wsimpso1
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Posts posted by wsimpso1
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That is called cratering, and it is a dead giveaway that you are making too much pressure in your ammo. On a hot day, that ammo could be real trouble.
Reasons could be all over the place. Overall length too short, too much powder, cases are heavier than what your data was developed around, your barrel is tighter, your bullets are bigger, blah, blah, blah. In the end, that ammo is too hot for that gun. Solutions are many. There are already many threads on this site on making your ammo better.
The first trick with small pistol primers is to go to small rifle primers... If you have more questions, we are all right here.
Billski
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The free float tube helps with consistency regardless of how the gun is supported (short of resting on the barrel). The group wander was almost undoubtedly a loose or burred barrel nut. Doing a decent job of installing a float tube fixes both issues. Good Job!
Billski
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Large rifle primers have several differences from large pistol primers:
Longer cup as mentioned earlier;
Thicker cup and/or harder brass, not to stand the firing pin blow, but to stay put under rifle level pressures. Rifles run up to about 70,000 psi while the most that large pistols see is about 44 Magnum and 10mm, which is around 45,000 psi. So the sturdier cup ends up requiring the stouter firing pin strike;
More primer mix, and sometimes a more aggressive mix too;
So, your loads would need to be backed off a little, your ammo might give slam fires, and they may not fire in your gun.
You did the right thing. Give the rifle primers to someone who uses them in rifle ammunition. Now small rifle primers in small pistol ammo works fine in my gun even with a lighter mainspring than US Army Ordnance selected a century ago.
Billski
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As an ammunition engineer I can tell you that there are only two things that can go wrong:
They might not fire. If they had seen a lot of attic time (high temperatures) the lead styphnate (primary explosive in the primer mix) might have largely degraded. Like powder degradation, it is a time at temperature thing, but room temp storage will result in a positively huge shelf life. If the styphnate has degraded, they will work poorly or not at all;
They might have stress corrosion cracking. This is interpreted by some as "hardening" with time. Actually, the brass is pretty darned stable. About the only thing that a millenium of sitting around at room temps ever does to brass is anneal it a bit. Now if it sees much ammonia, (vapors from pet or human urine, household cleaners, etc), all strain strengthened copper alloys will develop cracks. Cartridge cases and primers will tend to produce a radial crack, like a split log, from the center towards the edge and then up the side. The British found out about this during the Boer War. Horses and centerfire ammo for everything from pistols to cannon in the same ships' holds. I think that this what Guy was referring to;
So how do you check them out? As was already suggested, load a few with a standard load, and try them, looking at each case as it come out. If they all go bang that is good. If none show pinholes or splits, that is even better. Personally, I would expect them all to work fine.
This stuff about drying out smells of the livestock pens. In the process of making primers, the mix is applied to the cups wet, pressed into place with a fair amount of force, and the anvil added. Then they are stored for a couple days at about 140 F to dry them. A vacuum oven for an hour. would also suffice if we were in a hurry for data. Prior to the wet methods, priming and tracer mixes were handled as dry powders, a drop of shellac or lacquer was placed in the cup, the dry mix was metered in, and pressed to shape, and the anvil added. In that time, they were thoroughly dried too. The dry methods were replaced with the wet method (and 100% humidity work areas, everything grounded, and everyone wearing conductive shoes) to cut down on mix going bang.
Billski
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While the AR is pretty well designed to prevent OOB firings, there have been enough reports to make me believe that they have occurred.
The most plausable (to me) explanations involve debris in the firing pin hole from damaged primers and/or case shavings off of sharp corners on the ejctor hole or extractor being likely source of debris. I have personally seen a bolt (High Power shooter trying to get more velocity than is reasonable) with more than one little slug of brass extruded from primers stuck in the firing pin hole.
When the gun tries to close on a subsequent round, the debris makes the bolt act like it has a fixed firing pin while also preventing the bolt from running far enough forward to allow lockup. There is your OOB firing opportunity.
Broken firing pin or broken cam pin are other possibilities, but I think that they are lower likelihood events than debris. The broken firing pin would still need to be jammed forward to work its magic, which would mean case and/or primer debris anyway. When a cam pin breaks, it is usually in the middle, at the firing pin hole, and will continue to work more or less normally until it ties up the whole works. The cam pin would have to break on both ends at the junction between the bolt and the carrier, a highly unlikely event.
Billski
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I apologize for neglecting this thread.
First, an addendum. The previous description covered the standard gun well. You can cycle the gun by hand slowly, and the next shell will hit the carrier latch and then it will rebound before you can release the handle, leaving it locked open.
