RRA National Match AR-15 Question

[brdrail]

All,
I picked up a RRA NM AR-15 (A2 version) - got a couple of questions for the crowd. Is there a specific match ammo that works best with it? How has it performed for you in highpower shooting? Also, for the rear sight - what is the ratio for raising the rear sight per 100m? Is it 4 clicks per 100m? I'm planning on shooting at 600m, so I want to get it right. Thanks!

 

[taliv]

i legged out with one. (granted, i had white oak rebarrel it with one of their house barrels and pin the sight, etc, but it's still a RRA NM)

no complaints. good gun.

lots of people shoot HSM, fed gm, black hills, as far as factory goes, but most people i shoot with reload. i shoot 69g at the short lines and 80g SMK at 600.

standard "get on paper" dope is 3 minutes at 200 yrds, 6 minutes at 300 yrds and 15 minutes at 600 yrds, from a 100 yrd zero

the number of clicks depends on whether your knob is upside down or right side up... notice there's twice as many detents on one side. so it could be half minute or quarter minute clicks

 

[Dave P]

I have had one for a few years - great rifle for HP competition. Mine has the wilde chamber. My handloads work great - took it to 600 last week for the first time in months - was nailing the 10 ring until my arm and eyes got worn out! Sweet trigger too.

 

[mm1ut1]

Mine prefers 75 gr bullets.

 

[Slamfire]

I picked up a RRA NM AR-15 (A2 version) - got a couple of questions for the crowd. Is there a specific match ammo that works best with it? How has it performed for you in highpower shooting? Also, for the rear sight - what is the ratio for raising the rear sight per 100m? Is it 4 clicks per 100m? I'm planning on shooting at 600m, so I want to get it right. Thanks!

Rock River had great deals on their rifles at Camp Perry. So I had to pick one up.

My recollection is that there were two types of rear sights, 4 clicks per MOA and half MOA clicks. I don’t recall how many clicks per revolution a half MOA sight had for elevation, nor how many clicks per revolution for a quarter minute sight .

1 MOA equals one inch at 100 yards, 2 inches at 200 yards, 3 inches at 300 yards, etc. A quarter click MOA sight will move your group by a ¼” per click at 100 yards.

I have lots of AA2520, bought it when it was $64.00 a keg. My loads with 69 SMK’s are below. Generally in leg matches I used 75 Hornady’s out to 300 yards and 80 Sierra’s at 600 yards.

I prefer the 68’s/69’s in my Spacegun. Out to 300 yards they just hammer.

While I have shots lots of cleans with AA2520, (a ball powder), I prefer stick powders. N140 is a stick, works great. I know lots of people using Varget. All good.

AA4064 shot nice clusters but I could not get the velocity any higher as the case was full. Too slow, too bad.

[SIZE="3"]
Rock River Arms NM LAR-15 			
20" 1:8 Stainless Wilson barrel,					
							
							
69 Sierra 24.0 grains AA2520 LC mixed WSR (Brass)			good group
22-Aug-04	T = 75° F				OAL 	2.25	
Ave Vel =	2798						
Std Dev =	24					 	
ES =	95					 	
Low =	2756					 	
High =	2851						
N =	16		 				
							
							
75 Hornady  24.5 grains N140 WCC91 WSR (Nickel)			v.good group
22-Aug-04	T = 82° F				OAL 	2.25	
Ave Vel =	2715					 	
Std Dev =	26					 	
ES =	88					 	
Low =	2673					 	
High =	2761						
N =	23						
							
							
69 Sierra 24.0 grains AA4064 lot 5902 "T223" cases WSR (Nickle)		
22-Aug-04	T = 75° F				OAL 	2.25	v.good group
Ave Vel =	2768					 	
Std Dev =	21					 	
ES =	58					 	
Low =	2741					 	
High =	2799						
N =	15		 				
							
			
			
3-Oct-05	T = 85° F						
68 Black Hills Moly						
					 	 	
Ave Vel =	2756					 	
Std Dev =	31					 	
ES =	98					 	 
Low =	2713					 	
High =	2811						
N =	15	[/SIZE]

 

[Canuck-IL]

John Holliger of White Oak posts suggested loads on the WO Precision site ... shown below with his comments.

