I am looking for a rifle that will serve several roles for me. It will shoot some off the bench since my main shooting buddy is into shooting his bolt 223. Possible varmint gun. And finally HD/ carbine course rifle. So this is what I have in mind.
Rainier Lower (Will see parts upgrades such as trigger and possible new lpk) but for right now it will get me up and running at a reasonable price and since they are local I don’t have to have it shipped and do the ffl dance. http://www.rainierarms.com/?page=shop/detail&product_id=2746
So finally the question is this can anyone think of a setup that will match or out do: the price of this ~$1600 for me, weight ~6.5lbs, potential accuracy, and reliability?
I will be feeding this various ammo as well including handloads for accuracy, surplus and or what ever is the deal of the day.
Guess I should have put this in the original post. But I have been on here for several months now and read through many many threads concerning any AR that I took a liking to. I have put a lot of time and research into this and now what I am looking for is an informed critique/ alternative if need be of what I would like to go with. I know that it is very popular on here to recommend a basic carbine such as the Colt 6920 and range time. I know I want a bit more than that and would rather head towards what I think would work then spend money on frequent add ons and upgrades.
The quality and accuracy of the top line carbines is excellent. I bought a Daniel Defense M4 V7 (standard weight CHF barrel and stock GI trigger) with the full intention of it only being training/class/home defense firearm.
I have plenty of bolt hunting rifles, so I didn’t really expect my M4 to fill any other roll. However, the first trip to the range was a game changer for me. Sighting in my 2min red dot I shot 3 rounds at 100 yards into a 3 round group that was less than 3/4". This was intriguing.
I then mounted a cheap 4x12 Vortex scope to see what kind of groups I could get. With 77 grain factory Remington match ammo this rifle shot 5 groups of 5 rounds off the bench on sandbags that averaged .8 inches. The smallest was a 1/2" the largest .88" using a 12x scope. No special measures were taken, I just loaded 5 rounds in the magazine, fired a group, then loaded up another 5 and shot another group. I didn’t allow the rifle to cool, nor did I clean the barrel between groups. The largest group was the second group, the smallest was the 3rd.
Whoa. This accuracy was on par with most of my hunting rifles. Two days later it was slung across my chest on a 40 mile snowmobile trip with my son on a coyote hunting trip. No coyotes, but I did shoot a bunch of ptarmigan with it. All head shots from 20 yards out to one surprising 75 yard head shot while resting over the seat of my snowmobile. The head of a ptarmigan is about 1". Did I miss? Several times, but it sure was a hoot.
Noveske has a big reputation for the accuracy of their CHF barrels and the reputation for their stainless barrels is even better in the accuracy department. I think you are on the right track for the the multi-purpose carbine you are looking for. It is very possible to have a fighting carbine that is fun to hunt and bench shoot with.
Doug thanks for taking the time to reply, I greatly appreciate it. Sounds like your DD is a damn solid shooter. I would say even exceptional for a CHFCL barrel. Glad to hear you got a great one. Did you go with the LW barrel or standard? Hows the smooth free float hand guard working for you?
I was dumbfounded it was as good as it was. There were several purchased from the same dealer as mine and I am awaiting word if they all were as good as the one I got. As sample of one is pretty worthless
It is a standard weight barrel. We couldn’t locate a LW anywhere.
The smooth forend is great. Nice small diameter that allows a great grip on the rifle. No rails if you don’t need them.
In a similar boat as you, CGFS, and also planning to go with a Noveske upper after all the reading and research I’ve been doing. There are a number of good options out there but I would concur that your selection is one of them.
I think in most cases, this included, the ammo, trigger, and optic are the critical pieces. Those will have a much greater impact on accuracy and performance than the barrel. I any case, I think the carbine you’ve selected will serve you well; as would most any quality carbine.