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Posted: 4/2/2006 5:25:02 PM EDT
I have been thinking about getting one of these but am wondering about its accuracy potential. I did a search and came up with a couple threads but none contained a range report. Does anyone have one of these? Are you happy with it, and whats best case accuracy like |
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Just got my upper in today 04-03-06. I'mm gona take it out this weekend to do barrel break-in. Then I will test several different ammo types and give a report. So far the fit and finish were good. I fit fine in my Bushmaster lower. Only thing is that it "rings" like a bell when you charge it. I know it is the free float tube making it. I have never had a free float tube on an AR so the sound change is new to me. I am installing a Barska SWAT scope on it tommarow (all I can afford at the moment) The BUIS is an ARMS 40 rear and the YHM clamp front flip sight. It took about a month to get it, as supposedly they are in high demand????? I will post range report when I shoot it this weekend. |
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Well I was going to give a range reprot but the range I go to is closed to all rifle firing "due to safety concerns". I asked what were the problems and they said "nothing". That the army was out on manuvers on Fort Bliss and the risk of them being near the impact zone was there. I would have gone out into the desert but my Xterra is in the shop getting the busted windshield fixed. So I'll try again next weekend. 
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Well if the weather is good this weekend....not rain but high winds and dust stroms here, I will have one posted on Sunday. I have a digital camera and will take pics if I can. I am really eager to shoot this rifle too. I have had it for 2 weeks and have not gotten a chance. BTW...this is just the UPPER that I have. I replaced my old and well worn BM 14.5 HVY AK upper with it. The lower is a standard BM A2 lower. I have a VLTOR rifle stock on it right now, but it is not comfortable for me, I am switching back to the A2 stock for the review. I have the YHM flip up front sight (installed by BM) and an ARMS 40 rear sight. I will first fire with irons and then attach my scope. It's a Barska 6-18 SWAT. I had some nice Leupold QD medium rings to mount it with until my Armalite one piece comes in. I will do my best to review it as this will be my first REAL review of anything on this site. Hope for good weather, as I HATE cleaning sand out of my rifles. Oh if it is too windy it's hard to put up paper targets out here so i will most likely shoot steel plates and then take pics of the groups on them. Not a good way to test it but the rifle range here in El Paso that I usually go to with all the neat target holders and marked distances out to 1500, is closed to rifle shooting right now due to "saftey reasons". I think they are expanding the distances and putting up fencing out to 6000 yds for a safe impact zone. |
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Ok Well here is the verdict, somewhat. I didn't get my camera out there so I have no pics. This is really kind of an informal range report really. It was pretty windy but not too bad. The ammo I was using was: 1. Radway Green 62gr 1991 dated 2. Wolf 55gr and 62gr Poly 3. Black Hills Blue Box 75gr 4. Handloads- 55gr Ok the Wolf and the Radway Green all short stroke. Never could get more than one shot off at a time. So I kinda used the AR as a "bolt action" , I would manually cycle the rounds to check for accuracy. The target was a steel plate 13" x 15" at 150 measured yards. Temperature was 88 degrees, with a westerly wind at 15-25 mph. Elevation is 4100 ft. Well first I need to say that I found the bolt and the carrier to be extremely dirty coming from BM. Not the usual grease or oil, but HEAVY carbon deposits. The barrel was even really dirty, oil and powder residue. I cleaned with Hoppes9 and used JB bore paste every 5 rounds for the break in with BH 75 gr. Ok again, any WOLF or RADWAY GREEN would not cycle the action. I really wish it would as this is a large part of my ammo cache. The accuracy was about 2.5 - 3.5 inches at the 150 yds. This was with manually cycling each round. The Black Hills 75 grain was great. Not one problem at all. Shot about 60 rounds and accuracy was better at about 1.5-2 inches. My friends handloads, 55 gr, not sure on the powder but i will get that info asap. All 100 rounds fired and functioned perfectly. Accuracy was the same as the BH. Well my first impressions are kind of so so. I am pissed that the upper was in such dirty condition when I got it. This was supposed to be a new upper that was just assembled. The fact that it would not fire my Wolf or Radway ammo was a little scary. I know that this ammo is underpowered, but my Stag 16" eats anything I put through it. I had this rifle with me also, fired all the same ammo with the same mags and NEVER had a problem. I hope that maybe this rifle just needs some break in tiem and that it will come around. If not I need to learn to handload and/or by some more factory commercial ammo and test it to find a good mix. The upside is that the new Barksa SWAT scope I put on it seemed very good so far. Glass was clear, and even though I did not boresight it, it shot only 4 inches high right out of the box. The wind was mostly at mmy back so left/right was not a factor really. My friend also commented that the scope was clearer and crisper than the Redfield he had on his RR Varminter. Which by the way did not eat the Wolf or Radway either. Well I hope this give a little idea of the rifle and I hope to get back out soon and do a serious review. |
| Thanks for the report Reap! Thanks for not sugar coating it. Hopefully you will be able to shoot some paper once they re-open your regular rifle range with light winds, so we can see what this baby is really capable of. I am happy to hear that it shoots 55gr equally as well as the 75gr. |
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Yeah I try to keep it real. I am not the best shooter, but am very capable. I am not going to claim any crazy groups or anything. I am sure this thing is very accurate and a capable rifle. I just need a better setting to bench it and see what it is capable of as I am sure it is more capable than I am. I also want to find several good loads that it likes. Like I said before, it does not seem to like surplus and Wolf right now. I do think however that a good comercial load will be fine. This is the windy season in El Paso so it could be a few months to get a nice calm day. Really it's not the wind that bothers me just the dust and sand. And that a shooting day will be nice and calm right up until I am ready to shoot, lol. I am going to try some of those 45 gr WWB from the Chinamart. Also looking at trying a few different types of BH, and some of the Hunting Shack ammo. As I do this I will post my findings. If anyone has any other ideas or questions let me know. By the way I would like to thank Markm for the steel plates he provided me with. They were fun to shoot. |
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