69 gr Sierra (overall length 2.25")

Reloader 15 24.0 to 24.8
This is my favorite load with the 69 grain bullet. It is extremely accurate and consistent. Very good velocity.

Varget 24.0 to 25.0
Very accurate. You may have trouble obtaining the velocity of faster burning powders. Also, Varget powder burns dirtier than Reloader 15.

AA 2460 23.5 to 24.0
Very accurate and excellent load. It is a ball powder, so it measures very well. No chronograph data.

Hogdon 4895 24.0
Shoots very well, but it does not meter very well, as it is a medium stick powder.

Note - these are for single loading
80 gr. Sierra (overall length 2.450 to 2.485, depending on lot) (allow for .005" - .015" jump)

Reloader 15 23.5 to 24.4
My pet 80gr load. Very accurate, good velocity and clean burning.

Varget 23.5 to 24.5
Compressed load. You will not get the velocity of the faster powders.

AA 2460 22.8 to 23.3
Ball powder. No need to weigh charges, even for 600 yard loads. Meters very uniformly. No chronograph data, but shoots very well.

Hogdon 4895 22.5 to 23.2
Accurate; good velocity. This is a very good 600 yard load. You will probably want to weigh charges, as it does not meter as well as other powders.
===========
If you don't reload (yet! If you get serious about HP, you will reload), Black Hills sells match ammo - - pricey but excellent.

/Bryan

 

[wanderinwalker]

Pick whichever you can find a good deal on. Federal Gold Medal 69gr is good, as is pretty much anything from the Black Hills line with a match bullet. There are a few shooters I know who have been using Prvi Partisan 75gr HPBTs with mostly good results out to 300 yards (Hornady 75s and handloaded 77s seem more consistent at 300).

But if you take up Highpower seriously, you will take up reloading. In that case, I recommend using whichever bullets you like and can find a good deal on. I shoot Nosler 77s at 200 and 300 and use the 80s for 600 yards. I have used Varget, Reloder 15 and H4895 with excellent results from all three. I'd be really surprised if a rifle wouldn't shoot at least passably well with a randomly selected combination of one of those powders and a Nosler, Sierra or Hornady match bullet.

As for come-ups, you'll want to find out if you have 1/2 or 1/4-minute clicks. I find I come up 2-MOA from 200 to 300, and another 13.5 from 300 to 600. My rifle is 1/2-minute clicks, so I go 4, then 27. But that is with the 80gr slugs, I can't remember what the difference is with the 75 and 77gr magazine-length rounds, but an extra 2-MOA (so 31 clicks) from 300 to 600 sounds familiar.

 

[brdrail]

I was fortunate to pick up tons of the Hornady 75s for shooting for now. I have not ever handloaded before, but I keep hearing that it would be a good idea. Thanks much to all for passing on the wisdom for shooting at 600m. I've never fired a non-crew served weapon out to that range, so using the RRA NM sights is something new and different. Has anyone tried shooting this rifle at Camp Perry for the CMP-sponsored matches?

 

[taliv]

all my shooting at perry was cmp

 

[wanderinwalker]

I was fortunate to pick up tons of the Hornady 75s for shooting for now. I have not ever handloaded before, but I keep hearing that it would be a good idea. Thanks much to all for passing on the wisdom for shooting at 600m. I've never fired a non-crew served weapon out to that range, so using the RRA NM sights is something new and different. Has anyone tried shooting this rifle at Camp Perry for the CMP-sponsored matches?

If by "CMP-sponsored matches" you mean the President's 100, National Trophy Infantry (NTI), the Hearst Doubles and the National Trophy Team, then the answer is probably "YES!" from all of the posters above. I am going out again in a few weeks myself, and very stoked.

