S308 16in - Range Trip Report 20100916

[cw3sting 12]

Weapon:

 

Saiga 16in .308 Converted (no accuracy work other than the FCG)

Tasco gas piston

Dinzag FCG

Tasco T6 Stock

Tasco Intrafuse Tri-rail Forearm

Hogue Grip

Black Jack Recoil Buffer

UTG Leapers 5th Gen Scope Mount

BSA 6x24 Tactical TMD624x44/30SP Scope

Standard 8Rnd factory magazine

 

Conditions:

 

Caldwell Lead Sled Solo Rifle Shooting Rest

 

Test Date: 20100916

Temperature: 84F-86F

Barometer: 29.98

Wind: Headwind, calm to 6mph

Dew point: 70

Range: 100 yards

 

Slow fire, untimed. Targets are 9 in. IBS300 bulls-eyes mounted on 30x20 foam board and clamped to target rails. Bore cleaned after volley one and volley four. Cleaning amounted to a saturated patch with CLP, followed by brushing, then two clean patches; ten cleaning rod passes each. Each 10 round volley is broken into five round groups for comparison. Order of hits is marked on the target.

 

Rounds tested and firing order:

 

Hornady .308 WIN, 168gr A-Max: Group 1: 3 1/4", Group 2: 2 7/8"

(cleaning)

American Eagle 7.62mm, 168gr OTM: Group 1: 3 3/8", Group 2: 15/16"

Hornady SUPERFORMANCE .308 WIN 178gr BTHP Match: Group 1: 2 1/2", Group 2: 1 13/16"

HSM Trophy Gold .308 WIN 185gr Berger Hunting VLD BTHP: Group 1: 4 9/16, Group 2: 5 9/16"

(cleaning)

Federal GMM 168gr: Group 1: 3 1/4", Group 2: 4 1/16"

Black Hills .308 WIN Match, 168gr HP-Moly: Group 1: 2 11/16", Group 2: 2 9/16"

 

Volley notes:

 

1. Some getting used to the session and settling in. Found scope at 24x and reduced to 16x. Minor tweaks to parallax. Cease fire between rounds 2 and 3. Cleaned before proceeding to volley 2.

 

2. Added sand bags to front legs of the sled.

 

3. Cease fire after round 5. Adjusted scope down 8 clicks.

 

4. Cleaned after volley. Cease fire.

 

5. No changes.

 

6. No changes.

 

Impressions:

 

Still some minor case denting after a bit of touching up of the third locking lug that rotates into the rightmost round in the magazine. Since the bolt has two large opposing locking lugs, I assume that the much smaller third lug is an additional safety factor. Minor resurfacing of the lower part of the lug shouldn't affect safety but much caution is needed always. (Not a recommendation for anyone else. Only a personal observation.)

 

As expected, most of the second five round groups of each volley were smaller than the first. The exceptions were the HSM Trophy Gold and Federal GMM. This is probably more the shooter than the rifle or cartridge, except for the wider second groups. The HSM and Federal loads are beginning to appear to be designed for longer barreled rifles.

 

The two real surprises were the American Eagle OTM and Black Hills Moly loads. The OTM pulled a nice sub-MOA five round group, and the BH Moly may have been just under 3 MOA, but the patterns were nicely symmetrical and printing comparatively low.

 

Future testing notes:

 

Hornady SUPERFORMANCE .308 WIN 178gr BTHP Match and Black Hills .308 WIN Match, 168gr HP-Moly look promising for longer range testing. Hornady .308 WIN, 168gr A-Max, American Eagle 168gr OTM deserve continued examination.

 

The next session is probably going to be devoted to Tula and Wolf milspec rounds for practice.

 

Volley 1:

 

Volley 2:

 

Volley 3:

 

Volley 4:

 

Volley 5:

 

Volley 6:

[jbrubaker 13]

Excellent report. Thanks for the time you put into it. Lots of good info!

[cw3sting 12]

JBrubaker;

 

Thank you very much.

[paprotective 362]

Great report,

 

Seems like the Fed American Eagle 168 OTM from your first report may come out as shining in this over the Hornady A-MAX..

 

I may try doing Winchester 150gr Power Point $18 (Walmart) and American Eagle 168 OTM if my local dealers have them.. I will try looking for other stuff allso while at the store.. Problem is not too many local places stock 308 ammo without the DOUBLE online price$..

 

If I can come up with $150 in toss money I may just order up a box of 4-6 different types..

 

Thinking WIn 147gr FMJ, Fed 168 OTM, Horn TAP (either 110 or the 168gr), Win 150 PP, Rem/UMC 150 FMJ..

 

Then we'd have a broad range of ammo on here for others to gain from possibly.

 

 

Albert

[jdmakersmark 15]

Thanks for all the work. I need to try some other ammo other than Brown Bear.

[cw3sting 12]

Stoli;

 

Don't get me wrong. My standard load is always going to be the milspec rounds, especially the RU steel cased FMJ ammo, with a bit of DAG and Radway Green or South African milsurp.

 

But, I'm desperately looking for a better wind-bucker, longer range hunting round and to determine what there is about the AK design that induces inaccuracies.

 

Al;

 

Sounds like a plan. I'm not ruling the A-Max out at all, and intend to continue testing it. The earlier work was very promising and deserves another look or two.

 

One thing I plan to do next time is to manually load each round. I'm leaning toward two potential problems that induce fliers that kill accuracy. (1) deformity of the case and/or bullet during auto-load, and (2) failure to return to consistent battery after auto-load because of locking lug mating or recoil spring strength.

 

Possible approaches.

 

1. Load the rounds manually. This is likely to help eliminate both of the above inconsistencies and help troubleshoot.

 

2. Study the magazine follower, feed ramp, to chamber load path to see what minor improvements can be made.

 

3. Look at polishing or otherwise "very" slightly modifying the locking lug mating.

 

4. Search for stronger recoil springs, or beefing up the factory part.

 

5. Look into possible binding of the bolt/bolt carrier or gas piston to eliminate any hangup of return to battery on auto-load.

 

Whatever modifications are made, they must not be detrimental to reliability.

 

BTW... along the lines of find the perfect 168-185gr hunting round, I'm thinking of trying out some of the other more solid/non-hollow-point loads, possibly Barnes.

 

I'm looking forward to your TAP tests, especially the 168gr.

 

Happy shooting.

[Chubby 1]

TxMark,

 

Am curious why you use the black jack recoil buffer - part life, accuracy, precision, comfort, looks?

 

Thanks.

[cw3sting 12]

I'm beginning to wonder with the S308. On the 7x39 and .223, I really don't care of the metal slamming back against metal. Mostly it's reducing wear with a little bit of recoil reduction. I've used them on most autos since my Colt 1911 days.

 

But, the S308 has a hinged metal recoil buffer of sorts that doesn't really fit well against the standard AK recoil buffer. I thinned the Blackjack buffer a lot and will give that a try with the next range trip. Otherwise, it goes.

 

Recoil puts a huge amount of stress on the receiver and bolt carrier on all autos. I just like to limit it as much as reliability permits.