The 3" lifter has an additional tab built into it that latches the carrier latch open once it is hit by a shell. If it is workling properly, the gun will NOT lock open when you cycle it by hand - the next shell will feed, the carrier latch will open, and the gun will close when you release the operating handle, even when operated slowly. Fixing it is a little tough on a forum. See Pat Sweeny's book for good pictures and description for making all of this stuff work well.
The failure that bried and others were talking about, with the DMW Easy Loader tripping too easily (closes when the butt is tapped on the ground) is covered in the instructions that Dave included with his gadget. Yeah, the folks that pointed to the spot to file a little material off have it right. You want the EZ Loader to move a ways before it trips the system closed. The instructions cover fitting this, but many people think that reading them is optional...
I have no tolerance for guns and cars that do not work. Guns need to be clean and lubed to be counted on. On an M1100, you gotta ask "When was the last time you cleaned and lubed the mag tube (inside and outside), gas ports, piston and seal, trigger group, and lubed the action spring?" If you can not remember the last time or if you shot it since last year, or it was more than two cases of shells back, it is time. Buy an envelope of O-rings from Eric W, and replace them regularly. Some 1100's run a lot of rounds without attention, but most need cleaning/lubing once in a while.
When I left Remington in 1984, we had M1100's with hundreds of thousands of rounds on them at Lordship Point and at Ilion Fish and Game Club.
Billski
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+1 on Walnut for cleaning and corn cob for polish.
+1 for shooting it even if it looks dark but is clean and smooth.
I would be careful about adding any abrasive that can cut or polish steel. Some of it will go down your bore...
A little jeweler's rouge in your tumbling media can make for good cleaning and a bright polish. If you can not find it directly, it is the active agent for metal polishing. You specifically want the stuff for brass/gold/silver. It comes in tubes or sticks. I have a stick for applying it to cotton ploishing wheels, and just shave some into the media when I have a rough looking batch.
Be warned though, you can get the cases so clean that they can brown sitting around. To keep my brass from corroding again, my media gets a capfull of automotive antifreeze. The corrosion inhibitors and seal lubricants that are in antifreeze work nicely on brass cases.
Billski
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Thanks for the responses.
My current kydex holster doesn't just pull the finish from my blued pistol, it has made some really bright spots on my satin stainless pistols. Maybe I need to check out some other Kydex?
The Wilson and Helwig hosters look like they should fill the bill. Any other suggestions?
Billski
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Who makes decent holster for IDPA CDP/USPSA Single Stack that is also lined? Looking to get beyond Kydex rubbing on my guns. Safariland can not be the only one, can they?
Billski
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IPSCDRL, Thanks for the compliment. My first job out of college was at the famous musket mill in Ilion NY. At that time, the company's bread and butter was shotguns, and I was in the design area. I had better have learned something while I was there...
Now, I put that explanation in there so that breid and airframe mech could check out their guns properly, and then report back to us on what went wrong so we could all be smarter next time. SO, bried and airframe mech, what happened? Does anybody know what they are talking about here? Are your guns running again? We really want to know if what we said did you any good.
Billski
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Here is how the M1100 is supposed to work:
When you pull the trigger, the hammer is released and the intercepter latch is shoved down ahead of the rim of the next shell in the magazine, insuring that one round (and only one round) will feed when the time comes. The carrier latch is also set, locking the shell carrier down;
The action bars are driven backwards by gas pressure on the piston, and the velocity it gets carries the action bars back against the action spring, hammer spring, feed latch, etc;
The bolt is unlocked and carried aft with the action bars;
As the action bars slide aft, a notch in one bar passes the feed latch, momentarily lifting the feed latch and allowing the aftmost shell to be fed by mag spring force;
The carrier dog catches a notch in the action bars, lcoking the action open;
When the fed shell gets all of the way back, it hits the carrier latch and unlocks the shell carrier;
The action bars start forward, pushing the shell carrier up to align the shell with the chamber, the bolt shoves the shell up the shell carrier, and into the chamber, and closed the gun for the next shot.
Yes, it is supposed to lock open every time, and be closed by the shell tripping the carrier latch.
So, does it lock open when cycled by hand with no ammo in it? It should...
Does it cycle reliably when shot with ammo in it? It might give malfs if it is not locking open on each shot...
When you load it and cycle it slowly by hand, (so that the fed shell does not trip the carrier latch) does it lock open then? It should...
If it screws up on any of these, check out the carrier latch and spring, and see if they bent, gummed up, have a broken spring etc.
Does it cycle smoothly or does it feel rough? If yes, how long has it been since the gas system has seen attention? I have seen them get so crusty that the action is tough to get fully open, but it is so slow that it has shells feeding...
