bench...
OP, I went out and bought a rifle with real iron sights, just to see what all the fuss is about. Rifle and my handloads shoot pretty good. Military M193 55gr FMJ chidt, not so much.. Surprisingly, though, my buddies rifle loves the 62gr green tip M885 ammo.. If you are just wanting to buy cheap ammo to run through your rifle, maybe try looking for some of that and see how your rifle likes it..
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You seem to label anything that doesn't match your experience and or expectations as "chidt"... Can you explain why you consider ammo that performs better than it's design specs, as mentioned in the AR15.com MOLON test that was linked to above as "chidt"?
And the MOLON test was fired from a Sinclair bench rest with a vari-xIII set on 25X. And here is his description of the test platform rifle.
(The test vehicle for this evaluation was a 16” Colt HBAR with chrome lining, a NATO chamber and a 1:9” twist. This is the barrel found on the Colt 6721 carbine. This barrel was free-floated with a 10” LaRue free-float handguard. I specifically choose to evaluate the accuracy this ammunition using an AR-15 with a chrome-lined, NATO chambered barrel, as this is the type of barrel that is most commonly used to fire this type of ammunition. It is sometimes possible to obtain slightly better accuracy from mil-spec/NATO pressure loads by firing them from an AR-15 that has a stainless steel match-grade barrel with a hybrid chamber such as the Noveske NMmod0 chamber or the Wylde chamber for examples; but you're not going to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.
The 16” Colt HBAR is one of the most accurate “off the shelf” chrome-lined, NATO chambered AR-15 barrels that I’ve evaluated. Three 10-shot groups fired from this barrel from a distance of 100 yards using match-grade hand-loads topped with Sierra 52 grain MatchKings had extreme spreads of:
0.85”
1.14”
0.88”)And with this combination of gear he held groups with the ammo I'm now shooting (IMI M193) of just under 3".
Ok... I too have seen some of what the military turns out as "riflemen"
But I'm also gonna say that anyone who hasn't packed up their rifle, their lunch, drinking water, and their raingear and, after breakfast, walked with 200 other guys 4 miles to the range to qualify simply has no proper perspective to comment.
Never mind that all 200 guys are expected to zero their rifle and qualify that day, from 8 firing points, under the guidance of 12 drill sergeants, and walk back to their unit area in time for supper.
Never mind that this unit is using rifles that have had thousands upon thousands of rounds, and hundreds of jointed steel cleaning rods through them on a constant basis since they were issued to the unitNow, honestly...
I get your point. The rifle with good components, superior optics, and proper tweaking, combined with handloaded ammo can be made to perform to a higher accuracy standard.
Be still, my heart...
But I do feel just a bit sorry for anyone who fails to appreciate a 4" group with service grade ammo, from a service grade (And maybe well below service grade) rifle.
And yeah... I was at the range again yesterday. I'll admit that just under 4" was my best group. But my worst was a bit over 5".
And that was with the cheap mag-pul sight.
Things went south a bit when I installed the carry handle. Consistency went completely out the window when I put it on the rifle. Gonna have to look at it closely.
I am happy to report that the mag-pul sight returned to zero minus one windage click when re-installed. Thinking now that this sight is better than I initially judged it to be.
