Hey AR Guys....A Review of my New AR and Questions

[INTJ]

You said you like the trigger & you like BR shooting. What trigger is in the AR? You like it compared to what? I have an AR15 & AR10. Both have Geissele SSA-E triggers and I believe that was the best accuracy enhancing I could have done short of handloading in addition to the trigger. Best of luck going forward, I have to keep my mindset that the AR's are primarily for SHTF deployment......It is just TO easy for me to burn up a TON of ammo....

Regards
Rick

I don't know who made the trigger. It feels about like 3.5 lbs, but I haven't measured the pull weight. It's single stage, no creep, reasonable crisp.

I am with you, it's not worth putting a lot into this type of rifle. I just have a hard time if it won't shoot at least MOA, like all the other ARs I have had. The again, this is my first 5.56 Carbine.

 

[INTJ]

So does the 9" gas tube make it a mid length?

 

[LVLAaron]

So does the 9" gas tube make it a mid length?

Mid-length is 11-3/4
Carbine is 9-3/4

Neither will effect accuracy.

 

[Ultra8120]

Newbie forum member here
But been building and shooting the AR platform for a good 20+ yrs

The scope you mention
Will make it hard to do benchrest style precision on paper for sure

Upgraded trigger makes a world of difference
I prefer 2-3 lb single stage triggers for my AR rifles

The barrel bore and chamber can also have a big impact
Tight or lose spots in the bore
Machine Nicks or dings on lands or grooves
And or chamber

M4 ramp receiver matched to m4 barrel feedramps ?
I've seen folks end up with a mismatch
m4 receiver no m4 barrel extension ramps
vice versa
Which tears bullet jackets up while entering the chamber

How does the crown look ?

Also if your system is overgassed
It can effect accuracy as well makes the harmonics of the entire rifle funky

Do your rounds eject somewhere between 3-5 o'clock?

Quite a few things can work against your accuracy

I'd start by checking over these things mentioned and see what you find

You can order cheap borescopes on Amazon that actually work quite well
For the avg Joe to just keep an eye on there barrels at home

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

Let um get through the doorway, group size should be fine.

 

[INTJ]

Newbie forum member here
But been building and shooting the AR platform for a good 20+ yrs

The scope you mention
Will make it hard to do benchrest style precision on paper for sure

Upgraded trigger makes a world of difference
I prefer 2-3 lb single stage triggers for my AR rifles

The barrel bore and chamber can also have a big impact
Tight or lose spots in the bore
Machine Nicks or dings on lands or grooves
And or chamber

M4 ramp receiver matched to m4 barrel feedramps ?
I've seen folks end up with a mismatch
m4 receiver no m4 barrel extension ramps
vice versa
Which tears bullet jackets up while entering the chamber

How does the crown look ?

Also if your system is overgassed
It can effect accuracy as well makes the harmonics of the entire rifle funky

Do your rounds eject somewhere between 3-5 o'clock?

Quite a few things can work against your accuracy

I'd start by checking over these things mentioned and see what you find

You can order cheap borescopes on Amazon that actually work quite well
For the avg Joe to just keep an eye on there barrels at home

I have a real borescope so I'll scope the bore and check the barrel. Round eject at 3:00-5:00.

I still think my biggest issue was my target and rest.

 

[Ultra8120]

I have a real borescope so I'll scope the bore and check the barrel. Round eject at 3:00-5:00.

I still think my biggest issue was my target and rest.

Only 1 way to find out
Hopefully those 2 issues work out for you

 

[nilebartram]

If you want a accurate AR get a CLE or WOA upper with a 20" Krieger barrel. When I am shooting properly with a A-2 ,prone I can easily, with open sights, get 1'-1 1/2" groups at 100 yards. Thinking about better getting trigger but I am not competing . nilebartram

 

[INTJ]

If you want a accurate AR get a CLE or WOA upper with a 20" Krieger barrel. When I am shooting properly with a A-2 ,prone I can easily, with open sights, get 1'-1 1/2" groups at 100 yards. Thinking about better getting trigger but I am not competing . nilebartram

I have had accurate ARs before. Except for the SR 762 they were all A2s with 20" heavy barrels. I want a MOA carbine now but am not going to obsess over it--that's what LR BR is for.............

 

[Old Navy]

Two things I do when I want to check either factory or reloads is mount a bag rider and one of my benchrest scopes. ( 12X42) You say you shoot bench rest so you have a good front rest and a high power scope. Very easy to pull a scope and mount it on your AR. I have tested a lot of factory .223. The PMC 55 grain was the only one that shot 1". I reload so I didn't test the more expensive 77s.

 

[joshb]

I have a plain jane Rock River Arms AR. It shoots 1 1/2” at 100 with a 5 power Acog off the bags. Good enough for me!

 

[INTJ]

So I checked everything over. A couple years ago I built a competition level Ar out of Rock River parts, and the parts on this rifle seem to be similar. The trigger was heavier than I thought at 6.5 lbs, but it is consistent, breaks clean, and I am not moving the rifle off target when I pull the trigger so it isn't an issue for me. I may update the trigger eventually.

