06-07-2018, 07:44 PM
Fixin, the jury's still out on the Strike Eagle. I'm between swapping between a Vortex Venom 3 MOA red dot on a Samson QR mount and the 2.5-10 Vortex HS LR on Geissele mounts, keeping it or saving up for an upgrade (but even the $1700 Nightforce NX8 has its shortcomings). There simply isn't an optic that can do it all (or at least as much as this build can). Once I have a load together, I'll see how the reticle does with it at range. I have a Venom on my 300 BLK carbine and did a test yesterday to see if dismounting and remounting (which is real easy with their brilliant design). Shot a group of 5, then dismounted and remounted 5 times. This is no magnification at 50 yards. I think its pretty safe to say it gets close enough - its hard to get see through the bad shots (not easy supporting a MFT Minimalist rear stock and front with full pistol grip with flashlight). The zero is a tad low and a tad left - adjustments are in MOA increments so that's as close as I could get it and the low helps a 50/200 zero a bit and I chose left to account for spin drift. It's hard to see, but the middle target on the bottom has three through one hole right where it was zero'd
[ATTACH=CONFIG]12039[/ATTACH]
After those, I dismounted and remounted and managed to get 4 of 5 on a life size steel coyote at 200 yards. It sure is light at 3.8 oz including the mount and fits easily in a front pocket if removed. The Geissele Super Precision mount has two 1/2" nuts that hold it down, so a simple combination wrench can do the trick (maybe I can get a Ti one if I ever have a spare C Note lying around
). It will also hold zero if its handtightened on, so a switch really would be fast and easy.
Did a ladder of 77 gr NCCs and XBR yesterday. Like my Proof CF barrel, there was nothing that was really bad, so the CF is definitely doing its dampening job. Since this will be a high volume shooter, I did the development with a CM drop only (trickled onto the CM as opposed to weighing a charge light on the CM and then trickling onto a balance beam). The below had velocity of 2674 (about as fast as you could hope for with a 77 in an 18"), SD 4 and ES 13. The outlier was not a StoneHendge. I was shooting my other 223 with an SSA-E on it just prior to this group and I totally jerked the first shot forgetting I was switching to a single stage.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]12040[/ATTACH]
I made 50 up last night and hope to test them tomorrow. If it works, the load isn't starting to transition until past 900 in my parts. I also didn't realize until I got home last night that I could turn on the optic and have the 1 MOA center dot be red which would allow me to center it a little better on the 1 MOA center dot on the target.
My initial thoughts on a few of the pieces in the build I haven't seen anyone talk about:
V Seven Furion Ti Compensator (1.6 oz). This is a very good if not excellent comp. I shot the rifle with just a thread protector before I got it and it does its job. Not as good with recoil or muzzle movement as a VG6 Epsilon, but there really aren't any options for a bull barrel comp that weigh under a quarter pound. If the barrel was a 0.750, I'd probably "spend" the ounce for an Epsilon (or hope they do another special run of Ti Epsilons), but I'm satisfied so far. The Furion does seem to minimize muzzle movement more than recoil. Its an excellent choice if you have a bull barrel and don't want to screw 4-8 ounces onto the end of it.
Geissele SSP M4. "Single Stage Precision" with 3.5 lb pull. This will take some mental adjustment (see above!), but I wanted this to be a single stage, I love my SSA-Es and this has the same total pull. Incredibly short reset. I have a 3.5 lb Timney on my 300 BLK carbine and a 3.5-4 lb CMC on my 300 BLK pistol and although I like those, they aren't in the same league. I won't mention what it makes annoying on a Timney or CMC because if it doesn't annoy you now, it will if I point it out. Like anything Geissele, they're expensive, but like fine Burgundy, they're worth it. Luckily they go on sale a few times a year.
Taccom Carbine Buffers (1.1 oz) and TTI Ulitmate Lightweight Carbine Buffer Spring (10% reduced power). This set up with the Ti BCG rocks. The Taccom light rifle buffer and spring rocks on my other 223, but its Sproing City on that build which has a full mass BCG. Most of the sproing on the other rifle comes after return to battery, so I think the force of the return with a full mass carrier results in the spring/buffers bouncing around in the tube after the return. With the 6 oz Ti carrier, the set up makes nary a peep. Although Taccom makes a point to say they have not "tested" the system with Ti carriers on their website, once I got the gas set, I haven't had a feeding or ejection problem that wasn't carrier induced (see below) after at least 150 rounds. I probably have close to 500 on the rifle set up on my other 223 with nary a problem.
