My first AR 15

[brian4321]

So my wife bought me my first AR 15, ON HER BIRTHDAY, "because she loves me" . I dunno guys but I kinda get the feeling that was her way of getting what she wants for her birthday instead of what I gave her lol. Either way I'm not complaining as long as I get to use it. It's nothing fancy or expensive, but the local gun shop was running a deal on them and it has good reviews. It's the Anderson AM 15. So yesterday I mounted a vortex crossfire scope on it and bought a couple hundred rounds of the cheapest FMJ ammo I could find and started shooting. After the initial 50 round barrel break in and cleaning, I started dialing it in at 100 yards. I do have to say I'm a little disappointed in the groups, which is the reason for my question. The best I could get it to group at 100 yards was about 5 inches. In it's defense, I was using ultra cheap FMJ ammo, and it was pretty breezy yesterday. Also, the trigger is horrible, it has a long rough travel. Otherwise I couldn't find any complaints with it, it works very smoothly and never had a problem cycling even when I shot 10 rounds as fast as I could. So the question is, how much of a difference is there in quality factory ammo and cheap ammo? Would good ammo help the groups significantly? Another thing is the barrel twist rate is 1:8 and I was using 55gr ammo. I know gm280 and mtboatguy and a few others are pretty sharp with rifles, which is why I posted here.

 

[southkogs]

What caliber round is your AR shootin'?

Keep the wife

 

[gm280]

I can't say without seeing the total setup, but cheap rounds are exactly that...cheap. Before I go any further, were you shooting off sand bags for your groupings? If you were, that isn't very good grouping at all. However, if you were merely free standing or propping the rifle to shoot, sand bag groups will come together a lot better. Yes the factory triggers leave tons to be desired. I installed a Kidd trigger assembly in mine and a Burris Full Field scope. And it shoots great. But that is also with quality ammo or my own reloads. Don't give up with your groupings until you try other ammo and shoot off sand bags for the grouping and zeroing. It does make a huge difference.

 

[brian4321]

What caliber round is your AR shootin'?

Keep the wife

It's a 5.56/.223.
Yes I'm keeping her lol

 

[brian4321]

I can't say without seeing the total setup, but cheap rounds are exactly that...cheap. Before I go any further, were you shooting off sand bags for your groupings? If you were, that isn't very good grouping at all. However, if you were merely free standing or propping the rifle to shoot, sand bag groups will come together a lot better. Yes the factory triggers leave tons to be desired. I installed a Kidd trigger assembly in mine and a Burris Full Field scope. And it shoots great. But that is also with quality ammo or my own reloads. Don't give up with your groupings until you try other ammo and shoot off sand bags for the grouping and zeroing. It does make a huge difference.

I wasn't using sandbags. I was sitting at a portable table with a pillow for the gun to rest on

 

[brian4321]

Something else I should add, is I don't have much experience shooting rifles. I grew up in Illinois where shotguns are used for most of the hunting , but I do have a bolt action .243 I use for coyote hunting, but still don't have much experience shooting rifles

 

[brian4321]

Just watched some videos on polishing a trigger and hammer. Interesting

 

[brian4321]

 

[robert graham]

In the news today: 19 year old homeowners son blows away(dead) 3 would be burglars after they broke in their home in Oklahoma...his AR-15 worked great for the young fellow to eliminate these scum-balls!....Good Luck with your new weapon!

 

[Limited-Time]

Congrats on the new shooter. Before you spend time tinkering with the factory fire control group (aka trigger assembly) I'd look into a drop in trigger. Just google them. For a little money their an outstanding upgrade

 

[southkogs]

A suggestion ... shoot a 25 yard group with the .223 and a 100 yard group with the .223. Then clean the gun and do the same exercise with 5.56. I've not owned an AR, but if I understand the two rounds correctly they're not exactly identical. Depending on the load, 5.56 should be the more powerful of the two and probably better in longer range shooting.

It may amount to nuthin' ... but it's what I would try first.

 

[MTboatguy]

I now own 15 AR series guns and I just finished a AR pistol with a 7.5 in barrel, in the AR world, the type and brand of the ammo makes all of the difference. Cheap FMJ ammo is never going to give you the best groups you can get, for precision work, like prairie dogs over a 100 yards I reload. The AR rifle was not designed to be all that accurate, it is a battle rifle and the only reason people see that it is not that accurate is because we shoot it as a semi auto rifle and are able to analyze each shot, for what it was designed for it works great, 700-900 rounds a minute downrange accuracy don't really matter, one shot, one kill is not the AR's strong point.

For the most part AR-15's are not the most accurate rifle you will pick up, That said, if you want to get into reloading, you can develop a load that will shoot 1 MOA with out much trouble.

Just to add, drop in trigger groups will make a big difference and you don't have to buy the most expensive, but they are good over the standard duty issued trigger group. Learn the gun and you will learn how to shoot it the best way you can, it is a finicky platform and it takes a bit of time to figure it out.

