First and second trip to the range and load development with AERO AR10 Creedmoor

6.5MMLRShooter

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Minuteman
Mar 5, 2017
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Houston,Tx
So I have been wanting to build an AR10 in Creedmoor for some time and I finally bit the bullet and bought an Aero Upper/Lower kit minus the BCG and Barrel. I bought a Ballistic advantage 20" barrel from cheaper than dirt for $206 and an AERO BCG on a sale from somewhere else. The irony of it is that all my components combined are the exact package AERO sells as a complete rifle but I got it for about $500 cheaper. I pulled my PRS stock off of another rifle and I was set to go. I broke in the first 20 rounds with boxed 140 ELD which ran very hot in the gun and my 2 10 shot groups were both right at 1MOA.I then switched to hand loads that I worked up from 40.5 grains to 42.4 grains of H4350 and the 140 ELD. I found a good node between 42.1 and 42.4. That was my first trip to the range.

For my second trip to the range I loaded up 20 rounds of 42.1 and 20 rounds of 42.4 to test further and get some chronograph numbers. Initially the numbers had me a little baffled as my 42.1 grain load averaged 2580 fps which felt a little low and had a huge SD around like 20 fps. Then I chronographed 42.4 and it was lower than the 42.1 gain load at around 2540 fps but the SD was below 10 and the ES was 15. I decided my placement of the chronograph must have been giving it ackward sunshine angles so I moved it to a place I have had good results before and the numbers started to look like what I expected. 42.4 grains ended up being the more accurate load with my lowest group being .611" for 5 shots and highest being .780" for 5 shots. Here are the Chronograph numbers for that load.
1.2665 2.2669 3. 2668 4.2651 5.2658 6.2675 7,2662 8. 2669 9.2664 10.2675.

Based on my calculations that is an Avg of 2666 an ES of 14 and an SD of around 7

Overall Im pretty pleased with this build so far. Next Im going to play with the seating depth of the load to tune it a little and then take it out to 300 and 600 yards to see what she does there.
 

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I've put together several Aero Prec M5s on their receivers & handguards, using 22" & 20" Ballistic Advantage 6.5CM bbls. Each one of the three guys I've sold them to have reported very good results with respect to accuracy. I'm sitting on three more of these rifles, but two have Krieger 24" & 21" bbls that I chambered, while the 3rd has another BA bbl, this one a 20". Am looking forward to getting the time to do some testing with all three to compare accuracy of a very reasonably priced BA bbl to that of the two Kriegers.
 
I put together the same build as you, but had to put a rubber city high pressure bolt in my aeroprecision carrier. With the 22 inch ballistic advantage 6.5 creedmoor barrel, factory hornady 120amax gave me .35moa groups consistently off the bench at 100 and 200 yards.
 
I have a similar set up also, took it out this past weekend and with a ballistic advantage bolt carrier/bolt and the gun was having trouble ejecting the 120 grain hornady but would eject the 140's fine. Any ideas?

Why did you have to put a high pressure bolt in there?
 
I'm kinda curious as to what prompted you to put a HP bolt into the carrier - the Aero Prec BCGs I've used have a good-fitting firing pin/fp hole, which are smaller in diameter than those I'm used to seeing on DPMS-style large frame BCGs. I used a J-P LMOS/HP BCG in the 24" Krieger rifle, based on reviews I'd read here, but none of the customers I've sold rifles to have had any complaints with the AP BCGs in their rifles. BTW, I installed SLR Sentry adjustable gas taps in all six of the 6.5 CMs I've put together so far, which would undoubtedly help when properly tuned. Also, Aero Precision advertises their large frame BCGs as being made for use in high pressure cartridges...
 
I put an slr adjustable gas block on the 22 inch barrel also. I was seeing some primer flow with the factory hornady 120 amax. Also my gas rings on the nickelboron aeroprecision bolt were out of spec. the bolt was really hard to actuate, and it wouldn't extract a spent case. I took an o-ring out of the extractor but it was not the problem. I put in some other gas rings I had and it would cycle and feed/extract fine.
 
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I think the aeroprecision bolt will be fine for 308. I plan to run hotter loads in the 6.5 creedmoor to take advantage of the flatter shooting ballistics, so l went with the high pressure bolt. You might be OK with the aeroprecision bolt over time if the ammo isn't to hot
 
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I have the nickel boron bcg also and like I said in the previous post it would extract the 140 grain but not the 120's...I wonder if im experiencing your same issue. By any change did you get the BCG through mutes group buy here??
 
I did get the nickelboron bcg through the group buy here. Try actuating the bolt In the carrier, lube as needed. I had contacted aeroprecision about the issue but they insist it is o-ring extractor issues. That was not the problem. It wasn't worth shipping it back to them. Gas rings are much cheaper than shipping. Do you have an adjustable gas block shibbycomm? On my bolt the gas rings fit to tight.
 
Aeroprecision sends the carriers and bolts out for the nickelboron plating. Plating process does add to the surface of the part, so it might only be more of an issue on their nickelboron bcgs.
 
With the bad gas rings I had my gas block wide open and it wouldn't eject spent case. With new gas rings I only needed 5 clicks from full closed on my slr gas block to operate perfectly.
 
Ya, I have a superlative arms adjustable gas block and its almost wide open to get it to eject the 140's, still wont eject the 120's. With your theory of the nickel adding to surface, why would replacing the rings change this, shouldnt all in spec rings cause this problem with added material? Im thinking about picking up JP's enhanced rings..
 
But other than this little issue, which I think can be figured out pretty easily, the thing is a shooter..3 round group I shot at 100 yards right after dialing back from 1000 yards, (I lost my initial windage zero at 100). This was using Hornady 140gr ELD
 

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Any of you guys had a chance to Chronograph those 120 loads in your guns? I am curious as to how fast they are running. The BC on the 120 ELDs is around .490 I think but the added velocity may really make up for the lower BC. Hard to beat the BC on the 140's though.