I got my 15SA last year and put around 40 rounds through it. Then I took it apart to strip it, clean it and lube with RedNTacky #2 and only got it back together this month.
I took it to the range yesterday mainly to check it's functioning ie. did I put it back together right?, sight in the red dot and the front BUIS as I inverted the hand guard and the front BUIS was sitting higher than before.
I also wanted to shoot a bunch of rounds through it to try to break it in as the previous 40 rounds had seen failure to feed (shells not catching on the advancing bolt), shells hanging up on the extractor cutout and stove pipe FTE of hulls.
I got it sighted in with slugs so that the red dot shoots to POA at 20 yards. I have the BUIS front sight cranked down as far as it will go and it is still higher than the red dot so I may have to grind the post down.
I then ran 2 boxes (50 rounds from the great $99 for 175 rounds plus the ammo can sale) of Federal 2.75" OO buck through it with zero failures. It always ran pretty well with this full house load. With the modified choke the 9 pellets grouped 7" at 20 yards, tighter than I expected. It was very pleasant recoil wise to shoot.
I found the fore grip helped to manage recoil and stay on target. I'm not usually a fan of fore grips on my black rifles unless there are so many accessories that I can't grip properly (ie. run out of room) but I figured that maybe the foregrip would allow me to give the SG a firmer hold and assist its functioning.
The action was getting noticeably smoother and easier to cycle by hand so the break in was helping.
I then ran a bunch of cheap Challenger low brass 2.75" 7.5 birdshot. These are the smooth hull shells.
I shot 75 rounds. I had 6 isolated failures. 4 where the bolt didn't latch, I just tapped the bolt handle (painless due to Bugouts bolt handle cover) forward with my weak hand and it was GTG. I think they are hanging on the extractor notch as it is very sharp on the face towards the oncoming shells. I am tempted to put a polishing wheel to it with my Dremel but will wait till I have finished breaking it in.
I had one failure of the bolt to catch the rim of the first shell using the release. That may have been me not slapping the base of the mag hard enough.
I had one failure to extract the hull stove pipe.
Most of the failures were in the first 5 mags of the birdshot and it ran better and better till the end. I have 5 mags and did not notice the failures happening with just one of the mags. I have clipped the mag springs as per Wolverine's advice and they are easy to load now.
Overall I am encouraged by the improvement. it bears out what some of the other owners have reported regarding it needing a break in.
I will do another session with around 200 birdshot and hopefully it will be all broken in and running like a sewing machine.
I took it to the range yesterday mainly to check it's functioning ie. did I put it back together right?, sight in the red dot and the front BUIS as I inverted the hand guard and the front BUIS was sitting higher than before.
I also wanted to shoot a bunch of rounds through it to try to break it in as the previous 40 rounds had seen failure to feed (shells not catching on the advancing bolt), shells hanging up on the extractor cutout and stove pipe FTE of hulls.
I got it sighted in with slugs so that the red dot shoots to POA at 20 yards. I have the BUIS front sight cranked down as far as it will go and it is still higher than the red dot so I may have to grind the post down.
I then ran 2 boxes (50 rounds from the great $99 for 175 rounds plus the ammo can sale) of Federal 2.75" OO buck through it with zero failures. It always ran pretty well with this full house load. With the modified choke the 9 pellets grouped 7" at 20 yards, tighter than I expected. It was very pleasant recoil wise to shoot.
I found the fore grip helped to manage recoil and stay on target. I'm not usually a fan of fore grips on my black rifles unless there are so many accessories that I can't grip properly (ie. run out of room) but I figured that maybe the foregrip would allow me to give the SG a firmer hold and assist its functioning.
The action was getting noticeably smoother and easier to cycle by hand so the break in was helping.
I then ran a bunch of cheap Challenger low brass 2.75" 7.5 birdshot. These are the smooth hull shells.
I shot 75 rounds. I had 6 isolated failures. 4 where the bolt didn't latch, I just tapped the bolt handle (painless due to Bugouts bolt handle cover) forward with my weak hand and it was GTG. I think they are hanging on the extractor notch as it is very sharp on the face towards the oncoming shells. I am tempted to put a polishing wheel to it with my Dremel but will wait till I have finished breaking it in.
I had one failure of the bolt to catch the rim of the first shell using the release. That may have been me not slapping the base of the mag hard enough.
I had one failure to extract the hull stove pipe.
Most of the failures were in the first 5 mags of the birdshot and it ran better and better till the end. I have 5 mags and did not notice the failures happening with just one of the mags. I have clipped the mag springs as per Wolverine's advice and they are easy to load now.
Overall I am encouraged by the improvement. it bears out what some of the other owners have reported regarding it needing a break in.
I will do another session with around 200 birdshot and hopefully it will be all broken in and running like a sewing machine.
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