barristerr
Member
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2015
- Messages
- 20
- Reaction score
- 10
Greetings from cold Virginia. Thanks to Jackson-Lee day (yep, still a thing...), work was closed so off to the range to get my first work in on the Sport II earlier this week.
I thought I'd add a bit to the discourse here for those who, like me, were looking into breaking into the AR fold with a Sport II. Hopefully, this post will help you, and for those of you old heads I look forward to talking with, well, maybe you'll find something useful too.
First things first, grabbed the Sport II from Ky Gun for $629 after FFL. Not bad IMO, consistent with local prices here in NoVa. I considered the Aero AC-15 and Ruger AR-556. Discounted the Aero because I wanted my first rifle to be backed by a company with a good CS reputation (not that Aero doesn't, but I wanted a name brand). Ruger was simply unavailable, I literally couldn't even find one to hold and play with. Of course yesterday, Sportsmans Guide gets them from $583 shipped and FFL, but the QC issues documented over on Ruger Forum make me glad I spent the extra $50.
So, I've handled several ARs, but never my own. Sport II came in fantastic shape. Gas key very nicely staked, no tool marks, dings or marks, and overall a nice tight fit and finish everywhere. I had no qualms taking it home.
Range ammo today was 55gr Wolf Gold, 55 gr Perfecta (picked it up from Walmart on the way to the range) and 55 gr Federal American Eagle. I wanted to try a few different types to see how the rifle responded.
1. 25 Yards, Sitting
Used my sight mark universal laser to check the sites. The MBUS and front sight were dead on with POA right above the front post.
Rifle was dead on accurate, and the first 10 (Wolf) rounds were all within the 9 and 10 rings, slightly grouped a little right or high; all user error since it was my first time really shooting my own AR. All in all, I shot about 60 rounds (20 of each ammo) and couldn't have been happier with the groups. Everything was consistently a little high, but frankly my eyesight is terrible, and after about 20-30 rounds I finally settled on a POA at the bottom of the bullseye that was putting my POI dead center.
Ammo wise, Perfecta was equally as good as Wolf or Federal. For $15 per 50, not a bad buy.
2. 50 yards, sitting
Shot 40 rounds of the Wolf and Perfecta this way. Now that I had the hang of things, groups were nice and tight. Since I couldn't really see a damn thing about the impacts, I was blown away each time my target came back with just tight groups in the 9 and 10. Frankly, I just couldn't believe I was capable of shooting that well with only sites since I'm really more handguns and my scoped 30-06 Ruger.
3. 100 yards, sitting.
This blew me away. 40 rounds, all Wolf. I took a break after 25 and 50, and played around with my Ruger for 20 rounds. Fixed my scope, felt nice and good about my shooting for the day, and figured there is absolutely no way I'm going to hit anything from this distance without a scope. It was just a blurry box a football field away.
Away I went. My range has cameras and a screen at the bench so I was blown away when from 100 yards I looked up at my screen and saw my first 5 shot group landed 3 within a 3 inch group dead center and the other two on paper. These things may not be impressive, and may certainly not be to some of you seasoned AR shooters, but I know what I'm capable of, and this blew me away for out-of-the-box and without an optic with an fairly inexperienced AR shooter.
One thing I changed immediately when I got it (I know, you gotta wait...) was the stock grip to an MOE+. I have bigger hands, and already knew I couldn't stand the plastic *** it came with. Great surface and just the right thickness for my paws.
All in all, really pleased. Not a single mechanical issue over close to 150 rounds, no feeding issues, nice smooth cycling. I'm actually glad I didn't have the choice of the Ruger since I likely would have saved the $50 and I can tell you now that it was $ well spent.
Came with a Gen2 PMAG which worked excellent. I used a Gen3 I had bought as well, and I'll have to check but it loaded poorly IMO. I'll test out another one before judging if that one is just off (feed lips weren't really secure, if that describes it, and the ammo wasn't going in right without some jiggling).
One last note that I'm curious about is that my safety will not switch from 'Fire' to 'Safe' unless the rifle is charged. Is that normal functioning? Seems odd that there's a limitation on initiating the safety and want to make sure I didn't mess something up when I changed the grip.
