So I'm basically looking for ideas here and I figure the best way to go about this is to take what I've got, put it out there and see what suggestions others on the board may have for upgrades or swapping things around. The truth of the matter is that I don't really understand some of the technical stuff about internal parts for these rifles and I'm trying not to get bamboozeled into buying pointless stuff by someone at a gun store who can throw around a ton of terms I need to look up before I'm qualified to tell whether or not he's just trying to upsell me.

So I started with a 5.56 gas impingement RRA LAR-15, Tactical CAR A4. 16" moly chrome barrel, 1:9 twist.

I removed the carry handle/rear sight and replaced it with a Troy Industries Flip-Up rear sight and a Redfield Revolution 3-9x50mm scope with the Accuplex reticle meant for 5.56. I swapped the charging handle for the BCM Gunfighter Large, put a Troy Industries Quad-Rail up front and added a First-Gen T-Pod from Fab Defense, a cheapo flashlight mount from CAA, Surefire 6P light and covered the open space on the rails with MagPul XTM Panels and I put a cheap butt pad on the stock to cover the sharp edges. Last but not least I'm waiting on BATFE approval for a Thunderbeast 223P-2 suppressor that's sitting in my dealer's safe Oh, and I have a Blackhawk! sling on it, which I don't like, definitely looking for recommendations on replacing that thing.

As I said, looking for recommendations that others have for other upgrades or to swap something I've already done for something better that I'm unaware of (especially advice on another upper). The only thing I ask is that suggestions don't include "Buy a different brand of rifle." Everyone has their preferences when it comes to an AR, personally I like RRA rifles and I'm not interested in swapping to Danial Defense or DPMS or whatever at this time.

Thanks in advance guys/gals!

I've been trying to set it up for 3 gun competitions, so the match grade barrel is out.

Off it's bipod/a rest the rifle shoots quite well with both the scope and irons. Generally speaking when I use boxed ammo it's high grade, but usually I load my own. The scope itself is not particularly useful for such competitions, it's heavy and going past 3x or 4x isn't really needed. The only real reason I put it on there was for shooting coyotes and other varmints, for which performance is more than acceptable.

Thanks for the info on the other forum.

I figured I'd post here just to get a general idea of how people feel about different things.

For now I figured I'm looking at alternative uppers for individual purposes that I can swap out with the same lower.

Not only is it a bit cheaper but it saves me room in my safe.

Browse around here to get some ideas:

Lol I imagine whole rifles manage to reproduce.

My thinking for this is to keep the current barrel for intro level competition stuff and get another, something like a 22", for varminting. That way I don't have to swap out optics are constantly be rezeroing them.

For example; is it worth going to a low profile gas block or should I stick with the A4 front sight?

I think one of the biggest improvements you could make to the rifle itself would be a new trigger (depending on what you have now). A geissele SSA-E or S3G would be a sure bet

just stop, go shoot, a lot



dont listent to people that know nothing about what youu need/want





GO SHOOT or take a class



 

The rifle came with an RRA two stage match trigger. This is exactly the kind of thing that I was talking about in my OP, about being upsold on things that are not necessary is something like a geissele going to be an upgrade or just about on par with the trigger the rifle already has?

I've shot quite a few AR's, but never one with one of the really nice trigger upgrades. In my experience the RRA triggers are extremely nice compared to what a company like Colt or Bushmaster puts standard in their rifles.

What I'm interested in is opinions from people who aren't trying to sell me stuff. For example, I was looking at various optics the other week. The behind the counter here told me "We don't sell crap" but then immediately switched tack and told me the Aimpoint in his case was garbage and I should to with a much more expensive ACOG scope or EOTech.

I'm merely wondering what options are actually useful and what isn't because for most of my life with these rifles I've shot base models. For example, are any of the bolt carrier groups worth the price and what do they actually do for the user?

As for training, I need to do some serious research. Most of the places around here require you to take a series of basic classes before they'll let you do anything else. I already did the progression with a pistol and spent hundreds of dollars to learn very little before getting to a class that actually taught me something and allowed me to move while shooting. 2+ hours of class room instruction followed by getting to shoot 25 rounds on a normal basic gun range at paper targets 7 yards away when you're not even allowed to double tap the target for $299 isn't really how I wanted to spend my day.

I understand that a lot of these places have to assume people are completely new to guns. But at $200-$500 a class... plus drive time and gas and ammo, I'm not interested in going through two to three classes where they're explaining what a sight picture is or the need to keep your booger flicker off the bang switch until you're ready to shoot.

the only thing I'd suggest is a different scope or an offset sight, either irons or RDS for close up work. a 3-9 isn't ideal for the type of shooting done in most 3-gun matches. a 1-4 or 1-6 being the standard.

You trigger is fine, I'd shoot it for a while, then try something else(light single stage or two stage) and see if the change is worth it to you.

a lot of the other mods are done in conjunction with each other i.e. an Adjustable gas block, light weight carrier, buffers, springs etc I wouldn't start messing with this until you have a better grasp on it all.

Not trying to up sell you on anything. You never mentioned if you had a standard mil-spec trigger or not, maybe I didn't read between the lines when you were describing what rifle you had as I am not a rifle spec guru. Just from my research on some of your same questions, everybody always recommends upgrading the trigger as it's probably towards the top of the list of things to change. With that said, if you are happy with the RRA trigger then by all means fire away.

