Okay, I spent a fair chunk of yesterday prone on my handy dandy Midway shooters mat out in the desert sending lead downrange, and can report the following:
First, I had a blast!
My custom build AR15 ran flawlessly. More information on this would have been posted here, but we don't seem to have a sub-forum for non S&W AR's.
At any rate, not one single FTF or FTE, and it held 5 shot groups that averaged around an inch to an inch and a quarter at a hundred yards using XM855 (62 grain). I've got a steel gong target coming tonight via the man in Brown, and hope to get out again Thursday or Friday.
My M&P 15 was really pissing me off through it's first magazine of ammunition. It would fire and chamber the next round, but not reset the trigger, forcing me to manually eject the round and load a new one. Turns out it was just something that needed to be run enough, because magazines 2 though 4 ran flawlessly. I wasn't expecting much accuracy with the 2 MOA red dot, so wasn't really surprised with the results. It's accurate enough for hitting man-sized targets out to a hundred yards, but doubt I'd try anything much past that.
My M&P 10 was the one I was expecting problems with, as it turns out Smith has had some QA issues with them according to some of the folks here at the Smith forum. Having said that, to my amazement, not one single problem occurred. I also found that the rifle really needs a good scope to take advantage of it's native accuracy (currently has a 2 MOA red dot). Looks like I'll be buying two Leupold VXR scopes if bonuses get paid this year.
Lastly, I finally took my Remington 700 SPS varminter (in .223) out for a test as well. Even with the heavy factory trigger (which absolutely HAS to go), and a bipod that was two inches too short (necessitating the use of a chunk of 2x8 as a booster seat), I was able to shoot my best group of the day using it, a five shot group measuring out at 3/4 of an inch (most were closer to an inch).
I took some pics, but am having trouble getting them out of my stupid phone. I'll try again when I get a minute.
All in all, a great day of fun in the desert!
PS - I can heartily recommend the JP Enterprises captured spring buffer - awesome to not have the rifle go TWANG!! after each shot! I've got one in each AR15, and will be putting one in my M&P10 next, along with my upcoming .300 AAC project build.
First, I had a blast!
My custom build AR15 ran flawlessly. More information on this would have been posted here, but we don't seem to have a sub-forum for non S&W AR's.
At any rate, not one single FTF or FTE, and it held 5 shot groups that averaged around an inch to an inch and a quarter at a hundred yards using XM855 (62 grain). I've got a steel gong target coming tonight via the man in Brown, and hope to get out again Thursday or Friday.
My M&P 15 was really pissing me off through it's first magazine of ammunition. It would fire and chamber the next round, but not reset the trigger, forcing me to manually eject the round and load a new one. Turns out it was just something that needed to be run enough, because magazines 2 though 4 ran flawlessly. I wasn't expecting much accuracy with the 2 MOA red dot, so wasn't really surprised with the results. It's accurate enough for hitting man-sized targets out to a hundred yards, but doubt I'd try anything much past that.
My M&P 10 was the one I was expecting problems with, as it turns out Smith has had some QA issues with them according to some of the folks here at the Smith forum. Having said that, to my amazement, not one single problem occurred. I also found that the rifle really needs a good scope to take advantage of it's native accuracy (currently has a 2 MOA red dot). Looks like I'll be buying two Leupold VXR scopes if bonuses get paid this year.
Lastly, I finally took my Remington 700 SPS varminter (in .223) out for a test as well. Even with the heavy factory trigger (which absolutely HAS to go), and a bipod that was two inches too short (necessitating the use of a chunk of 2x8 as a booster seat), I was able to shoot my best group of the day using it, a five shot group measuring out at 3/4 of an inch (most were closer to an inch).
I took some pics, but am having trouble getting them out of my stupid phone. I'll try again when I get a minute.
All in all, a great day of fun in the desert!
PS - I can heartily recommend the JP Enterprises captured spring buffer - awesome to not have the rifle go TWANG!! after each shot! I've got one in each AR15, and will be putting one in my M&P10 next, along with my upcoming .300 AAC project build.
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