1/9 S&W M&P-15 Sport

[wild_weasel]

I took my son to Walker 47 yesterday afternoon to pick up his high school graduation present, a NIB S&W M&P-15 Sport. We headed straight home where I instructed him on how to tear it down and clean it, while it was torn down I replaced the forward hand guard and MagPul MOE rear sight with a hand guard (w/ metal heat shield) and rear sight / carry handle from a USGI M-4, both fit perfectly. At the range I zeroed the rifle per the instructions in Army manual FM 3-22.9 using PMC X-Tac 55gr and had it zeroed at 25 yards in 12 shots, groups averaged 2cm. This tells me a lot about the tooling the Sport is built on, the first three shots grouped at 2cm and one 1 cm to the right and 2 cm high with the sights adjusted for initial fire per FM 3-22.9, it only took a few clicks to the left and down to zero the rifle for 25/300 yards. After that I let my son loose on a standard silhouette at 25 yards using 50 rounds of Field Time's 55gr FMJ range ammo and he had no trouble keeping every shot I the red. He was pretty pumped about shooting better than a couple Mall Ninjas that were shooting blinged out ARs while we were there. Returning home I made him tear it down and clean it.

Compared to my Sport I bought last year with a 1/8 barrel the new 1/9 Sport's fit, finish, trigger pull, and accuracy are the same. While I have MagPul furniture and an AimPoint on my 1/8 rifle, surplus M-4 parts definitely performed well on his 1/9 Sport.

This dog can hunt!

Cheers,
W-W

 

[mcbizkit02]

Sounds like you bought yourself a present.

 

[wild_weasel]

I have my own Sport, just wanted to make sure it was set up correctly.

 

[WardenRoss]

you are a great daddy!

 

[Lost Lake]

Are you sure Army manual FM 3-22.9 still applies? That may have been superseded as the proper sight in regulation.

I've been out for a while but maybe someone here can interject....

 

[wild_weasel]

Whether or not FM 3-22.9 still applies I used it to familiarize myself with the carry handle / rear sight I bought on Ebay. Had no idea it was common to both the M-4 and M-16A4's. For the M-4 you set it to 6/3 and the M-16A4 you use the z setting. Everything worked out as the manual instructed. Since we only have access to a 25 yard indoor range it worked out great. The manual also has the offsets for using M193 55gr ball ammo.

 

[Maddmax]

Whether or not FM 3-22.9 still applies I used it to familiarize myself with the carry handle / rear sight I bought on Ebay. Had no idea it was common to both the M-4 and M-16A4's. For the M-4 you set it to 6/3 and the M-16A4 you use the z setting. Everything worked out as the manual instructed. Since we only have access to a 25 yard indoor range it worked out great. The manual also has the offsets for using M193 55gr ball ammo.

Might be "old" but it still comes in handy and works.

 

[cyphertext]

Any chance of being able to stretch it out to 100 yards and give a side by side comparison in the future? (Sorry Maddmax, I fail at patience! )

 

[cyphertext]

Are you sure Army manual FM 3-22.9 still applies? That may have been superseded as the proper sight in regulation.

I've been out for a while but maybe someone here can interject....

There are methods for "improved" BZ0, but this one still works! I would bet that military still goes with the 300 yard zero, and not the 200 yard that seems more popular with civilian shooters.

 

[wild_weasel]

I would suspect the same; in Afghanistan there was a lot of nothing between the good guys and bad guys, that the M-4s had trouble reaching. While the M-16A2/A4s have better legs that go with 6 inches more barrel they are not well suited for operations involving MRAPs that can be pretty tight inside.

I am working on some reloads using Barnes 55gr lead free bullets for dear and hog if I ever get the opportunity. That would definitely justify a few trips out to Angels Shooting Range to properly dial things in. For the time being, the 25 yard range is perfect for teaching my son marksmanship and safe gun handling.

There are methods for "improved" BZ0, but this one still works! I would bet that military still goes with the 300 yard zero, and not the 200 yard that seems more popular with civilian shooters.

 

[Lost Lake]

You guys did see the smiley thing after my post right?

This was the first time I heard of someone pulling out a field manual to sight in a rifle, that's all...

 

[cyphertext]

You guys did see the smiley thing after my post right?

This was the first time I heard of someone pulling out a field manual to sight in a rifle, that's all...

Ya, I saw it, and I thought you were asking if there were new ways that have been adopted, in a friendly manner.

I used a field manual when I sighted mine in for the first time. That A4 carry handle style sight isn't very intuitive. One would think you would always set it to Z when zeroing.

 

[Maddmax]

There are methods for "improved" BZ0, but this one still works! I would bet that military still goes with the 300 yard zero, and not the 200 yard that seems more popular with civilian shooters.

The 300yds has always been my go to for zero. Auto reflex compensates for anything in-between.

Never could figure out what the shorter 200 was all about for some. All our outdoor ranges around here are 300yd+ and a couple private at 1000yrd.

 

[Maddmax]

I am working on some reloads using Barnes 55gr lead free bullets for dear and hog if I ever get the opportunity. That would definitely justify a few trips out to Angels Shooting Range to properly dial things in. For the time being, the 25 yard range is perfect for teaching my son marksmanship and safe gun handling.

So what are your thoughts an those lead free bullets or too early to tell yet ?

 

[wild_weasel]

I have been using data from the Hodgdon 2013 Annual. I tried a few after sighting my rifle in using Federal XM193 ammo. The Barnes loads shoot to the same elevation at 25 yards, but 2cm to the left.

 

[eludethis]

There are methods for "improved" BZ0, but this one still works! I would bet that military still goes with the 300 yard zero, and not the 200 yard that seems more popular with civilian shooters.

This is correct. Just qualified today at drill. 50-300meter pop ups. 33/40 for my record qual.

 

[WardenRoss]

I'm jealous of anyone that has easy/convenient use of the longer ranges.

 

[Quentin]

The 300yds has always been my go to for zero. Auto reflex compensates for anything in-between.

Never could figure out what the shorter 200 was all about for some. All our outdoor ranges around here are 300yd+ and a couple private at 1000yrd.

The main advantage of the 50/200 meter zero is a very flat trajectory. POA and POI are within 2.5" from 0 to about 230 meters. The 25/300 BZ varies by much more, about 6" high at 100 meters and I think it gets to 8" high a little further out until the bullet begins to drop.

 

[Maddmax]

The main advantage of the 50/200 meter zero is a very flat trajectory. POA and POI are within 2.5" from 0 to about 230 meters. The 25/300 BZ varies by much more, about 6" high at 100 meters and I think it gets to 8" high a little further out until the bullet begins to drop.

All depends on what you are taught. I have no problems with 25-300. I'm just use to the in-between as a given. The fun begins at 300+ and that's where the 200 shooters start dropping behind.

 

[wild_weasel]

The 25 yard zero works out perfect for us, since we only have access to a 25 yard indoor range anyway. it was fun setting up my son's Sport with the carry handle / sight and having everything work out as the manula described. We may have to to buy some tacticool gear for everyday wear now... or at least to the range.