Good morning all.
This will be a bit lengthy. Please be patient as I'm looking for some advice.
I purchased a Compass Lake built Aero M5E1 308 rifle this winter, the rifle was built in 2019. Here is a post about it:
www.snipershide.com
The seller said that it had at most 10-20 rounds through it. When I bore scoped the barrel there was no carbon fouling and only a little copper build up, and the throat still had reamer marks on the rifling. From this I believe the barrel was only test fired by CLE and not the original owner. What was disappointing though was the reamer was clearly not centered on the bore when the chamber was cut. I could clearly see the freebore section on the upper half of the chamber, the lower half still had the rifling extending all the way to the case mouth. This didn't look good at all but decided to break-in the barrel and start load development, you never know it may just shoot... Unfortunately, and as expected, the rifle has not produced consistent accuracy. I've got a couple loads which showed promise, shooting 1/2 MOA @ 100 with a single 5 shot group, but then opening up to 1.5 MOA on the next.
Not wanting to take the time to go into loads, load development or shooting technique I want to focus on what to do with this rifle. Is the Aero M5E upper, rifle also has an Aero lower, capable of producing 1/2 MOA (or close to it) with a quality barrel? Or should I sell this and have a new rifle built on a Seekins, Larue, or some other brand receiver that prevents the handguard from attaching to the barrel nut and allow a thermal fit barrel? The goal is to engage targets out to 800 yards, accurately. Thanks for taking the time to read and respond...
This will be a bit lengthy. Please be patient as I'm looking for some advice.
I purchased a Compass Lake built Aero M5E1 308 rifle this winter, the rifle was built in 2019. Here is a post about it:
AR10 feeding issue
I recently purchased a 'used' Aero AR10, built by Compass Lake. Looking at the barrel through the borescope leads me to believe the gun was only fired by CLE after assembly. The rifle was built in 2019, 1 of 3 for a single customer. The rifle is a joy to shoot. I've only 82 rounds through...
www.snipershide.com
Not wanting to take the time to go into loads, load development or shooting technique I want to focus on what to do with this rifle. Is the Aero M5E upper, rifle also has an Aero lower, capable of producing 1/2 MOA (or close to it) with a quality barrel? Or should I sell this and have a new rifle built on a Seekins, Larue, or some other brand receiver that prevents the handguard from attaching to the barrel nut and allow a thermal fit barrel? The goal is to engage targets out to 800 yards, accurately. Thanks for taking the time to read and respond...
