Gents,
Thought I would pass on a short review of my recently acquired Steyr AUG/A3.
BLUF: I like it. 100% reliable with 225 rounds fired. Accuracy leaves something to be desired.
I purchased mine from Pete Athens at PJS-steyraug.com. He offered a very fair price and was running a special, which included five additional AUG 30 rd mags at no additional cost.
Ammunition fired: Federal XM193, Winchester 5.56mm 55 gr FMJ (Q3131), Swiss GP31 63 gr FMJ
Fit and finish was superb, everything I expected. I find the AUG ergonomics very appealing but reloads will take a little getting used to.
I started firing off the bench at 25 m. I swapped an Aimpoint CompM4 off my LE6920 for the zeroing. First group with XM193 was very promising. From a sandbag I place 4 rounds into the same hole with the fifth about 1” out. I was pleased. From there it only got worse…much worse. After firing several, several 5 shot groups at 25 m with the XM193 it was averaging 2-2.5”. Frankly I couldn’t believe how bad the accuracy was – pretty pathetic. I tried a semi-benched position, excluding use of the bag, and simply rested my elbows on the bench as the only support to the weapon. Clearly a less stable position…groups remained about the same. I fully disassembled the rifle, reassembled, remounted the optic and resumed – no improvement. So, for a change, I switched to Swiss GP31. It did much better. Averaging about an inch at 25 m with a single amazingly good one-hole group with a flyer much like the very first with the XM193. I pushed back to 50 m with the GP31 and the Q3131, both averaged about 2” at that distance with best groups about 1.5”. I finally pushed back to 100 m and shot two 10-shot groups, each with the GP31 and the Q3131. Grouping was nearly identical. GP31 went into evenly distributed and centered 4”. The Q3131 went into an evenly distributed 4.25” centered about .5” left of POA. I consider these groups “acceptable” but far less inspiring than I hoped. Had I really been using a full sand-bagged bench rest and kept the groups to 5-shots I feel that the gun probably would have settled in to about 3” at 100 but I ran out of ammo for the day.
I slung up and brought the target back to 25 m. I found the compact carbine easy to handle and lightening fast at reflexive fire. Muzzle rise was non-existant. I pushed a little closer to the target; about 15 m and unleashed a several series of controlled pairs. The carbine handled magnificently and was a pure joy to fire. I tried sgtlmj’s eat-no-brass technique firing from my off shoulder. It worked well. He is correct when he states that it takes very little to deflect the brass. The meaty part of my right hand positioned immediately to the rear of the ejection port bounced brass away from my face with little fanfare and no pain. The typical bull-pup trigger was stiff and balky. I did not find the trigger to be a serious impediment to my shooting, although it was far from ideal. I doubt I will mess around with the TriggerTamer. I want to keep the trigger stock and hope it to smooth out.
All in all, I like it and will keep it. I will likely do some more experimenting with other ammunition as I am not entirely satisfied with the accuracy. My only druthers were traced to two magazines, both of which I believe to be of the 5 “additional” magazines included with the carbine. They were not the American-made 30 rounders. Both magazines would often eject the top round in the mag when inserted forcefully with the bolt open. The top round appeared to slide a little inwards from the retaining lip and appeared to be hitting the bolt hold open device or, perhaps, just the jolt of insertion popped it out. Regardless they would do it fairly predictably – unacceptable. I separated them from the others. All of the 5 non-American made 30 rounders would drop free. The two American-made 30 rounders would not.
I’m debating on optics and BUIS options. The CompM4 works well. I am considering removing the spacer and dropping the sight down a bit lower to get a more solid cheek-to-stock weld. If I do that, BUIS options will be a bit more complicated as most are all AR-height. If I stick to AR height I’ll probably just slap the MAGPUL MBUS on.
Next step will be to swap in a NATO or MSAR E4 stock for AR mag capability. I’m leaning toward the MSAR E4, mainly for the bolt release feature.
I wanted something different from the AR. The Steyr fills this bill nicely and, with a 16” tube, it is the exact same overall length as one of my buddy’s 10” ARs, albeit without the tax stamp.
Sorry. No pics yet.
Tim
