Yeah, what’s up with the LAST round fliers? I get those too and it doesn’t make sense as the bullet has left the barrel long before the bolt locks back.
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Barrel makers and bench shooters say that is false. Barrells shoot better, fouling especially copper removed. Clean barrels shoot better at the highest levels.
When I got into AR's, my buddy who was most knowledgeable always said for best groups, release first round from lock back, don't charge via charging handle. Always followed this advice really only for scope and sight zeros, and haven't seen the first round flier for those cases. Never really thought about it until this thread popped up.
If your first round flyer off-set is consistent, just remember it and compensate with your sight alignment, then aim dead center for subsequent rounds...same principle as with a sound suppressor off-set...remember you are in control, not the rifle...
I had a couple first-round-flyers this morning, both with 69gr FGMM:
https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread...ot-Upper/page2
I had been shooting 5-shot groups all morning (seven or eight of them, for 35-40rnds), so the gun wasn't cold or clean.
(I always put five in a mag, put the mag in the gun with the bolt already locked back, and chamber the first round by pressing the bolt catch (not using the charging handle.)
I shot a group of Norma inbetween and afterwards, and both of those grouped nicely, so was not me, not the gun, not global warming, not the Illuminati, not the rotation of the earth, not what I had for breakfast (oatmeal, again), etc. etc. etc.
I figured there might be something wrong/whacky with the FGMM...
I'm trying hard NOT to go down the rabbithole... Little Jerry may have saved me.
I didn't pay attention to what mag I was using with the FGMM (they're numbered, but I don't keep track unless there's a malfunction), but there IS a good chance I used the same mag for both strings of FGMM.
Next time I'll pay more attention!
Glad I saved you time, and ammo.
Pretty frustrating to chase an issue and look at the amount of ammo you burned after the fact.
Also funny to think about pinching pennies on a new match barrel when you might have to burn up $100 worth of match ammo to find a load your rifle likes.
If this is dig at my choice of WOA over BRT in that other thread... I don't doubt that BRT (or Compass Lake or whatever) is worth the extra money, I just couldn't see that I would be able to take advantage of it.
As is, that WOA upper shoots three of the four kinds of factory "match" ammo that I have (FGMM, TAP, and Norma) realllly well (consistently sub-moa, even with those first-round-flyers). It doesn't like the old Black Hills load (75g, w/ moly) at all, but no other gun does, either.
Not at all a dig at you. WOA makes good barrels, and is well known in the service rifle world as a a go-to for accuracy. BRT conversely has no reputation in competition. Not saying they are a bad choice... Just that it would take a lot of convincing for me to choose one of their barrels for LR precision over a known quantity. I say this as someone who loves their 12.5 BRT barrel.
Just a general comment for myself and all the be other threads you see on forums. After personally burning so much ammo on a mediocre barrel trying to find something that'll group, I'd much rather just plunk down the money for a Craddock, Shilen, CLE, WOA, etc. The time and ammo cost makes it worthwhile IMO.