LOL, the very old 6x5 threads on the original snipershide back in 2012 (1st & 2nd round no longer exists anymore and I'm rather sure they are gone forever due to hackers and transfer of the information over the years)..... anyway, round 3 still kinda exists but most of the pics are gone in the thread. There was many more rounds after this and I'm still running them on facebook now. Here is the link:
https://www.snipershide.com/shooting/forum/...round-shootout
Anyway,,,,,, my love for precision rifles started out with AR's (after my dad gave me a SKS at age 14 and an arsenal milled AK in the early 2000's when you could get them for $450 ish dollars!)... Got my first (all i could afford at the time) DPMS LR-308 bull barrel (my days before I even knew how to reload and was running on pure factory gas) years ago. I quickly found myself hooked and looking for more and more ways of how to improve my AR's accuracy. No matter what I did, I could never reach this "I shoot .5moa all day long" that everyone talked about on the forums. I eventually found my way onto the hide years ago and would keep reading these posts of people and their ".5moa all day long" rifles. Doing the same as the original OP and as many people still do today... I asked the question, "what AR should I get that is more accurate!?". I ended up selling the DPMS and dropped $2500 on an LMT.
Once I got the LMT MWS in .308, and a couple rock rivers in .223, I started to reload. My groups improved, but still I would get this once in a blue moon .5ish group, but never consistenly. My groups improved as my skills in reloading improved, but still I was never satisfied. Group after group after group, and a year went by shooting my AR's I started to come to the conclusion that I didn't discount the possibility of owning, shooting, and reloading ".5moa all day long", but most if not all people that posted "I shoot .5moa all day long" were simply full of shit and were posting nothing but cherry picked groups.
Being an estimator by trade, I came to the conclusion that "why don't you put your money where your mouth is" and shoot 6 total, 5shot groups, on one single target and we will take the average of the 6 groups... We will keep it at 100yards in order to minimize wind and mirage.... then I will be satisfied that you are actually able to shoot ".5moa all day long"... that's when I started the 6x5 shootout challenge on the HIDE. It was a combination of the rifle, shooter, and eventually I got it through my thick skull the importance of reloading. All 3 are important (rifle, shooter, and reloading). Hell, in the original 6x5 threads you didn't even need to hit the damn bullseye, it was just a game to show off how accurate YOU and YOUR RIFLE was (now the new 6x5 thread on facebook has a bullseye bonus that improves your score).. It really was like drag racing your stock car, but for rifles.
It didn't take many rounds once I started the 6x5 challenge to realize .223 AR's were blowing .308 AR's out of the water in terms of accuracy. My conclusion was.. Driving a large caliber AR is much much more difficult in comparison to a small caliber AR (.308 vs .223). Time and time again, the .223 AR's would blow the .308 AR's out of the water at 100yards.. Recoil impulse, recoil impulse. Recoil management is a bitch. I can't tell you how many bolt action boys that switched over to AR's though they were going crazy when their bolts produced .5moa groups, while their new AR rifle couldn't print anything under 1.5moa... That big ass bolt carrier group, gas, blah blah blah can be a bastard. I ended up keeping bolt actions on their own boards, while having AR's on their very own boards. Don't under estimate the power of a bolt action's sealed chamber when taking shots. If you think your AR should be as accurate as your bolt rifle = you're kidding yourself.
I've literally seen HUNDREDS if not over a thousand 6x5's over the years from damn near every single rifle known to man, from the most inexpensive to the most expensive, from people around the globe, and with that said. Is it possible to own a .5moa all day long AR, that CONSISTENELY produces dime size groups at 100yards every single time you pull the trigger? It is a very complex answer, and the answer isn't based completely within the rifle itself.... is it possible consistently? yes!,,, but I've only seen maybe 15 people out of the 1000's of 6x5 actually do this with an AR CONSISTENTELY.. It's a serious combination of not only the quality of the rifle, but also that of the shooter's skill, and reloading skill..... 33%, 33%, 33%... Just because you have a rifle that has the potential to produce .5moa groups all day long, doesn't mean your bolt action skills can drive an AR, and especially if you're feeding your AR crap factory ammo.. I've seen it time and time again, good reloading load development turn a 1.5moa rifle into a .5moa rifle simply based on bullet selection, powder drops, and bullet jumps blah blah blah blah.... if you don't believe me, then you're more than welcome to check out my ruger precision rifle adventure on my youtube channel.
I can only think of maybe 5 people ive seen over the years that completely blow my mind away every single time they pull the trigger.. The one that stands out the most would be James Phillips (and at one time a 600 yard bench rest rifle world record holder)... that man, no crap, takes shooting rifles and reloading to a whole different level and I would HIGHLY advise anyone here to check out his 6x5 targets and all the information posted on my facebook closed group "elfers' 100 & 300, 6groups, 5shots each, 1 target"... it would blow your mind away. James' 300yard 6x5's straight up blow most if not all at 100yards. It's nuts.
Now do all of the above while keeping every single group on the bullseye, that’s a whole different ball of wax... Any jack ass can shoot a 5 shot group... and then carry that off to distance... 500, 1000, 1500 yards plus. Your 100yard load development doesn’t work for shit at 1000yards because you don’t chronograph, and can’t read mirage and wind for shit type crap, Everything you thought you know starting out goes right out the window.
IT IS NOT JUST THE RIFLE! You and your reloads are just as important. Now go to bed! LOL... Elfster out