Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles 24HC Black Rifle Challenge Thread

Regarding the RRA Varmint, my uncle and a cousin both own them and theirs shoot great, too.

I also found this thread very interesting when I found it shortly after it started. I also found it VERY frustrating! I have a 16 inch lightweight Syrac upper that shoots 77 MK and 8208 well. I have shot many 5 shot groups in the .5s. So when the challenge started and I saw some of the targets, I thought I would do well in the rankings. By the time I was done, I felt humbled!

After seeing the thread I headed to the range and shot two 10 round groups. They both had nice clusters, but a "flier" or two opened them up to a little over an inch. I knuckled down and tried again with the same results. I "knew" I had a half inch set-up, so I thought it must have been the little breeze and gave up for the day. Latter, I tried again with the same results. So I got really anal with my loads. Neck-turned, weighed, uniformed, de-burred, bullets seated less than .001 run out, etc. Still no difference.

So I started load work up over. 50 and 60 Vmax, 50 Sierra, 69 MK, 75 Hornady BTSP and Amax and 73 ELD M and 77 CC.8208, tac, Varget, and H4895, CCI 400, 450, and my usual Rem 7.5. All sorts of seating depths and I did OCW and ladder testing. I was at the range shooting on a cement bench with wind flags out. Just to check the loads I shot over a heavy rest instead of my usual bipod. I tried pads under the bipod. I tried free recoil and different rear bags. I switched scopes. I finally thought it must be the light weight barrel. So I bought a new gun.

This one had 170 rounds on it when I got it and a Rock Creek 18 inch medium weight (SPR?) barrel on it. It had the SSA-E trigger. (First rifle had SSA). Both have the Wylde chamber. I spent A LOT of time at the range. It is a good thing the saying "die trying" isn't literal in this case. I can shoot my heavy Krieger barrelled 308 10 under an inch, so I thought if I just kept working at it, I'd find a load that would do it consistently in one of the ARs.

To summarize, I never did. I get CLOSE, but I can't do it "all day long". And I never got around to taking pictures and posting them because I was waiting for the two ten round groups under an inch. My guns shoot great clusters, but somewhere in there, I mess it up.! I stopped short of getting a heavy barrel. That way I don't need to lug it around for gophers, and I can still blame this on the guns!

The judging is never over...

Post em up.

Damn that sounds good. Tex, were those handloads or military/commercial?

Alright, loaded up some rounds last night. Here's what they consisted of:

69gr. sierra match
25gr. RL15
New R-P Brass that I had already primed with CCI 400's
OAL: 2.260"


As much as I know about the rifle is this:

Rogue Defense built in house at Curts shooters supply in Milwaukie Oregon
18" 1 in 7 twist barrel, rifle length gas system. Seems to be a medium wt. barrel. I don't know for sure. Chrome lined according to original owner
200 rounds down the barrel when I bought it, Zeiss Terra 3-9x42mm mounted in a Burris P.E.P.R . Magpul ACS butt stock, Not sure on the handguard, something lightweight and key mod (as you can see), but very comfortable.
Ambi safety that I installed, polished sear a bit on the BCM trigger, while I had it out. Seems like a pretty good trigger for a cheap one... I still need to get used to it though. Keep in mind, I have not really worked up a load for this rifle, however I did try 24gr, 24.3gr. 24.7gr. and 25gr. of RL15 with these bullets and the 25gr. charge shot the best 3 shot group, so I went with it for the 2 10 shot groups. I also need to get a better sandbag set-up, more suitable for an AR. Keep in mind, this is my first AR!!! I'm pretty damn happy with it thus far. No problems on the range out of 40 or so rounds I fired off today. Seems like she wants to shoot. The weirdest thing I noticed was I shot a better group (the one on the right) while aiming at the center of the square and just firing them off, unlike the first 10 shot group where I tried to shoot a round a minute at a nice easy pace. I tried to wait the wind out too, but that was hopeless. It was blowing and gusting upwards of 25 mph today. When it starts rocking my target stand back and forth it is just too windy to shoot IMHO... Here's some pics from the day:





Not impressive shooting by any means, but the rifle is fully capable. I feel like the weak link in the whole mix is ME. I couldn't be more happy with the rifle though. I'll work up some good loads with once fired brass and try a few other different types of bullets and then maybe try this again. However, a less windy day and the right bags, may just do the trick. Would you guys suggest maybe bumping up the charge wt. a little bit more?? The groups shrank as I neared the top end...

Okay, since no one has previously entered a 7.62x39, I give you a PSA KS-47. Load is the Nosler 123gr Ballistic Tip, over 28gr of 1680, in Lapua brass. I did not chrono them, but they run about 2550 out of a 22" Ruger #1. OAL 2.21", after I reseated the bullets to fit in an AK magazine.