M14 Forum

casebro

Darn gun likes Federals off the shelf. Other cheapies too. Works pretty well with NEW AAs. Don't like Win Super X at all. Or my reloads, even with Titewad, very fast powder.

A ten year old box of AA 'featherweight', ultra low recoil loads worked well too.

I've been shooting that gun for 20 years without a prob. But things started going haywire about 6 weeks ago when I splurged on a flat of Win Super X. An old friend who is losing his sight fixed me up with a Mec 600 and hundreds of AA hulls. But darn if I can make things work. 1 1/8 oz, 19gr 700x. or 16gr Titewad. WAA12 wads. They all seem to 'stovepipe', not enough recoil to eject fully. Federal really wing them out there though, guy to my right needs a flack vest.

I'm wondering whether there is a factory applied lube? Silicone spray or wax? Seems the newer looking the hull, the better they work.

eta: hey, weren't paper hulls waxed? Any downside? I know I don't want lube on centerfire cartridges, but hulls? Some guys on the net use ATF in corncobs, tumble until 'waxy'. Maybe some chunks of candle wax in a tumbler? I've got a drum type.

casebro

I improved my functioning by spraying a coat of Pledge furniture wax in a batch of AA reloads. I had noticed that the Federal shells felt waxy, and so did some brand new AAs. Used AAs and new SuperX shells feel sticky/gummy in comparison. So I'm thinking the major reason for poor functioning between brands is a different factory lube. Probably used to help in forming the hulls? I read the description of AAs as "compression formed", different process, different lube? The different lubes handle the heat of firing differently.

I've got to get some silicone spray to try on my last box of Super X.

Mocos

was crusin and came across this post.....I've got a couple of model 50's my dad past on to me years ago....and I shot trap with it at the local club for the heck of it. Anyway, coating the rounds won't do much.. If you've ever had it apart which it doesn't sound like it...the bolt is attached to an articulated arm that extends into the butt stock and through the recoil spring( something like that...it's been a while) anyway...if you take the buttpad off, you will see an adjusting threaded pluglike affair at the end of the rod..There is a locking springlike retaining device shaped like the greek letter omega. You remove the spring retainer and adjust the recoil tension by tightening or loosening the plug and then replace the retainer. And while you have it all apart, give it some oil in some of the obvious places...

casebro

Sorry I didn't update sooner. But spraying some household Pledge on the heap of hulls before reloading them made one heck of a difference. So I'm convinced that AAs used a different lube for their different hull forming process. The old hulls even feel gummy, not slippery like other brands or new AAs. Maybe different powders would act differently on the lube? Maybe silicone spay would do the same for me. But the Pledge seems to lube the chamber, so that I can mix in unlubed cartridges.

Oh, this reminds me that a friend at the range was having similar problems with an A-5 and reloads. He was going to increase his wad pressure, hoping that the compressed wad would raise initial pressures and there for recoil to activate. My own experiments with squooshing wads is that they spring back to original length in seconds, no matter the pressure applied. Barely enough time to get them crimped.