03-29-2018, 10:23 PM
Well it warmed up and stopped raining today but the wind was still blowing 15-20 mph with gust around 25 but I could not stand it any longer so I went to the range. With the BCA 20" upper: Using Hornady 123 SST factory ammo it took 5 shots to get on paper at 100 yards and then I cleaned the bore and got quite a good bit of jacket flecks on the patches. I then fired 5 more shots and it shot a little better than the old barrel about 4". I cleaned again and still got jacket flecks but not as many as before. I fired 5 more shots with 4 in about 3" with one flyer or the wind blew it out to about 4". I cleaned again and then decided to see if shooting more than 5 shots if it would start to group better so I fired 8 shots and after the first 3 shot the rest went into about 2 1/2". I then fired two of my reloads that I was giving a try in my OdenWorks barreled upper that I will give a report on next. These were with 120 Sierra Pro Hunter with 27.4 grs IMR 8208, Hornady once fired case, CCI 450, COAL 2.250 and I used a medium Lee Factory Crimp on it. Three of these shot right at 1/2" in the OdenWorks. I do not know if it was a fluke or what but these two shots touched. I then shot two rounds with the same load but with 120 Nosler BT and they went about 1" apart. The OdenWorks did not like this load, it put 3 in 1 1/2". I had 2 more handloads of 2 rounds each left from what I was shooting in the OdenWorks. They were with 28 and 28.5 grs IMR 8208 with 123 SST, Hornady case, CCI 450, Coal 2.250 and Lee Factory Crimped with a medium crimp. Three of each went into less than 3/4" in the OdenWorks. They shot just a little bit better than Hornady 123 SST factory. I will have to do MUCH more shooting with this upper but I am thinking that it just does not like the 123 SST bullet. I will load up some more 120 Sierra Pro Hunters and give them a try again as well as some different loads with 120 BT because I know that this bullet is accurate. If I can't get this BCA upper to shoot reasonably well I will probably just get another OdenWorks barrel and replace the BCA barrel.
OdenWorks 18" upper that I built from scratch: Between getting on paper at 25 yards and then getting on at 100 yards I fired 5 shots Hornady 123 SST and did not have to do any adjusting of the tunable gas block because function was spot on. I then cleaned the bore and if there was any jacket flecks I could not see them. I then fired 5 more Hornady 123 SST. First shot from clean bore was a high left about 1/2" out from the next 4 which went into just under 1". I then tried some of the handloads that were described above as well as two loads using 100 gr Sierra HP with 29.6 H335 and 30.7 W748. With the H335 I had two out of the 5 rounds jam and push the bullet back into the case but the other three went into 1.010". That 100 Sierra HP has a wide flat point HP and would be suspect about functioning well. With the W748 load it ran perfectly and 5 shots including the clean bore shot Went into 1" exactly with three in a ragged hole. Now these loads were just middle or the road powder charges and different bullets except the 123 SST IMR 8208 loads that I was seeing if they were going to be ok in this gun, just to break in the bore with a shoot 5 and clean regimen for 20 shots like OdenWorks suggested. I am VERY HAPPY with the OdenWorks because it shot all but two of my handloads under 3/4" and the other two were under 1 1/2" and doing it in the swirling gusting wind. I can't wait to get down to doing some serious handloading work on a good weather day with the OdenWorks.
OdenWorks 18" upper that I built from scratch: Between getting on paper at 25 yards and then getting on at 100 yards I fired 5 shots Hornady 123 SST and did not have to do any adjusting of the tunable gas block because function was spot on. I then cleaned the bore and if there was any jacket flecks I could not see them. I then fired 5 more Hornady 123 SST. First shot from clean bore was a high left about 1/2" out from the next 4 which went into just under 1". I then tried some of the handloads that were described above as well as two loads using 100 gr Sierra HP with 29.6 H335 and 30.7 W748. With the H335 I had two out of the 5 rounds jam and push the bullet back into the case but the other three went into 1.010". That 100 Sierra HP has a wide flat point HP and would be suspect about functioning well. With the W748 load it ran perfectly and 5 shots including the clean bore shot Went into 1" exactly with three in a ragged hole. Now these loads were just middle or the road powder charges and different bullets except the 123 SST IMR 8208 loads that I was seeing if they were going to be ok in this gun, just to break in the bore with a shoot 5 and clean regimen for 20 shots like OdenWorks suggested. I am VERY HAPPY with the OdenWorks because it shot all but two of my handloads under 3/4" and the other two were under 1 1/2" and doing it in the swirling gusting wind. I can't wait to get down to doing some serious handloading work on a good weather day with the OdenWorks.