Not all gas guns should be lumped together. I can get away with almost free-recoiling a heavy .223 Rem or 6mm, but not a 6.5 Grendel (shooting 100gr or heavier) or AR-10. 95gr or less in the Grendel seems more free-recoil friendly. A lightweight AR-15 in any caliber requires the gas gun fundamentals as well usually.
When I get on a bolt gun, it feels like I’m cheating, because I shoot gas guns almost exclusively.
With the larger calibers and more recoil on a gas gun, you have to really dive back into fundamentals and master them. One little loosening up or mistake and you’ll have a 1.2-1.5 MOA group that could have been a .7 MOA or better.
The most overlooked, least-discussed fundamental is setting up the position with natural point of aim (NPOA) to the dead center of the target.
I do this whether it’s on a bench (doing the tedious task of load development and zero confirmation), or in the field off a tripod with a hybrid position on sloped terrain. Same for seated and slung-in. You can do everything else right to the T, but if your overall position is not oriented dead-through the TGT, you will not have much success. From the bench, this means the NPOA should be as close to within 1 MOA as possible, versus the reticle naturally pointing somewhere else on the paper, even on small TGTs. The position of your hips is central to good NPOA, not only on long guns, but pistols and bows as well.
No matter what, I focus on the TGT as I’m getting into position, not the rifle, the support, or what’s going on around the position with bags, mats, etc. 100% TGT focus looking over the top of the rifle, then setting the rifle into position so that it’s oriented through the TGT.
Once I get behind optics, I settle the gun into the TGT by simulating what the recoil actually does. One of my friends who hadn’t shot with me before thought I had Parkinson’s when he watched me settle-in the gun. Once I have the first sight picture, I close my eyes and simulate recoil, then see what direction the position deteriorated. I then re-build with as much body movement and position as possible to set the NPOA up through the TGT. I do many of these position settling cycles, not just one until I’m happy. If you try to muscle into a centered sight picture, the NPOA will be somewhere else.
I
don’t take my time with a string of shots. I rapid-fire the group on a cadence, but it took many years before I got confident with this approach. I first saw it demonstrated by a senior NCO in the AMU at Benning. He could rapid-fire groups on-demand with other people’s rifles.
With the AR-10 or 6.5 Grendel AR-15, I apply way more rearward pressure on the grip, which presses the butt into my pectoral muscle. I also apply a lot of pressure with the support hand into the rear bag or toe of the stock to weld that butt into my pec. From a field position, you can grab your sleeve material and clamp the butt into your hand. I maintain a solid cheek weld as well, with a rifle that is properly set-up for optic height matching eye height on the same plane. Having the rifle built around you is a big contributor to consistent fundamentals. If you have to fight with the rifle, it takes your attentional focus away from maintaining a good sight picture.
Over the past few years, I’ve been doing more 7 o’clock approaches into the POA instead of trying to hold on the POA if it’s a field position, and I even practice this from a solid rest on the bench. I’ve shot consistent 5rd groups into anywhere from the .3s to the .6s with both .308 and 6.5 Grendel using that method. It’s interesting that I’ve shot some of these groups out of impatience many times, after another shooter had doubts about the rifle and its accuracy potential right there on the range.
I simply jump behind the gun doing all the things I’m talking about, settle in the gun into NPOA, go quickly into my fundamentals sequence (sight picture/alignment, breathing control/trigger control/hit the wall in sequence with the sight picture and time the shot in the happy place, follow through, inhale, exhale same thing...break the shot, all very quickly in cadence). My sight picture, breathing control, trigger control, and follow-through all happen within a tiny section of time. I see them all as the same fundamental, not separate mental tasks that you have to think through. This is one of the biggest breakthroughs for me after a lifetime of shooting. Instead of individual tasks that you task-stack mentally, they are intuitive and seamless tasks that happen in a state of flow.
It goes against most of what I’ve seen, but really sets you up for shooting off positions in the field much better. For off-hand, the 7 o’clock approach works so well, I wish I had been taught it decades ago. I struggled with off-hand all my life until I learned the 7 o-clock approach, which now feels like cheating. It’s like bowling from 7 basically. Once you know a trigger’s behavior, you can time it consistently so that the shot breaks exactly into the POA. For a Left Hand shooter, try bowling from 5 o’clock for your field positions and off-hand.
For bench work with the AR, having a billet or precision-machined receiver set with a rifle that feels like one solid piece gives you a lot more control of the rifle, which builds confidence.
There are different positions you can do off the bench with the AR-15 and AR-10 that will affect group sizes. All positions are assumed that you’re using a rear bag.
The least-stable is front of handguard on hard support.
The next is bipod legs on wood bench, followed by cement bench.
Next best is bipod legs folded on a front bag or range block step with carpet.
Next best is the Bulls Bag with the bag close to the mag well,
not up front on the handguard. I recommend this support method if you’re really trying to wring out the most accuracy. The Bulls Bag plus a Magpul PRS with a good rear bag and great trigger go a long way in helping shoot the gas guns better. Since I shoot so much field position, I don’t really rely on a lot of things I can’t carry in the field, but for those who are trying to just shoot groups for whatever reason, invest in the Bulls Bag and a good rear bag, a LaRue MBT-2S or whatever high-end trigger floats your boat, apply the fundamentals consistently, with quality ammunition, barrel, balanced torque optics mount with quality optics, and you’ll have success. If you’re skimping on barrel, ammo, assembly method, and the laundry list of things that make an accurate rifle, you might just be wasting your time trying to chase A game performance with B and C game tools.
