Made my entry into the AR club.

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Rebel2345

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Aug 15, 2006
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near Flint, MI.
A DPMS Lo Pro AR15 followed me home from Williams Gun Sight last week. I couldn't help but keep it.

I slapped one of my cheap scopes on it with plans to purchase something better later on, but its doing a fine job and I'm not sure that I plan to change it out for the time being. Along with a few parts ordered from Midway, this is what I've got.

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And its probably going to stay in that general configuration. No need for any lights or anything. I also polished the snot out of the trigger contacts to the point that I could see myself in them, paired with some lighter springs, it has me at a smooth 4 pounds of pull.

Having got the break in out of the way last week, I decided to try a couple different types of ammo and see what kind of groups I can really get out of this thing. First thing I bought was apparently the right choice, some Fiocchi 50gr Vmax, because they were grouping great.

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(Shooting 5 shots, 10x magnification at 100y)

That is the third group, the best at just a hair under half an inch. The two first groups I shot with the Fiocchi were just under an inch, and the fourth was right at 3/4. I'm kind of shocked I had a group anywhere near that good. I'm left eye dominant, so I have a hard time focusing with my right eye, but have even worse time shooting from the left side. But I guess thats where practice makes perfect.
 
Nice, looks like a great shooter! I knew that Williams did gunsmithing work but didn't realize they had a retail store. Cool!
 
Thats a nice stick there. Good going.

Just a word of caution. If you "polished the snot" out of the fire control group, be mindful of wear. Over polishing can and will remove the hardened surface of the parts. I'm not saying that you did, only that it's a possibility. As the trigger gets wear on it, you may feel the trigger getting either worse (creepy or gritty) or better (lighter). In either case, it would mean that mating surfaces are changing because soft metal parts (with no hardening) are rubbing against each other. If this happens, be aware that after things wear out it could go full auto on you.
 
UnTainted said:
nice gun! with that barrel you should be doing ten-shot groups :D just sayin'
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Thanks for the tip! I'll remember that when I buy more than 20 rounds at a time :neener:

CraigC said:
Nice, looks like a great shooter! I knew that Williams did gunsmithing work but didn't realize they had a retail store. Cool!
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Yep, Williams has their own retail store in Davison MI with lots and lots of firearms for sale, as well as rifle and pistol ranges.

TonyAngel said:
Thats a nice stick there. Good going.

Just a word of caution. If you "polished the snot" out of the fire control group, be mindful of wear. Over polishing can and will remove the hardened surface of the parts. I'm not saying that you did, only that it's a possibility. As the trigger gets wear on it, you may feel the trigger getting either worse (creepy or gritty) or better (lighter). In either case, it would mean that mating surfaces are changing because soft metal parts (with no hardening) are rubbing against each other. If this happens, be aware that after things wear out it could go full auto on you.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I read about that before I started any work on it, so I'm probably over exaggerating a bit ;)

I used some wet 1500 grit emery cloth to "polish" the contacts. I just knocked down the tooling marks is all really. I didn't go too far with it, probably because I had the same thought you mentioned in the back of my mind, so some of the tooling can still be seen. I just sanded it out a bit, and then used some lite rubbing compound to get a nice finish out of what did smooth out.
 
Did it come with the rifle length forearm and skeleton stock? On their website the LoPro doesn't have those.
 
Very nice, thats almost the exact setup I have in mind for my 6.8 SPC that I am gathering parts for at the moment, only the forearm on yours is cooler looking and I am saveing up for a Burris Laser Ranging scope before putting it all together
 
Very nice. I like the utility of the YHM customizable too. Nothing more than you need.
 
Since you made mention of buying ammo one box at a time, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that maybe budget is a problem. If so, there are some alternatives for less expensive ammo that I've had good luck with.

What twist rate are you running.

First, there's the Black Hills remanufactured stuff. If you watch out, their 52gr match hollow point rounds go on sale and they're stupid cheap. You might also want to take a look at the BVAC ammo that cheaperthan dirt sells. They have a 55gr V-Max load that some guys have had good luck with. My rifle didn't like them, but you may luck out. The Hornady 55gr FMJ practice ammo (steel cased but loaded with Hornady components) actually shoots pretty good.

If you have a 1:9 twist barrel, look for the 69gr stuff for a heavy weight. If you have a 1:7 or 1:8 twist the Hornady 75gr practice (again steel cased loaded with Hornady components) shoots pretty well, as does the Prvi 75gr match.

Good luck.
 
It's 1:9 twist.

It wasn't so much that I'm on a budget, as the Gander Mountain I visited that day was sold out of most any of the "good" .223 ammo. The worst thing is that they don't even carry anything above 62gr as far as I could see. But there are other stores I have yet to visit, so I'll be on the look out at the others. I was planning on getting some Black Hills and Hornady. But it looked like I may be buying online if I want something other than those.
 
As a general matter, 69gr is as high as you can go with a 1:9 although some guys with 1:9 barrels have had decent luck the the Sierra 77gr projectiles.

After seeing that group that you shot with the Fiocchi, maybe you should try the 52gr match hollow point.

Check out ammunitiontogo.com They have 50 round boxes of the Hornady 52gr BTHP and various Black Hills blue box of 50 rounds for around $30 each. Shipping is reasonable and fast. Aimsurplus.com also has some deals on occassion too.

FYI, for plinking, I run either the brown bear or silver bear 62gr steel cased ammo. It isn't bad stuff and is usually good for around 1.5 MOA accuracy, give or take a bit. Just start with a couple of boxes and make sure that your rifle will run it. Some rifles that are a bit over gassed have a problem running it.

What you really need to do is start loading .223. I roll my 77gr SMK loads for about a third of the cost of factory stuff and if you load the 52gr HPs, the cost of doing that can be considered to be dirt cheap.
 
nice! and nice shooting

how do you like that bipod? did it cost more than the gun?
 
Heck no! It was $34. But they are actually pretty nice sticks, very sturdy. and actually very lightweight. The name on them is GMG but it says they are distributed by Mako.
 
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