I scoped the barrel and it is a typical production quality barrel. The chamber is cut true as is the crown, but there are tooling marks, ridges across the rifling (aka Savage), in the middle of the barrel. With the BCG out I was able to measure the gas tube. I didn't realize how far into the receiver it extended, but it obviously has to. It is 11" and when I called Black Rain they said that was the mid length tube. Here are my next steps.

1. Get the Protektor AR rest sandbag rest so I have a consistent and proper position on the bags

2. Swap scope for ammo testing. I do have an extra Nightforce BR scope I could mount, but the scope extends to the end of the barrel with the sunshade on............

3. Use proper targets for the MTAC to see how well I do with that scope

 

[nilebartram]

I got a LWRC piston A2 16" barrel 8 years ago,(before Colt bought them)and it is one of the finest AR 15. It is a piston operated, there is movement up front because of the piston. Quite different feeling than a direct impingement AR. I still believe the most accurate AR is the DI operated. White Oak or Compass Lake are the best in DI AR in my opinion. ASk the guy's that compete in service rifle matches. nilebartram

 

[Bc'z]

I got a LWRC piston A2 16" barrel 8 years ago,(before Colt bought them)and it is one of the finest AR 15. It is a piston operated, there is movement up front because of the piston. Quite different feeling than a direct impingement AR. I still believe the most accurate AR is the DI operated. White Oak or Compass Lake are the best in DI AR in my opinion. ASk the guy's that compete in service rifle matches. nilebartram

But which would you rather clean, DI or piston?
Personally I prefer cleaning my piston gun.

 

[nilebartram]

piston by far. I do clean the piston rod and spring every other shooting session. What is amazing is pulling the bolt out and it is not even warm after shooting. Try that with a DI bolt. I should add, if I could ever own a short barrel AR I would definitely get a piston. DI short barrel AR's have so many problems, feeding, bolt bounce and the list go's on. nilebartram

 

[INTJ]

I had one piston AR, my Ruger SR-762. It would shoot under 5/8" at 100 yds with Fed GM Match 168s. 2600 fps with an ES of 10. I didn't shoot it much so I sold it to @JTEX.

 

[Mojomfg]

It didnt seem to like the 77g black hills. Im guessing its a 1 in 9 twist ... I would take one of my other scopes that are known good with a nice crosshair and try that with some way to improvise/ improve the rear bag and try the hornady 55g again

 

[Hohn]

AR's can be anything, but it's hard to make them be everything.

This x1000. If worried about personal defense, then shooting groups isn't the kind of testing I'd recommend. Instead, I'd focus on gaining proficiency with reloading (practice with just he lower receiver). I'd focus on testing a given ammo to make sure it will reliably operate the gun and vice versa. Basically, practice manual of arms and test to demonstrate reliability to your satisfaction (I tested mine with steel case Russian stuff and with weak brass case like PMC-- if it will run those, it will run anything).

ARs are capable of impressive accuracy. I've seen several go half moa with optimized handloads. But they were not that kind of AR you'd want to carry far or have to maneuver with. Even my own is a bit too heavy for that with only an 18" bbl, although it has cleaned at 600, so you're getting something in return.

If it's reliable and holding 2 moa to 200y, you have everything you need for effective personal defense. It's tough to argue self defense in court at 200y anyway.

I uses a 3-15 PSTg2 on my AR because it has a very wide FOV and when illuminated it serves almost as a red dot. Yet it will allow me to reach to 600y comfortably. Ideal for short range? NO. But good enough as a compromise for a one-AR solution.

If you are building a dedicated defensive carbine, a 1x red dot or prism scope has much to recommend it.

There's nothing wrong with mil spec triggers other than they are heavy. A shooter of your skill will be able to extract sufficient performance from it and the reliability of them is excellent. An enhanced mil spec trigger like the BCM or ALG (geissele) is cheap and a big improvement.

Even a budget AR is pretty impressive overall these days. Upgrades are done for style and preference as much as anything.

 

[Hohn]

But which would you rather clean, DI or piston?
Personally I prefer cleaning my piston gun.

I find that my 18" rifle gas setup runs so clean that when I clean it, it's because I want to, not because it needs it. Even after 300-400 rds. It helps that I generally use 8208 and AR Comp. 8208 in particular seems super clean in my gun.

Di guns are more work to clean, but it's not like they are finicky prima donnas that can't handle a bit of dirt or grime. A drop of oil here or there and they will run.

 

[Bc'z]

I find that my 18" rifle gas setup runs so clean that when I clean it, it's because I want to, not because it needs it. Even after 300-400 rds. It helps that I generally use 8208 and AR Comp. 8208 in particular seems super clean in my gun.

Di guns are more work to clean, but it's not like they are finicky prima donnas that can't handle a bit of dirt or grime. A drop of oil here or there and they will run.

I run my DI guns wet, this and wype out really help in cleaning quickly.
My piston gun is a POF15, I can run it dry, and run the piss out of it. Just wipe the bolt face off on my pant leg and keep on running.
Not finicky in the least, accurate too!!
Check out the POF416 meltdown video on YouTube, same platform only mine is semiautomatic versus full auto.