My First AR-15..

[Misfire]

I just got my first AR-15 together this afternoon. It is a dedicated plink/varmint gun. We are covered up in coyotes, hogs and cats and I've always wanted an AR so it made for a good excuse. I'll be headed to the range this Sunday with several assorted boxes of Black Hills hoping to find a grouper.

18" RRA Varmint A4
CAA Stock
Armalite Base/Ring Combo
Leupold Mark 4 PR 3.5 X 10

.

 

[redbone]

your AR looks g

Have you did anything with the trigger yet

You can change out Trigger springs out . an it will help the trigger


I used the J P springs when I changed mine
They will coust under $ 8. 00

It will change the trigger pull from 7 ,5 lbs to 3.5 lbs

Your gun smith can change them out in about 5 muintes .


I found my JP AR 15 trigger spring at brownels .

Redbone

 

[Catfish]

If she is accurate you good to go. I bought a Rock River for dog hunting coyotes. I`ll use a bolt gun for calling and snipeing, but when their running I want several fast shots. For snipeing I want a longer range than I can get with a .223 round, so I use a .22-6mm, an 80 gn. bullet at 3,481 fps. The AR for running dogs can`t be beat though.

 

[Misfire]

I shot her today and was quite impressed. The rifle easily meets RRA's 3/4 Minute guarantee.

Three different sized bullets were tried in two makes. (Match Hollow Point and V-Max.)

Red Box Black Hills 75gr Match HP
Blue Box Black Hills 60gr Moly V-Max
Blue Box Black Hills 68gr Match HP

The 60gr V-Max was the most accurate easily placing 3 rounds into a dime and 5 rounds into a quarter. (quite literally) The best groups were 5 round .5" groups.

Next was the 75gr Match HP that shot 1 inch. The best groups were 5rnd 1" groups.

Suprisingly, the 68gr Match HP shot between 1-1.5" groups. The best groups were 5rnd 1" groups.

If I were going off 3 round groups then I'd say the rifle shoots the 60gr V-Max hole in hole and 3/8" with the 75gr Match HP. (One 5 round group of 75gr Match put 4 rounds in the same hole so tight that you had to convince yourself that all 4 were there. ) This rifle easily shoots 3 leaf "clovers" but I always had a flyer or two that opened the 5 round groups. In the hands of a competent rifleman this rifle can do much better than I did.

The gun shoots very well and I'm quite happy with it. One of the cool things is that the 75gr HPs and the 60gr V-Max shoot to the same POI at 100 yards. I can shoot hogs with the heavier rounds and yotes, cats and everything else with the smaller rounds.

I plan on shooting out to 500 yards next weekend. I have to shoot the ladder with one of my long gun and I'm planning on taking the AR to ring the gong at longer ranges just for kicks.

There is still a lot of ammo to try and different weights to shoot. Woo Hoo! This AR stuff is FUN!

.

 

[specweldtom]

Fine looking rig. You might try some different 55 and 62gr military ball also. Never can tell, it might like one of them. Most of what's available is imported, but Iv'e had some luck with Brit and Israeli 62gr and white box Chinese 55gr. I don't know what the rifling twist is, but I've seen this stuff do better than 2 moa in barrels from 7 to 14 twist, and 1 moa in some.

IMO, I'd start out on the 3.5 X on your scope, it'll get busy after the first shot, and the field of view at 10 X may be too small to keep track of several animals at under 200 yds, or to make follow-up shots on one. Be sure that the scope is the right height to come up naturally and be looking down the pipe every time.

AR's are capable of fine accuracy and excellent for fast recovery between shots.