Have fun and keep that gal!

 

[gm280]

Different guns have their strong points and weak. Single shot and bolt action rifles own the long distant game because there is so little moving parts that repeatability is easy to accomplish. And accuracy comes with repeatability. Semi-auto has the firepower to send lead in the air and hope it connected with a target. And of course full auto is a waste of time in my opinion. Again you just pull the trigger and swap from side to side wishing it connects with anything.

Once you become fully educated in shooting you AR15, you may be interested in building your own 80% lower gun. Read up on them and see what you think. Everybody should own at least one or ten of them. :facepalm:

 

[brian4321]

I have actually considered building one with an 80% lower, but like you said I need to gain experience with the platform first. Thanks for the input guys and I look forward to playing around with different ammo and maybe a drop in trigger to see if i can shrink the groups to an acceptable size to shoot at coyotes out to 200 yards or so

 

[WIMUSKY]

Different guns have their strong points and weak. Single shot and bolt action rifles own the long distant game because there is so little moving parts that repeatability is easy to accomplish.

I believe the main reason they're more accurate is all the energy goes out the muzzle and none is used to push the bolt back to reload like a semi.....

Here's my semi at 100yds.... 30.06

 

[southkogs]

Don't forget that technically an AR is a carbine ... it was a shorter barrel that was designed originally for cavalry to carry. Move fast, overtake and win was the design. As opposed to a long rifle where the barrel is designed to help a longer, more powerful shot.

The right tool for the right job.

 

[MTboatguy]

Don't forget that technically an AR is a carbine ... it was a shorter barrel that was designed originally for cavalry to carry. Move fast, overtake and win was the design. As opposed to a long rifle where the barrel is designed to help a longer, more powerful shot.

The right tool for the right job.

Actually the original AR15/M16 was a rifle length gun, it had a 20" barrel and rifle length gas system with a fixed stock. The carbine models were designed later in the game and there have been several different models of AR made over the past 50 years. The original Stoner design was for a .308 cartridge(Armalite AR10) and not the 5.56. I own AR guns as short as a 7.5" barrel up to a 20" model and several 14.5" and 16" models, they are all set up for different things. AR's are often times identified by their gas length size, which is Pistol, Carbine, Mid-length and Rifle length. But again, the first of them issued to the troops in Vietnam were the rifle length fixed stock 601, 602 followed by the A1 models, then followed by the A2, A3, A4 in the 80's and there have been several variants over the years designed for different jobs. There were also the XM16E1

The current models being issued is the M4A1.

My first M16 FA gun is actually stamped on the receiver AR15 and that gun was built in 1964.

There is some really good reading around the internet and some great books on the platform that is worth owning.

 

[southkogs]

... it was a shorter barrel that was designed originally for cavalry to carry.

Sorry. Yeah, I meant the carbine was originally designed as a shorter barrel for the cavalry.

 

[Rick Stephens]

I like using shorter 20 round mags when shooting off a bench. The 30 rounders are so long it is hard to get a firm rest without being too high.

Your rifle has the old style clamshell fore end. You might want to replace that eventually with a free floated tube to get good bench results. The free float tube is part of/attached to the barrel nut and doesn't touch the barrel down by the gas block. This often improves accuracy a lot off a rest.

I have to agree with the 556 versus 223 tests. Some chambers are cut to be a compromise fit and allow either, others will be better with one or the other. Keep an eye on primers for excess pressure when shooting with 556 ammo until you know for sure you aren't too tight for the longer neck.

Like MTboatguy, I like using after market triggers. I have done some trigger work on factory triggers, adding a stop screw and modifying the springs and sear. Have to be REALLY careful polishing case hardened hammers and sear surfaces. The hardness is really thin and it is easy to file, polish right through it and have a nice trigger for a few hundred rounds. Dropping in an after market trigger group, from a company that stands behind their product, is the best way to have instant gratification. I got used to 2 stage triggers with an AR-10T I shoot a lot (which comes with a decent factory 2 stage), so all my ARs now have Rock River or similar trigger groups that I adjust until they are as close to identical as I can make them.

Have fun. Good ammo is always to be treasured. You might find a decent buy on 1000 round Lake City M855 ball ammo if your gun likes 556. I handload to duplicate the ballistics (55 Grain Montana Gold bullet and TAC powder) for competition and keep several cases on the shelf for just in case I need it. While I throw out all Federal cases, and Federal own the Lake City arsenal as well, the Lake City cases are good stuff. I refuse to reload Federal 223 cases, the brass is too soft or something, primers are always falling out and can jam your trigger group. Lake City is my go to brass though.

Rick

 

[gm280]

Rick Stephens, if you use CCI primers, every other type primer will have a tendency to come out. CCI's are slightly larger in diameter then everybody else's. I personally like R-P cases. But to each their own. JMHO