Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Pay and play - Ruger or S&W or other

The trigger is basically the same as a 10/22 but breaks a lot more cleanly than any 10/22 I've owned. There's just a small amount of take up with a very clean break right at 5 pounds on my trigger gauge - no mush or creep at all, then a bit of overtravel. The reset is both tactile and audible right at the same point where it broke, then no take up at all with another clean break.

I have no complaints about the trigger action given its purpose. The pull weight might be improved but for a defensive weapon it's fine, in a stressful situation you wouldn't want a trigger that's too light.

The accuracy surprised me. I mounted a Leupold 1-4x20 on it for testing and shot groups at 50 yards. The buttstock was on a bag but I held the forend in my hand and rested that over some sandbags. CCI 115 gr. aluminum cased Blazer did the best, 5 shots into .65", a nice group with all shots touching. S&B 124 gr. bullets put 5 into .73". Winchester white box was the worst with 5 into 1.5". That's certainly sufficient for combat accuracy out to 100 yards, and since my house has no straight line distance longer than 17 yards I'll call it good.

Something I wanted to check for was any POI change when the barrel is removed and then replaced. I adjusted the barrel nut down until the two halves went back together with some resistance. Fired 5 rounds of the S&B, removed the barrel and put it back on, let the bolt slam home 3-4 times which is what Ruger recommends to seat it well, then fired 5 more shots.

Very happy to report that there was no detectable POI change. All 10 shots went into a 1.2" group at 50 yards.

Will be mounting a Holosun HS407C on it but still debating whether to put it on the receiver or on the barrel. POI shift isn't a real worry for receiver mounting but it's kind of like the economist's quandary - it works in practice but still doesn't work in theory.

I've ordered an EGW mount that replaces the rear sight, that lets you get the lowest possible cheek weld and co-witnesses with the front sight but you lose the irons as backup. Mounted on the receiver still gives you a decent cheek weld although not as tight as barrel mounting and it partially hides the rear sight.

It's not really that big of a deal since this isn't some bugout gun or hit the streets for the urban guerilla revolution thing. It's strictly for home defense with a projected 99.99% actual use just plinking and target shooting. If the dot fails then it fails, this thing points so well I probably don't need the sights within the space of my house and if any S hit the F there sure wouldn't be any time to switch over to backups anyway.

Going to try mounting the dot in both places and just see what I like best. Will also be mounting a light on the front but still researching those.