I didn't know my AR could be this accurate...

engineer40

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Rockford, MI
This is by far the best group I've shot with my AR15. This is a cheap ($480 brand new) Del-Ton AR without a free floated forearm guard and still has the original trigger. The center dot in my fixed 3x scope reticle is so fat it completely covered the bullseye at 100 yards. I just centered the target and hoped for the best. It has a standard profile 16 inch barrel, no heavy barrel.

These rounds were loaded to just barely fit into the magazine. I did not single feed them to achieve these results. The OAL listed on the picture may look odd because it's a measurement taken using a comparator on the calipers.

I have been reloading about 6 months. By all accounts I am still an neophyte with reloading ammo.

This also proved something else to me. It was the first time I just used the Lee perfect powder measure to throw charges without weighing every load on a digital scale. Although H322 meters way better than the previous powders I have been using.

Honestly I had 10 total loaded the same. But my 8 shot group was so stellar I chickened out on actually shooting the last 2. I got nervous and didn't want to ruin it. Who are we kidding though, most guys on here are posting 3-5 shot groups. So 8 is already way above average for showing grouping results. I'm assuming it may have measured even smaller if I would have stopped shooting at 3 or 5 shots (maybe, can't really know for sure).

It looks to be about 1/4 inch center to center holes. I was pretty **** excited when I saw my results. There was no one else at the range to witness it with me or to talk about it with. I got home and told my wife, but she didn't care. So I'll tell you guys! :)

These are not my typical results. In fact, until today I had become frustrated with reloading for my AR. The factory stuff I could buy usually shot better than my reloads... until today! My 16 inch 1:9 twist barrel really likes these 40gr Amax's!

Del_Ton_AR15_8_shot_group_Resized.jpg
 
Brother I'd say you're either one lucky guy or you've definitely found a winning load! That is amazing! Congrats! Now, if it ain't broke don't fix it!

Robert
 
That's is some clean shooting post those in the sub moa ar thread.

Thanks! That's a good idea. I forgot about that ongoing thread.


Brother I'd say you're either one lucky guy or you've definitely found a winning load! That is amazing! Congrats! Now, if it ain't broke don't fix it!

Robert

It's funny that I originally started loading for this AR using 69gr Nosler bullets because I wanted to stretch it out a little further. Never really got them to shoot anything better than 1.75 inches at 100 yards. The 55gr stuff usually shot decent 1-1.25 inches. I go down in bullet weight to 40gr and honestly all of my groups yesterday were under an inch. With the pic above being the obvious winner.


This group really made me question many things I "know" to be true about shooting accurately. If it's not raining tomorrow I'm going to try to reproduce these results. If I can I will be very excited.

One side note; I typed up the original post late last night. I should have said that I don't have a $200+ "drop in" trigger in the rifle. It's mostly a stock trigger, although I did change out the springs and added a joeboboutfitters set screw. That misinformation was weighing on me after I reread my post this morning. Now my conscious is clear again. :)
 
A relative of mine owns a gunshop. He tells me that AR15s can be surprisingly accurate. Less than 1moa is becoming very common and quite a few will print less than 1/2moa.

I have a plain-Jane CMMG carbine AR. I did install an aftermarket Geissele trigger. It's a shooter too with 60gr Hornady Vmax bullets, in the 1/2moa range.

On the other hand, a close aquaintance purchased the same CMMG at the same time as I did. His rifle shoots the identical 60gr Vmax load to more like 1.75moa. But to put this into context, we haven't spent any time searching for and working up an accurate handload in either rifle. So his might shoot another bullet very well, or the same bullet with a different powder or powder charge weight. Just haven't tried any bullet other than the 60gr Vmax in either rifle.
 
Well I loaded up 20 more rounds identical to the ones I shot that tiny group with. I went with a friend to his range instead of the one I'm a member at.

Low and behold, they didn't have any 2x4's or plywood up to staple any targets to. I didn't realize that we were supposed to bring out own stuff to pound into the ground for target backers.

So we just shot at the range steel for the afternoon with the rifles we brought. Bummer... I was quite curious if I could reproduce these results.
 
Great shooting! Think you have found a great load for your $480 AR. Remember "inexpensive" does not always mean "cheap."
 
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