Accidental LaRue/Leupold Torture Test

venatic

venatic

Well-known member
I was not sure what to title this post but I have seen the question asked several times about the repeatability of the LaRue QD AR scope mounts. Well I have taken them off and put them back on a couple of times and they returned to zero just fine BUT as luck would have it a mistake on my part caused me to really test the mettle of both the mount and the scope.I just got my new Forster press and was looking around for something that needed sizing. AhHa there was some already sized IMI brass that I was going to make into Tac 20 brass so I screw in the die and proceed to take them down to .20 cal.Well I am not quite used to the Forster yet so I did not bottom out the die enough to bump the shoulder back all the way.So when I get to the range Saturday to shoot several guns I get out the DTech Tac 20 and chamber a round to chronograph and it will not fire. I realized the problem so I tried to re-chamber and only succeeded in wedging it tighter.Since I have had this before I knew what to do. While pulling down hard on the charging handle I repeatedly slammed the stock down into my rear rest bag numerous times all the while thinking this cannot be too good for my Leupold scope. Well I could not budge the action open and dark was coming quickly along with a few hundred mosquitoes so I decided to take it home and work there.
Once home I tried about five more really hard slams to no avail then decided to remove the scope/mount before I damaged it. Well after about three more slams the cartridge flew out and all I had to do then was pull some bullets and re-size a little more and all was good.Today I got home with enough time to make a quick trip to the range to chronograph those bullets and re-sight in the DTech with my old load. Setup the chronograph and open my ammo bag then it hits me those re-sized bullets are still sitting in the loading blocks.
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Thats what happens when you get in a hurry. Oh Well I can re-sight my Tac 20 anyway so I dig out my last years loads that were 1/2 inch high at 100yds and dead on at 200yds. Before I shot I thought geez I hope I hit paper after all that slamming and banging.Welllll check it out.Still on the money!!!Not to shabby of a group either.
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The first thing I do after sizing my initial round of brass is check it in the chamber. If it is GTG, then I size the rest accordingly. Thought this was standard procedure for all handloaders......
 
Thats a [beeep] fine group! Was that shot at 100 yards, how many shots? Please pardon my ignorance when it comes to AR style rifles...but I had no clue they could group THAT good.
What are the specifics about your AR? Brand, bbl length/twist, upgrade parts?
 
Venatic and 2muchgun,

This post shows that even very experienced reloaders can get in a hurry once in a while. As I'm sure you both know, the AR-15 is not very forgiving when it comes to chambering and extracting a tight round. This is the main reason I like to dedicate a sizing die to one particular rifle. If you are continually resetting the headspace for different rifles of the same caliber, It's more likely you will see this problem.

I thought Venatics post did a good job of showing cause and effect for his problem. My question would be: If you knew the Larue scope mount would return to zero when remounted, why not remove it before slamming it? You might also be testing Leupold's warranty.

2muchgun's post is 100 % correct, and it's even more important with rounds for the AR-15s. You can get away with a tight round or two with a bolt rifle but you will have nothing but grief in the AR.

Flatlander.54
I would also say that properly equipped ARs are quite capable of some fine groups. My RRA varminter has made a believer out of me. Anything DTech makes is going to deliver some fine groups from what I have seen.
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