22 nosler inconsistent poi and primer flatness

V

varminter .223

Well-known member
As many of you guys probably have seen I have been posting about my 22 Nosler Stoner barrel woes. I have noticed that the gun sort of wants to throw a few wild and sometimes appears as if it wants to shoot 2 different groups or shoot 2 or 3 together and then throw one or two before grouping again. I think I have 132 through it now and I am yet to shoot a 5 shot group under an inch. I did shot a .5" 4 shot group early on and I shot one group right at an inch this morning with 69 sierras and a max load of Varget. I think I can see some correlation between my poi shift and primer flatness. I tried some wsr pimers and since they are softer than the 7.5's I can see more flatness inconsistencies. I will get maybe 3 that flatten and then in the 5 shot batch 2 will be a much more rounded yet. I also took the bolt out of my tack driving heavy barrel 5.56 stag and tried it. The groups still were 1" to 1.25" ish but I didn't have the wild ones and the primers were much more consistent but none as flat. The primers were middle of the road and looked good as far as pressure. I notice a few months ago there was a poi difference in my psa 5.56 upper when I swapped these two bolts as well. [psa bolt is in the 22 nosler now]. I am some what new to the gas gun thing and I am a bit perplexed with this poi shift and primer flatness difference. Any thoughts? What is going on with the different reactions to different bolts?

One other note I seem to be having some primers that are ending up a few thousandths high and I wonder if this is affecting flatness. I clean pockets with a rcbs trim mate.
 
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If you have high primers after firing you maybe sizing your brass too much and that is changing your headspace shot to shot. All AR bolts are not the same so one is tighter than the other.
MB
 
Brass has all been sized in batches and this last batch I pushed the shoulders back .005 to .006". The high primers are prior to shooting the round. They are high when put in. I have not measure a case fired with the stag bolt. I will do that as soon as I get home this evening.
I have tried 7 different bullets with Varget at various charges and its not going well.
 
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If you're gonna stick a rotating tool in the primer pocket, a cleaning brush type tool seems a waste of energy to me when you could use a primer pocket uniformer instead. That will uniform the primer pocket depth AND clean it using no more effort than you're already putting into it.
 
Originally Posted By: DiRTY DOGIf you're gonna stick a rotating tool in the primer pocket, a cleaning brush type tool seems a waste of energy to me when you could use a primer pocket uniformer instead. That will uniform the primer pocket depth AND clean it using no more effort than you're already putting into it. That's the way I feel about it also. Stopped using the primer pocket cleaner a long time ago and started using the primer pocket uniformed instead. Since using SS pins I only uniform 1 time and don't worry about the pockets being clean anymore.
 
Originally Posted By: varminter .223As many of you guys probably have seen I have been posting about my 22 Nosler Stoner barrel woes. I have noticed that the gun sort of wants to throw a few wild and sometimes appears as if it wants to shoot 2 different groups or shoot 2 or 3 together and then throw one or two before grouping again. I think I have 132 through it now and I am yet to shoot a 5 shot group under an inch. I did shot a .5" 4 shot group early on and I shot one group right at an inch this morning with 69 sierras and a max load of Varget. I think I can see some correlation between my poi shift and primer flatness. I tried some wsr pimers and since they are softer than the 7.5's I can see more flatness inconsistencies. I will get maybe 3 that flatten and then in the 5 shot batch 2 will be a much more rounded yet. I also took the bolt out of my tack driving heavy barrel 5.56 stag and tried it. The groups still were 1" to 1.25" ish but I didn't have the wild ones and the primers were much more consistent but none as flat. The primers were middle of the road and looked good as far as pressure. I notice a few months ago there was a poi difference in my psa 5.56 upper when I swapped these two bolts as well. [psa bolt is in the 22 nosler now]. I am some what new to the gas gun thing and I am a bit perplexed with this poi shift and primer flatness difference. Any thoughts? What is going on with the different reactions to different bolts?

One other note I seem to be having some primers that are ending up a few thousandths high and I wonder if this is affecting flatness. I clean pockets with a rcbs trim mate.

Here's my take on the bolts. They may be slightly different dimensions, but they are probably also different weights, and one may operate more smoothly than the other. Perhaps one gets a better gas seal, or rings are worn more, lots of things. Are you using an adjustable gas block? I have noticed a slight change in poi sometimes when turning the gas down or up, and usually get my best groups with the gas turned down as low as it will go and still operate.

I bought some 7 1/2 primers to try and don't really like them. They seemed to fit looser than cci 450s. One thing is for sure you don't want them sticking up for use in an ar. I have that trouble with Hdy brass sometimes.

I seem to be the only one getting any decent groups with these barrels. I'm pretty happy with mine, it will make a good truck gun being manageable even with the suppressor on. Speeds are way more than I ever got with a comparable barreled 223, with 50's just over 3400. Time will tell if it remains consistent.
 
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