Suppressor optimized gas port?

[Former11B]

That was my argument when they decided to change the port size. But I can't blame KAC. That gun was their first foray into the commercial market in a long time. For them, it became a question of protecting the Brand. Because no matter the reasons, people are going to complain. And when enough people complain, the internet takes over. Folks like us that would reply, "stop shooting crap ammo" are the minority.

What I don't understand is if they want inexpensive ammo, then why not handload? If they're already significantly invested in top shelf rifles and probably optics and other gear as well, why not control the quality of what you put in it? I doubt they'd buy a Ferrari and put 87 octane in it. I'm beating a dead horse, but it just makes no sense.

[Slippers]

What I don't understand is if they want inexpensive ammo, then why not handload? If they're already significantly invested in top shelf rifles and probably optics and other gear as well, why not control the quality of what you put in it? I doubt they'd buy a Ferrari and put 87 octane in it. I'm beating a dead horse, but it just makes no sense.

Time, effort, inconvenience. Reloading isn't for everyone. I used to enjoy it and reap the cost benefits. Now between family and Arisaka I simply don't have the time.

My Dillon 650 sits lonely on the bench.

[Former11B]

Time, effort, inconvenience. Reloading isn't for everyone. I used to enjoy it and reap the cost benefits. Now between family and Arisaka I simply don't have the time.

My Dillon 650 sits lonely on the bench.

But you also don't sound like the type of person to complain when a top shelf rifle doesn't work well with bottom shelf ammo.

I personally don't see reloading as an inconvenience; I'm saving a ton of money especially with the type of ammo I'm shooting. Beats paying 3x the cost per round plus shipping, since quantities like this are hard to find locally. My wife and kid consume nearly every waking moment I have when I'm not at work, but I still manage to get on the bench when I need to. I have to make time because I can't afford to shoot what I do AND pay factory ammo prices.

[Slippers]

But you also don't sound like the type of person to complain when a top shelf rifle doesn't work well with bottom shelf ammo.

I personally don't see reloading as an inconvenience; I'm saving a ton of money especially with the type of ammo I'm shooting. Beats paying 3x the cost per round plus shipping, since quantities like this are hard to find locally. My wife and kid consume nearly every waking moment I have when I'm not at work, but I still manage to get on the bench when I need to. I have to make time because I can't afford to shoot what I do AND pay factory ammo prices.

Yeah, I don't shoot bottom shelf ammo.

For reloading, it's great that you find the time and have the patience and know-how to do it.

In my experience with friends and other people I meet at the range, if they're not willing to purchase half-decent ammo, they aren't going to be willing to spend the money and time learning how to reload, despite the potential savings. It's the enthusiasts that appreciate high quality match ammunition that end up getting into reloading, not people searching for the cheapest blasting fodder.

[DeviantLogic]

What I don't understand is if they want inexpensive ammo, then why not handload? If they're already significantly invested in top shelf rifles and probably optics and other gear as well, why not control the quality of what you put in it? I doubt they'd buy a Ferrari and put 87 octane in it. I'm beating a dead horse, but it just makes no sense.

What's a bigger shame is that the quality of commodity ammunition hasn't improved that much over that last several decades. Manufacturing processes and technology have definitely improved, but in order to get marginally consistent ammo you've gotta pay a premium or roll your own. Even half ass handloads perform better than run of the mill Federal, Remington, and Winchester.

[usbp379]

In poking around on the webz I see that Specialized Armament Warehouse makes a suppressor dedicated upper in a 692x and 694x format. The info on his site says these various uppers are spec'ed to run only with a can in place.

[gatordev]

In poking around on the webz I see that Specialized Armament Warehouse makes a suppressor dedicated upper in a 692x and 694x format. The info on his site says these various uppers are spec'ed to run only with a can in place.