Personally, I always upgrade the trigger to an SSA but it sounds you are good on your current trigger, the other upgrade I always do is throw on a BADASS safety, but that is a personal preference. I also always use a VTAC upgraded padded sling. Everything else depends on what I want to use the rifle for, but I am partial to EOTECHs but again, it's a personal preference. Oh, and I generally change out the stock to a Magpul and hand grip (many choices there).

I wasn't trying to say you were trying to up sell me, merely pointing out that this is the root cause of this post. To my knowledge and based on my experience RRA doesn't sell a rifle with a mil spec trigger.

However I have no idea how their two stage trigger compares to other good triggers. Spending money on something like this only to find out its not as good or is on par with what I have and then trying to recoup my money in a private sale is exactly what I'm trying to avoid.

The reason I came here is because some of people I've run into here who shoot in competitions don't want to give any decent advice to newbies (and the aforementioned upsell). They seem to want you to show up with gear that puts you at a disadvantage to them in the competition. They'll intentionally give you bad advice, making it difficult to sort out the truly helpful people from the ones who just want to beat you and are willing to lie if they think it gives them an edge.

As for training, I understand why they want you to take the basic class if for no other reason than liability, but I felt the place I went to was a ripoff once I actually took the classes.

Nothing against the instructors, who were all retired military, but it was company policy. The third and forth classes were useful, but when you're in a supposed "tactical pistol class" and it's basically a rehash of the NRA Basic Pistol class, flogging numerous dead or dying horses, it get's frustrating. Especially when it's over priced and requires an hour's commute.

I spent some time on the phone this afternoon and think I found a good intro tactical carbine class. It's only $135, the instructor is a retired SEAL and SWAT instructor and they're asking you to bring 350 rounds, so it sounds like you'll actually get some trigger time. Guy's all about the gun sight method you mentioned.

What safeties do you recommend? Also, I like the VTAC slings, I was thinking about going that route again. Unfortunately my old one was in a bag that got stolen out of my car

 

Haha haha when you said BADASS I thought you were expressing your admiration for a specific safety without specifying what brand it was. My bad!

OP, your equipment choices (sights) for 3 gun are going to be based upon what division you want to go in.  Tac Optics is the most popular division, here you will find magnified optics ranging from 1-4 up to 1-6 for the most part (I've seen a 3-9 used with off-set irons at a 30 or 45 degree angle).  Tac Irons, you'll see numerous different set-ups for this (I have a dissipator without red dot, buddy has a flat top and carbon fiber handguard with a top rail and flip ups and an Aimpoint, etc, etc, etc.  Open, throw a high powered scope and an offset red dot on it.

For uppers, a flat top, 18" barrel with either rifle or mid gas, with a free float carbon fiber tube are the it things now.  For the low powered scope, it is really your preference for reticle; there's an abundance of them out there.  Your trigger is good, the RRA NM triggers last about 5-8k rounds before they wear out and start to touch off another round or two with every trigger pull.  Run it until you can't anymore.

Since you roll your own, a low profile adjustable gas block, low mass bolt carrier group, and low mass buffer and action spring.  With the buffer, you can drive the pin out, remove the weights, and put the end cap back on and be set there.  You can tailor your handloads for accuracy and adjust your gas block to a quarter/half turn past where you can get the action to cycle enough to lock back on an empty mag.  The extra little bit of turn (opening the gas block) will help in reliability.  This light weight/adjustable set-up will reduce recoil.  Also, get a good compensator.  The DPMS Jerry Miculek brake is cheap and effective, I think I picked mine up for $45ish.

Now, you need to get to know what kind of match the ranges like to run, are they full of quick hoser stages?  Is it a blend of tight shots at distance and nonthreats in front of close targets?  How far is the longest shot and are there lots of long distance shots, what size of targets will be out there?

Go read the Brian Enos forum for rifle-specific gear.  That will help you answer some of your questions about what gear is out there and how they impact your match performance.  The most important part of 3 gun is not the equipment, but how well you can run your gun.  Having a tricked out competition gun that runs on the fine line of reliability and low recoil won't mean much if you don't know your hold overs/unders, how to transition between targets, reload on the move, and getting a good sight picture and trigger squeeze.

@HeyCoach:

Thanks for your info.

My buddy is trying to get me to shoot with his group and what they run varies based on which range they use that week/month. It's not set and designed to offer a variety of challenges for shooters. That, combined with an overall lack of how some of the specific stuff for an AR functions, is why I asked about gear in the way that I did.

There are ranges where they're running courses where the 3-9 that I have and my 1 o'Clock sights would be perfect. They have others where you'd probably be advised run irons or a red dot and others where another choice would be the on you wanted.

My big issue with this has been that when I've asked people at gun stores about some of this they've acted like they know everything (which they very well may) but they want me to buy $2000+ worth of upgrades ranging from bolt carrier groups and buffers to barrels and optics. I had no idea if they were telling me the truth or just trying to get me to spend a ton of money at their shop. So I figured I would ask some people here who aren't invested in getting me to spend money.

What I'm really trying to do here is have the basics of gear that I can do something like swap one upper with optics for another with irons as the shoot may require and maybe upgrade some of the internals on both uppers and the lower.