Tips for better AR shooting ?

[Wolfdog91]

By the way, impressive group to start! Evaluate each and every change above with several 5-round groups. Probability and physics go hand in hand. What's the possibility that you shot the best group ever in that one instance? We'll always challenge you to repeat it.

-Mac

Yep that's the thing! See id say that probably the best group I've shot with that load , I got one or two others in my target binder that are about the same with the same load but it's like on those days , idk it's like the stars aligned or something lol. To be honest this is what a majority of what I'm shooting looks like


Which honestly really makes me feel like it's me more then anything

 

[tsyarnall]

Practice, practice, practice and it doesn’t always have to be with ammo. Practice breathing, getting a consistently clean/crisp trigger pull without any jerkiness and consistent head/shoulder positioning with a long follow through after the shot/pull. Continue to save for your new build. The rifle you have can be good for now and, once you have built your new AR, continue to use it for an excellent home defense/plinking rifle. If you chose, after your first build, you can start saving to upgrade the rifle that you have now. Rome wasn’t built in a day…..

 

[darkangel_r2]

Id start with a better trigger and a more target friendly upper. Look around for a bull barrel upper, at least 20” long with a free float tube. Try to get one with a 223 wylde chamber or better. My choice is compass lake engineering

White oak 20" predator is good too.

If he intends to shoot 75 hornadys I would suggest a shorter throat than a wylde chamber. Those fall appart quickly off the lands. Mine never got tighter or even nearly as tight again as max oal in my mags.

H322 is a very fast powder for 75 grain bullets. And the 75 hornady's are not a forgiving bullet. One easy change is try some 69 grain sierra match kings. More forgiving bullet and slightly better fit for that powder.

Not sure how long you have been shooting and what you know so I will ask an important one. Do you understand how to set your parallax for each range so your reticle doesn't shift with slight head movement?

 

[Wolfdog91]

Y

You are doing fine with what you have to work with. You are getting some good tips, but your rifle can only do so much in the current set up. Don't over analyze this.

Yeah I'm kinda realizing that now lol , yeah I was brought up shooting hand-me-downs and the like along with marksmenship though the army gaurd with the whole don't blame the rifle blame the shooter thing so it's I little hard for me to say " hay mabye I just need a better gun "
Well I'm definitely gonna try and take what everyone said here and apply it . Definitely about to put some new rings on order asap, and just keep budgeting till I can build something nicer

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Keep us posted on your journey. Theres plenty of people here that have what you need if you post a wtb ad in the classifieds

 

[RegionRat]

But another question, my lower is actually a polymer lower think that could have something do do with it as well ?

Use what you have for now, but I have seen too many of the early ones bust right at the rear pin.

The accuracy of the AR system is highly dependent on the bbl and upper. It isn't that the lower isn't important too, but the upper is the key.

 

[Wolfdog91]

White oak 20" predator is good too.

If he intends to shoot 75 hornadys I would suggest a shorter throat than a wylde chamber. Those fall appart quickly off the lands. Mine never got tighter or even nearly as tight again as max oal in my mags.

H322 is a very fast powder for 75 grain bullets. And the 75 hornady's are not a forgiving bullet. One easy change is try some 69 grain sierra match kings. More forgiving bullet and slightly better fit for that powder.

Not sure how long you have been shooting and what you know so I will ask an important one. Do you understand how to set your parallax for each range so your reticle doesn't shift with slight head move

Well originally I was using Varget but as y'all know can't really find that any more and the last bunch of powder I bought before the shortage happened was all for experimenting with cast bullets ( which has been pretty fun so far) I just happens to have a can of H322 laying around. I bought it's like three years ago because it was on sale I think. So saw some people where using it with luck so figured I'd try since tac just wasn't cutting it. Honestly wanter a heavier bullet because I already had a 1/7 twist and I read how much extra energy and the like the 75 grainers carried and figured for the price the Hornady s could be a nice multi purpose deal . Especially on hogs,had some. It so good experiences with lighter bullets and big hogs . But I'll definitely look into some 69 grainers ! I'm on my last 50 or so 75er's and still got like half a can of H322 .
As far as shooting, well as long as I can remember (24 now) ,but really only just now getting into the "trying to be MOA or less crowd " in the last three years or so. And I reckon I do I just set up and adjust the parallax dial till everything is nice and crisp and that target, I wiggle my head around to make sure it's keeping like that. That's how I do it on all my rimfires bolt guns ,and air rifles but maybe this is incorrect? Im open to suggestions if there's a better way
Actually I just got this scope last week and I've only shot a few groups with it. All the groups I've shown where actually shot with a little Nikon 3-9 buck master with a fixed 100yd parallax

 

[Wolfdog91]

Keep us posted on your journey. Theres plenty of people here that have what you need if you post a wtb ad in the classifieds

Definitely will ! Gotta say this is a great forum

 

[troupe]

If funds are the issue for now, a free float hand guard and low gas block will help a lot. You can get into a cheap outfit for around $100 plus or minus. A decent trigger, if yours is stock, that can be had around $100 also. Or you can put that $200 to around $225 into a new build. Your barrel has potential according to your group.

