I am considering rebarreling a rifle due to less than desired accuracy. The rifle (AR-15) has a SS 16" HBAR barrel and has been shooting 5 shot 100yd groups from a solid sandbag rest of about 1.5 MOA with several handloads. I believe the rifle should do better so I am considering rebarreling it with a more expensive match type barrel as I really want 1 MOA or less for a 200 yard coyote gun. When I took the scope off to take the upper to the gunsmith for the rebarreling I found that the eyepiece lock ring had loosened (it was about 1/2 turn loose) and the eyepiece could be slightly wobbled. It was not floppy loose, just enough that you could get about 1/32" wiggle to it if you moved it side to side but not by just tipping the scope around.
I understand that the lock ring is to set the focus of the eyepiece so it stays put. Would this bit of looseness cause an accuracy problem or just focus issue? My options are to go back and shoot groups all over again or get it rebarreled and move on. I suspect that there was not that much movement of the eyepiece and I'm obsessing over nothing. With my bolt gun (.223) I can easily keep it inside 1/2 MOA so I don't think the crappy accuracy was me. I have already bought the new
barrel. Anybody else have a loose lock ring?
