Re: AR-15 at 1000
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Sterling Shooter</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Having read the AR-10 thread, it made me think back to a few weeks ago, to shooting in a 1000 yard NRA LR tournament at Ft. Knox. As I recall, I was the only shooter participating in Service Rifle division, out of 17 folks who came to shoot. What's up with that? Why no interest in LR with a Service Rifle? I'd think the challenge of winning with a Service Rifle, even if only in the division, would be appealing to any who are seeking to develop their marksmanship skills to an extraordinary level, or to those who'd like to celebrate such skills. </div></div>
The story is incomplete. I see three areas of difficulty.
Availability: The number of 1000 ranges is not increasing, as far as I know but I could be wrong. In my case, I am lucky enough that I live near such a range, near is Texas terms. It's a 100 mile round trip every time I go to a match. Then with travel time, and the match, we are looking at a minimum of 7 hours from the time I get up in darkness to the time I get back home. Practice is out of the question, it takes a lot just to get to the two monthly matches.
Equipment: I am here to tell you that an AR-15 at 1000 yards is not an easy proposition. I shoot one in F-class most every month at that distance and have been for years. You need ammunition for it. Go to the LGS or neighborhood Wally World and pick some right up. Oopps, nobody seems to have much ammo, especially .223 these days. I did see some Black Hills Match ammo for $55 per 50 rounds on-line. It’s 77gr bullets, that should be fine, right? Well no, not really. There are only a few .224 bullets that can make 1000 yards supersonically and while they may be offered loaded somewhere, I have never seen them in store-bought ammo. This is not a problem for me, I handload, been doing it for 30 years. So, I need a heavy VLD bullet with a very potent charge for those 20 inch barrels; something like a 75 Berger or JLK. Thankfully the price of ammunition and components has been coming down for years now, and these are easy to find. Not. But in my case, I have what I need.
You should use the 80gr or heavier bullets, but in a 20 inch barrel, that’s asking a lot and the heavy, over-max charges are not conducive to long barrel life and they do a number on other parts also. I’m sad that I may start an argument here, but the 20inch Service Rifle AR-15 is not something that one can take to the 1000 yard line without a support organization behind you.
My AR-15 sports a heavy 26 inch barrel and I shoot 80gr JLKs out of it. They are solidly supersonic at the target but I have doubts that would be the case in a 20 inch barrel like in an Service Rifle. My chrono showed a difference of 250FPS between my NM AR-15 and my Match AR-15. One can argue all they want about how much to take off a barrel without affecting velocity, you don't know until you chrono. I would have to increase my load for the 20 incher and since I am over max already, that's not something I am terribly interested in doing.
Just buying a regular, run-of-the-mill NM AR-15 is difficult these days, and it may stay like that for a long time to come. And as I said before, you will need to keep it running with very hot loads.
Professional coaching: Training with a coach? What coach? I have time for this? There are coaches for this? I realize that's what you're offering but I'm here and you're not.
Shooting is a perishable skill; if you do not keep it up, you marksmanship suffers. I find that when demands on my time keep me away from the range, my scores suffer. That may be a revelation to some, but I believe that's the way with most people. I do find that I can quickly get back in the groove, I guess it's muscle memory and so on from 40+ years of shooting, but still.
So, I drifted away from Service Rifle and iron sights and got into the F-class camp. I love F-T/R comps, I don't think it's anywhere near the equipment race that F-open is since everyone is limited to .223 or .308 and the weight restriction is real, but I found that I could use my wind reading skills to good effect and since I was already quite knowlegeable with the AR-15 and handloading for it, that was a good transfer of skills, so to speak. And the F-class targets are brutal, especially for a .223 or .308 at 1000 yards. You do not know what an AR-15 can accomplish at 1000 yards until you have taken one to an F-class match.
I do have the hankering to get back to iron sights but that will not be at 1000 yards.
