Ways to consistently increase pressure for gallery loads

Check the fit between your upper & lower receivers. There should be very little to no movement when they're assembled. Check it with the bolt all the way forward, and also with the bolt locked back and held open by the lock. I've seen receivers so poorly matched and loose that any hope of accuracy is totally futile. I got a complete upper like that in a trade with a low count stainless match barrel on it that wouldn't shoot for sour apples. The upper receiver actually rocked pretty loosely on the assembly pins, there was absolutely zero contact between the receiver walls themselves.

I kept the barrel, but gave that upper receiver away free to a guy. No charge. I had bought a small lot of BCM blem uppers, and assembled one of them with the match barrel, fit to my OCD (CDO). We're down to 1/2 inch groups now, and all is well, better. I still expect a little better accuracy from that barrel, but I'll need to be seriously snowed in and bored out of my mind to be motivated enough to work on it.

This is the sort of thing I was referring to earlier as "tolerance stacking".

Yeah so... despite Ian's advice, I'm still looking pretty hard at getting a .223 bolt gun. The Remington 783 looks like a really good value for my buck, the reviews are good, and most everyone says it will shoot sub MOA.

If I end up going that route, I will most likely buy a 16" 300 BLK barrel and pistol length gas system and just convert this AR to 300 BLK. I want a 300 BLK anyway and I'm just not especially happy with this AR as is right now. I checked and the receiver-to-receiver fit seems fine. It may just be a trash barrel or the upper was assembled poorly. I don't really know how to test those hypotheses though short of replacing parts, and that's not happening anytime soon.

I was able to shoot 2 MOA 10-shot groups at 75 yards with my 10/22 yesterday with no fliers. I know I'm not a crack shot with a rifle, but if I can do 2 MOA at 75 yards, I should be able to do 2 MOA at 25 yards assuming the rifle is holding up its end of the bargain. Before I conclude "yeah there's definitely, 100% something wrong with my rifle," I am going to have a good friend who is a much better shot than me put some FMJs downrange with it. If he can't get it to shoot, I can stop blaming myself for this.

In the meantime, this is the .223 I have. I'll keep practicing with the 10/22 and watching for a deal on the 783. Even when I'm not hitting my goals I'm still learning a lot, so I may still give the antimony-enriched alloy a try and see if it doesn't tighten things up. A bad day at the range is still a good day in my book.

BTW, the scope I have been using is really a cheapie. I'm finding more and more reasons not to like it. The eye relief is extremely short, so it's not very comfortable to shoot (I got away with mounting it waaaaay back on the 10/22 receiver and it's adequate but not great). It also cannot hold focus on a 25-yard target! 25 yards is too close for the optic. As soon as I'm out to 50 yards it's fine. It's not just a bad diopter setting or something. It really is just a bad piece of glass.

With that said, I'm wanting to put something on top of this AR that allows me better precision at 50-100 yards than the peep sight. A red dot + magnifier is fine, or a low power scope (3-9x ish would be great). Anyone have recommendations for a shoestring budget? I'm talking like sub $100.

I didn't say don't get a .223 bolter....I said don't buy a Savage .223 and expext MOA from cast at any speed.

Clean all the copper out of your AR and get someone else to shoot it with some Federal Gold Medal Match ammo.

Yeah, but you did say not to ditch the .223 AR and I think I'm going to permanently convert it to 300 BLK anyway

Gave the barrel (and everything else) a super good deep clean with Hoppes #9 and CLP a couple of days before I took it to the range this time. Doubt it had much effect on accuracy, but it definitely helped things function better. The BCG was a black crusty mess when I took it apart. I had 100/100 shots function and cycle perfectly on Saturday.

Go trade the idea of a bolt/300bo, the ar, & the 10/22 for a nice 3030 levergun.

As much as I'd like to own a 30/30 lever gun, I don't see how that's a replacement for my goals with 300BLK or .223 in a bolt action.

223 has more recoil than 22LR. If the scope was on the 22, it's OK.
More than likely it's your shooting position, setting on the bags, cheek weld, etc. If you change to BO, reconsider the pistol gas. No need unless you want to shoot subs. You will be much happier casting for the BO. My BO cast run ~ 12$/100 with range brass cut down. Can't get much cheaper than that.

if we could get primers down from 3 cents each I could get my 300 BO bolt guns running for almost nothing.
3.5grs of powder is pretty close to 10K rounds per jug or around a penny for powder.
those wolf primers I bought before they couldn't bring them in anymore are actually good primers and were under 100$ a sleeve or about 2 cents each.
at those speeds anything I have that contains lead will shoot pretty well and the cases last about forever.
I'm still using some of the original batch of 45/45/10 lube on them, and the 20$ lee mold is holding up like a champ.
I will probably be into 10K sub sonic rounds something like 350$ including the mold and alloy.
but not the die set.
Bolt guns have their charms.

popper said:

223 has more recoil than 22LR. If the scope was on the 22, it's OK.
More than likely it's your shooting position, setting on the bags, cheek weld, etc. If you change to BO, reconsider the pistol gas. No need unless you want to shoot subs. You will be much happier casting for the BO. My BO cast run ~ 12$/100 with range brass cut down. Can't get much cheaper than that.

Click to expand...

Not sure I understand your first comment about the scope. I'm holding zero on the 22LR and more than likely could hold zero on the .223 as well, but I think for the time being I'm going to leave it on the 10/22.

I am definitely going to do a 300BLK but to me the whole point of doing 300BLK is to shoot subs So definitely getting the pistol length gas system and probably going to do a lot more subs than supers. I could see using supers for hunting or something down the road, but I want to put a can on it eventually and shoot it quiet.

