LRB M14sa "tanker" w/ Leupold VX-R patrol range report w/ targets

This is a quick review/range report of my LRB M14sa "tanker" with its Leupold VX-R patrol 3-9x on a Basset High Picatinny Mount.

I've had the rifle for about 3 years now but finally got a chance to shoot it with a decent scope to see what kind of accuracy I could get. I picked up the Leuopold VX-R 3-9x scope and mounted it on a Basset Aluminum high picatainny scope mount. I use a TNVC.com removable cheek riser to get a good cheek weld.

I really like the scope, it has Leupold's Firedot TMR illuminated reticle, although the reticle is a little thicker than I'd like out at 200+ yards. The turrets adjust in .1 Milraidian increments, which is nice and matches the reticle.

Anyway, I went to the range today to test out the combination using M118LR 173gr ammunition. I was pleased with the results, averaging 1.50 MOA at 100 yards. I tinkered with the elevation and windage a bit between groups to try and walk them on target. I was about to shoot some groups at 200 yards, but a thunderstorm moved in so I'll have to wait until next time.

The rifle is an LRB tanker with a criterion chrome lined barrel, vortex flash suppressor, SEI Gas Lock Front Sight, and Springfield Armory Inc. "Synthetic" Black stock. I haven't made any accuracy modifications to the rifle in the interest of keeping the weight down. I'm pretty pleased with 1.5 MOA performance from a lightweight M14, weighing in at 8 pound 4oz without the scope. M118LR isn't reputed to be the most accurate load available, so perhaps if I salvage the brass and take the time to develop a load, I can get the groups a little smaller. The thing I like the best about this rifle is it has never malfunctioned in roughly 1000 rounds of shooting, and I only clean it once every 200 rounds or so.

Next time I will shoot at 200 with the M118LR, remove and reinstall the basset to test for return to zero, and possibly use a spare GI fiberglass stock that's sitting in my safe to see if accuracy improves noticeably with it over the SAI synthetic.

Thanks for reading.

Mikee, I'm pretty sure LRB probably lubricated the rifle for you before they shipped it, but I would go ahead and field strip it to double check. You'll have to learn to do that eventually anyway. If you see grease on the op rod, op rod track, bolt roller, bolt lug rails, and top of hammer, you're good to go. If not, you need to put grease on the parts you saw in the tutorial before you go shooting.

I would not worry about taking the rear sight apart unless something is wrong with it. Sure, it's nice to be sure that there's grease in there but LRB probably did it, and even if they didn't, it's not as if the sights are going to be absorbing recoil and possibly getting damaged if they don't have it (unlike say, the op rod, bolt lug rails, bolt/bolt roller, etc.).

Be sure to Lubricate the rifle with grease, Xf7 works great.

Took it out to 200 yards for some groups this afternoon, didn't have much time but looks like the accuracy with the M118 is holding up. One hiccup, when I started I was all over the place, started looking around and realized the basset was moving like a see-saw when I put pressure on it with my finger. I tightened it back up and it gave me the following groups, averaging 1.254 MOA at 200 yards. I also chrono'd, and I was getting 2567 fps average @ 80F, 500 ft above seal level.

It's an 18.5" criterion chrome lined barrel.