jaredr

sounds like good practice and great fun:cheers:

ouch. not sure how the mag would feed enough to make it look like the weapon was in battery (but still prevent the cartridge from chambering). I take it this was a different mag then you had used to check the original fire control group? Bizarre, but I guess a good reminder that we should look at everything we've changed when something starts malfunctioning. glad to hear it was the $10 magazine and not the $150(ish) trigger pack

did want to clarify - if you drop the bolt carrier group to chamber a live round, you should (in my experience) see some indentation on the primer, as the firing pin is free floating and will, under its own momentum, fly forward to "bounce" off of the primer when your chambering a live round in this fashion. When you say there are no marks on the live primer, are you easing forward the BCG to chamber a new round so the firing pin is not driven forward by the BCG? If that's not the case (i.e. you're just hitting the bolt catch to let the action spring drive the BCG forward to chamber a round, but seeing no dent at all on the chambered round's primer), then it sounds like there is still an issue with bolt assembly that's preventing the firing pin from moving forward. If i misunderstood you, and you're seeing a dent in the primer from chambering a round by hitting the bolt catch, but you're seeing no impact when you ease the bolt forward and then drop the hammer, it t sounds like: 1) you have checked to make sure your bolt is assembled properly and you've confirmed that you can manually push the firing pin forward to protrude into the boltface 2) you have confirmed that with the action broken open, you can see the hammer fall when you pull the trigger 3) you have confirmed that you're seeing the normal "dent" in a primer face from chambering a round by hitting the bolt catch, so you know you've got full pin protrusion 3) but when dropping the hammer on a live round, the round does not fire and you are not seeing any impact on the primer from the firing pin If that's all true, then i'm out of ideas on this one, keen to see if Timney has any troubleshooting advice or if they just ask you to send it back for a replacement. Do want to confirm that you've seen proper fire and function with a standard trigger group (i.e. this is not a new build on a lower which has not been tested with standard trigger/hammer)? Only other thought is either it's a new build on a lower with some pin holes out of spec (unlikely, as the AR Gold trigger pack wouldn't install), so only other option is that your timney is out of spec and you've got something inside the trigger pack that is preventing the hammer from dropping all the way. Wouldn't think they would miss that, but stranger things have happened. EDITED: re-read thread, saw you mentioned that this rifle & BCG functioned fine with old trigger but not with new (with no changes/reassembly to bolt or bcg), so think that says it all right there. timney is a drop in unit so if your rifle functioned fine with old fire control and won't fire with timney, i would call them and get a replacement.

when you drop the hammer on a live round (or drop the bolt catch to feed a live round from the magazine) do you see any indentation on the primer?

my understanding is that a 1:10 twist will only stabilize conventional jacketed bullets up to approx 190 gr. Was specifically looking into shooting heavier .308 bullets and Duane from the bulletsmith tech support group told me that a 1:8 twist is required to stabilize 220 or 240 gr SMK's. if anyone has any experience to the contrary, pls let me know.

thanks for the post! I've got a firehouse subs right near me, can always use another couple of 5 gallon buckets and $2 is a steal!

For when we are attacked by army's of 3' tall midgets? i actually did laugh out loud at that one. I've got a couple of the MGM auto poppers - they're about a foot tall, perfect for getting ready to defend myself if I get attacked by the demonically possessed tiki doll from Trilogy of Terror vs.

to the OP - if you can see hammer falling, but you're seeing NO impact on primer (not even the dent you normally get from chambering a live round) then would agree w/guy that there's something in the bolt carrier group preventing the firing pan from advancing forward in the bolt. You mentioned that you'd tried two bolts - did you mean two separate BCG's, or did you disassemble the original BCG and swap out the bolt? Either way, suggedt you take the BCG out and see if you can physically push the firing pin forward such that it protrudes a few hundreths past the bolt face. If you cannot, then i think this is your answer.

