun until you get a new barrel. If anything I think a proper FL case will shoot better. Remember that 3 round groups don't count and you need to shoot more then one group to confirm. If you have access to a chronograph you will also see more consistent results with FL sized ammo.

Stick with the bore snake, some solvent and a method for cleaning the chamber. In reality the most important area to keep clean is the chamber and the barrel extension area. Most of the rest of the rifle does not matter provided its not loaded with sane. I use a forming cleaner in a can with a spray tube to get the solvent into the barrel and let it sit muzzle down, then pull snake through a few times.

Depending on how your swager is set up you can indeed damage the brass. It is possible to create an artificial shelf in the primer pocket that upon insertion of the primer causes an interference fit. Remember that not all brass is the same specs and if its only a problem with the PPU ammo I suspect there is a slight variation in the brass that is causing the issue. The other real possibility is that the primer pockets can be on the small side and the primers on the large side. The effect is that the hard primer cup scrapes a little brass from the primer pocket wall into the bottom of the cup and again creates an impediment so seating the primers. I cant say that I exactly recall an issue with PPU brass. I more often encounter a stick that did not get a crimp removed and slipped into the wrong bucket. I am curious as to how your case gauge is used to evaluate primer depth. A primed case should sit flat on a piece of glass or another otherwise flat level surface without rocking or sitting on the primer. As long as the primer is flush, you are fine. and again, primer pockets are cut to different dimensions.

reference primers for .223: use almost anything except Remington 6.5 primers.

Everything said is good advice. I also suggest that you try some factory ammo. If it will not run then call S&W. If you call them with problems with reloads they will tell you its your ammo. There might be an issue with your extractor, but, like everyone else said, you most likely need to tip the powder can a little more. A chronograph is a very wise investment. It helps prevent pistol-bombs.

Measure the bullets that you have. I suspect they are .355-.356 and will be fine in a 9mm. Work up your charges as you normally would. Most of the time you can shoot .357 in a 9mm without an issue and you can for sure shoot .355 9mm bullets in a .357, they might just not shoot as well. The issue that you MIGHT have is that bullets designed for the .357 sig (.355 bullet, same as 9mm) might not feed well in a 9mm semi auto. I suggest you buy a new S&W 929 9mm revolver to shoot them, you always need an excuse to buy another pistol.

If it works then don't worry about it.

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that depending on your build you will have different amounts of flex when it comes to your specific combination of parts. Barrels that fit tighter in the upper would have a little less flex. Lightweight barrels "whip" much more then a heavier barrel, and as such deflection to the hand guard is easier. As the gas block is the largest "part" of the barrel, that's what will make contact. Some hand guards are more ridged then others. My Larue is quite rigid where as my troy HGs have a little more flex due to how they mount up. The only way to "know" if your gas block is contacting the barrel is to use a high-speed camera of put some masking tape on the gas block, smooth it down good and fire several slow, well spaced out shots. You would be able to see if there is gas block contact based on wear marks on the tape.

I think you are saying that you dialed your scope for 500 and it was right on, then from 500-600 you were 36" low. 36" low is 6 MOA. I suspect that this is a combination of you not shooting the bullet that the scope is calibrated for and or a delta in velocity. I also suspect that you were shooting at steel and not an NRA type of target. The only way to know you were really 36" low would have been to keep holding center and come up 6 MOA. If you were holding on the 700 but hitting 600, its hard to know exactly how high/low etc you are. To keep things in perspective the bullet drops about as much from 300-500 as it does from 500-600. This is all to say, unless you know, you might have been hitting not quite 36" low, combine this with a bullet that drops faster than what the BDC is made for an a 100-200 FPS less load. In general the BDCs are usually pretty close but they are not exact unless you are shooting the exact load the BDC is made for. There are also environmental factors that play into things. A headwind can make a 1MOA difference. Of the 68-69g bullets out there the 68 has a far worse BC then a 69 SMK does. The Lapua is even better and now with the 69TMK, that bullet takes the cake when it comes to BC. Also, unless you shot 300 and then to 600 on the same day at the same range your scope could have moved a little.

Ok. So, the lower has no effect on accuracy. You say that you have shot better groups with the ammo you have tried in the RRA upper, so this should indicate that your ammo is a known component. You have tried more then one shooter and scope, so this is all quite good in getting down to the heart of the issue. There is the possibility that you have some kind of gas tube binding or misalignment going on. This would likely contribute to SOME of the issue. I would however check and make sure that your gas block has plenty of clearance inside of your hand guard. I would also check and see how easy it is to move the barrel inside the hand guard and in general make sure everything is tight. If there is gross movement, you would see and or feel it. I highly doubt that the barrel is the issue, especially if you are on your second one. I suspect that something is not right with hand guard installation or your upper is out of spec. You are not bridging the upper and rail with your scope / mount are you? the scope(s) should only be on the receiver. Knock on wood I have not had an issue with an AR build to date. Pictures please...

You need to check. the BDC is only going to work at a specified magnification with that scope.

While I don't know, I estimate that your 69g SMK load is running at 2600 MAX. If you were shooting some variety of 55FMJ 5.56 factory FMJ, then from a 16" barrel, that's 2800 FPS max. If you go into a ballistics program you can run a program for a 200 yd zero and you will see what your NEG is at 25 yds. It should be -1.5 to 2-2.25" low at 25 yds. You will need to be as precise as possible in measuring your scope to bore height and precise in drawing the point on the target. Zero so that your bullets strike the -1.5 to -2.25 at 25. You are going to be pretty close provided you measure your scope to bore well. Aside from that, its about all you can do. Any zero is going to be better then no zero. You should be looking for 5 rds on top of each other and making small adjustments. Remember 1/4 off at 25 is 1" at 100. For the record I have had mostly good luck zeroing my M4 1" low at 25M and hitting out to 300 M.