I finally got my new AR built, and went to the range today with the Federal XM193 Lot 6 from Lake city. The XM193 doesn't seem too consistent. I got it on the paper, and I think it's about right, but not sure because I might get one in the center, but the next might be off somewhere (and this is on sandbags). I have a bushmaster 20" fluted target barrle. Does anyone know of any ammo that is really accurate? I was thinking about using Hornady Varmint Express 55gr for any varmint hunting I do. Does anyone have any experiance with the Hornady ammo? Any suggestions for a handload that might perform really well, and run abour 3200fps?

Sorry to ramble on...
Thanks

I've never had the sort of accuracy results out of any standard mil-type ball ammo that I demand.  It seems that it routinely shoots up to three inches off center at 100 yards.     I started loading my own match grade ammo and now my groups are in the half inch class.    Going back to XM193 or other mil-spec ammo always results in more open groups
and I don't really like to use it for that reason.

I guess I should ask..what's your barrel twist rate? It might be too slow for best performance.

CJ

3" sounds about right... It seemed that the shot would be anywhere in that area at 100yd. The twist rate is 1/9. What do your match grade loads consist of, if I may ask? I'd like to try to make it a tack driver, if possible, and inconsistent ammo doesn't help. Any suggestions to send me in the right direction would be appreciated.

My pet load is a Sierra Match King 53 gr. flat base bullet (part no. 1400) over 23.0 grains of Hodgdon H322 powder in good brass with a Winchester small rifle primer.    The resulting groups (from the sandbags) are so tight at 100 yards that I have to move the crosshairs off the point of aim to see the group from the firing position.   I could actually make good use of a 'scope with a finer crosshair.

It costs about 200 bucks to load up a thousand of these rounds.  Match grade accuracy for the price of the (moderately) cheap stuff?   It's a no-brainer, if you're inclined to start reloading.

CJ