What's happening here? Keyholing?

[Piglatinhater]

Hey All,
I took my arc22 out for the first time and noticed the impacts were not consistantly round. Is this keyholing? It only did this when it was on the sr22 but not any of the other hosts. Ammo was generic 22 that come in the 550 packs.

 

[HydroAuto]

Key-holing is when the bullets hit the target and something other than perpendicular to the paper. ie: bullet is tumbling, or starting too. That can be caused either by instability due to insufficient barrel twist rate, insufficient muzzle velocity to get the necessary spin to stabilize the bullet, baffle strikes or the bullet just slowing down at long range (instability again).

Kind of hard to see, but the holes don't look right. Are all those holes from the same weapon (SR22) at the same distance? How far were you shooting?
Did you see the same type of holes when you shot the SR22 unsuppressed?

Typically the bulk pack stuff is 'high velocity' and 'standard' weight so I really wouldn't expect key-holing from twist related issues.

Have you inspected the suppressor end cap for schmears of lead? Hard to say for sure, but if it is only happening with that weapon and only when suppressed, I'd start looking at how the suppressor is mounted to it to make sure it is indexing properly off a square shoulder or possibly off the muzzle. (not sure if the ARC can is intended to index off the muzzle face or the shoulder)

 

[DinkyDau]

Depends, can make a better opinion based on the rounds down range at the time.

 

[Allsmiles]

Like HydroAuto said, something looks off. Try shooting again with a fresh piece of cardboard behind the target so that you can get accurate holes. You may be getting some tearing if the paper is moving and then catching/hitting on the cardboard. Also, take apart the ARC22 and see if there are bullet strikes anywhere on the inside (mainly baffle center and end cap). The other thing to check is to make sure your adaptor is on tight and not causing issues. If the target above is one mag of ammo, something looks like it might be loose unless you were just blasting away.

 

[Piglatinhater]

Kind of hard to see, but the holes don't look right. Are all those holes from the same weapon (SR22) at the same distance? How far were you shooting?
Did you see the same type of holes when you shot the SR22 unsuppressed?

Typically the bulk pack stuff is 'high velocity' and 'standard' weight so I really wouldn't expect key-holing from twist related issues.

Have you inspected the suppressor end cap for schmears of lead? Hard to say for sure, but if it is only happening with that weapon and only when suppressed, I'd start looking at how the suppressor is mounted to it to make sure it is indexing properly off a square shoulder or possibly off the muzzle. (not sure if the ARC can is intended to index off the muzzle face or the shoulder)

-Same weapon (SR22), same distance 7 yards IIRC
-Hole were perfect without the suppressor
-No lead schmears
-I'll check the shouldering

Like HydroAuto said, something looks off. Try shooting again with a fresh piece of cardboard behind the target so that you can get accurate holes. You may be getting some tearing if the paper is moving and then catching/hitting on the cardboard. Also, take apart the ARC22 and see if there are bullet strikes anywhere on the inside (mainly baffle center and end cap). The other thing to check is to make sure your adaptor is on tight and not causing issues. If the target above is one mag of ammo, something looks like it might be loose unless you were just blasting away.

-I don't think it's the cardboard tearing it
-I'll strip apart the ARC22 and double check.
-Everything was tight before I fired

 

[Allsmiles]

Have you tried any other cans on this SR22? I'd be interested to find out what is happening as I have a SR22 that I was debating on getting a TB for it. However, I have a S&W 22 compact coming now; but still may swap SR22 barrels for a fun. I normally shoot a Buckmark with a SpectreII; but the barrel is long enough to let bulk 22 go supersonic.

 

[Piglatinhater]

Have you tried any other cans on this SR22? I'd be interested to find out what is happening as I have a SR22 that I was debating on getting a TB for it. However, I have a S&W 22 compact coming now; but still may swap SR22 barrels for a fun. I normally shoot a Buckmark with a SpectreII; but the barrel is long enough to let bulk 22 go supersonic.

I have not. Brian @ Dobbs highly recommended the SR22s for his cans so I got one.

 

[palmettomoon]

Get some adhesive spray, wet the back of the target and apply it to a flat, un****ed piece of cardboard and then shoot it again.

 

[CBH13]

I also think it could be due to tearing. the slower the round is moving the more it has a tendency to tear the paper instead of just punching a clean hole. I agree that my first course of action would be to glue one tight to a piece of cardboard and then look at the results.

 

[kuduman]

Get some adhesive spray, wet the back of the target and apply it to a flat, un****ed piece of cardboard and then shoot it again.

This man is correct. Or just shoot cardboard, and carefully measure the holes for "roundness" with a caliper. And better yet-- do it at double the distance.

I have lots of handgun bullets that rip paper, but are not askew in flight. Loose paper... rips.