RainDodger
Member
Second update - Installed the Odin adjustable gas block AND the heavy buffer. I initially set the gas block closed, which of course means that the BCG did not cycle at all. I opened it in stages until I had the bolt reliably locking back on an empty magazine. (The Odin gas block has 26 detents available for adjustment, which makes it easy to tell how far out you've backed off the screw.) I was getting a reliable BCG lock-back at 7 clicks open. I fired 8 rounds with no problems encountered.
We adjusted my buddy's identical rifle and it performed the same. He fired 10 rounds of factory .308 rounds with no malfunction. Considering neither of us could get more than 2 rounds fired without a problem, things are looking up. We will take both rifles to the range on Monday for a thorough test. Although I'm not yet confident, I think we're on the road to solving the problem.
(I would have done some more shooting here at home, but some distant neighbor came over to my driveway and got kind of confrontational, despite the fact that it is totally legal to shoot where I live in the unincorporated county. The guy wouldn't tell me where he lives, but complained that he's had "stray shots" around his property in the past. (definitely not from my shooting!) He said that one of his neighbors called and said that he was hearing "explosions"... I told him nope, it was just a .308. I keep my close neighbors aware of what I'm doing and when, and this guy wouldn't tell me where he lives or give me a number so I could tell him if I was shooting. As you can tell, he pissed me off, but I try to keep neighbors happy, so I kept the shooting session short.)
On a different note... a couple of you said that you felt my hand loads were too hot. Well, I took another look at the books. According to Lee's hand loading manual, with a 155 grain jacketed bullet, the minimum load for IMR-4064 is 43 grains, and the max is 47. (I didn't include tenths, to keep it simple) My load is at 45.0 grains, so I don't view it as too hot. There are no signs of any over-pressure or problem with them. In deference to the opinions above though, I DID load some starting loads that are at the very low end, and I'll shoot them on Monday for grins. (I loaded some at 42.0 grains, which is a starting load in a different manual, but below a starting load in Lee's book.)
If anyone's interested, I'll let this thread know how the range session goes on Monday.
We adjusted my buddy's identical rifle and it performed the same. He fired 10 rounds of factory .308 rounds with no malfunction. Considering neither of us could get more than 2 rounds fired without a problem, things are looking up. We will take both rifles to the range on Monday for a thorough test. Although I'm not yet confident, I think we're on the road to solving the problem.
(I would have done some more shooting here at home, but some distant neighbor came over to my driveway and got kind of confrontational, despite the fact that it is totally legal to shoot where I live in the unincorporated county. The guy wouldn't tell me where he lives, but complained that he's had "stray shots" around his property in the past. (definitely not from my shooting!) He said that one of his neighbors called and said that he was hearing "explosions"... I told him nope, it was just a .308. I keep my close neighbors aware of what I'm doing and when, and this guy wouldn't tell me where he lives or give me a number so I could tell him if I was shooting. As you can tell, he pissed me off, but I try to keep neighbors happy, so I kept the shooting session short.)
On a different note... a couple of you said that you felt my hand loads were too hot. Well, I took another look at the books. According to Lee's hand loading manual, with a 155 grain jacketed bullet, the minimum load for IMR-4064 is 43 grains, and the max is 47. (I didn't include tenths, to keep it simple) My load is at 45.0 grains, so I don't view it as too hot. There are no signs of any over-pressure or problem with them. In deference to the opinions above though, I DID load some starting loads that are at the very low end, and I'll shoot them on Monday for grins. (I loaded some at 42.0 grains, which is a starting load in a different manual, but below a starting load in Lee's book.)
If anyone's interested, I'll let this thread know how the range session goes on Monday.