Armalite AR30 308

[rockrat]

Shot this group yesterday @100yds. Little wind, about 5 mph. Only loaded five and wanted to shoot at our 200 meter gong and I really hated to mess up the group!! Yeah I know, its only three shots. Loaded with AA2015. Rifle has about 4000 rounds down the tube.

188gr @2000fps. I know many might not be interested, but it was with a cast bullet!!

 

[joshb]

Nice!

 

[ebb]

You like it, I like it, and JoshB likes it, who else matters?

 

[LCazador]

I like it! Great shooting! Is that one excursion with this rifle?

 

[rockrat]

No. Been trying different powders, doing the ladder thing, and different bullet designs. Once I got close to 2000fps, bullets that shot well at lower velocities didn't shoot so well. 1" groups opening to 3". One theory being that naked lead bullets have a rpm limit IIRC of around 135,000 rpm, so with a 10" twist I was getting close to the threshold. Some designs touchy, others not as much.
I used to also shoot the Hornady 155 amax thru the gun with great results, but after about 4K rounds of different ammo, I was going to rebarrel it. Kept putting off the work and one day wondered how it might work with cast as others have indicated that sometimes a barrel will shoot well even with many rounds down the tube, so thought I would try cast before I did the re-barrel.
Using Federal nickled cases, WWLR primers, neck sized using a .338 nitride bushing in the neck sizing die, then an M type die and a .311" diameter bullet(gives about .002" per side release clearance)

 

[XTR]

In general cast bullets limit out around 2000 FPS. Gas checks can help, It’s generally believed that they start to slip and not hold the rifling when you try to accelerate them much more than that.

 

[Nomosendero]

Nice!

 

[pirate ammo]

This was the best of four off a bi-pod, that's all I got I'm a poboy. T/C Venture 2, first time out with this thing,
new gun. Hell, I'm HAPPY, I hit the paper.