Last, when was the last time the action spring was oiled? It resides in the utt stock with the tuning fork going into it. If that gets really drudded up, it might do the same thing as a crudded up gas system and action bars...
Try this stuff, and we shall see what you find out.
Billski
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I have used a bunch of the 4895's (Hogden is the most uniform in my work) in 30 cal, and also like RL15.
Some folks think that Varget is the basically identical to RL15, but I got big velocity spread with it. In 223, Varget and CCI primers are frequently thought to go together well, but it sure did not like my Federal, Remington, and Winchester primers.
Billski
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History with Two Lyman tumblers. First one lasted about eight years of serious high power and into my practical pistol stuff, second one is going strong at four years. I consider that fine durability given the usage.
Billski
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Purina Diet
in Humor
One of my favorite stories...
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Thanks for the responses. Oh, I know that IDPA rules are a little loose sometimes, and that the advice to take RWR/TL off of the clock is just that - advice.
I was just wondering about the whole concept of taking RWR/TR off of the clock. If you think that it is a good idea, etc.
My thoughts were that we do RWR/Tac-Loads where it suits us better than slide lock reloads, and that nothing is required that way. Then last night I shot the Classifier and remembered the Tac Load in it, which got me thinking...
Well, Revchuk has seen RWR/TL taken off of the clock, so somebody has read the rulebook and decided that it is a good idea.
So does anybody have any idea why it does not happen more often? MD's are not usually shy...
Billski
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OK, in Appendix Two, Reloads, page 41, "HQ urges course designers to draft scenario courses that do not require tac-reloads or reloads with retention to be performed "on the clock".
Appendix Five, Course Design Rationale, page 50, "Tactical reloads and reloads with retention are intended for use during lulls in the action and should not be required on the clock"
To do this, I would expect that the shooter would have engaged targets, is behind cover or heading for it, the RO stops the action, records the time, commands the shooter to perform Tac-Reload or RWR, "Stand-By", Beeep, and you finish the stage. This would allow an off-th-clock reload with retained ammo per the urgings of HQ. Beside the way I described to expect it, does anyone have any other ways it could be implemented?
Is anybody actually running CoF this way? I do not see it here in SE Michigan, and have been expecting it. It seems to me that all of the CoF designers and MD's are ignoring this direction from HQ.
Can anybody explain to us why the direction of HQ on this topic is being ignored?
Billski
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Gamesmanship - I agree that we should ask if the MD considers the wall cover. I the MD or RO says "NO", you are done, you can not do a reload there.
Survival - The fact that you cleared the visible portion of the space ahead should not make you confident that you will not need covering fire in the hallway. I want a loaded gun in my hands as I run down that hallway.
I also like the Rule Book encouragement to do reloads off of the clock, but I have yet to see stages run that way.
Billski
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Cameron,
You and Tommy are gonna wear tires to the match? Well , that will make it possible to watch your moves.
Billski
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I put a Williams rear sight on my M1100, and a Williams Firesight front in the factory base. I pulled the aperture, so now it is a ghost ring rear sight. Works great. Now if we could do something about the nut behind the buttplate...
Billski
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I am 51 and have had cateract surgery, so my vision has NO distance accomodation. The business of looking at the target then coming back to the front sight are gone for me.
My shooting glasses have the right eye corrected to the front sight, my left has my distance correction, and the optical center of my lenses are shifted up and to the left a little so that it is centered on where I look through them. No bifocals in these lenses keeps the glasses reasonably inexpensive, so I have one pair with yellow lenses and one with brown for those bright days. I can see the sights and read with the right eye, see the targets with the left, and it works great, even on those off balance positions or working around obstacles and off side cover. I am convinced that my eyesight costs me no points with the pistol. Since the whole lens is the right correction to see the front sight, I can even track the sight throughout recoil (on my best days), even with odd positions.
Guess about shot placement? Hell, you can see the shape of a USPSA or IDPA target to within an inch or so at 15 yards with the right eye focused on the front sight. Get further out Yes, your fuzz zone really isn't much more than that. And you really do not need details. Have some confidence that a centered sight gives centered hits. On close cover, refine in your mind's eye where you want that hit and put the sight there. With practice, it will be fine. And dry fire helps. And the further shots, well, the further out they are, the smaller the amount of target around the front sight. What matters is sight alignment, then putting the sight on the target, not seeing the target.
For rifles, I have conceded defeat. Iron sights are useable on easy targets and high contrast targets, but buff colored targets on buff colored earth at 200 yards is just about impossible. For tactical rifle work, scopes and regular glasses are the order of the day for this graybeard.
