Ok. Finally got some ammo loaded for this 50AE AR-15 upper.

Bought this thing used a few months ago on the AR15.com EE, and bought three boxes of Speer Lawman factory loads from Midway.

First five shots went bang fine, other than noticing that the primers were flat(!), and ejection was iffy at best. On the sixth round, one of the locking lugs on the bolt decided to part company with the rest of its friends.

I contacted Tony at Tromix, who offered to fix it for free before even seeing it�.which surprised the hell out of me. With that said, I sent a check for $100.00 to cover whatever, as I didn't know the history of this upper THAT I BOUGHT USED(how's that for customer service!!!)and sent it his way.

Got it back, noticed several improvements, as Tony said it was an early build, and bought a �correct� 10 round magazine from him as well. Again Tony really went above and beyond working on a second hand piece, in my opinion. He indicated that the barrel extension was pretty beat up, perhaps wasn't heat treated properly, and the headspacing was reset with a new extension. He also refinished the stainless barrel.

First five shots � again with the Speer ammo, still had flat primers, extraction issues, etc.

Got kind of pissed, and asked Tony what his recommended load was�31.0G H110 behind a 325 in something other than IMI brass.

Loaded up 50 new Starline cases, with 300 grain Speer bullets, WLR primers, and two different loads - 31.0 and 34.0G H110.

TODAY - No functional issues whatsoever, no flat primers, recoil is approximately 1/3 LESS than the factory Speer ammo(hmm�.think there might be a problem there?).

31.0G loads are pussycats, and went five shots went into 2.2� at 100 yards, using a 4x Leupold. Four of the five are inside of 1.1�.

The 34.0G loads shot approximately 2.5� higher on target, shot consistent 2.0� groups, had significantly more recoil, and muzzle blast than the 31.0g loads.

Now just need to chronograph them to see how fast their going!

Me thinks those Speer loads are probably dangerously overloaded, I�m going to research how to contact them directly this evening.

Thanks for the report... neat round,,,
jeffe

fireball168,

Did not mean to upset you man! I have a Desert Eagle in 50AE and it didn't come clost to reaching the velocities that Hodgdon has on that link!! Anyway, that is why I figured your rifle would be doing about 100 - 200 fps better than my pistol.

Maybe I just had a really slow pistol or a really slow lot of H110? I kinda doubt it though as I know two 500 S&W shooters and there pistols record muzzle velocities that are a few hundred fps slower than Hodgdon's data states too. So to me either three different chronographs and pistols are screwed up, or Hodgdon has some optimistic muzzle velocities.

Get your chronograph set-up, measure the loads in your rifle, and then report back on how far off I am.

Kent

Well....considering that Hogdon's pistol data shows 32.5g of H110 as a max load for a 325 gr....out of a six inch barrel @ 1431 fps.

I think they are flying out the end of my 16" barrel a little faster than 1000-1100.

http://www.hodgdon.com/data/pistol/50actexp.php

Thanks for the report!! I am guessing that your 31 gr load is probably running around 1000 fps to 1100 fps.

Kent

Tony is a personal friend of mine.......he builds quality stuff and stands behind it!

I just love to visit his shop and check out his latest creations.......you just never know what he will come up with next!

Anyway, the light loads 31.0 H110 were chronographed at 1653 fps.

The 34.0g H110 loads at 1833 fps!