2A Arms Adjustable Ti Carrier. Works great except for one potentially major detail. The lock screw that holds down the rotating (hence adjusting) gate has come loose twice. As a result, the gate rotates and will ultimately end up in a spot with too little gas. The little torx wrench that came with it (and which fits very nicely in a grip with storage) might be a little stripped and that could be the problem. I'm going to try a different wrench before calling them, but I'm starting to question how they would expect the screw to stay tight given the movement of a BCG. There may be a semi permanent solution using something to bond it down once I have my load dialed in, but I would want to make sure I can get an extra gate and screw from them before going that route. The little gate and screw get exposed to a lot of heat, so I really don't know what would work.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]12039[/ATTACH]
After those, I dismounted and remounted and managed to get 4 of 5 on a life size steel coyote at 200 yards. It sure is light at 3.8 oz including the mount and fits easily in a front pocket if removed. The Geissele Super Precision mount has two 1/2" nuts that hold it down, so a simple combination wrench can do the trick (maybe I can get a Ti one if I ever have a spare C Note lying around
). It will also hold zero if its handtightened on, so a switch really would be fast and easy.Did a ladder of 77 gr NCCs and XBR yesterday. Like my Proof CF barrel, there was nothing that was really bad, so the CF is definitely doing its dampening job. Since this will be a high volume shooter, I did the development with a CM drop only (trickled onto the CM as opposed to weighing a charge light on the CM and then trickling onto a balance beam). The below had velocity of 2674 (about as fast as you could hope for with a 77 in an 18"), SD 4 and ES 13. The outlier was not a StoneHendge. I was shooting my other 223 with an SSA-E on it just prior to this group and I totally jerked the first shot forgetting I was switching to a single stage.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]12040[/ATTACH]
I made 50 up last night and hope to test them tomorrow. If it works, the load isn't starting to transition until past 900 in my parts. I also didn't realize until I got home last night that I could turn on the optic and have the 1 MOA center dot be red which would allow me to center it a little better on the 1 MOA center dot on the target.
My initial thoughts on a few of the pieces in the build I haven't seen anyone talk about:
V Seven Furion Ti Compensator (1.6 oz). This is a very good if not excellent comp. I shot the rifle with just a thread protector before I got it and it does its job. Not as good with recoil or muzzle movement as a VG6 Epsilon, but there really aren't any options for a bull barrel comp that weigh under a quarter pound. If the barrel was a 0.750, I'd probably "spend" the ounce for an Epsilon (or hope they do another special run of Ti Epsilons), but I'm satisfied so far. The Furion does seem to minimize muzzle movement more than recoil. Its an excellent choice if you have a bull barrel and don't want to screw 4-8 ounces onto the end of it.
Geissele SSP M4. "Single Stage Precision" with 3.5 lb pull. This will take some mental adjustment (see above!), but I wanted this to be a single stage, I love my SSA-Es and this has the same total pull. Incredibly short reset. I have a 3.5 lb Timney on my 300 BLK carbine and a 3.5-4 lb CMC on my 300 BLK pistol and although I like those, they aren't in the same league. I won't mention what it makes annoying on a Timney or CMC because if it doesn't annoy you now, it will if I point it out. Like anything Geissele, they're expensive, but like fine Burgundy, they're worth it. Luckily they go on sale a few times a year.
Taccom Carbine Buffers (1.1 oz) and TTI Ulitmate Lightweight Carbine Buffer Spring (10% reduced power). This set up with the Ti BCG rocks. The Taccom light rifle buffer and spring rocks on my other 223, but its Sproing City on that build which has a full mass BCG. Most of the sproing on the other rifle comes after return to battery, so I think the force of the return with a full mass carrier results in the spring/buffers bouncing around in the tube after the return. With the 6 oz Ti carrier, the set up makes nary a peep. Although Taccom makes a point to say they have not "tested" the system with Ti carriers on their website, once I got the gas set, I haven't had a feeding or ejection problem that wasn't carrier induced (see below) after at least 150 rounds. I probably have close to 500 on the rifle set up on my other 223 with nary a problem.
2A Arms Adjustable Ti Carrier. Works great except for one potentially major detail. The lock screw that holds down the rotating (hence adjusting) gate has come loose twice. As a result, the gate rotates and will ultimately end up in a spot with too little gas. The little torx wrench that came with it (and which fits very nicely in a grip with storage) might be a little stripped and that could be the problem. I'm going to try a different wrench before calling them, but I'm starting to question how they would expect the screw to stay tight given the movement of a BCG. There may be a semi permanent solution using something to bond it down once I have my load dialed in, but I would want to make sure I can get an extra gate and screw from them before going that route. The little gate and screw get exposed to a lot of heat, so I really don't know what would work.
Let's go Brandon!