to the original poster - hard to answer what is the "best" motorized trimmer without a little more info on the intended application. For high-volume loading of boattail bullets (where your cartridge does not need to be chamfered), i would say the dillon unit is the "best" - I can mount in directly in the press and trim automatically as I do all of the other brass processing with a dedicated brass prep toolhead. i use one on a 1050 and can get around 1500 cartridges prepped per hour, and even at that rate the case mouth's all come out very clean. Since I only load boat-tail bullets, the lack of an inside chamfer does not bother me. If you're loading flat-base bullets, or for whatever reason need to have a chamfer cut on the inside of the case neck, the giraud would be a better bet as the dillon cannot chamfer, I have no personal experience with the giraud, but glen zedicker and others who are serious high power shooters have given it high praise. there are other options as well. The most affordable is probably the possum hollow trimmer that chucks into a 3/8" drill and it indexes off of the case neck.

have you tried removing the takedown pin (i.e. the rear one) and dry firing it with the block of wood or something to keep the hammer from hitting the bolt catch (if the hammer is in fact falling)? not sure whether you can see anything inside the timney fire control group, but this approach may at least give you some more info for when you get on the phone with the support folks at timney.

those stages look awesome! First stage in particular looks really cool (and very different from what you'd see at any typical multi gun event). Sorry i'm not closer to nebraska this week!

those stages look awesome! First stage in particular looks really cool (and very different from what you'd see at any typical multi gun event). Sorry i'm not closer to nebraska this week! edit - double post in error, oops

interesting premise but by the end, a bit of a let-down. trailers made it look something like another cloverfield, and to be fair there were some reasonably tense moments (and a few cool visual effects). A lot of the screen time was wasted on developing some sort of lame romantic relationship between the two lead characters, which really just made me wish for the fast forward button. ending was a bit of a let-down, as they didn't really resolve anything except to deliver some sort of quasi-message that "we're all really the same" whether we're US citizens, legal (or illegal) immigrants from a foreign country, or 300 feet tall space octopuses (octopi?). by the end of the movie, i was really just waiting for a "bambi vs. godzilla" finish where a big tentacle would come down from the sky and stomp the two whiny leads. My verdict - i'd wait for it to hit redbox or maybe cable...

i guess the verdict here is (forest gump voice) "beauty is as beauty does"

wow - that's getting close to wholesale cost, though not sure what midway would add on to a 25 case order for shipping

very motivating, thanks for posting this:cheers:

i honestly think a mr bulletfeeder looks like a made up pos of parts he picked out of plumbing store.. i would go with the gsi imho... thats what im going to be picking up next for my 650 my experience with the product is that it works pretty near flawlessly in .45, .38/9mm, and in .223 (about 50k rounds through it so far), and the service has been absolutely outstanding when I've had a few questions or (very early on) when I had an issue with a particular brand/profile of LSWC bullet in .45 ACP. with dozens of users of the Mr. Bulletfeeder on this forum, I've never heard anyone with a complaint about the product. Given that track record, you may be doing yourself a disservice purchasing an alternative product simply because you don't like the look of the Mr. Bulletfeeder and it's use of off the shelf fixtures. That said, if you do purchase the GSI, please let us know how it works for you - there have been relatively few posts from GSI users on this forum so I'd be keen to hear another opinion about that product.

forwarding FYI, just received the attached notice from the gunsamerica.com website. In a nutshell, it says: 1) gunamerica does not, and has never, endorsed Gpal as a payment system 2) some history about how the gunsamerica site owners say they attempted to do something similar several years ago, why they decided it wouldn't work 3) an update from Gunsamerica on what they understand is the status of the various criminal proceedings/complaints against Gpal. 4) a referral (apprently from Carl Chapman, of the Marin County CA District Attorney's office) to where people should be posting their complaints re: Gpal fraud. resource we're being referred to is the "Internet Crime Complaint Center. The URL for the form is at http://www.ic3.gov/complaint/." Best of luck to everyone who is working to get what they are owed from Gpal. gunsamerica GPAL notice.pdf

