Range Report 4-26,27-10

General Firearms Other Semi-Automatic Rifles
1

Range Report 4-26-10 and 4-27-10
Guns Tested
MSAR STG556

Noveske N4

Larue Stealth

GAP AR10

Loads tested.
52 grain Sierra Boat Tails loaded with N135 and H335
77 grain Sierra Boat Tails
55 grain Ball loaded with H335

STG556 TESTING

On 4-26-10 my primary goal was to test a load for my roommate who is also going to Larue. He was up in Anchorage at his girl friends so he could not go to the range and the match is coming up soon. So I took out his STG 556 to do some grouping.

During the last month or so I have tested a lot of different loads in his gun. So far the only bullet that works marginally well is Sierra’s 52 grain boat tail match. His gun does not like 69 or 75 or 77 grain bullets.

I loaded him up some rounds using N135 and these are the results I got.
On the chrono his velocity was not bad.

  1. 3049
  2. 3070
  3. 3097
  4. 3147
  5. 3086
    Average 3090
    Spread 98

Accuracy over both days 15 groups fired 1.92

The next day I tried a load using H335 in his gun. It was even worse.

Chrono data

  1. 3057
  2. 3047
  3. 3080
  4. 3038
    Average 3055
    Spread 42 fps

Average group out of 9 5 shot groups fired 3.56
Best 1.866
Worst 5.026

I also chromed his gun using a 55 grain ball reload I had reloaded using H335

  1. 2983
  2. 2972
  3. 2978
  4. 2983
  5. 2969
    Average 2977
    Spread 14 fps

I also fired the 52 grain SMK’s loaded with both N135 and H335 in my Noveske and Larue. I shot 5, 5 shot groups with each in each gun.
Here are the results.

Noveske Results

Velocity of N135 52 grain SMK load

  1. 2983
  2. 3002
  3. 2985
  4. 2960
  5. 2952
    Average 2976
    Spread 50

    Average Group size. 1.201
    Worst 1.716
    Best .731

Velocity and accuracy of H335 52 grain SMK load

  1. 2972
  2. 2964
  3. 2971
  4. 2988
  5. 2975
    Average 2974

Average group size 1.284
Best .736
Worst 1.756

I also fired some more of my 77 grain match loads.

Average group size 1.27
Worst 1.486
Best .776

I also fired 5, 5 shot groups with a new 55 grain FMJ practice load I made.
Here are the results.

  1. 2864
  2. 2884
  3. 2876
  4. 2909
  5. 2895
    Average 2887
    Spread 45

Average group 2.3
Best 1.77
Worst 2.776

Conclusion.

So far with match bullets the Noveske is a 1.25 moa gun or so regardless of bullet weight. It likes the heavy bullets as well as the light 52 grain ones. So much for a 1/7 twist being a bad choice with light bullet.

Larue Stealth results.

The Larue was tested as well with the 52 grain bullets, ball and the 77 grain SMK’s

52 grain SMK loaded with N135

  1. 3099
  2. 3106
  3. 3080
  4. 3125
  5. 3114
    Average 3105
    Spread 45

Average group 1.35
Best .876
Worst 1.65

52 grain SMK loaded with H335

  1. 3095
  2. 3122
  3. 3117
  4. 3137
  5. 3079
    Average 3110
    Spread 58 fps

Average group size 1.563
Best 1.286
Worst 2.006

Ball

  1. 2998
  2. 2997
  3. 3084
  4. 3019
  5. 3030
    Average 3025
    Spread 87

Average group 1.935
Best .826
Worst 2.776

77 grain SMK loaded with N135

Group 1. .67
Group 2. .511
Group 3. .676
Group 4. .636
Group 5. .551

Average .61

This load has averaged just over .6 for all 20 some 5 shot groups fired. I want to get a machine rest to test this load.

Conclusion with Larue.

Its scary accurate with 77 grain bullets. It does ok with 52 grain bullets but not as accurate as the Noveske is with the 52 grain SMK’s. It did ok with ball ammo reloads.

I fired a qualification with the Larue to get it put on the books at the department.


Dropped 1 point.

GAP AR10 testing

I was having some issues of late with my GAP AR10. I was getting bolt bounce. Meaning the carrier would slam forward and jump out of battery. I also could not extract the case that was in the chamber unless I fired it. This was more of a problem on my reloads but it happened once in a while with Federal Match. I tweaked my die settings and it helped but did not solve the problem. I discovered that the heavy buffer I had installed which is solid was causing the bolt bounce. It worked fine before I got a muzzle brake installed but after that it would not work 100%. I also got malfunctions when firing off hand and kneeling. I put the stock buffer back into the gun. As for the extraction issue I had been here before with my AR10 carbine. AR10’s wear out their extractor’s and ejectors much faster than AR15’s. I ordered a new extractor, extractor spring, buffer and o ring from Armalite. I also ordered an ejector spring. Putting these parts in my gun fixed the functioning problem. I fired a qualification course that has moving and shooting, kneeling and standing shots in to test the gun. I had no issues.

