So, I finally got some range time - back east to visit and help my parents, got to go to the range yesterday with my oldest friend, Ol'Gunner, here in PA. I finally got to sight in the XM16E1, and although he took his A1, we took turns shooting mine. It was a lot of fun, and we spent several hours sighting in both the iron sights and the Colt 3X scope. I didn't realize that he was taking pics, so there aren't any of him shooting unfortunately. He ran the Annapolis Armory for awhile, then taught at a private range, so he shot much better than I did, but I managed to keep an entire magazine in the black at 100 yards, which is definitely minute of man. Here's my target - the rounds in the white and two in the black were from dialing in the scope, which was waaay off, the rest are all from the same magazine. I definitely need practice, but I'd still pleased at how the rifle shot. I had some good three-round strings.



Here's Ol'Gunner's five round string at 100yds - he was pissed because he had a couple flyers, but was impressed with the way the old warhorse shot - I would hate to shoot against him for score!




The ol' XM16 ran through three different types of ammo w/o a hiccup, with no failures of any kind, other than Ol'Gunner trying to chamber a round with the chamber flag still inside! We ran a ton of 55gr Brown Bear, which was a lot cleaner than I thought, and performed well, then some 55gr PMC brass case, without any problems and with no cleaning. We also ran some 62 gr barass cased Federal (I believe) and it shot it fairly well, although that was early on, and I didn't realize he was mixing it up on me.



I didn't realize I had both my shades and reading glasses on at one point, which is pretty funny. Like I said, I was very impressed at how the thing shot, although there was a little grittiness and creep in the trigger - I think I will have a Wilson Bill Springfield trigger done like Ol'Gunner did - I dryfired his and it's fantastic IMO. (Sorry for the error)




We also took a little time to shoot my SIG P6, and I was actually on paper at 25 yds. I don't shoot handguns that well, but with the SIG, it points so naturally, that if it had been a bad guy at 25 yds he would have been a colander. I need to do some close-quarter drills with it, but this range didn't allow that for safety reasons, although when we were alone Ol'Gunner snuck out and threw five rounds into a target at 7 yds. I saw this phot and had to laugh - would you trust this guy?



All in all it was a real blast, although we ended up shooting just two weapons. It showed both of us we need to get to the range more often. I wish I was closer so we could shoot together more.

Hya Morg,,thanks for the range report and pics..Looks like it was a ton of fun!! Hope next time you're up we can get together,maybe by then my 2 will be finished!!

+1 on that!

Sweet sweet rifles you've got there, looks like they're shooting sweet.  The stock on that one is interesting, one of the early Colt ones?

Have you tried Prvi Partizan M193 instead of Brown Bear for cheap(ish) ammo?  Its running about $75 now for 200 rounds in an OD Green battle-pack, brass cases, copper/lead bullets, looks like its NATO approved stuff too..

My early 604 clone with a 67-68ish chrome chambered Colt barrel shot fifth in a Hi-power match a month or so ago. I think it was partly beginner's luck, but I beat a bunch of Garands and new-fangled ARs. I'll probably take it back for the next one.

I just got a Sig P6, too, Morg. Love the way it feels. I did add some Pachmayr grips to it, which I think really feel better than the plastic service grips.

Where did you get the ammo? (gonna need more!) The mottled stock is one I got from Quiet back about 2 years ago, and seems to be a C or D - has features of both weirdly. I really love this old thing. After having no problems whatsoever, I feel very well armed. The Brown bear cleaned up easily - the BCG was MUCH cleaner than I anticipated. I would definitely buy more.

Morg, take a look here
http://www.ammunitiontogo.com/catalog1/index.php/cName/223-556-fmj-ammo

You'll find all kinds of .223 and 5.56mm goodness there.  Traces are on the last page but are the 64 grain variety.

I actually bought my 9mm ammo from them - it was Czech and pretty cheap for these days. I will likely get some more Brown bear from them. They were easy to deal with and shipped quickly - thanks for the link. Looks like 5.56 is back in stock a lot of places.

Great shooting at 100 yds.
The M193 PPU is good fodder if you get a chance to try some.

Sellier Bellot 9mm?  I love that stuff, it's pretty much all I use in my G17.  Personally I prefer to use the cheaper 115grain loads for practice, and then the softer 124 grain loads for competition shooting.  Funny thing I noticed was that the brass plated steel cases that the 'Range Safe' stuff is loaded in were getting reloaded and reused by some of the shooters at the local clubs...

I won't buy their .223/5.56mm stuff though, S&B uses steel in the jackets on their 5.56 stuff...I know it won't really wear that hard on the barrel, especially since all of mine are chrome lined, but I tend to feel uneasy about that.
I've shot Prvi Partizan 158 grain 9mm and it feels like shooting a .22.  I think it's mean for suppressors but it's a fun round for when you're on the clock.  Their rifle ammo comes either in 5.56mm or .223 spec and the 5.56 seems to have a bit more bang.  It was cleaner than I expected, but I tend to recall all the AR bashing horror stories about the direct impingement system, so again I must be remembering those.

No, it wasn't S&B, it is called HotShot - it's Czech Romanian military ammo - has red sealed primer and case rim. All I could find at the time, and it was before I started my 9mm AR build. Now I wish I'd bought 1000 rounds - all I got was 500 for $124 shipped IIRC. It functioned perfectly in the SIG, but of course, I'd prefer a defensive HP or JHP.

Ahh yes I saw that stuff, back during the ammo crunch.

I'd like to get maybe a can and a half.  A sealed can to keep for a rainy day, and a half a can to function check.  As long as the projetiles are not steel or "bi-metal", I really don't care what the case is made of, especially for my Glock.  For the AR's im more picky, but hey.

For the record, I called the two thrown shots––the error was entirely mine, not the rifle.
Like Morg says, the trigger has a bit of grit early in the creep, but once I got the feel of it, there was no problem pulling through it, easing up and breaking a clean shot.  It was about as good as I'd expect from an issue weapon.
I've fired a lot of ARs and M16s and this is a good one.

I was also impressed with the scope.  It took us a while to get it sighted in––we probably should have bore-sghted it before we went––but once we had the brilliant insight to compare point of aim to the iron sights, things went smoother.  Once it was sighted in, though, it was certainly usable. 3x is pretty handy at 100yds and the glass was a lot clearer than I expected.  Guess I should add one of those to my list of things to shop for.

We stopped at the local shop this evening and picked up 1,000 rds of "PMC Bronze"  55gr FMJ-BT.  It seems to be pretty decent quality for $350.  His rifle liked it so I figure my retros out to, also.

Yhea.  I've got to stop reading posts like this.

Guess I'm going to have to take a day off work tomorrow to head out to the range...

The first '16  ever qualified with was an XM16E1 and it was a fun gun to shoot, and I still have a soft spot of the E1 and M16A1 - they shoot well and handle much better than the later A2.

One last bump just because I know most of you guys get out about as often as I do, and need some inspiration. I shot acceptably, but not fantastic, but considering it's essentially an old surplus rifle with a thin, whippy barrel put together with a bunch of parts and I hadn't been behind a trigger in awhile I'm very happy, especially since it fed everything we ran threw it. Other than some cake inside the BC, it was even a piece of cake to clean. Most of what we ran was Brown Bear and PMC. Without a single failure in 200 rounds, I feel pretty well-armed with this old warhorse. It's got me all hot and bothered to finish my other builds now...and take this thing back out.