Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Advice re New DPMS Prairie Panther 223?

Reposting this to the AR Forum. Any thoughts from the AR pros?

First, the basics:

Semiauto .223 AR. Teflon-coated black fluted 20-in 416 stainless steel barrel, target crowned, 1:8 twist, 8620 steel bolt carrier and phosphated steel bolt, forged A3 flattop upper receiver of 7075-T6 aircraft aluminum alloy, ceramic overcoat in Mossy Oak Brush Camo, forged 7075-T6 aircraft aluminum alloy lower receiver, Mossy Oak Brush Camo coated, two stage trigger group, carbon fiber free float tube forend. Leupold VX-3 3.5-10X50 matte black scope, duplex reticle. AD-RECON-X mount.

Have put about 75 rounds downrange in two visits. I like the way the gun looks and handles, but thus far am not impressed with accuracy. It may be the fact that I'm shooting relatively light rounds for the 1:8 twist, but Black Hills 60-gr. V-Max is all I have on hand in .223 at the moment. I'm thinking I need to go heavier.

I'm still working through the break-in process, but zero seems to shift .5 to 1.5 MOA after each break-in cleaning. This bugs me to no end since the gun should, theoretically, hold zero since the scope remains in line with the bore. I'm a lifelong bolt-gun shooter and am new to the AR platform, so maybe someone can explain this to me. (And yes, the mount and rings are rock solid; scope is new).

Groups can also open up quite a bit as round count goes up, often after just a couple of 3-shot groups. First group after cleaning hovers around 1 MOA but, as stated, zero shifts a bit after cleaning. (By cleaning, I mean just unhinging the rear of the upper from the lower, removing the bolt and swabbing the bore between groups).

The gun just seems very inconsistent, and I'm not all that confident it will improve with break in. The two-stage trigger doesn't help a lot in the accuracy dept. Feels heavy at the terminal end, and let off is inconsistent, varying between 4 lb. 12 ounce at the lightest to around 5.5 lbs.

Any AR experts out there who can advise re. changing zero, inconsistency, ammo recommendations for the 1:8 twist, etc?

I wouldn't worry about the clean bore throwing shots off, most guns do this, some are worse than others. Shoot the heck out of it then sit down and shoot groups, 5 shots at least. I don't clean mine for at least 500 rounds and have never seen barrel break in do anything but waste time.

The 1/8 twist will handle most everything, I've shot 45 gr Winchester White box bulets in my 1/8 Krieger around a 1/2" (5 shots) and it shoots my 77 gr SMK's under that (5 shots again).

I'm not a fan of DPMS but it should shoot okay. Maybe it just doesn't like the BH ammo, wouldn't be the first time.

A clean bore throwing shots off is one thing. Changing zero is quite another -- and damned annoying. Will try different ammo as soon as I get a chance and give it more time on the break in.

I'm probably just guessing at this, so don't mind me...

I would change scopes and try it , check your scope mounts. The 1&8 twist loves Hornady 60 gr V-Maxs .

Could have swore I posted a couple comments here. No?

I reposted in the AR forum from another thread.

bea175 - Scope and mount are solid. Zero only changes AFTER I unhinge rear of upper from lower to swab the bore. Groups are tight at first but tend to open up as round count rises. Wondering if I got bad barrel or... this is normal for a new AR platform. Like I said, I'm new to ARs.

I am not liking the sound of that barrel.

Let's just say I'm... suspicious. Next time out will try just unhinging without cleaning and see what happens... just to eliminate one more variable.

I'm not quite ready to declare that I've found a cure for the DPMS Prairie Panther, but I'm close. The heavier bullets (Hornady 75 gr. BTHP match) and additional break-in seems to be doing the trick. Rifle averaged an inch or a bit under, with best group at .60 inch. Had two bullets in the same hole twice, indicating the rifle may be capable of even better accuracy than the average for groups, but the trigger is really testing my patience. It's a heavy two-stage, and I'm not very fond of it. I may replace it with something better in the near future. No issues with shifting point of impact this time. To test, I unhinged the upper once and closed it, without cleaning, about halfway through the session. No issues there, so I fired a few more groups and then unhinged the upper and cleaned the barrel. Again, point of impact held. Rifle seems to be settling in now. I have a total of about 100 rounds through it, so I'm thinking the earlier issues were more about break-in and the rifle's preference for heavier bullets.