As for accuracy. I found that my cold bore shot has been low the last few range visits and far from the group opening the group up 2 or more inches.

I am still learning how to get good accuracy from my .308. It’s a harder gun to shoot well. My best groups are below.

While I have gotten days where I shot an average of under 1 moa with this rifle with Federal Match. I can not count on that. Its more of a 1.25 moa rifle in my hands. It is capable of more but I need to work on my skill with it. I still like shooting it as its fun to hit the steel ram at the 550 yard line at the Kenai range making everyone jealous.

I know I have jumped around a bit in this review. That was too make it simpler to write keeping to one gun at a time even though they were fired over 2 days.

Here is how the MSAR, Noveske and Larue stacked against each other using the same ammo.

  1. Noveske 1.201 with N135 and 1.284 with H335 Best accuracy with this ammo
  2. Larue 1.35 with N135 and 1.563 with H335
  3. MSAR 1.918 with N135 load and 3.56 with H335 (it hated this load)
    The MSAR was harder for me to shoot. Trigger sucked big time and I noticed that you had to be careful about how you held it on the back. You could make the group walk by putting too much pressure in any one spot. The groups also tended to walk to the right as the barrel heated up. It showed great potential with some groups then it would open right up. It had a bad problem with fliers. I would have 4 shots that were great at times and then 1 way off. Sometimes it was 3 and 2.

Practical shooting exercise.

Bench shooting is fun but it really only tests the gun not the shooter. I am getting ready for the Larue Tactical Three gun match so I spent the second half of the range day on 4-27-10 working on the following drills. I did all these drills with the Noveske, my patrol rifle and the gun I am taking to Larue.

I put three half sized USPSA targets at 100 yards. At the buzzer I fired 2 rounds into each target. I repeated this drill until my 30 round mag was empty. (5 times.)

Results.
Time

  1. 8.91
  2. 15.22
  3. 10.94
  4. 14.22
  5. 9.06

Hits
Target 1 4 A’s 4 C’s 1 D
Target 2 8 A’s 2 C’s
Target 3. 4 A’s 5 C’s 1 D

I repeated the drill again

  1. 8.62
  2. 9.51
  3. 11.04
  4. 9.32
  5. 11.65

Target 1 5A 2C 3 D
Target 2 6A 2C 1 D 1 Miss
Target 3 2A 6C 2D

I repeated the drill again

  1. 11.17
  2. 11.54
  3. 12.39
  4. 11.24
  5. 11.08

Target 1 7A 3C
Target 2 3A 6C 1 Miss
Target 3 5A 4C 1 Miss

The next drill I tried was the same target array but shooting left handed around the left side of a barricade. I suck with my left side but here are the numbers.

Time

  1. 20.03
  2. 26.75
  3. 22.22
  4. 23.36
  5. 25.47
  6. 25.72
  7. 21.64
  8. 32.90
  9. 31.34
  10. 24.25

Hits (totaled to make reporting easier)

33 A
17 C
6 D
4 Misses

The next thing I tried was a new course of fire I created by modifying the department rifle qualification to make it harder.

Stage 1. 100 yards. Start in low ready. 8 seconds
At the buzzer fire 3 rounds to center mass in 8 seconds.

Stage 2 50 yards. 8 seconds

Start slung.
At the buzzer fire 3 rounds to center mass in 8 seconds.

Stage 3. reload stage 10 seconds

Start with a magazine loaded with no more than 4 rounds. From a slung position fire 6 rounds off hand in 10 seconds. You will have to reload when you run dry.

Stage 4. 15 yards.

Start in a slung position at the buzzer fire 3 rounds center mass then drop to kneeling and fire 3 rounds into the head.

Stage 5 Moving and shooting 10 yard line to the 5 yard line 6 rounds 3 seconds.

Start in low ready at the buzzer fire 6 rounds while you advance to the 5 yard line in 3 seconds.

Starge 6 fail to stop. (do this drill twice) 5 yard line 3 rounds (2 to body 1 to head) 1.5 seconds

Start in low ready at the buzzer fire 2 rounds to the chest and then 1 to the head in less than 1.5 seconds.

I did this new course twice and found it much more challenging.

My first score was 133 out of 150 (passing is 120)
My second score was 138 out of 150

I found this more fun that the course I made for the department which is no longer challenging.

At the end of the second day I went through a lot of rounds.

I had a good time and hopefully improved my skills a bit for the match and for life.

2

Thanks for the detailed write up! I always enjoy reading your range reports and have used them for comparison with my 14.5" N4 and your chrono data to figure out my drops at distance for the Larue match. You seem to be getting pretty similar accuracy out of yours. With 77gr Sierra BTHP rounds by Fiochhi, I am getting 5 shot groups averaging 1.3". This was on a rainy day with some wind and 4x scope, so might be able to tighten that up a little.

Thanks again for the write up.

3

Cool I will see you at the match then.
pat