Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles ar accuracy problems

Ok, I'll bite. What does that have to do with anything? You would be surprised at what some semi-autos can do.

Sounds like you have got your mind made up but when I got my first AR and before shooting it, I thought the wierd 2-stage trigger had to go too. Now that I have shot a bit I kind of like it. The take up does NOT affect accuracy in the least bit. Sounds like you just need a lighter, smoother sear release (whatever the terminology is for the final hammer drop).

2 stage takes about a few times of practice to get used to, and its a SAFE way to get to a light pull in a semi....


Of course my buddy is just as stubborn, doesn't like 2 stage.

I never did either until it was the only trigger in the M14 when I started competition... needless to say I"m at the point I can shoot ANY trigger, and do it well, because anyone saying can't or won't do this or that, trigger wise, its all in your head and how stubborn you are. And there is nothing wrong with that either.

I got my JP trigger in the other day. I got it installed and adjusted and all ready to go. BUT rain is keeping me from the range to use it until I have another few days off work.
it may not be a 2 stage but it feels real nice to me

and FTR shooter,
I agree with you. shooting a simiauto has noting to do with anything in this discussion.

I also realize now you are an FTR F class shooter. It makes sense that you would prefer a 2 stage since in FTR you have rules to follow.

I only compete with my self. as per the usual my whole life.

seems that I am always into things that are not popular in the places i happen to live. so everything I do I learn my self. and for consulting I must go online.

your rifle shooting any better?

There are tons of ARs being shot competitively in central TX

FTR has NO rules demanding a 2 stage trigger. Its pretty simple though, there has not been a SAFE and LIGHT single stage trigger thats perfect, crisp etc... that I have tried SO FAR. So you go to what does work, and is safe and light and clean and crisp, which is two stage.

That being said if the one you bought is better than what you had(almost any aftermarket is) and its not a bill springfield disaster wiating to happen, and you are happier, then I'd say you are well on your way!

Dan Lilja would be a great person to talk to. He could recommend a round you could accuracy test your barrel with.

When .300WSM came out, Winchester/Browning was offering it in a mountain rifle. I thought it would be nice in a long range rifle. I bought a Nesika action, a McMillan kevlar stock in the Winchester Marksman configuration, a Lilja barrel and put it in a box and sent it to Boatright custom guns. He sent me back a complete rifle. I bought 2 boxes of ammo and brought it down to the range. The rifle didn't fire every 2 or 3 rounds. The ones that went off didn't group. I called and he did not do the work. He subbed it out. He wanted me to send the gun back. I was miffed to say the least. Ship it back to Arkansas? No. I was taking it hunting in a couple weeks. He knew that. I brought it to a local gunsmith I hadn't heard from for a good 20 years. He took it apart and said the firing pin protrusion wasn't enough. He moved it from 3/1000ths to 5/1000ths. The spring was weak. It came from Nesika. He put a spring from a Savage in it and sent me on my way. I proceeded to call Nesika and bitch. They said my gunsmith didn't know what he was talking about. I gave them the F.U. and said I'd never give their company another dime. The gunsmith lightened my trigger by applying epoxy to the sear to build it up. Decreasing the travel that way contributed to the problem too he said. The guy should have test fired the gun.

Back on the range, all the rounds went off, but I had a nice 3-4" group. I went back to the gunsmith. He looked at my fired brass and said it looked a bit big in the neck. He slugged my barrel, found the reamer it was cut with and said it was a SAMMI spec reamer. Well, SAMMI spec was about 5/1000 larger than my loaded rounds. Slop. He said about 2/1000 is what you want. He said to get bushing sizing dies from Redding and try the largest bushings that will hold the bullets. I questioned the logic. The rounds wouldn't have a bigger neck diameter? Well, I did what he said and my groups with handloads went down to 1". I brought the rifle to North Carolina and killed 2 deer at 450 yards.

a smith that puts epoxy on a sear??? Dump that dumb SOB in a heartbeat... can't believe there are idiots like that around. Makes me shudder...

And I don't think I"d be all that happy with 1 inch. It sure doesn't take that much gun to kill deer at 450 though thats a given.

I sure don't have as much time with an AR 15 that rost and FTR do, but I will share my experience with my first one. It is an Armalite M15 A4T that came out of the box shooting extremely well......for about 200 rounds. Then accuracy went to helll in a handbasket. I took it to my gunsmith who is very good with AR's along with the targets. He took it apart and looked every thing over and could find nothing wrong. He reassembled it and I took it out to his range and it shot about a 3" group with the same load it shot very well in the beginning. I showed him the target. I told him to just humor me and run a scope down the barrel.He did and looked up and said Holy Chit, there is big piece of the rifling gone right where they drilled the gas hole. It had been drilled right in the edge of a land. I sent it back to Armalite, and they made it good. Armalite called me said they had confirmed what I told them. They also said they didn't have anymore of the Wilson barrels in stock and asked me if I could live with a Krieger? That was a stupid question to ask me since Krieger is my favorite barrel. So they installed the Krieger and life was good again.

If you don't get it shooting you might want to have the barrel bore scoped. What happened to my barrel don't happen often according to my smith and Armalite.....but it does happen.

When I do load development, I shoot over sandbags close to mag well and use a rear bag. Mine generally shoot a little tighter that way than using a bipod. But even with a bipod my AR's will under MOA.

PaPa260

alll good points papa260!

the bottom line is that everyone makes a crap barrel once in a while. Noveske just put a new barrel on one of mine after I told them a non free floated cheap Colt barrel was kickin its arse with every bullet and load known to man. One thing they absolutely stand behind their work which is why I don't mind paying the extra.

Jeff,

I just wanted to throw out a big thank you for the tensioning the bi-pod tip. Finally able to test it out yesterday with great results. I really need to lay off the coffee before I go to the range but never the less very impressed to see what the LAR-8 .308 can actually do. Several 5-shot groups in the 3/4"-7/8" range. One group the first 4 were all in the same hole at roughly 3/8". TAC + 155gr Nosler CC in ww cases Thanks again!

Interesting thread. I must have gotten one of the Armalite/Krieger barrels



That rifle started as an 16" A4. I bought a 15T barrel from Armalite, and the free float tube. The group shown is a Fed factory 77gr load, the first one I fired at 100 yards.

The AR10 has a new upper, trigger & scope aboard, so I will be interested to see how it shoots this weekend.

Ruger, glad it helped, its one of the not so commonly known things about bipods... Once I get serious with them after getting close to center on sight in, you have to pay attention, and it doesn't take much, but it does take some.

texncal

I wouldn't assume thats a Krieger unless a criterion Krieger. Kriegers usually shoot better than that. But that does look like a pretty solid barrel! I've seen some good barrels from armalite and bushy at times, really good barrels.

Jeff

Geeze dude! You should really consider a shooting range or the like. What if someone was hiding in the closet?!

Nice shooting!

I cannot shoot as well as many on this forum but it seems to me that an AR or AK rifle shoots better if I put my hand between the rifle and the front bag and if I rest the rifle as far back toward the magazine as is possible. I have also noticed that if you have a 30 round magazine that touches the bench or the bag the results are mixed.

any mag touching bench sucks. Or prone on the ground etc....

I have no issues with a front rest without the hand, as long as the rest is about touching the front of the mag well.

But as always, you have to find the best way for you.

For me... I used to test my new barrels in a dedicated upper with a flat wide bottom float setup, slick by varnish etc.... and then find the loads, and swap it to the actual rifle after that.

Makes a difference in accuracy some how the gun reacts to the rests and recoil forces.