So I tinkered just a teeny bit yesterday. Finally got a lighter buffer weight in and tried that in the 18" Wylde. 2.2 oz buffer. Still did not cycle. I should have swapped it to the 16" carbine, but didn't. Had lots going on (mostly dropping a dead oak tree and cutting that up which was long overdue). By the time I got to the hobby, I just didn't have much time or mostly energy. Tree whooped my ass - as I am
old and out of shape (
okay, I'm older and fat). (Today I can barely stand up straight)
I actually also recently got an Armaspec Stealth recoil spring, which I tried with the same end result. ( I do like it in my 16" gun with factory rounds though)
I've tried both new and used brass. although I have only limited amount of new brass. All the "used" brass is supposedly 1x fired and I know that the "personal" supply portion is only x fired. I have all my brass separated by brands/batches as well as number of times fired. (I did trim all the used brass to length and resize, etc.) I don't "think" it's the brass as I didn't have any issue with the brass with other powders (IMR4064). AND....some of it was new brass.
Also, with the recent ongoing building hobby, I now have three completed and different AR guns all of which treat this batch of loads relatively the same. 3 Guns: A) 20+ year old Bushmaster 16" A2 model, B) newish PSA build 16" barrel, mid-length gas, and the "newest"; C) 18" stainless Wylde, rifle length gas. Both of these "builds" were factory assembled uppers and I did the lowers. I also have one more assembled upper (16" mid length) I have swapped in for testing, as well as several different BCG, etc.
All react the same - cycle fine with factory ammo and the IMR4064 hand loads, yet short cycle on the "Russian 4198". I can actually feel the load is light. It fires fine, ejects the shell 90% of the time, but almost never cycles the next round. Occasionally I get a stuck case, which I don't understand either.
With the factory buffers, all three guns cycle well with factory 223 and 5.56 ammo I have.
What I don't get is weeks/months ago, I slowly worked the load up and up and up from 18.5 to 22.5.
At 22.5 I was getting flattened primers and stuck cases.
I know the 4198 is not ideal .223 55GR, but I DID find published loads for it so I figured it would work at least for plinking (which is all I was after). I read a bunch of forums and this seams to be a common problem. Lot's of folks find it works fine and many find it won't cycle properly. With 16lbs of it....I certainly want to try and get a load that I can work.
It's Russian powder FSP-680 sold through Ft Smith..."most similar" to 4198. It is new powder made in 2020-2021