Dam Covid and Communism kept me from being on my 20th range trip with this rifle already. I drove up to the range 6 weeks in a row with over hour long waits. And ammo, geez.

Anyway, first time out with the LMT I brought 60 rounds of ZQI. Range here is typical of other manned ranges. 20 mins firing, cold and I usually don't have all day so I stay for 2 rotations.

1st time out, many malfunctions. No surprise to me basically expect it from any AR10. And this rifle, if any seems like it could use a little breaking in. I will say I lubed it up for the range trip 6 weeks previous, and by the time I got it out probably could have used more. Although, after 2nd range trip I'm starting to think the ZQI is the problem. If it's weak though, and LMT is notoriously overgassed, then what the hell. No issues in my SCAR, M14s, FAL etc. Anyway, I also had to put a comp on it cause CAL sucks ass, and I don't know what part that may or not play. The fact I'm even asking these questions is silly. Should also be noted I have only 1 Pmag. It only malfunctioned once on my Dallas Reloads, the very first round. Twice on ZQI at the end of the day. 54 rounds fired day 2 and 3 Malfunctions.

Accuracy seems very promising. 168 AMAX looking good, and some old FGMM not sure which one shot really well too. Consistency was what I was looking for. The groups show me being rusty. But I didn't slow it down and much as I could have. ZQI is the big group, 2 mils low of center. I did not adjust the zero until the end, which is the group at 9 oclock I aimed for the number. It is now POA/ POI for 168 FGMM clone, not ZQI.

ZQI is likely the problem, but describe in better detail what type of malfunctions you had.

ZQI is definitely not the most accurate stuff. I would try something else.

I'd say it's been a garden variety of FTE. I should have paid more attention, but figured I'd rule out what I could first. Majority is spent case not getting out, or interfering with next round being pushed forward.

One thing I noticed is markings on cases and ejected unfired rounds. I just put a mag in, chambered and ejected 1 round, held the bolt back and ejected the mag. So the Carrier did not return forward before mag was dropped out. I don't know how much of this is normal or not, but my other 308s don't produce this level of "damage" to the live cartridge.



Round 1 chambered and ejected manually. Bolt was held back and mag dropped.



Round that was chambered and ejected manually. 2 sides of the bullet showing significant marks. Unsure what to make of this. Burrs or something in the chamber maybe. Haven't been able to locate any so far.

The muzzle device shouldn't make a significant difference.

The marks on the bullets are normal for an AR type rifle.

Failure to extract suggests that it is undergassed (possible a misaligned gas block but unlikely), or the ammo is too weak.

quote:

Originally posted by Slippery Pete:
1st time out, many malfunctions. No surprise to me basically expect it from any AR10.

Although, after 2nd range trip I'm starting to think the ZQI is the problem.

Accuracy seems very promising. 168 AMAX looking good, and some old FGMM

I don't expect malfunctions from AR10s. The ones I've been around were quite reliable. My Black Rain AR10s have cycled 100%.

It's your rifle, but I won't shoot ammo along the lines of ZQI in my rifles. I wouldn't expect it to produce cycling problems, but I do expect it to group like a shotgun.

168 Amax, 168 FGMM, and 175 FGMM are all good ammo in quality rifles. Expect them to set an accuracy benchmark, with which to compare other factory and handloaded ammo. If any of the three don't produce good accuracy, then it's time to carefully review the rest of the shooting system.