sar3K,
I was going to do the new barrel thing, but not wanting to leave any stone unturned, I went to a friend's range today and tried several different types of .223. I should mention that the barrel in question has had a Smith Enterprise Sommers compensator on it for almost a year and a half and it has worked very well.
The first five rounds was some Venezuelan .223 (55gr) with the comp on - all tumbled.
The next was Winchester 55 gr. without the comp - five rounds - none tumbled.
The next was 55 gr. ballistic tip - five rounds - no comp, none tumbled.
Next was five rounds of Remington 62 gr - n comp, none tumbled.
Next was my Wolf 62 grain - shot ten - no comp, none tumbled.
All the testing was done at 60 yards.
I'm going to test further with a different comp and the original flash hider and see what happens, but it's lookin' like the comp is somehow to blame. Weird, eh?
Any thoughts on that?
Thanks,
Binazone