by Jack Lee
Today at the range I reached shooting nirvana with a new load. This was a bullet just short of a match load and I was able to achieve X ring consistency at 100 yards. The weapon was a C.A.R. (lightweight) with the 16 inch barrel made of chrome moly and a 1 in 9 twist. The barrel was just a little heavier than standard military issue on the M4.
Ammo: I was using humble reloads. They were matched brand, once fired brass, reloaded with 24.5 grains of IMR 3031 pushing a Remington FMJ .224 dia. 55 gr spitzer bullet. A Lee crimper die was used to seat the bullet just on the forward edge of the bullet’s canalure. This was done to achieve a slightly higher than normal case pressure which also made each round more consistent with a muzzle velocity just a tad over 3200 fps. The finished ammo was then placed on a digital scale and remeasured so that each round was exactly the same weight or at least as close as I could possibly get. The primers were #400 by CCI. The scope was mounted on a picatinny rail and it was a military type 3X9 of about average quality, fog proof, anti-glare, waterproofed, a typical $100-150 tactical scope with a basic FOV at 9x of about 14 feet @ 100 yards.
The trigger was standard military issue, but here’s an easy way to improve that mil trigger pull. I used a Dremel tool with a buffing wheel and jewelers rouge to polish the sear contact area to a mirror bright finish and this does not, I repeat, does not affect the case hardness one bit.
Of course that little trick didn’t help with the dead pull, but it sure made it smooth and probably knocked off at least 2 lbs in the process. You can also replace the trigger mechanism for $120 from Rock River and do even better, but then it’s not your work is it? And this is the whole point of shooting reloads with a custom fitted rifle.
I deviated from the usual mil lube (which is good stuff). I used a special blend of white lithium, Teflon and silicone that is even better, but I think Wilson’s Ultima-Lube oil and grease works at least as well as my formula. It’s like shooting with a chrome bolt, we’re talking ultra smooooooth here and it’s a nice smooth pull on the charging handle too, but of course it’s not even close to what you could get on a simple single shot bolt action rifle, yet pretty darn good for a semi-auto carbine. (Shown right is a work of art that any sportsman would be proud to own)
This AR was incredibly accurate and it was a real pleasure to shoot; even the recoil was minimal. And the price per round was extremely affordable, unlike true match loads. As a side note, what I liked about the AR-15 is it allows repeat shots without taking your eyes off the target. With good ammunition and using a heavy bullet the AR-15 has a flat trajectory and good penetration to be an exceptional police or military sniper weapon as well as a match sport shooter.
I know what you’re probably thinking, okay so why in the world would he be using a 16 inch barrel for this kind of shooting? First, it was what I had and this was not a match, it was just plinking. And you have to remember that I’m only shooting 100 yards with a 9X scope. Heck at this range with a big scope the difference between that light carbine with a heavy 16″ verses a 24 inch fluted target barrel isn’t enough to worry about. You can group your shots all day long within 2.5 inches with this load. I should note at this point that most rifles will probably shoot an even tighter group at 200 yards because the bullet has a chance to stabilize. However, with this style AR 15 the group I was getting was great. It is about as much you have any right to expect without a bench or unless your name is Carlos Hathcock! lol
Speaking of Carlos…if you want to read some good sniper stories check out this link.
In closing I think what I have finally come up with after a lot of trial and error, is the perfect generic load for this weapon. It’s accurate, cheap and available. Hope this info helps…safe shooting everyone!
Nice work! Is it me or is it hot in here? I think I need a cigarette.
Hey bud , your welcome to dial in mine at any time, just one thing you got to clean it after..:) nice grouping!!
Thanks Harold I would be happy to help too! If anyone wants to dial in their rifle it’s not that hard. It only takes about 3-4 shots.
Here’s the basics. Your scope typically has a fraction of an inch change per moment of angle (MOA) per click on your scopes dial at 100 yards. So lets start at 100 yards with a 30 inch or better target.
I don’t want to get too technical, but knowing what MOA represents allows us to calculate its value to any distance. Lets say six inches is the radius of the target. Then it is 1/600th of 100 yards: (100 yards x 36 inches) / 6 inches = 600. Therefore, the value of MOA at 100 yards is 1.047 inches (0.001745 x 600 = 1.047). At 50 yards 1/2 the 100 yard value; 70% @ 70 yards; twice @ 200 yards; 6 times @ 600 yards; and so on. So, the difference between thinking in inches as opposed to MOA is 0.47 inch @ 1000 yards. Not much, huh?
Okay, now lets get shooting! Use something to sight from, a sandbag, cardboard box with a towel to prevent scratches to your weapon or a bipod if installed, then settle in and place your cross hairs about 1 inch under the bulls eye. Given the distance between the center of the barrel and the center of the scope’s pupil (center of glass closest to target) you should be hitting dead center if its zeroed in. If not, then you are close enough to use either your scope or 10X binoculars to see where you just hit and then just start walking it in. If you were 3-4 inches high at 1 o’clock then you click down 7-8 and left 3 and see where #2 hits and then adjust accordingly. This is assuming all else is correct, like your trigger pull is smooth and falls without a jerk and your breathing is controlled. I prefer to exhale slowly and squeeze the trigger without anticipating the hammer fall. If you want to get fancy here, you can do what is called the breath down, that is take 3 or 4 quick breaths and exhale slowly. This relaxes your muscles. You now have about 8 seconds to get your shot off before your body starts to react. Simple stuff, huh?
By the way, you can have just as much fun shooting a .22 LR as anything else too. So shooting doesn’t have to be expensive. The performance of your average .22 with a cheap scope probably exceeds the ability of most plinkers, so you a lot of room to grow with a modest .22 LR. I love shooting my Colt M4 in .22 LR with a 9X scope.