i'm using imr 4064 for 168 hdy AMAX and getting about .6 - .7" groups @ 100 yards loading on a 650 out of a stock 20" barreled savage. still can't produce gun magazine photos of a 5 shot one hole group, but consistently sub-MOA @ 100 yards, and this is (so far) without trying any other projectiles. I get the hdy 168 gr AMAX very affordably, so it was my first try, may eventually try SMK's but i can't get access to a range greater than 100 yards without great effort, so what I've got right now is more then enough to let me work on position shooting without worrying that the rifle or the ammo is holding me back. charge is 43 grains, and I'm usually seeing a variance of +/- 0.3gr from the dillon powder measure. at 100 yards, that won't make a difference but perhaps it would at 500 (but at 500, i'd still be the biggest limiting factor). For dies, I am using redding micrometer seating die and type s neck size bushing (keeping brass segregated, so I don't full-length resize for this rifle). as others have noted, you may find more consistent powder drops with a ball powder, but it's unlikely that you'll get the accuracy you want. I initially started out loading with AA2230 because I had a ton of it, and there was published load data. It worked, but never better then 1.25" groups. moving to a stick powder cut that in half, even with the variance I am seeing from the dillon powder measure. edited to add: thanks for heads up re: harrels powder measure, i'll check it out.

i have the version of this sold under the "Konus" name (I've also seen the same sight sold by SIG and Primary Arms, think they're all manufactured in peoples worker factory #17 in Pingliang). Mine has held up very well on a couple of AR's and currently my 5.5" buckmark. I'm not sure that I would take it into harm's way, but then again I don't go there for a living and so far the sight has always worked when it was supposed to, so no disappointments on the range. BTW - I recently found a great deal on 2032 type batteries - 20 pieces, shipped, for $3.43. Apparently vendor is in hong kong, so it took about 2 weeks for the stuff to arrive but they did in fact show up and so far they've worked fine (have used them on this T1 clone and two other beater tascos on the kids 22's). link to vendor is here - http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.751

thanks for heads up, i did not know they made a BDC reticle keen to see if they come out with these in the XPS-type format that uses CR123 batteries.

that's hilarious, and painfully accurate.. to the OP - referring back to gentleman jim's post, there is some chance you'll get a unit that is not a total POS and actually functions, but the chance of that actually happening is luck of the draw, and the price difference to step up to a "quality" entry level scope (e.g. Millet DMS) is relatively affordable (e.g. 100$ for an NCstar airsoft toy, or $250 or so for an real entry level optic). My $.02 - spend the delta and get something that may not be what you want in the end, but at least will likely not be a total write off.

outstanding!

That there is the pearl of wisdom for the day.... Back in 1978 I was winning races on 1/2 mile paved oval with a car that ran a 20 second lap and I spent $2500 buiding, in 1982 I needed to knock a second off the lap time to get to the front, it cost $35,000 for that 1 second, I set a new track record a 18:54. Could the same hold true in an open gun, well I don't think so. who knows, maybe you'll be the guy who figures out how to get a .355 caliber 50 gr bullet to go 3300 fps and with your new adamantium wunder-comp, you'll smoke everyone:roflol:

Duely noted. Thanks for the input. In regards to the M1A safety, I guess it's a function of conditioning. It seems that most of these rifles perform comparably, so maybe whatever you like? Keep your zombie killing rifle preferences coming! Have you guys tried using your weapon hand thumb to release the safety on the M14? I like this method -- you get good leverage with your thumb this way vs. pushing forward with your trigger finger, and it also feels safer to me. question - when you say "weapon hand" you mean your firing hand, i.e. the hand which you also use to pull the trigger? Not sure how that would work, sounds like I'd have to take my hand completely off the stock to reach my thumb in through the right side of the trigger guard and push forward on the safety with the pad of my thumb. for me, that would be very cumbersome and require significant re-training from the manual of arms i'm used to (and i;ve got enough challenge being proficient with only one way of doing things...) pls correct me if i've misunderstood the technique you're describing.