On Thursday, the .458 SOCOM upper that I ordered from Teppo Jutsu through the Group Buy on EE arrived:



My configuration is:

A3 flat top (DPMS Lo Pro)
Aluminum Free Float Handguard (DPMS)
Low Profile Gas Block
16 inch Lothar Walther stainless steel barrel
A1 Birdcage flash hider
OKO 4M Red dot
RRA lower

The ammo that I was using was Corbon 300 grain hollow points.

First off, I am throughly impressed with the accuracy of this thing. This was 8 rounds that I fired after sighting it in at 50 yards (indoor range). At that distance, the center of the target is barely bigger than the dot on my sight, and I'm no "William Tell". I'd say that this is pretty good!



I was also very pleased with the way this gun handles. I actually got nervous before I fired my first shot (I'm a recoil wimp), but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the recoil wasn't very hard at all.

On the other side, I did experience a few malfunctions. I only fired 20 rounds. Of those 20 rounds, I had 2 "jams" where the round didn't feed all the way into the chamber. This could have been caused by 2 things. First, the ammo that I was using was Corbon 300 grain hollow points. They could have gotten hung up on the grooves for the locking nuts. Also, the mag that I was using was a new SA80 mag that I have only used once with 5.56 ammo. It seems to be a little on the sticky side.

I also had a couple of instances where the bolt did not move all the way forward. I was able to resolve this by pulling back and releasing the charging handle.

When I got home I loaded up my Bushmaster 10 round (5.56 10 round, .458 SOCOM 4 round). WITH THE FIRING PIN REMOVED, I pulled back and released the changing handle to chamber and eject all 4 rounds. I did this 3 times without incident. I'm going to take it back to the range tomorrow and give it another try.

I'll update after I get back from the range tomorrow.

ignore me I know nothing

UPDATE - It was all the mag's fault!!

I went back to the range today, gave my upper another go with a different mag. This time I used a Bushmaster 10 round mag (4 round .458 SOCOM). My first four shots with this mag were perfect! No "failed to feed", and the bolt closed fully each time. After this, I bought 2 more of the Bushmaster 10 round mags (4 round .458 SOCOM) and tried those as well. I fired another 28 rounds (I fired 32 rounds total- these thing start to hurt after a while) and I did not have any more issues.

I am convinced that all of the problems that I had yesterday were related to the mag that I was using. I am going to order a couple of the new Bushmaster 30 round (10 roound .458 SOCOM) mags and give those a try.

The down side to the Bushmaster 10 round mags is that your total capacity in .458 SOCOM is limited to 4 rounds. The mag will not lock with the bolt closed and 4 rounds in the magazine. The up side is that it is the perfect capacity for hunting.

Also, I am continually impresseed with the accuracy of this gun! Here is my first 4 round group fired at 50 yards from the bench. Not too shabby!

Quoted: I also had a couple of instances where the bolt did not move all the way forward. I was able to resolve this by pulling back and releasing the charging handle. .

Yet some say the FA is useless.

I wish I had the money to get one. Nice.

Got to LOVE those BIG holes...