I have a 10" pistol gas and 18" carbine gas - both shoot subs (rem 220s) and hot supers fine. Pistol gas will be really overgassed for any faster supers - my pistol gas is almost OFF for supers. As for the scope, if it works on 22 it's OK for 223. Recoil isn't the problem with 22, its the bolt slamming home.

If I were to use a can & subs on a BO, I'd plan on an SBR - that is the original design. It will cost ~2k$ and 6 mo. wait for the stamps. You could save 200$ and just go for a pistol with brace. Carbine with a can will probably weigh 10# or more, front heavy. Check 300blktalk.com - lots of info there.
As for your shooting, dump the big dot, punch a hole you can see or draw an X on paper. Lots of tricks to shooting off bags, how you sit, gun placement, etc. that make a big difference.

I'm reading around and asking opinions on Reddit and elsewhere. Half the people are saying 16" + a can is front heavy and awkward. Half are saying it's fine. I figure front heaviness is a problem if I was going to shoot competitions are strive for some kind of really notable accuracy with this rifle. But I'm not. So even if it ends up front-heavy... it's just a range toy. And if I really truly hate it, I can always switch things up down the road. Maybe change it out for 6.5 Grendal parts later on and skip the suppressor, or go back to .223 if I ever feel like it. I'm not too worried about making a mistake since my main purpose for this rifle is "have fun."

Similarly, half of responses are saying 230gr subs will absolutely not cycle in any barrel without pistol length gas, while half are saying carbine length gas is fine for a 16" barrel even with unsupressed subs, and going to a pistol length tube with that much barrel would be overgassed.

I suspect a lot of conflicting anecdotal evidence is coming from variations in the size of the gas port in various people's builds.

As for me, I think I'll start with a barrel swap and that's it - keep my front sight/gas block and carbine length tube. If I can't get subs to cycle with it then I can pick up an adjustable gas block later on, and just have fun with supers in the meantime.

carbine length will cycle without a can using 200gr bullets and 10grs of 4227.

Out of curiosity, what powder are you using for supers? I'm guessing not 4227?

And since the most common weight I see cited for supers is 110, would the Lee .309 113gr RF be a decent hunting round for deer, or would I be better off with something more in the 150gr range like the .312 155gr 2R or .309 150gr FN?

110 will work.
I'm running a little more sedate with 110 J's, but I'm using AA-4100 which is pretty much 2400.
for medium speed cast stuff [@1500 fps with a 165] I'm using AA#9.

for deer I would run either the sierra 130 SP or the Nosler 120 black tip bullets.
either one will run right about the same speeds as the X39 round.

Advantage of the carbine & can is going across state lines. Same with pistol. SBR is different but it is short, very stable with a real stock. Yu young guys can handle the weight but my 17# AR10 is just too much even for range work. Anyway it is not just where the port is or size but the amount of barrel after the port. Pressure has to remain after the bullet passes the port. I optimized weight by energy (fps) to 145gr for my carbine. Heaviest with best trajectory for a RNFP hunting boolit. I push it over 2k fps but it doesn't have a great BC. I also do 110 vmax, 125 sst & 150 spp, very accurate. The Gdots are supposed to be the best 150, but lots of solid coppers being used too. I don't do much 'plinking' at cans etc. in the woods but would do that with the 22lr marlin 60.

Hoppes #9 doesn't do squat to get copper out, so you still haven't cleaned it.

Adjustable gas blocks only reduce port size, not increase it. If the system won't cycle, an adjustable gas block won't help.

I hunt with a 16.5" carbine BLK and 10" can screwed on the muzzle brake. It has a .106" gas port and cycles 230-grain subs all day long and locks the bolt back. I don't find it awkward because the can only weighs 17 ounces. You ask for opinions, you will get just that, not definitive answers because opinions are subjective.

Popper is right about SBRs, pistols, and state lines. If you want to get around all that, buy a Tactical Solutions TSAR 300 BLK upper which has a permanent barrel shroud to make it a rifle but only like a 10.5" rifled portion. The can goes down inside the shroud so you get SBR without the stamp or other legal issues. I made a couple of these before they were a commercial thing. You also get pistol gas. There's no such thing as an over-gassed 300 BLK, but if you think you run into that with pistol/supers, you can always get an adjustable gas key to tone it down.

I detect analysis paralysis bigtime here. Get someone who can shoot to shoot your AR for you with PREMIUM, FACTORY-LOADED ammo, AFTER you get all the copper out of the barrel. Or send the damned upper to me and I'll let you know what the problem is. There is no mystery to the 300 BLK, everything you could imagine about port, barrel, buffer, loads, suppressors, etc. is all published and all available on the internet from real, reputable sources. All you have to do is pick what configuration you want and choose the correct components to make it work. No need to guess about it or ask ten places on the internet for opinions.

This barrel has a lifetime grand total of just over 100 jacketed bullets through it. Is that enough to cause accuracy-ruining fouling?

I have some mean stuff that gives my nose serious ammonia burn, bought it at the same time as my Mosin. May as well hit the barrel with that.

Depending on the roughness of the bore, 100 jacketed is more than enough to put a fair amount of copper in the barrel.
I'm not sure it would cause groups to open up severely though.

Just be careful when using ammonia-based copper solvent, very potent chemical. Don’t leave it in the bore for a long time, don’t spill it anywhere else and make sure you remove everything in the end. I mostly use a ammonia-free foam, only break out the foul-smelling stuff when I have a lot of copper to remove. I would start by simply inspecting the barrel with a good light after making sure all carbon deposits are cleaned out.