AR15 Major Keyholing Issues: FIXED

[turnerdye1]

After about 11 pages on useful information I decided to start out simple. Ill post procedures of how my day went and to finally put this topic to rest

I owe a big thanks to SSGSAD for helping me out and letting me borrow some ammo!!

1. Cleaned the rifle as usual and inspected everything

2. Met at SSGSAD's house to gather everything up. While we were there we MIC'd the ammo and found out that the bullets were out of round!!!! the diameters fluctuated from .221 to .224 on the same bullet!! We then headed out to the range to give it a try

3. Shot 15 rounds of the Brown Bear and the gun was still keyholing bad. I think 12 out of the 15 keyholed. I decided to just dump the other mag

4. We then decided to test out some of his ammo he brought along. We shot some of his 55gr FMJ reloads, i believe some Winchester 62gr SP, and some Federal Match 69gr. And what do you know!! My groups came back to what they should have been with NO KEYHOLES!

5. At that point a had a little kids grin on my face because I knew i wouldnt have to replace my barrel and that the ammo was the problem. At this point I also decided that Im going to start reloading ammo for this round and kick the steel stuff. I plan on placing my order with Profire Arms this weekend to get everything I need!


Overall it was a great day at the range! We got there early enough that it wasnt busy at all and we were able to get in and out without much hassle. I want to thank everyone who helped my out by posting ideas for me to try and once again a big thanks to SSGSAD

 

[Westside]

Glad to here you figured out what it was. and Glad you posted. I hate when people have an issue and then never tell us how it got resolved.

 

[LEaSH]

Eureka~!

+1 SSGSAD, -1 Brown bear

 

[Cerberus]

Figured the bullets were out of spec. Good to know you got it resolved.

 

[Hop]

Is there any way to send the bad ammo back?

 

[sprshggy07]

Glad you got it figured out without having to go on a wild goose chase that the other thread was suggesting.

 

[reload4ever]

glad you got it figured out

 

[churchmouse]

Cheap crap is usually not the way to go. If you can not afford the mileage do not buy a hot rod. Cheap ammo is just that, cheap.
I hear folks constantly talking about a thousand rds. for this or that cheap price. They buy it and are up-set when things do not go well. I guess it is akin to buying 87 octane crap regular and putting it in your SS Camaro....just silly....End of rant, thanks for your time.....carry on

 

[BoomstickBuff]

Thanks for the follow-up post - glad to know it's resolved and that it was nothing more serious than the ammo.

It will be interesting to see if this generates as many interesting posts as the original thread...

 

[turnerdye1]

Glad to here you figured out what it was. and Glad you posted. I hate when people have an issue and then never tell us how it got resolved.

So do i!! Which is why i decided to not be that person lol

Is there any way to send the bad ammo back?

Probably...but i only have 40 rounds left of this ammo so Im just gonna shoot it up and forget it ever happened.

 

[BGDave]

Thank you. Was really wondering. 50 yard key holing is almost unheard of in a rifle. Pistol is more common. Thinking of wadcutters guys.

 

[turnerdye1]

Thank you. Was really wondering. 50 yard key holing is almost unheard of in a rifle. Pistol is more common. Thinking of wadcutters guys.

Yea your telling me! Ive always heard of it in a pistol but never in a rifle. And at 50 yards!!! I thought i was going crazy for awhile but thats what out of spec bullets will do i guess

 

[Bronsonbull]

Glad to hear. On the other hand that ammo might be able to shoot around corners

 

[turnerdye1]

Glad to hear. On the other hand that ammo might be able to shoot around corners

Thats why i saved one mag of it!!! Just incase

 

[Hookeye]

Ammo, who'd have thunk it?

 

[Colt556]

Ammo, who'd have thunk it?

I think several ppl did 37 pages ago.

 

[SSGSAD]

YES, Turnerdye1 and I, and my son, had a WONDERFUL day at the range .... when he showed up, I dissassembled the rifle, like any one would, looked at the bcg, bolt, etc... and nothing ... miked the bullets, and just like he said, .221-.224, on one bullet ... I have never seen anything like that B4 ..... so we went out, and shot up some targets, and some of the patterns, were very interesting .... some went straight through, and some keyholed... but when we changed to my reloads, every one was straight .... then we tried the Factory, and the same ... then the MATCH ammo, I think I was as happy as turnerdye1 was .....
all in all a good time, and two new friends have happened here on INGO .....

 

[esrice]

Thanks for the update! You had me really scratching my head on this one!