I know that there are some very knowledgeable folks here that might have some suggestions, though this isn't the typical 'how can I make this thing shoot' question.
Two rifles with brand new (US made) barrels installed, both shoot about 10" 'patterns' at 100 yards, from the bench. They are Bulgarian ak74 rifles put together on US made receivers, in 5.45mm. The barrels came from a company called Apex, but I don't know who made them. One rifle is mine, and the other belongs to a friend. Yes, we can both shoot just fine. I can easily shoot around 2.5"/100yrds with my M1 Garand.
no sign of any 'keyholing' at the target - nice round holes, just scattered
headspace is good
crowns look good
bore and rifling looks good, no signs of any burrs or damage
twist looks right- about 1:8.5
I slugged the bores - .221" across the grooves and .215" on the lands
we tried 3 different types of ammo - consistently bad
function is perfect on both
empties look ok, no sign of any obvious chamber issues
the fired primers are a little cratered out, like some kind of pressure issue, but it doesn't look too suspicious
Could there be an issue with the throat or something that could cause this terrible accuracy? Anything I could be missing, or just garbage barrels? I called the place I got them from and they said they hadn't had any reports of problems with them.
Two rifles with brand new (US made) barrels installed, both shoot about 10" 'patterns' at 100 yards, from the bench. They are Bulgarian ak74 rifles put together on US made receivers, in 5.45mm. The barrels came from a company called Apex, but I don't know who made them. One rifle is mine, and the other belongs to a friend. Yes, we can both shoot just fine. I can easily shoot around 2.5"/100yrds with my M1 Garand.
no sign of any 'keyholing' at the target - nice round holes, just scattered
headspace is good
crowns look good
bore and rifling looks good, no signs of any burrs or damage
twist looks right- about 1:8.5
I slugged the bores - .221" across the grooves and .215" on the lands
we tried 3 different types of ammo - consistently bad
function is perfect on both
empties look ok, no sign of any obvious chamber issues
the fired primers are a little cratered out, like some kind of pressure issue, but it doesn't look too suspicious
Could there be an issue with the throat or something that could cause this terrible accuracy? Anything I could be missing, or just garbage barrels? I called the place I got them from and they said they hadn't had any reports of problems with them.
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