I'd suggest bore-sighting your rifle, then zero with a few of your starting loads. There really shouldn't be much zero variation in a series of shots like your ladder test, just a little vertical.
Rob, I can help with the bolt remove/bore sighting. Feel free to give me a shout if you need to. I'm retired now and usually have plenty of time on my hands.I would bore site it, except I don't know how to remove the bolt from and AR yet to do that. I guess I'll Youtube it. I have only bore sighted bolt rifles. Just like I could not bore site my Marlin 336A. AR's are newer to me and I have not spent a lot of time with them. I only bough them when they tried to say I could have them. It's my Libertarian streak.
Anyway, I figure Ill just load some extra row 9 at 2102 fps and site in with that before running the ladder. The bullet got way heavier than I was expecting. The mold said 125 from MP, but it cast 135+ with my alloy and I'm getting 139.5 with powder coat and gas checks. It is what it is. I love heavy bullets, like arrows, momentum is nice. I'm not a great long range shooter, but hunting ranges I'm okay with.
this is with IMR 4227 powder. I chopped that on the picture some how.
View attachment 454619
This is the WayRob, I can help with the bolt remove/bore sighting. Feel free to give me a shout if you need to. I'm retired now and usually have plenty of time on my hands.
I almost called you, but the phone would not work. ATT still goofy maybe. Well, I may be needing schooling. It seems making a ladder for a semi auto is not like making a ladder for a bolt gun. See above ladder and maybe the last two of the ladder came close, I say close, to cycling. Sometime they would push the bolt back far enough to cock the hammer, but not far enough to eject the case and load a live cartridge. "Click" and I am pulling the trigger on a previously fired case.Rob, I can help with the bolt remove/bore sighting. Feel free to give me a shout if you need to. I'm retired now and usually have plenty of time on my hands.
I'm 4 beer deep,
Rob, we can touch base tomorrow or whenever it's convenient for you(retirement has its own rewards). In the off time, see if you can determine the ejection pattern(when it did eject) of your gun. That will give us a starting point for the diagnosis. Then we'll figure out where the tuning is needed.I almost called you, but the phone would not work. ATT still goofy maybe. Well, I may be needing schooling. It seems making a ladder for a semi auto is not like making a ladder for a bolt gun. See above ladder and maybe the last two of the ladder came close, I say close, to cycling. Sometime they would push the bolt back far enough to cock the hammer, but not far enough to eject the case and load a live cartridge. "Click" and I am pulling the trigger on a previously fired case.
WTF, I thought I knew, and not I find out how much I do not know. I turned my AR into a hand rack bolt gun.
DO I need to adjust the gas block? Its a PSA Upper and they all just worked for me before, until now. But there is not enough gas getting though the gas tube to cycle the bolt.
This was all a she-it show, until I got to the last ladder. I did band, bang. Then I hear bang bang, bark bark. I said they are own range, WTF? I was shooting into the hill and the new neighbor wanted to know who was shooting and came to investigate. So I put the gun down and meet Ed and Tyson (dog) The drove over and got my buddy to meet them. Great hook up with the new neighbors and told him how we can teach him to hunt geese on the creek. He got all excited. One failure, leads to a great success.
Now, WTF is it so hard to cycle an AR?
Ah! My bad. I was thinking .308Don't understand all that but short stoke, or no stroke would fit the bill. This is the same lower and spring I used on 223 rounds.
The ejection pattern, how about Nadda, none, didn't happen. Or did happen once in a while, like a blind squirrel finding a nut.
I use mid range ladder steps as sighting in rounds they would not cycle. Even the almost Max, over pressurization loads barely cycle. Sometimes they would, other times they moved back enough to cock the hammer, but not enough to eject the spent case and load a new one.
I got no time during the week unless its load new rounds or something.
I honestly felt like the gas system is failing, needs adjusting, or I got no idea what I'm talking about. The latter is most likely to be true!! Did I mention I feel like a rookie newb shooter? I just don't fail, I fail spectacularly. It's a gift, like the bright light in the room.
He is? Hmm...@King Chicken I think is having similar issues with cycling maybe he will find this thread useful.
Are you removing the BCG and looking through the bore to boresight? How accurate is that? I use the below which I love.
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Had an absolute clown put my new AR together. I thought(reading other forums) on a 14.5 middy, a white standard Sprinco spring and h2 buffer would be ok. nope, short cycling. Apparently, for now h1 is even too much. Will have to try a regular carbine buffer. At least until my "leak" or friction stops...He is? Hmm...
