Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Reasonable rate of fire for an AR

Because of the "Best Mag" thread I decided to test some magazines out using some cheap steel cased ammo. I did aimed fire just as fast as I could get a good sight picture. Gotta say that 20 rounds in a bit less than 5 minutes warmed the rifle up some. Another 20 rounds soon after at about the same rate the rifle got pretty hot. I was breaking in a new 223 Wilde barrel and accuracy is pretty good even with a hot barrel. I slowed my rate of fire to 2 shots per minute with a few rests to let the rifle cool off. Burned around 300 rounds using various magazines ranging from older Vietnam era aluminum mags, a cheap steel mag that came with a DPMS AR years ago, some ASC aluminum magazines, some AR Stoner magazines. Not a hiccup. Even when the rifle was preety darned hot. Barrel well broken in. Last few shots fired for groups went into just under an inch using reloads topped with the 75 gr. BTHP from Hornady. Scope is an old Weaver 4x with a post. Gun needed cleaning but was still shooting and I bet it would continue to function properly for many more rounds. Outside temperature was around 100 degrees.

If I recall correctly, 12-15 rounds per minute (or something like that) was the sustained rate of fire for the M16A2.

There's hot, and then there's HOT.

My bad, I thought this thread was about how quickly you could send bullets downrange and still stay on target.. ha ha..

Our club had a "fast fire" shoot. As per my rules, I suggested 10 seconds or less after hearing the master class bs'rs propose 60 seconds for 10 shots. I told them that is not "fast fire", "lets do some fast fire!!!":

8 seconds:


A little sloppy, but it got the job done^^^^.. That rifle generally shoots like this:


They couldn't make time, nor keep all the bullets in the 10 ring.. Had I been shooting my AR10, I wouldn't have made time either, so there is a bit of a difference. As the title only states "AR"...


16 seconds seems pretty slow for 10 shots..

What is diameter of x ring, and 10 ring on that particular target?

An amazing system for sure. And damn fine shooting there BSA.

Well he showed that rifle!

Never had issues with the A1 version. 3-4 30 rd mags in a minute was nothing special.

If you do rapid fire correctly you would think otherwise. Slung up, in the prone position (no shooting off the bench like you did off bags) and throw in a magazine change (not all 10rds in one magazine like you did) then 60 seconds goes real quick. Try it sometime..

The Marine Corps spec for the M16A1 was 12-15 rounds per minute for sustained fire. Keep in mind this was for a chrome lined barrel. A nitrided barrel may or may not, depending on who you believe, hold up as well. A bargain basement bare steel barrel? Who knows.

rattle battle, starting at 600 yards on a silhouette, slung up and irons, 50 seconds shooting swing shooter, I could shoot 13-16 reload and shoot 13-16 depending on the fire plan I was given. If the wind call was correct I usually was 100 percent hits on both of the targets.

500 yards I could get a LOT of hits if given the chance and a single target. Usually close to or over 40-45 hits. We rarely were allowed that many rounds IIRC.

Scoped and off bags at 100 its just about as fast as you can pull the trigger with a good rest setup. Not surprising really, very little recoil.

Compared to trying to get numbers of hits with the M14/M1A platform. But I did love shooting the bigger gun. Wife did too.