I got to our private range well before the sun was up, needed my Surefire light to open the combination lock.  I had my targets set out at 100 yards and the M1A on the sandbag but still could not see the 3" orange dot on the gray target.  Stalling for time, I got out the log book and stared the days entry, lined up the different ammo that I wanted to try out, and finally the sun peeked over the horizon and I could see the dot using the NM sights.

A scope would have allowed me to shoot sooner of course, but I prefer my M1A with Iron sights, thank you!

I fired just five 5-shot groups this morning and was out of there within 45 minutes, before anyone else had arrived.  So peaceful to have the range to yourself!

My George Gardner built M1A worked flawlessly again.  It seem to like the 155 grain Matchkings just fine.  Also the 168 MK's of course.  

I noticed that in low light an orange dot on white paper is hard to see!  The gray cardboard with orange dot is much easier to see, allowing earlier shooting and better groups for these old eyes.

Man thats sounds like a good way to start the day  !!  By the way what kinda groups did you manage ?

Jack

ColtM4,
Yeah, that is what I thought!  Well, I'm not very experienced with shooting iron sights, my eyes are getting weak, and it was just barely light (can't think of any more excuses off hand!), but I shot three 5-shot groups just over 2" at 100 yards.  This is good for me and frankly I am pleased.  
 Any way you look at it, like you said, it was a good way to start the day!

You mentioned that you shot 155gr and 168 gr Matchkings , I'm curious which one the gun liked better .

Either way it sounds like you did a nice job with it.

Jack

M4,
The loads were developed for a custom bolt-action Tactical rifle, it did not like the 155 grain MK load.  My M1A gave the best group today with the 155.   BUT this was a very limited group size and the light was poor, so don't draw any solid conclusions from my report.  I also fired a couple 5-shot groups using my best load for the bolt-action rifle, this utilizing the 175 grain MatchKing bullet over Varget powder in Lapau cases. This load goes 2670 fps out of the bolt gun and is superbly accurate.  The M1A had it's own opinion, not so good as both groups exceeded 3.5 inches.