I'm sure any SA gun runs great, as they have a great reputation, but he's also SUPER-proud of his product. As an alternative, if you're looking at Colt, just buy a 16" SOCOM barrel (they're everywhere for sale online) and send it off to ADCO. Tell them to chop it to whatever length you want, and adjust the gas port, and you'll have a great barrel that functions great for significantly less expense. I'm 2 for 2 with sending my Colt barrels to them and I know there's plenty of others with the same experience.

[usbp379]

I'm sure any SA gun runs great, as they have a great reputation, but he's also SUPER-proud of his product. As an alternative, if you're looking at Colt, just buy a 16" SOCOM barrel (they're everywhere for sale online) and send it off to ADCO. Tell them to chop it to whatever length you want, and adjust the gas port, and you'll have a great barrel that functions great for significantly less expense. I'm 2 for 2 with sending my Colt barrels to them and I know there's plenty of others with the same experience.

So you've had two barrels cut and drilled just for suppressed use? What length and what gas port?

[gatordev]

I've had two barrels cut and drilled to "the spec," so they can run both unsuppressed and suppressed with M193. Both have been 10.3" barrels, and I'm guessing ADCO is using the Crane spec (which I mentioned earlier). I run my lowers with "the spec" of H2 buffers.

ADCO will build to order, so if you want a permanently-suppressed gun, you can email him and tell him that and they'll most likely build it that way.

[alamo5000]

In my experience with friends and other people I meet at the range, if they're not willing to purchase half-decent ammo, they aren't going to be willing to spend the money and time learning how to reload, despite the potential savings. It's the enthusiasts that appreciate high quality match ammunition that end up getting into reloading, not people searching for the cheapest blasting fodder.

Agreed. As well as to know the difference.

I don't normally shoot with a lot of other people but every once in a while I run across people who think they need match ammo to do mag dumps out of their 650 dollar AR's. A lot of them just go out and make noise with 200 rounds shooting pumpkins or whatever and call it good for six months until the next time they go shooting.

[usbp379]

I reload for quantity not quality. I've found a tremendous savings in training ammo especially in 300BLK. I know of no factory ammo available in this cartridge for cheap and repeated range use.

Sent from my GT-P3113 using Tapatalk

[usbp379]

I'm going to play with this idea a bit more and actually experiment with cutting a barrel and using it with an undrilled gas port.

What I'm thinking currently is cutting a carbine gas system barrel off at about 9.5" or so. This should leave enough room to mount a lopro gas block and thread the barrel.

I seriously doubt the gun will cycle at all without a suppressor but I'm hoping the addition of a suppressor will give the system enough dwell time to work. Or, at the least, the port will only need to be opened a tiny bit to get the gun to cycle.
I'm sure alot of this will be depending on ammo and suppressor combo. Anyway I'll update later.

[usbp379]

Here's a quick update:

We cut a Colt 14.5" barrel with a .064" gas port off at 10.5" and made no mods other than the cut and thread. Now the gun will almost run (cycles most of the time in semi- but won't lock the bolt open) unsuppressed but seems to be fine suppressed. If anything the gun might be a tad overgassed even with no mods to the existing gas port. Cyclic rate on full-auto isn't crazy but the ejection pattern is to the 2:30 position or so. We're using an AAC SD can with 18T adapter and an old Gemtech direct thread.

[Former11B]

Since it's on the same topic and without starting a new one, after reading Griffin's specs for their new suppressor-ready match barrels, I emailed Rainier about the gas ports on their barrels, and gave them the corresponding SKU numbers for accuracy. My 16" Match w/ 5.56 chamber, heavy contour, 1:8 twist, has a .076" gas port and the 18" Match/SPR contour with .223 Wylde chamber & 1:8 twist has a .078" port. I run them both with WAR upper receivers which recommend .084-.093" gas ports without any issues. I've seen people shy away from the WARs for this reason but I have empirical data that shows it can work and gas port size, at least at .076" and up (until tested otherwise), shouldn't be a reason not to get one.