Wasn't sure which area to post in, hope this is okay.

I'll try to explain my issue as best as I can.

This is what I have:
CAR-15
16" light barrel with 5.5" FS
A1 upper
Telescoping stock

I believe, but am not totally sure, that the twist rate is 1 in 12. this rifle was built back in the late '80s by a friend, whom I bought it from about 3-4 years ago.  It was never shot a whole lot.  And I only shot it for the first time in about 2 years, yesterday.  I was trying to sight in the iron sights.

Ammo:  don't laugh too hard.  55gr russian

I know I know, it's not the best ammo in the world, but at the same time I wasn't attempting to get 1/2" groups either.  I was just looking to get the rounds in the general area, even a 5" group would have sufficed for the time being.

As it turns out I ended up having to move from the 50 yard point to 25 yards.  After much finagling with the sights, the front sight is bottomed out and the rear sight is as far left as it will go and I'm still hitting 3" right 1" high @ 25 yards.

Now I have been told that I need to shoot a heavier bullet out of a 1 in 12 barrel, is this so?

I'm not looking to compete or be a sniper, I shoot recreationally and enjoy iron sights more than a scope, nor will i be hunting with it.

If someone can give me some insight as to what's going on.  Is it a bullet issue?  do I need to go to 62 or 75 grain?  I'm new to the whole AR accuracy thing so I need some eduction.  for what it's worth, the RO gave me some S&B 55 gr to try and the results were the same.

Even though I plan on getting rid of the entire upper, not for this reason though, I figured I'd shoot it for the hell of it.

Any expert advice is greatly appreciated!
Drew

55 grain is about as heavy as you can go with 1 in 12 twist.  From what I understand, 1 in 12 will only stabilize a 55 grain bullet and not heavier ones.  Sounds like the front sight might be canted a bit?

Yep - a 20" barrel 1/12 just stabilzes a 55g.

With a 16 inch ( or shorter) yu have lost
enough fps that the bullet will start to
yaw or tumble right out of the muzzle!

Unless you just want a bullet spitter - get another upper.

So one should only shoot 55 grain bullets out of a 16" 1-9 twist barrel?  

Agreed.  After hearing the setup, I wouldn't even use this weapon for home defense.  Luckily, you've got a pre-ban lower and can have as many [i]Eee-vil[/i] items as you'd like.  I might suggest Bushmaster's pre-ban [b]16" M4 Upper Receiver[/b], a stretched out version of the 14.5".  It'll run you about $550, but the benefits are well worth it.

[img]www.auburn.edu/~littlcb/E-vil2.jpg[/img]

Mabe this isnt the right place to ask this, but since i saw one is SGB's post i will.  Where do you got those other animations, or what program do you use to make them?