[tri70]

Did you retorque the gas block screws and shoot? You may have a good shooter with the lighter bullets after this is done. Do 1 mod at a time and shoot with the same ammo to base your achievement on, definitely get to the gas block.

 

[Alaskafe]

Did you retorque the gas block screws and shoot? You may have a good shooter with the lighter bullets after this is done. Do 1 mod at a time and shoot with the same ammo to base your achievement on, definitely get to the gas block.

I went out and measured the gaps on either side of the gas block last night and came up with a gap of .044 on the left side and .054 on the right. I am going to fix that today but would this have been big enough to cause some of the problem? We'll see I guess.

 

[Alaskafe]

I haven't picked up a torque wrench yet so the gas block remains unchanged but, I took a bunch of rounds to the range today to continue the break-in process and something strange happened. I didn't take the target as I was just planning on shooting into the berm but I noticed my rounds were hitting all around the orange skeet disc I was using as an aim point. I was stunned because the berm was 200 yards out. At one point the other guy on that range offered me the opportunity to shoot one of the cans of spray paint he had set up at 200 yards and he was spotting my rounds for me. I fired the last 5 rounds from the magazine already in the rifle and all five shots were on either side of it but all within 3 or four inches. I changed out magazines and on my next shot I nailed the can. 200 yards and I hit a 3 inch wide can with a mini!

The only change I had made from my previous trip to the range was to use the front rest only and support the butt against my shoulder. Hmmm. Well, I am going to put together some more rounds and give it another try later. I love doing this stuff.

 

[Bolero]

The gap, within the limits you found, is completely immaterial. The evenness of the torque on the screws is what matters.

Its not an F14, its a Mini-14.

 

[Alaskafe]

Point taken.

 

[Alaskafe]

Just a quick update. I haven't done anything to the rifle yet. I do have a torque driver on order and will check the gas block screws when it does. I loaded up some 55 gr Spitzers with four different loads of IMR 4198. The first three loads were grouping 8" to 9" but the final, and hottest load, of 21.0 gr of 4198 gave me a 5 shot group of 4.25". Not great but it's an improvement. This load is above the max listed in the Hornady manual but Nosler and Lyman still give slightly higher loads as max. I kept checking for pressure indications but still nothing so I am going to load a few more and step them up to 21.7 gr and see what happens. Once I've finished testing the 4198 loads I am going to try Varget or Benchmark or maybe H-335 and see how they do.

Meanwhile, I have some buffers on order and I will be ordering a Tech sight soon also. Bedding may happen in the future but not yet.

 

[wxl]

Just a quick update. I haven't done anything to the rifle yet. I do have a torque driver on order and will check the gas block screws when it does. I loaded up some 55 gr Spitzers with four different loads of IMR 4198. The first three loads were grouping 8" to 9" but the final, and hottest load, of 21.0 gr of 4198 gave me a 5 shot group of 4.25". Not great but it's an improvement. This load is above the max listed in the Hornady manual but Nosler and Lyman still give slightly higher loads as max. I kept checking for pressure indications but still nothing so I am going to load a few more and step them up to 21.7 gr and see what happens. Once I've finished testing the 4198 loads I am going to try Varget or Benchmark or maybe H-335 and see how they do.

Meanwhile, I have some buffers on order and I will be ordering a Tech sight soon also. Bedding may happen in the future but not yet.

I load 21.5g IMR4198 behind 55g Hornady FMJBT and it's very accurate. I used to load 21.7g for years without any issues. I believe the Lyman manual list 21.7g IMR4198 as their accuracy load. One note on the IMR4198 is that due to the stick powder it tends to bridge in the powder dispenser and you can get very inconsistent charges. I found if I tap the handle back 3 times fairly hard between charges it settles the powder and I get very accurate charges each time and it doesn't add much time to the process.

 

[Alaskafe]

I load 21.5g IMR4198 behind 55g Hornady FMJBT and it's very accurate. I used to load 21.7g for years without any issues. I believe the Lyman manual list 21.7g IMR4198 as their accuracy load. One note on the IMR4198 is that due to the stick powder it tends to bridge in the powder dispenser and you can get very inconsistent charges. I found if I tap the handle back 3 times fairly hard between charges it settles the powder and I get very accurate charges each time and it doesn't add much time to the process.

Thanks for the info on the max loads. I do pretty much the same as you with the powder dispenser. For these test loads though I've been using a dipper and measuring each one out. Takes more time but I have nothing but time these days.