Billski
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Like was said above, this is a check on how aware of your shooting you are becoming. And that awareness is what allows real speed with accuracy.
When I am in practice and everything is ginning, I see the front sight lift out of the notch, do a consistent dance and track back into the notch. On these days, I can tell everything is perfect if the track is the same. If the track varies, it is because my grip is off or I flinched a little. On these days, the sights track back together as the sights align on the target, and my visual patience is satisfied and the next is shot is automatic.
Most of the time, I lose the sight sometime after it leaves the notch, and get it back as it is heading back to the notch.
And on some stages, I have no idea what the sight is doing until it reappears in the notch. This is not as rare as I would like yet, but I am getting better.
If it leaves on a consistent track and returns on a consistent track (first and second cases above), I can trust that my shots are going where the front sight was as it broke. If I have no idea what the sight is doing, I am still good to go on easier shots, but I get really careful on targets with close cover, and shade my sights a little away from no-shoots because I know that I will not be as accurate as I would normally.
I am a recoil wimp who shoots 45 ACP in single stacks most of the time. If I can do it, you can too.
Billski
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Work up your load.
69 SMK with 24.5 usually will work great and some folks just love it. It will shoot under an MOA longer than you can, unless there is something wrong with your barrel. I could get neither the uniformity nor the accuracy that I wanted when I experimented with Varget, but I found out later that a lot of folks think that CCI and Varget work really well together, and I was not using CCI primers...
For most three-gun work, 55's work fine. You only need the better bullets for shots requiring a bunch of precision, but then you end up having to keep two or three sets of holdovers in your head.
Billski
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There are places out there that will process your brass for you, including remove crimped primers, swage the primer pocket, size, trim, and clean. Most have a 2k minimum, so 30 k is probably OK. There have been posts on here, so search them up. Then you can use any progressive press almost like you do for pistol - pour in processed cases, primers, powder and bullets.
My Hornady LNL Progressive works great for this.
Billski
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Heard of it here, on AR15.com, and saw it when I was active in High Power. It always comes from ammo with TOO MUCH POWDER in the case. There is some safety margin in both the gun and the case, but that is to prevent injuries on normal variations. With hot loads, you are eating into the margins with every shot. The fact that your load lost a primer means that it is NOT a safe load, it is an over pressure load.
Here's the anatomy of an accident: A load that is hot normally (pops a primer once in a while) sits in a loaded mag in full sun for a couple hours on an extra hot day. The temps run up on the ammo, the primer is more vigorous than normal because of the temps, the powder is sped up too, and then that one round that is hotter than the others really flows under firing pressure. If you are lucky, the gun gives you a face full of gas and the you need a new bolt. If you are unlucky, you have a kaboom, wreck the gun and cause injuries. And sometimes, the injuries are to somebody else. Does your significant other ever shoot the rifle? Ever have anyone next to you at the range?
If your load tosses a primer once in a while, back off your powder charge 3-5%. It's not like the targets can tell the difference. You might even have trouble seeing the difference with a chronograph. But the cases will last through more firings, the gun will work more easily and will run longer before you have to change gas tubes, extractors, and bolts, the barrel will have a longer accurate lifetime, and you will not have to be concerned if this round is the one that will tube your match or even take the gun apart.
Billski
Which way to go?
in Rifle - Technical
Posted
The vast majority of your shots will close, with some at 100 yards and my bet is only a few at 400 yards. Fast handling and good target acquisition will buy more points and cost less time than anything else. After that, can you see the targets with the same eye that you are looking through the sights with? If yes, then irons will work, and you should pull the ballast from the Service Rifle and shoot it. Use a big rear aperture for close in stuff and your High Power aperture for precision work.
If you can not see the sights and the target with the same eyes, then you need optics. If they use dark steel on light earth, you will be OK, but standard brown paper on a similar background will disappear on you.
The number three rifle will be mud slow on all of those house clearing and short field courses. To make it also work on short range courses there are several methods that work well:
Hang a JPoint or similar on the side of the scope;
Hang a rail at 1:30 on the float tube and stick a JP-SRTS or red dot;
Stick a ladder front sight on the muzzle, cant it. No back sight required, just fool with it until it is dead on at 25 yards.
This gives you the scope for the long and intermediate range stuff a perfectly adequate short range capability that is accessed by canting the rifle.
Me? I am a cateract survivor. With irons, I have a choice between seeing the front sight or seeing the target. So my practical rifle has the 1.5-5x 20mm Simmons. It goes out to 300m just fine and when dialed back to 1.5X, it works great right down to bad breath distance. Too bad it is out of production.
Billski