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Posted: 6/14/2012 4:38:37 AM EDT
| I have a little experience with building lowers and have a few extra PAS's and spike's laying around and thought I would build an AR for as much accuracy and distance as achievable in an AR. I have numerous SBR's and AR's in standard 16 " length. Was wanting input on barrel lengths, types and brands and anything else I should use to maximize accuracy and range in a 223. Any input? |
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I have done this twice and I strongly recommend spending the money on a Krieger barrel. Both of mine come in at half-MOA or better with hand loads. A billet upper may save you some minor alignment issues which may exist in a forged upper, though this isn't an accuracy issue. It's all in the barrel with ARs.
Also, going beyond 20" in a 5.56mm nets little gain and makes the rifle more ungainly, especially when using a suppressor. My 5.56mm is a 20" and with 2800 fps on the 77 SMKs I need 5.9 mils to 750 and 10.3 mils to 1k yards. |
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I have built all of my "accurate" AR prairie dog shooters with 18" 1-7 White Oak or Rock barrels. They are tack drivers and, with my reloads, have had many, many kills at ranges to 325 yard. I believe that a good barrel is first and foremost, followed by a good trigger, (lots of them out there, most are good, I use either Timney or McCormick), and good glass. These 200 to 325 yard kills were made by my kids who had never shot these guns prior to the pd carnage trip.
I am not saying that these are the only good or accurate barrels and triggers, and do not want to start a "this xxxxx is better....", this is what I have used and it has been a great combo for me and my needs. Whatever parts you decide on, have fun building it and have more fun shooting it. |
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Start with a Lothar Walther, Krieger, or Noveske SS barrel.
Your range you want to shoot at decides your length. The rate of fire decides your profile. Hunting go light, bench rest go heavy. Ammo is the second most vital part of accuracy. A 1/2 MOA barrel will shoot 2-4MOA ammo at 2-4MOA. |
I had the lower and trigger at the time which are about $100 apiece so I bought the varmint kit for around $530 and threw this together. Finally got my J&T varmint rig out with some hand loads....20" heavy 1:8 556, RRA 2 stage, 100 yards Top left, 4 shots, 68 gr bthp, 22 gr AA2230 Bottom left, 4 shots, 75 gr bthp, 22 gr IMR4895 
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I'm looking forward to shooting my RRA a bit more. It's a pretty standard 16" stainless, wylde chamber upper. So far I haven't been exstatic about it. My FN Chrome lined barrel is very close in accuracy out to 200+ yards. I need to find some loads that it likes. I'm loading up some Nosler Match 77 on Varget for this weekend to see if I can work up something it likes. So far the FN barrel loves Hornaday steel match 55grn. It goes right around MOA with it. I ran some SMK 77's with the RRA and couldn't get it to go much better. I know there must be more potential there.
Anyway.... Have fun with your build. This year I've started loading and am beginning to understand what it takes to get real accuracy. I was pretty dissappointed with factory loads. I thought it was the gun at first. |
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Quoted:
I have done this twice and I strongly recommend spending the money on a Krieger barrel. Both of mine come in at half-MOA or better with hand loads. A billet upper may save you some minor alignment issues which may exist in a forged upper, though this isn't an accuracy issue. It's all in the barrel with ARs. Also, going beyond 20" in a 5.56mm nets little gain and makes the rifle more ungainly, especially when using a suppressor. My 5.56mm is a 20" and with 2800 fps on the 77 SMKs I need 5.9 mils to 750 and 10.3 mils to 1k yards. Your altitude must be pretty high. I'd have to push a 77 at 3100fps to turn 10 mils at 1000. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
I have done this twice and I strongly recommend spending the money on a Krieger barrel. Both of mine come in at half-MOA or better with hand loads. A billet upper may save you some minor alignment issues which may exist in a forged upper, though this isn't an accuracy issue. It's all in the barrel with ARs. Also, going beyond 20" in a 5.56mm nets little gain and makes the rifle more ungainly, especially when using a suppressor. My 5.56mm is a 20" and with 2800 fps on the 77 SMKs I need 5.9 mils to 750 and 10.3 mils to 1k yards. Your altitude must be pretty high. I'd have to push a 77 at 3100fps to turn 10 mils at 1000. I do most of my shooting between 5500 and 6500 feet ASL. Shooting at near sea level this week, needing about 0.7 mils more elevation. Maybe a bit less. |
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