Noveske N4 Light 14.5" Low Profile
Trijicon ACOG TA33R-8 (3X) w/ Larue LT-105
Initial zero w/ Prvi 75 gr. Match
100 yards, front and rear sand bags. Targets are NRA B-16 Slow-Fire Pistol (5-5/16" Black).
10 shot groups as fast as I could re-center the chevron on the black. No effort was made to cool the barrel between shots. M193 group first, 75 gr. Match right after.
5.56mm 55 gr. M193 Prvi Partizan
223 Remington 75 gr. JHP Match Prvi Partizan
Anyone have better luck with your N4 with other brands of 55 gr. fodder?
I do recall getting around 2-3 MOA with Federal XM193. I can live with 3 MOA. Unfortunately, I’ve depleted my old $4/box XM193 supply, and can’t get myself to pay the current $12/box prices.
Hopefully, I’ll have better luck with Centurion or PMC until XM193 returns from orbit.
The Noveske N4 barrels can shoot 55 grain bullets quite well, however, they have to be quality 55 grain bullets; not some cheap FMJ load. The 10-shot group pictured below was fired from a 14.5" N4 barrel from 100 yards using 55 grain Sierra BlitzKings.
Just soliciting experiences from others using a N4 and 55 gr. fodder (relatively inexpensive and widely available) ammo combination that does better than the Prvi M193.
Federal XM193 (at 2004 prices) would fit the bill.
My Stag Model 1 shoots Prvi Partizan M193 at 2.0 MOA. All of my AR-15’s shoot the Prvi M193 very well. My NM WOA AR-15’s will shoot them at just over 1 MOA. I doubt it’s the ammo, but maybe the barrel was designed for M856 and not M193. That’s why I shoot 1/9 twist barrels. It better stabilizes M193 and M855 projectiles. That is probably the reason why it shoots 75 so well and 55 so poor is the barrel twist.
In my hands Prvi M193 is superior to Federal XM193.
Here is a 20 shot target. Some through the same hole. About a 4" group at 100 yards using a 2 MOA Aimpoint CompML3. I can get better groups with irons.
I’ll have to refer a friend of mine to this thread and these pictures, as he’s fully convinced that a 55gr bullet out of a 1/7" barrel will keyhole all day long. One of the comments suggested the possibility of a grouping being the product of a piston gun? Now I’ve never owned, nor shot a piston gun, but I’m not able to viaualize how a piston system would affect accuracy. Can someone explain?
The 75 grain bullet shot better because it was an Open Tip Match bullet loaded to SAAMI velocity while the 55 grain bullet was a cheap full metal jacket bullet loaded to mil-spec velocity. It had nothing to do with the twist rate of the barrel.
As I’ve already shown in my previous post, the 1:7” twist N4 barrel can shoot quality 55 grain bullets as well as, if not better, than the heavier bullets at 100 yards.
Cheap 55 grain FMJ bullet loaded to mil-spec velocity from N4
75 grain OTM bullet loaded to SAAMI velocity from N4
If you’re set on 55 grain FMJ ammunition, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better load than Hornady’s. The muzzle velocity of Hornady’s load was 3088 fps from a 20" Colt barrel with a standard deviation of 21 fps. The pressure curve of this load cycles common barrel lengths and gas systems well.
It’s currently loaded in new Winchester brass and charged with a short-cut extruded powder that tends to burn cleaner than typical ball powders. The words 55 grain FMJ and accuracy shouldn’t be used in the same sentence, but the Hornady 55 grain FMJ bullet is the most consistently accurate bullet in that category that I have tested.
M193 out of a 1/7 twist barrel will not keyhole at 100 yards. Barrel diameter abnormalities would be the only possible way for a keyhole. 1/7 and 1/9 aren’t that far off. Its not a 1/12 trying to shoot Berger 80 VLDs at 500 M. Truthfully a 1/7 should shoot M193 just fine. It’s an overblown issue, except 1/9 barrels are not good for 75 gr Home Defense Ammo. My 1/9 will shoot 69 gr SMK handloads really well out to 200 yards. Don’t know beyond that but somewhere out there the difference would show up and it’s largely irrelevant to the rifle’s effective envelope.
You wouldn’t happen to have an accuracy vs. Cost per round graph, would you?
If anyone has it, you would. I would think that for a lot of us, the bullet weight would come secondary how accurate it is, especially for practice and classes.
Accuracy is barrel dependent. Accuracy vs. $/round would be only be applicable to the barrel with which it was determined.
My original question (Anyone have better luck with your N4 with other brands of 55 gr. fodder?) is potentially flawed since there’s always the possibility of two N4 barrels behaving differently even with the same brand/type of ammo.
Accuracy with 55 grain XM193 and Wally world white box is about 2 MOA with my N4 light barrel. The Priv M855 is horrible with the N4 and my Colts. I have not shot the Priv 55 grain stuff yet, but my N4 light loves 75-77 grain ammo. I have shot some very tight groups with Hornady 75 grain TAP
