.308 shootout! Black Hills vs. Wolf vs. gun show special vs. milsurp

Went to the funshow earlier today and picked up a couple different types of ammo to try in my AR-10 SEBR.  Since I haven't really shot a rifle much until this year, I need a lot of practice so hopefully these little range reports will encourage me to learn to shoot better.  My photography skills are also found wanting, but that's another matter.

Here's what I used today:

Rifle:      AR-10 SEBR from Armalite (Thanks again 5sub!)
Sight:      Aimpoint ML-2
Magazines:  (2) 10 round original factory mags
Range:      PMAA range in Parley's Canyon
Weather:    Quite comfy, except for the 20-40 mph winds, perhaps 70 deg.
Distance:   Since I'm blind, a poor shot and it was really windy, (all pretty poor excuses, really), 25 yards.
Ammo used:
  Black Hills red box 168 gr moly coat - $18 or so/box of 20
  Wolf 168 gr (I think) - $4/box of 20
  HSM 168 gr Match - bought at the gunshow, guy said was "better than Black Hills" - $8/box of 20
  Military surplus from Sportsmans Guide, 146 gr, $3.30/box of 20

Here's the gun



Target #1:
I fired three rounds at the target, the top left is the HSM Match, then the Wolf, then the military surplus, and the Black Hills is on the bottom left.  As you can see, for the marginal shooter there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of difference in group size.


Same target at a different angle without the quarters for reference



Target #2:
Next, I did side by side shootouts of five shot groups.  I did not pretend like I was in a competition and could take three minutes per shot.  I put the red dot where I thought it should go and fired.  Each five shot group probably took less than 30-45 seconds.  This is how the Black Hills compared to the HSM gun show ammo:



Same target, different camera angle



Target #3:
This shows the Wolf ammo vs. the Sportsman's Guide surplus stuff.  The group really surprised me for the surplus ammo, it's probably one of the best I shot all day.  I'm guessing that my group size will all ammo types will get smaller the more I practice.  I think I took a little more time shooting the milsurp ammo for some reason, and I'm actually pretty happy with it.




Target #4:
This last one was 20 rounds of the surplus ammo, shooting standing and unsupported.  Either I'm a big wimp, or the gun is fairly heavy, because I had a pretty hard time keeping the gun from moving around (or maybe it was that Big Gulp of Mr. Pibb I drank on the way to the range, yeah, that's it!)  Anyway, I hate Barney.  I fired 10 shots at the middle of the target, and 10 at his head and didn't do too well.




Any advice on shooting standing would be appreciated. I didn't have the sling on the gun when I shot, so maybe that might help.  My left arm wasn't tucked in, I just stuck it out there and held up the forearm and just couldn't keep it steady.

Thoughts on ammo:

The Black Hills functioned flawlessly, as did the Wolf and surplus.  The HSM gun show special ("better than Black Hills" by the way) had two failures to feed at different times.  I only had two 10 round mags and didn't keep track if the FTF occured in the same mag or not, but the FTF didn't occur twice in the same group.  I think the HSM is probably pretty accurate and at $8/box is probably a bargain for practice ammo vs the really expensive Black Hills.

For me, though, the surplus ammo from Sportsman's Guide, at a mere 15 cents a round or so is probably my best choice for practice.  It seems accurate enough for now, and is cheap enough that I won't feel too much pain burning up 2000 rounds of it while learning to shoot better.

Thoughts, comments, advice, sneers, jabs and guffaws encouraged.

surplus is MIL-SPEC loaded to specs so of coarse it will shoot good so long it is a good surplus maufacture in the first place. What is the headstamp on the surplus? If you hunt then I would use the Blackhills for that, the bullet is better quality. I cant wait to take my AR10 out for here first shoot .

Where did you get the Wolf? That stuff's supposed to be like hen's teeth.

All the Surplus .308 stuff I have shot (Aussie, Port, Brit, Argie, Venezuelan, German, Malysan) Has been very accurate, Though Some of it gave me function problems in my AR10.

Quoted: Where did you get the Wolf? That stuff's supposed to be like hen's teeth.

At the fun show this weekend.  They were selling by the box ($4) and by the case.  I didn't know it was rare, otherwise I would have bought a bunch, marked it up 85% and sold it on the EE.