What size groups should one reasonably expect from a 16inch 1/7 twist chrome lined government profile barrel shooting XM193 at 100 yards?
I ask this because when sighting in my TA11H yesterday I was getting about 2 1/2 inch groups with XM193. While acceptable for defensive purposes I was somewhat dissapointed at that result, and seeing as ammunition has been hard to come by I have yet to experiment with with other loads and bullet weights.
Or do the 1/7 twist barrels tend to get better results with the heavier bullets?
I would be happy with that if shooting combat (reject?) ammo out of a combat barrel. From what wiser folks than me have stated, I believe you could get some pretty good accuracy experimenting with some better and heavier ammo.
I’d say that is about the average I’ve seen. XM193/M193 is not match ammo, and even in “match grade” barrels, I’ve rarely seen much better than 1.5 MOA.
Ok cool, thats kinda what I expected, just trying to confirm my suspicions. Now i just need to get some various match grade rounds and experiments with them to see what my rifle eats best.
Depends on the barrel. I’ve seen 1:7 twist barrels shoot xm193 at 1" or better at 100 yards. From what I read here and other places 2" or better is good. The heavier bullets don’t make much difference until you get out to 200 yards or farther.
2.5 MOA from a 16" carbine barrel using ammunition that is not optimally suited for the twist rate is pretty good. Especially if you are shooting 5 to 10 round groups.
I’ve shot Vietnam era M193 out of my 20" 1-7, that would do only 4" on a good day. Same rifle with my reloads 55 g FMJBT Hornaday, 1.75". Your 2.5" seems pretty good with that combo.
my experience is that it really depends on the barrel/ammo.
I have 3 AR 1/7s that routinely shoot about 2 to 2.5" with prvi m193 from prone using the mag as a monopod.
(noveske/magpul, and two franken-guns i built, one with a 17" carbon-fiber barrel and the other with a WOA 16" barrel)
My KAC SR15 shoots 4" and worse groups with m193! The groups were so bad, I was afraid I’d gotten a lemon. So I shot some of the ammo I use at the 600 yrd line in NRA High Power (80g SMK, varget, lapua brass, fed gm) and put 3 rnds in one hole (cause i only had 3 rounds with me). I was greatly relieved! but at the same time… suddenly in the market for more expensive ammo.
Got the range today to try out some different ammo.
Federal Gold Medal, 69 grn Sierra Match king. Shot about 1 moa
ATI Turkish 5.56, 62 grn fmj with steel penetrator, about 2 moa
Silver Bear 62 grn Hollow Point, steel jacketed/copper washed, approximately 2 moa.
I was kinda suprised the steel jacketed ammo performed better than the XM193.
It also appeared that the Federal Gold Medal even though loaded to 223 specs seemed to retain more velocity than the XM193 as the POI was roughly 2 inches above the zeroed point of aim with XM193.
Accuracy depends on many things. The quality of the ammo, quality of the barrel, quality of the trigger and quality of the shooter.
Remember that XM193 basically means that it was rejected. Not really the best choice for trying to do an accuracy test. I would say that 2.5" groups at 100yds with XM193, factory GI trigger and a 4X optic is just fine and about average.
The 1/7 twist will shoot 55gr-80gr just fine. They tend to like 69-77gr ammo the best, but you can find 1/7 twist barrels that will shoot 55-62gr ammo around 1MOA.
Typically speaking, if you have a chrome lined barrel that is shooting 1MOA (or arround it) I would be happy.
No offense Grant, this is an old thread I was updating this thread with a post about new findings with different ammo used.
And so far the findings are that the 1/7 chrome lined barrel on my S&W likes 69 grain stuff, and even likes 62 grain steel jacketed silver bear over the XM193.
Now do you have any further info on what aspects XM193 doesn’t pass the demands of being used for military purposes? AKA why is it rejected?
