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Dirty ar15 brass, too dirty?

So from what I'm seeing overgassed will eject from 1 to 3, 3 to 4:30 is normal so maybe is the powder or load unfortunately it's hard to get your choice of powder around here, I got some 10x but don't think it will do well with heavier bullet
 
An adjustable gas block is the only way to O'clock your cases. There isn't a lot of soot on the case necks, so I would say you are doing good for a gas gun. I shot Lake City brass, Win small rifle primer, and 24gr H4895 with 77gr SMK. You can easily go 25gr Varget in commercial brass with 69gr
 
I haven't shot this gun that much so don't remember what it looked like before, so maybe it's just par for the course, tomorrow gonna shoot the bushmaster and see what that looks like and I'll not bump the shoulder so much and stay up in charge and see what happens, I don't remember my hands getting so dirty after picking up spent rounds from the bushmaster, either way, see what happens tomorrow but adjustable gas block will be happening soon.
 
Shot this a few minutes ago, I'm at 24.5 varget with 69gr bullet, tried leaving shoulder longer, crimping, not crimping, last 2 are factory bullets so same thing, any ideas why they are so filthy.
Considering the extreme temperatures a gas gun generates it effects brass outer appearance
 
Considering the extreme temperatures a gas gun generates it effects brass outer appearance
It was around 10 degrees when I shot it yesterday, it's about 30 today, so would you say the cold temperatures caused brass to get dirtier than in warm?
 
It was around 10 degrees when I shot it yesterday, it's about 30 today, so would you say the cold temperatures caused brass to get dirtier than in warm?
I didn't mean it that way. Hot gas from powder ignition is the point. Once the snow melts go shoot a couple of rounds, catch 'em before they cool off. That's the extreme temperatures I refer to.
 
A few other comments.

For sure the clock method is best to determine for your current rifle setup when it is gassed properly. But for gun changes don't think adjustable gas block is the only option, although one I have on a few guns. Different weight bolt carriers, bolt carrier weights, different buffer springs, etc.

I think one challenge you have is you are trying to determine both if the load is a good one and in parallel how it matches the guns gassing. Highly recommend you find someone with a chrono to check velocity as an indicator of how close to max load is, I find that more challenging on gas guns than bolt guns. But if handloads act like factory, that is an indicator it may not be your ammo.

Lastly a point I have not seen others mention is that for me lot to lot variation of Varget is more than any other powder I have ever used (not hundreds but well over 10 different rifle powders). Due to this I find it the least well suited to copy paste of other peoples load data.

Good luck, hopefully someones input is helpful to you.

YMMV

JB
 
There isn't a lot of soot on the case necks, so I would say you are doing good for a gas gun.
I was going to say this too, first glance they don't look bad at all for a direct inpingment action. They look downright sparkly compared to what comes out of my ARs.

I'd be more worried that you seem to be getting a consistent gouge midway up the neck, is there a burr in the chamber?

And what's the goal you're working towards? Functionality, precision, SD/ES? Overgassing can be as bad as being undergassed, a perfectly tuned AR is much better to shoot than a poorly tuned one, but depending on your goal here you might have some compromises to make.

For example one of my 300 BLKs will chew up brass and blast me in the face with oil it's so overgassed, but it cycles every single time. No problems with stripping a round or locking back, it's for subs so any velocity loss from the bolt unlocking early doesn't matter, it has a can so it's going to be dirty no matter what, not that I've ever tried to run to failure but if I'm hog hunting with it I can clean it out with brake cleaner and relube with the quart of motor oil that's always in the Mule if I need to.

So I'm fine with my compromises. But defiantly not an ideal setup for accuracy and precision, which I feel like is more where you're going. So parts changes might be your best bet, and an adjustable gas block would go a long way towards dialing in your tuning.

So would you think maybe the spring is stronger since it was in a piston gun and would it cause this?
TBH I don't know the specs on all your various parts, but yes spring rate and buffer weight affect tuning. Differently than port size/block and full auto carriers, but just like JB said they're part of the equation. If you don't know what the spring is, or if you only have one buffer it might be time to buy a few more parts. I have 4 buffers and three springs rates to use to tune in loads with, if you're serious about AR shooting they don't cost a ton relatively speaking, and they're a lot easier to mess with than gas blocks and barrel ports.

Sprinco was the big name in springs back when I paid more attention to ARs. The buffers are all BCM but only because I bought them all from the same place at the same time to avoid any spec differences between manufacturers and get the right weight gaps since they're for tuning.
 
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Ok, shot today, did a quick clean, when looking down chamber I could see some tiny shavings of brass where the lug locks in, not a lot but cleaned it out good, first shot case was clean, very clean, used 24.6, next 7 rounds were cleaner than before but still some soot that wipes off easily, then instead of using 5.56 cases I went with 223 cases and went 24.3, again first shot clean and rest had some soot, but rifle shot way better group, 3 in clover leaf and other 2 making about an inch group out of the 5, also couple cases did eject forward like 1 o'clock, gonna clean again and try 24.2, I'm starting to think it may be a little over gassed cause the recoil felt pretty stout even with the 24.3.
 
Those look like mine when I shoot one of my ARs with a suppressor. I just thow them in the tumbler and load'um.
 
Well shot the next 5 at 24.2, what I noticed is there's a little nick in the same spot on the neck of the cases that has a light scratch that goes up to the mouth and one of the cases is cracked right at that scratch
 
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