ARP 6.8 Recon 16" range report

[Force]

Finally passed the ITS Super Bolt test, and made it to the range today.

Break in using SSA Factory 110 PH, and my shoot it like you stole it method.

Front bag rest. No rear rest. Bench Rests sucked at the range. Stupid damn low wooden block with a notch and carpet. WTF happened to all the sand bags?

Fired 6 rounds to get scope zeroed at 50 yds
Fired another 50 rounds just for the hell of it.
Bore snaked the upper.

Target on the left was 50 yards. .702
Right target 100 yds, 2 called fliers, .854


Fired another 50 rounds with similar groups. This upper is Sweet !

Bore snaked again.
Decided to try some SSA 85 gr TSX.
50 yards, hitting 1.5 inches low. Hmm
And not near as accurate as the SSA 110 PH

On the 110 PH, brass was ejecting about 1:00-2:00
On 85 TSX ejecting 3:00

Why would the faster, lighter 85 TSX be 1.5 " lower than the 110 PH?

I had swipes on all 6 of the 85 gr tsx that I fired. Primers were kinda flat.
These were factory 85 TSX. Anyone have any ideas, please feel free to comment.
( picture sucks ,will try to get better)


Switched lower to my 5.56 with Eotech. Fired 25 rounds of 60 gr Vmax, 24 gr BM at 300 yd iron gong. Hit gong all but 2 times.
Bleh, 5.56 sucks, back in the safe you go.

I had no malfunctions with the ARP upper after about 100 rounds through the upper. It ran like a raped ape.
The ITS MCD worked sweet as hell ! I had the middle 4 ports open. 2 on left and right blocked.
Forgot my allen wrench. There was zero upward recoil. Only recoil was to the rear.

I used 2 C-prod 25 rd, and 1 C-prod 10 rd mags. All functioned perfect. Bolt held open on the last round like it should, everytime ( hmm , they must have fixed themselves)
Overall, I am super pleased with my ARP upper. Just wish I had a matching lower.

I waited 2 months for the barrels to come in, and for H to build this upper. The wait and anticipation kinda sucked. I could have just plopped down $450 and purchased a Stag, and had it in a few days. Glad I didn't.
Now I know why I waited the extra time for an ARP upper.

This thing kicks ass !

H ,
Thanks for building a Kick ass Upper !
Donna,
Thanks for putting up with my endless stream of e-mails !

[jasonpeterson]

Did you have oil on the bore snake? Oily chamber can cause swipes. Could be lots of things.

[shrxfn]

Force you must have passed the test the day before me because mine lands on the front porch Monday according to UPS. SSA ammo 60 rds TNT and 40 tactical TSX on Tuesday.

Hopefully my groups are as good as yours.

So no oil in the barrel/bore area? Does it hurt to put some on a patch and then run a dry one through after to wipe up any excess? Does the nitro carburizing protect it from rust as well?

BTW we should nominate Donna for sainthood because she put up with all of my e-mails asking how much longer. I was like my 5 year olds at Christmas...Is it time now?....Is it time now???...is it time now???? ....NOW!?!? anyways you get the picture.

[constructor]

Just try to remove the excess oil from the bore.
Definate swipes but, primers aren't what I call flat.
Sorry for choppy reply but,on phone with very small keys.
We have shipped apx 50 in last 2 weeks

[shrxfn]

Glad to hear you are keeping busy H. That is good because it is also how I pick my lunch spots when I am traveling if the parking lot is full at lunch something good must be going on inside. So then by that reasoning the ARP upper should/will be exceptional.

[Force]

Did you have oil on the bore snake? Oily chamber can cause swipes. Could be lots of things.

No oil on the Snake.
I'm thinking it was from the mobile 1 on the bolt.
It was fairly wet.

[Force]

Just try to remove the excess oil from the bore.
Definate swipes but, primers aren't what I call flat.
Sorry for choppy reply but,on phone with very small keys.
We have shipped apx 50 in last 2 weeks

Thanks H.
Will swab down the bore better and see what happens.

Any idea on the 85 TSX hitting 1.5 -2" lower than the 110 PH?

[Force]

Force you must have passed the test the day before me because mine lands on the front porch Monday according to UPS. SSA ammo 60 rds TNT and 40 tactical TSX on Tuesday.

Hopefully my groups are as good as yours.

So no oil in the barrel/bore area? Does it hurt to put some on a patch and then run a dry one through after to wipe up any excess? Does the nitro carburizing protect it from rust as well?

BTW we should nominate Donna for sainthood because she put up with all of my e-mails asking how much longer. I was like my 5 year olds at Christmas...Is it time now?....Is it time now???...is it time now???? ....NOW!?!? anyways you get the picture.

You should have ordered more ammo ! The 6.8 is addicting !
Thank god I reload. Otherwise I would be divorced and in the poor house.

I'm sure your groups will be much better than mine. I was having an off day.
Plus, there was some old timer shooting what I swear was a 155mm howitzer next to me.

Then, some hillbillies brought in a bunch of little kids. Some were even strapped in car seats. They set them on the bench, plopped in some foam ear plugs for them and started complaining about there were no more target frames. Damn kids were squalling and bawling !
They finally left after about 30 minutes when they figured out we weren't giving up the frames we were using.

[Drifter]

Any idea on the 85 TSX hitting 1.5 -2" lower than the 110 PH?

In my experience, it's not unusual for a faster lighter bullet to impact lower than a heavier slower bullet. My assumption is that the heavier slower bullet is in the bore longer, and exits the barrel when the muzzle has recoiled to a slightly higher position.

[Force]

Here are a couple of pictures of the brass when the chamber was new,
and after firing about 10 rounds. The dull scufed one was one of the 1st six I fired through the barrel. The scuffed look went away after about 6 rounds.