Hope that helps someone. Great new addition, can't wait to take it out again.
I thought I'd add a bit to the discourse here for those who, like me, were looking into breaking into the AR fold with a Sport II. Hopefully, this post will help you, and for those of you old heads I look forward to talking with, well, maybe you'll find something useful too.
First things first, grabbed the Sport II from Ky Gun for $629 after FFL. Not bad IMO, consistent with local prices here in NoVa. I considered the Aero AC-15 and Ruger AR-556. Discounted the Aero because I wanted my first rifle to be backed by a company with a good CS reputation (not that Aero doesn't, but I wanted a name brand). Ruger was simply unavailable, I literally couldn't even find one to hold and play with. Of course yesterday, Sportsmans Guide gets them from $583 shipped and FFL, but the QC issues documented over on Ruger Forum make me glad I spent the extra $50.
So, I've handled several ARs, but never my own. Sport II came in fantastic shape. Gas key very nicely staked, no tool marks, dings or marks, and overall a nice tight fit and finish everywhere. I had no qualms taking it home.
Range ammo today was 55gr Wolf Gold, 55 gr Perfecta (picked it up from Walmart on the way to the range) and 55 gr Federal American Eagle. I wanted to try a few different types to see how the rifle responded.
1. 25 Yards, Sitting
Used my sight mark universal laser to check the sites. The MBUS and front sight were dead on with POA right above the front post.
Rifle was dead on accurate, and the first 10 (Wolf) rounds were all within the 9 and 10 rings, slightly grouped a little right or high; all user error since it was my first time really shooting my own AR. All in all, I shot about 60 rounds (20 of each ammo) and couldn't have been happier with the groups. Everything was consistently a little high, but frankly my eyesight is terrible, and after about 20-30 rounds I finally settled on a POA at the bottom of the bullseye that was putting my POI dead center.
Ammo wise, Perfecta was equally as good as Wolf or Federal. For $15 per 50, not a bad buy.
2. 50 yards, sitting
Shot 40 rounds of the Wolf and Perfecta this way. Now that I had the hang of things, groups were nice and tight. Since I couldn't really see a damn thing about the impacts, I was blown away each time my target came back with just tight groups in the 9 and 10. Frankly, I just couldn't believe I was capable of shooting that well with only sites since I'm really more handguns and my scoped 30-06 Ruger.
3. 100 yards, sitting.
This blew me away. 40 rounds, all Wolf. I took a break after 25 and 50, and played around with my Ruger for 20 rounds. Fixed my scope, felt nice and good about my shooting for the day, and figured there is absolutely no way I'm going to hit anything from this distance without a scope. It was just a blurry box a football field away.
Away I went. My range has cameras and a screen at the bench so I was blown away when from 100 yards I looked up at my screen and saw my first 5 shot group landed 3 within a 3 inch group dead center and the other two on paper. These things may not be impressive, and may certainly not be to some of you seasoned AR shooters, but I know what I'm capable of, and this blew me away for out-of-the-box and without an optic with an fairly inexperienced AR shooter.
One thing I changed immediately when I got it (I know, you gotta wait...) was the stock grip to an MOE+. I have bigger hands, and already knew I couldn't stand the plastic *** it came with. Great surface and just the right thickness for my paws.
All in all, really pleased. Not a single mechanical issue over close to 150 rounds, no feeding issues, nice smooth cycling. I'm actually glad I didn't have the choice of the Ruger since I likely would have saved the $50 and I can tell you now that it was $ well spent.
Came with a Gen2 PMAG which worked excellent. I used a Gen3 I had bought as well, and I'll have to check but it loaded poorly IMO. I'll test out another one before judging if that one is just off (feed lips weren't really secure, if that describes it, and the ammo wasn't going in right without some jiggling).
One last note that I'm curious about is that my safety will not switch from 'Fire' to 'Safe' unless the rifle is charged. Is that normal functioning? Seems odd that there's a limitation on initiating the safety and want to make sure I didn't mess something up when I changed the grip.
Hope that helps someone. Great new addition, can't wait to take it out again.