Okay, mine is an Armalite, but it's not that much difference from the RRA. And that RRA is perfectly capable of winning the matches at Camp Perry, or anywhere, right out of the box. The rifle won't hold you back once you get started, so you don't have to worry about that. You can just focus on shooting and getting better as you go. It's a nice kind of way to go.

Now I have to ask, is that factory-loaded Hornady ammo or just the component bullets? The factory loaded ammo is pretty-good to excellent, so you're in good shape there.

Also, have you found a local club and mentor/coach? It will make all the difference in the world to have an experienced shooter show you the ropes, especially is you're new.

 

[Jon Coppenbarger]

The hornady 75's will be fine for everything you need to do. there are many choices out there for what ever you decide.
for the last several years I have been shooting nothing but bergers but have started to use the 77 lapua's at 200 and 300 and still use the 75 vld bergers at 600 and out. I know a few folks having alanta arms load the rounds for them with the bullets they wish also.

If you check out or at least you used to on the sponsered shooters for RRA's you had a few very good ones using their equipment. Not sure who they sponser now but at one time in the past they had shawn Mckenna and Julia Watson and you could not get much better than that. Many inividual titals were one by those two alone with a RRA's rifle.

As mentioned above I early on in Hollingers rifle building days had him do a few uppers for me. RRA's used to send the lower to my FFL minus the trigger. So it years ago used to go like this : RRA at your request would send the upper and trigger to Hollinger and he would set the trigger up for you and do the pinned sites and the such for you also and foward it on to you when finished. obiously he does his own thing now and does not do that anymore.

if going for the first time and you are not a say high expert, master or high master you may want to consider signing up for SAFS (small arms firing school) run the sat and sun before the the matches start on monday. it also allows you to shoot in the m16 intro leg match for 4 points on sunday and lets you get used to the range. If not you may consider shooting the squaded practice on sunday to check some zero's for 300 and 600 yards.

I used to keep it simple for me in my come ups as per the way I shot. I used to use a 6 o'clock hold for off hand and rapid sitting at 200 yards and a center hold for 300 yard rapid prone and 600 yard slow prone. by doing that my come up was the same at 200 yards and by going to a center hold for 300 I never touched the elevation knob going back to 300 yards except for some light changes every once in awile. and then going back to 600 it just depended on what the heck kind of round and where i was shooting at to determine my come up.
So for a example. 200 yard for my rifle my elevation is like 23 1/4 min. clicks up from bottom to shoot a 6 hold at 200 yards (have it set up to be able to shoot a practice at 200 yards if neededwith a center hold). Now I go back to 300 and shoot a center hold and never touch the elevation knob 80% of the time. after that I click up to my 600 yard setting.

With 1/4 minutes sites on my rifle its easy for my loads. where I am shooting here in colorado it goes like this. (my rifle has 25 1/4 min clicks per revolution of the elevation wheel. just bottom it out and rotate it one full revolution as marked with a paint line on my rifle and subtract 2 clicks and I am set for everything back to 300. when I go back to 600 I click down to zero bottom and then click up 2 full revolutions and add 1 more click to zero for 600 yards. At perry I add 3/4 to 1 min to elevation to it at 600. simple for me

But I also have all of my other settings written down as a example I may decide to use a center hold in off hand.

FOLLOW the come ups given before in the earlier post to get your zero's as they are standard come ups. mine were just given as a example of how some folks look at it.

perry is only a few weeks away now YAHOO!!!!!!!

 

[brdrail]

All - that's absolutely great info. I am planning on going out to Camp Perry for the first time, and this info is absolutely great. I'm excited to be going out there - hopefully many more times in the future, too. Jon - I'll take your advice on SAFS and the squaded practice - I've shot out to 300m plenty of times, but 600m is going to be something new and different. I'm definitely not an expert, but I've fired a few thousand rounds of 5.56mm for work. Wanderinwalker - the Hornady 75g are the factory loads - I haven't gotten into the handloading piece yet, but I understand that those are pretty good. I'm going to be pretty happy if I fire 30 rounds at Camp Perry and all 30 for points Thanks much for your words of wisdom!