Poor mans sniper rifle update – 100 yrd accuracy.
So I finally got a chance to get out and get some 100 yard groups done with my poor mans “sniper rifle”. It really likes both the 75gr and 68gr Hornady Frontier Match, but has an ever so slight preference for the 68gr, so that’s what I’ve been sticking with. Accuracy has continued to slowly improve with the gun as I get more rounds through it. It will make consistently tight groups at 100 yrds, as long as I do my part, as can be seen via the 5 shot group in the following pic. For reference, the aiming circle is 1″.
5 shots of Hornady 68gr Frontier Match at 100 yards.
For reference and context, the heat index in the shade was 109 when this was shot. I was in the open sun with zero cover and zero clouds, so the felt temp was closer to 119. There was lots of sweat running in my eyes, which made trying to be precise and accurate…..fun…to say the least. That said, as long as I did my part, the gun and ammo did its. So far, I am very pleased with the results, especially for a $750ish gun/scope combo. I think it’s a good example of not having to break the bank to get USABLE accuracy out of a precision rig.
Dumping 15 rounds into the head and 8″ hostage flipper of my 2 steel targets, was quite easy at 100 yards as can be seen below (of course, it decides to cloud up as I’m finishing up….murphy and his laws strike again). Next trip, I’ll move back to 200 yards and see how it does there. More to come as I have time to get it done. In case anyone is interested, here is what all I used.
Palmetto State Armory 18″ stainless build kit
Palmetto State Armory stripped lower
Primary Arms 4-14x R-Grid 2B scope
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GUNS N GEAR
I’ve got 2 ARs capable of this. The heavier bullets seem to be the way to go on the ARs I’ve tested for distance and penetration. The wind here is the biggest issue beyond 300. I have a lot of tough days with 30+ mph gusting winds when hunting.
5
Get straight behind the gun and drive it.
Your groups will improve as will your ability to see your hits and miss’s.
Nice rifle. Nice group. You try that with a can?
I might be able to make that happen.
I think the concern for me with budget rifles is not so much the performance over a very short period of time with a low round count but how they will hold up to the abuse over time of being transported around and run hard in adverse conditions. The reliability (i.e. not having parts break off or relatively high numbers of failures to fire for whatever reason) is often where you see what additional dollars spent gets you versus accuracy in a controlled test environment. Before everyone losses their minds and posts how their $400 M&P has 20,000 rounds through it and has never had a malfunction, I’m not saying it is impossible for a budget gun to stand up over time but from what I have seen they are typically more likely to go down.
Henderson Defense/Battlefield Vegas has said that their best/longest running guns and parts are Palmetto State Armory. They put hundreds of thousands of round through them every year. I hear people say that budget guns are more likely to go down, but in over 7 years, I’ve not seen any verifiable proof of that.
For some reason I can’t reply to my own comment, I’ve personally seen a budget gun go down in every single class I have ever been to. In fairness sometimes the hardware is ok but the build from the factory was poor. For example the stock starts twisting because the castle nut wasn’t staked and the owners don’t know enough to do so on their own or thought staking it was internet myth because it “never came loose before” (when they shot 30 rounds through it at the indoor range twice a year). The people that really take it hard are the Kimber owners. I have never seen a Kimber 1911 last more than 3 hours in a class. Most prove to be so bad that the owner has to borrow someone else’s gun by hour two or go home….again they will say “this was 100% reliable before today”. And no one wants to point out their $1,200 “custom” gun is indisputably garbage and they need to sell it for however many pennies they can get for it and start over. Again this is not to say (with the exception of Kimbers where I have seen no exception) ALL budget guns with DEFINITELY break and NO high end guns will EVER break but I have seen first hand over a dozen times a year for several years of regular training far more inexpensive guns fail when actually run hard. If its a range toy then cool, if we are talking about a life or death gun (which I think we are) then it seems to make sense to save up a bit more, maybe buy less total guns, and get something higher quality. Also the firearms aside the same goes for optics, some have acceptable clarity and most of the features you want but few hold zero over the long run or when handled roughly. Most people don’t realize this though because they never get a zero to begin with, shoot too poorly to realize the optic isn’t holding zero, or never subject the rifle-optic combo to anything rougher than a car ride in a rifle case..
Put me down as a guy who sold his Kimber 1911 at a good discount for exactly the reasons listed by Veritas. Also put me down as someone who has seen budget AR builds fail in classes regularly – but I’m not saying that *all* budget guns suck. The data provided by Battlefield Las Vegas re: PSA is very good data.