Which way to go?

[milanuk]

Okay. Obviously a ground-up build would be ideal. I'm not in a situation where thats feasible; I already have several ARs and would like to press one of them into service for a 3-gun match or two per year.

At least one of the local ranges that has 3-gun matches has a bay that goes out to 450yds, one out to 100yds, and everything else is considerably closer.

AR#1: NRA Service Rifle. 20" heavy barrel under the hidden float tube, .730 forward of the FSB, A2 sights, A2 flash hider, weighs about 12 lbs w/ just enough ballast to balance it on the D-ring. It has a hooded rear leaf w/ removeable aperatures. I can either remove the hood, giving me a humongous ghost ring for close in stuff and flip to the other leaf for the longer shots. Alternately, I could use a red-dot on a goose-neck mount. I'm not wild about a 4-8 moa dot for the longer range stuff; almost feel like I'd be better of w/ the irons.

AR#2: NRA Match Rifle. 26" heavy barrel under the float tube, .730 forward of the gas block. Full match aperature sights (Phoenix Precision w/ Gehmann adj. aperature in the rear, RPA Tall Boy ladder front sight w/ Gehmann glass ring adj. aperature in the front. Creedmoor Evolution adjustable stock. 13+ lbs. 4" bloop tube/ extension epoxied onto the barrel (think in terms of a 30" long barrel). Very accurate.

AR#3: Scratch built 'SPR'. Same barrel as Service Rifle (20" HBAR contour), YHM float tube, JP gas block, Magpul PRS stock, A4 flat-top upper w/ Nightforce NXS 3.5-15x50mm in LaRue SPR-E mount, muzzle threaded for brake/comp. 13+ lbs w/ scope. Considering possibly putting a 1-4x scope like a Millet DMS in another SPR-E mount and swapping out as needed... but that scope + mount is a lot of $$$ sitting around unused most of the year. Also considering some sort of side / secondary iron sight setup... figuring $100-150 which isn't *too* bad, considering most of the other viable options (other than just sticking w/ the irons on the Service Rifle cost at least that much if not 2-3x once optics are added)

Like I said, a purpose-built gun would be nice, but not really a viable option at this point. I'm half-ways tempted to just use AR#3 as is w/ the scope left on 3.5x and see how bad it really gets

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Monte

[fatcat]

I would go with your #3 rifle, change out your optics, do what you have to do to reduce the rifle's overall weight.

[Wakal]

13 pounds is a little heavy, but I'd go with number 3 as well. Bolt a section of rail at 2 o'clock and mount a set of short range irons (or a C-More) on it and go. Get a comp (I recommend an F2 ). That Nightforce is a heck of a piece of glass (and heavy), but for the occasional match no problem. If you are going to shoot a lot of matches I'd go with your first instinct and get a lighter scope.

Letting someone thin that fat barrel out for you would speed things up a little

For comparison purposes, my new 18" gun weighs in at 8 pounds 9 ounces with a four rail forend and a Meopta 1-4 (in a LaRue mount)

Alex

[wsimpso1]

The vast majority of your shots will close, with some at 100 yards and my bet is only a few at 400 yards. Fast handling and good target acquisition will buy more points and cost less time than anything else. After that, can you see the targets with the same eye that you are looking through the sights with? If yes, then irons will work, and you should pull the ballast from the Service Rifle and shoot it. Use a big rear aperture for close in stuff and your High Power aperture for precision work.

If you can not see the sights and the target with the same eyes, then you need optics. If they use dark steel on light earth, you will be OK, but standard brown paper on a similar background will disappear on you.

The number three rifle will be mud slow on all of those house clearing and short field courses. To make it also work on short range courses there are several methods that work well:

Hang a JPoint or similar on the side of the scope;

Hang a rail at 1:30 on the float tube and stick a JP-SRTS or red dot;

Stick a ladder front sight on the muzzle, cant it. No back sight required, just fool with it until it is dead on at 25 yards.

This gives you the scope for the long and intermediate range stuff a perfectly adequate short range capability that is accessed by canting the rifle.

Me? I am a cateract survivor. With irons, I have a choice between seeing the front sight or seeing the target. So my practical rifle has the 1.5-5x 20mm Simmons. It goes out to 300m just fine and when dialed back to 1.5X, it works great right down to bad breath distance. Too bad it is out of production.

Billski