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Posted: 8/29/2010 5:58:13 PM EDT
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A few months ago I finished my AR15 (click here for details) and have really just now gotten out to shoot it. I've only put about 200-300 rnds through the gun and yesterday I went out to my range and was sighting in a new scope. I was only shooting to 50 yds, but the gun is all over the place! The rnds I was shooting were 62 gr FMJ's in a 1:7 twist barrel. I guess I need to know if this is something I should be concerned with. My thoughts are this: either A) the gun is broken in yet, B) the bullets I'm using are too lite, or C) a combination of A) and B)...
Any thoughts would be appreciated! Thanks, Mike |
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I saw no reference to the type of barrel on your blog (you have an @ instead of a period in the link BTW). Things that come to mind are an improperly installed barrel (loose), improperly installed scope (loose), and shooter error, along with a bad barrel. IMI M855 should shoot ~3" 10 shot groups at 100 yards from a match barrel with a big huge scope and a skilled shooter. |
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Your link did not work for me, so I was unable to see the specs on your rifle.
You say the hits were "all over the place." Define that. Also, what ammunition? What type of barrel? What brand/model of scope, and what mounts? Was the gun previously shooting well with iron sights, using the same ammo? Did a different ammo perform well? Only thing I can think of that could be wrong with the rifle is that the barrel nut may have loosened. |
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The bullet weight and twist are OK. You should be OK on that.
Are you shooting from a solid rest or off hand? Only sight in from a solid rest, resting on the forend and on the butt stock. Anything else and you have too much shooter error involved. What kind of muzzle device are you using? Any chance of bullets striking the brake/FS? What kind of scope? Good quality or a POS BEC or Leapers. Crappy scopes give crappy groups. What is your mounting system? Are the rings tight on the scope and are they tight on the upper? Please don't say you are using a riser to get proper height. That gives one more thing that can be loose to screw up zero. If you are using a riser and don't want to buy the correct height rings, make sure the screws are tight on the riser and the riser is tight on the upper. And make sure the rings are tight on the riser and scope. Any of these have any looseness and your groups will be all over the place. I do not think it is a breaking in problem. I have seen guns get more accurate after break-in but I have never seen a gun that shot all over the place get any better after breaking in. Usually after break in the only thing you will notice is they get smoother and may have less feeding and ejection problems, not any great increase in accuracy. |
| First off what is "all over the place"? Not to bash but can you shoot better than it is. You are using a rest? right? Is your scope a red dot? if so how big is the dot? Is your barrel torqued down to at least 30 LBS? Is your barrel used? Very Very used as in worn out. In most cases it is not the rifle. But some other componet. Cheap scope comes to mind. Or broken. More broken than cheap. Loose scope rings or mount. You don't have your scope mounted on a fore rail? right? |
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I fixed the link... should work fine now... sorry about that!
Anyway, here's my current configuration: RRA Lower M&A A3 Upper Danial Defence 16" M4 Contour Barrel with 1:7 twist BSA Optics MD 6-24x44 Scope mounted on riser rings. The scope was mounted by the gunsmith I bought it from, but honestly, I don't think it's the scope because I had another scope on there before that was doing the same thing. I guess that leaves the barrel installation or myself. The thing with it being myself, I can take my Remingtion 700 30-06 out to the same range and hit a 2" group @ 100 yds! So I guess that leaves the barrel then... I installed the barrel, so I'll take it buy a local gunsmith and have them look at it. Thanks for the help! Mike |
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Quoted:
I fixed the link... should work fine now... sorry about that! Anyway, here's my current configuration: RRA Lower M&A A3 Upper Danial Defence 16" M4 Contour Barrel with 1:7 twist BSA Optics MD 6-24x44 Scope mounted on riser rings. The scope was mounted by the gunsmith I bought it from, but honestly, I don't think it's the scope because I had another scope on there before that was doing the same thing. I guess that leaves the barrel installation or myself. The thing with it being myself, I can take my Remingtion 700 30-06 out to the same range and hit a 2" group @ 100 yds! So I guess that leaves the barrel then... I installed the barrel, so I'll take it buy a local gunsmith and have them look at it. Thanks for the help! Mike Mike, What ammo are you using and what size groups did you get? I can get 1 MOA groups with some ammo but I get terrible groups with PPU and ATI 62 grn. I suggest that you try some different ammo before you take your gun in for 'repair' |
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Ever hear of Occam's Razor? Basically states that the simplist explanation is usually the correct one...
I checked the gun again last night and noticed that the rear site ring wasn't tightened down to the rail... it was actually pretty loose... Oh well... I ordered a box of 77 gr SMK from Midway a couple of days ago and should be able to get out to the range to retest... I'll let you know what happens! Thanks again... Mike |
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Quoted:
I fixed the link... should work fine now... sorry about that! Anyway, here's my current configuration: RRA Lower M&A A3 Upper Danial Defence 16" M4 Contour Barrel with 1:7 twist BSA Optics MD 6-24x44 Scope mounted on riser rings. The scope was mounted by the gunsmith I bought it from, but honestly, I don't think it's the scope because I had another scope on there before that was doing the same thing. I guess that leaves the barrel installation or myself. The thing with it being myself, I can take my Remingtion 700 30-06 out to the same range and hit a 2" group @ 100 yds! So I guess that leaves the barrel then... I installed the barrel, so I'll take it buy a local gunsmith and have them look at it. Thanks for the help! Mike your link is still FUBAR, I think this is where you wanted to go...click here |
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