Good hunting, Tom

 

[Ridge Runner]

I buy ultramax 55 gr sp's in bulk, right now cabelas lists them for 102 bucks per 300 rounds. They shoot in the .2's pretty often from my RRA 24", 1/8 varminter.
RR
BTW ya think the 223 stuff is fun, wait till you try a 458 socom or 25 wssm in an AR

 

[AusHunter]

As we do not have the level of varmits down here in Australia that you have in the States, I use a 223 Remington bolt action with 5.56mm cases and loading with a Sierra Blitz 50 gram projectile and find that on Ferel dogs, cats and foxes it stops them very fast I use Reloader 15 powder 1.9 Lee dipper, this gives me a muzzle velocity of 3324 feet per second.
I have tried heavier projectiles but the 50 gram stops them dead
It is also a good weight for Goats

 

[gnettleton]

My guess is that you have a 1:9 twist on your AR, tthat is why the 60grain v-max is working for you. If your really interested in getting the best for your gun from Black Hills, call and ask to speak to a .223 expert. They will take the time and walk you through the different ammo they have and for what you want to do. Be sure and tell them barrel length and twist. Mines in the shop right now getting a new barrel and upper.
I am going with a 1:7.7 twist barrel, 26 inch long bull barrel with a new LaRue tactical handguard. I shoot coyote's at night and wanted a better barrel than what came on my Bushmaster Varminter for heavy grain bullets.
I am shooting a Nightforce 3.5x15x50 illuminated scope with Larure SPR base.
I will post a picture when I get it back from the smith

 

[Nomosendero]

I believe the RRA Varmiters of all barrel lengths uses a 1-8 twist, I know my 24" Varmiter is a 1-8. It also loves the 60gr V-Max. I use 26.5 Varget & it will place 5 under 1/2". Misfire, you may want to try the 77Mk as well, my gun likes those better than the Hornady, with 24 gr Varget. These group slightly better than the V-Max, yea it is a shooter. Approach those charge weights with caution.

BTW, the guarantee 3/4" groups. Check them out at Welcome to Rock River Arms' Online Show Room

 

[HOGGHEAD]

RR Varminter

I have a 20 inch RR Varminter. I shoot the Red Box Black Hills 50 grain V-Max bullets. It is a real shooter. Below is a group I shot at 300 yards with a slight left to right wind, and using my first crosshair down with my Leupold VH reticle. The crosshair is sighted in at 200 yards.

The trigger on my rifle is fantastic, I see no need to change it. Tom.

 

[Misfire]

Thanks for the replies everyone. It's been a while since I've revisited this thread and it's grown a bit.

I haven't had a chance to shoot the rifle as much as I'd like to but I did manage to take it out to 200 yards a few weeks ago. The little 18" barrel is a real shooter. I've been quite impressed with it. My reservations about the short barrel have long since been laid to rest.

The barrel is a 1:8 twist and the trigger is the Rock River 2 Stage "Match". It feels good and I like it but I have to admit that it has taken some getting used to.

Here is an honest 200 yard bench group shooting the 60gr V-Max Molly.

Here is a 110 yard off hand one shot group. This is the type of accuracy I was hoping for.

I know it's a very trivial detail but I love the fact that the entire rifle fits into a compact take down shotgun case.

.

 

[HARLEYRIDER]

Rra 24''varmit

MINE IS A 24" VARMIT AND IT LOVES A HANDLOADED 69grSMK OVER VARGET THIS GUN WILL SHOOT IN THE .2'S ALL DAY LONG AS LONG AS I DO MY PART. YOU WILL NOT FIND A FINER VARMIT AR THEN THE RRA, THIS GUNS REPUTATION PRECEDS ITSELF.

 

[Misfire]

Couple of pics from this weekend.

200 yards

70 yards

.

 

[johngfoster]

Nice rifle. I have a Bushmaster 16" M4 profile barrel 1/9 twist and it seems to like BH red box 40gr VMAX. I was really surprised with the accuracy out of this barrel! Even with the short barrel, I chrono'd the load at around 3400fps. Shot my first coyote 11/25/07 with it as well. First shot hit it in the jaw and bust it. I didn't discover this until I'd tracked it for 1 1/2 to 2 miles following the blood trail through the snow and mud and finally dispatching it with a head-shot. I need to learn to judge distance better, as I had held high on a full frontal shot at 150 yd. Sorry no pics.