 

[YEW PLUCKER]

Hay all , I'm gonna be honest here and say when it comes to shooting groups wit my AR, I kinda suck Could qual with a M4 33-36/40 all day but I'm not very good trying to shoot nice groups off the bench. Then again shooting an ibsic torso @300 and a 1" dot @100 are kinda two different things I guess lol. Like I can plink cans and the like pretty easy but would like to be much better ,was looking for some tips that could help. I have started doing dry fire practice more and more when I come home from work ( practicing building my position with the rear bag loading my bipod and checking my bubble level trigger squeeze) but wanted to see what the pros do, can't really find alot on YouTube on the subject. Lots on bolt guns which I shoot just fine but not much at all on AR specific stuff
Here my little rig , real budget deal to be honest ( I'm a poor what can I say) But it can do a decent group if I do my part.
View attachment 1305615
View attachment 1305620
Anyway I am saving up to hopefully build a nicer target style ar but till then any tips would be appreciated

I think what you need is a bit more scope...

 

[darkangel_r2]

Well originally I was using Varget but as y'all know can't really find that any more and the last bunch of powder I bought before the shortage happened was all for experimenting with cast bullets ( which has been pretty fun so far) I just happens to have a can of H322 laying around. I bought it's like three years ago because it was on sale I think. So saw some people where using it with luck so figured I'd try since tac just wasn't cutting it. Honestly wanter a heavier bullet because I already had a 1/7 twist and I read how much extra energy and the like the 75 grainers carried and figured for the price the Hornady s could be a nice multi purpose deal . Especially on hogs,had some. It so good experiences with lighter bullets and big hogs . But I'll definitely look into some 69 grainers ! I'm on my last 50 or so 75er's and still got like half a can of H322 .
As far as shooting, well as long as I can remember (24 now) ,but really only just now getting into the "trying to be MOA or less crowd " in the last three years or so. And I reckon I do I just set up and adjust the parallax dial till everything is nice and crisp and that target, I wiggle my head around to make sure it's keeping like that. That's how I do it on all my rimfires bolt guns ,and air rifles but maybe this is incorrect? Im open to suggestions if there's a better way
Actually I just got this scope last week and I've only shot a few groups with it. All the groups I've shown where actually shot with a little Nikon 3-9 buck master with a fixed 100yd parallax

Adjust your parallax so that the crosshairs do not move if you move your head a little while looking through the scope. On an incorrect setting you will see significant movement of the crosshairs on the target when you move your head a little. This setting usually quite clear but may not be the most clear. But unless you can achieve a perfectly repeatable cheekweld and viewpoint through the scope your point of impact can move significantly.

 

[DGP4]

H322 is way too fast for a 75 grainer. Varget may be hard to find, but I find Ramshot TAC works better. It is not hard to find.

 

[Loudenboomer]

AA 2460 is another good Powder.

 

[howl]

Previous posts have given good advice. Free float and bulls bag up front would be my first move. That's less than $100 if you can borrow a wrench.

I will relate the good luck I have had with New Frontier polymer lowers. They fit tight and hold up great on hunting rigs for us. No problem getting sub-inch at 100 yards. I have standard aluminum lowers in the safe, but for an accurate hunting rig NFA is the go-to. Been using them for years. The only problem was wearing out a trigger due to high round count. They mailed a replacement.

I don't know about the other makes out there.

 

[troupe]

There is nothing wrong with the poly lower. It will work fine and unless there is some kind of defect in it, your accuracy will not suffer. There are die hard folks that think aluminum is the only way. Your accuracy comes from the top. I an surprised that no one has said that you have to have a COLT. Fairly inexpensive mods to the top will make a difference with what you currently have.

If you decide to build another upper, or complete rifle. Go with a little longer gas system and spend the money on a barrel. My old three gun rifle was a White Oak/ Wilson barrel set up and it was 3/4" with cheap ball ammo for blasting. Accuracy rounds were 1/2" in the barrel. It was a 16" mid length gas. I then switched to a 18" rifle gas and it was softer. I just ordered a Compass Lake Douglas for a 6 ARC build. Douglas makes great barrels.

Go as your funds allow. You can do even better with the small mods to your rifle now. When it is time for more of a bench rifle, put a red dot on your short gun and your scope setup that you have now on the longer upper that you purchase or build your self. It means more when you build your own and it shoots great. They are not hard to put together. If you can reload your own ammo, you can build your own AR.