Help me build my AR for Highpower Service Rifle

[Sven]

I finally got my 6 (!) stripped AR receivers back from the CA DOJ... TWO YEARS after buying them.... which amounts to one of the longest "waiting periods" ever. What a joke!

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So now its time to pick out the rest of the gear and build my first AR-platform Highpower Service Rifle! Or at least start saving to do so.

My advisors here (telperion, where are you) have advised me as follows:

•Upper - White Oak - Complete service rifle upper, pinned sight, ¼ × ¼ or ½ x ½ minute rear sight with one aperture insert, floated stainless Pac-Nor match barrel with your choice of twist rate, windage adjustable front sight (question: Which twist rate?)

•Trigger - Geissele?

What else do I need (besides to get a reloading setup and more TIME to shoot)?


Thanks!

-steve

 

[Telperion]

Don't forget a good sling. I just called Les Tam last week to order one of his.

BTW, I went with White Oak's barrel in 1/7.

 

[Sven]

Good call, James. I still have that nice shooting mat, too... all nice and clean (says something about where my priorities have been, eh?)... spotting scope... ray-vin carbide sight smoker...

Lame, lame, lame. But I hope to change that.

 

[30Cal]

1:7" twist + Geiselle.

I prefer 1/2MoA clicks. If you see a change in conditions, it's worth at least 1/2minute. With 1/4s, you end up just clicking 2x as much.

 

[Howard Roark]

Your trigger and upper choice are spot on. I like 1/4 min sights myself. Don't be affraid of the Wilson barrels from White Oak.

I just got in 3 Wilson 1-7 SS SR barrels from White Oak. For $200 it isn't worth my time to buy a Douglas blank and chew out a complete chambered barrel. Frank White turns and chambers these barrels for John.

Last weekend I broke one in and put a total of 50 rounds through it. If I don't completely clean a barrel when I get home I at minimum run a wet patch down the bore, that's what I did. Yesterday a week later I punched the Kroil out and ran patch with copper getter down the tube while I loaded up the truck. When I pushed the patch out there was not a hint of blue on it. Outstanding.

This barrel really likes 77gr SMK's out to 300 yards. I dropped 4 points on the 600 reduced to 300 yard target due to vertical stringing. One click right would have centered up the group and saved 2 points. My vision is slipping and I'm going to try my .5 diopter to clear up the front sight next match. Next month I'll see how it likes 80's at 600 yards. That will tell the true story.

 

[Sven]

Thx Guys!

 

[ocabj]

I honestly think 1/2 MOA might be the way to go. I went with 1/4 MOA when I started out, and most of the time, I put on a minimum of 1/2 MOA for a windage adjustment.

Rarely have I ever thought, "Hey, I think I need a quarter minute of wind."

But $20 says the next upper I buy will be 1/4 MOA just because in my mind, it's just nice to have.

Just be sure to mark your sights appropriately, so it's easy to return to your no-wind zeros and to write-down your windage adjustments as you make them during a stage of fire so you don't forget how much you put on.

As far as bullets, I'm using Nosler 77 for the 200/300 and Sierra 80 for the 600. Why? Well, the Noslers are cheaper than Sierra 77 and shoot the same. Siera 80s because I was able to find a load for it easily and it's tried and true for 600. I'll be switching to Berger 80gr VLDs after I run through my last couple boxes of SMK 80s since the price difference between the SMK 80 and the Berger 80VLD is almost NIL now for what I pay and I haven't had a problem loading the VLD for accuracy.

As far as powder, get Varget, RL15, or N140. Develop loads for 200/300/600 with one powder and stick with it. It shouldn't take you that long to find a good load for your barrel. Once you do, don't mess with it and just spend your time shooting.

As far as musts, after a rifle and good ammo, you need a good sling. The Les Tam is considered the best leather SR sling. Most guys use the Turner because you can get it "off the shelf" from many vendors. I use it. It's a fine sling. You may want to just get a Turner for $50 and when you get a feeling of what deficincies that sling has, you can call Les Tam for a more customized one.

The next thing I would do is get a coat. It's not a must, but I think the coat is going to be one piece of equipment that will immediately reinforce your shooting.

After that, the spotting scope and stand.

After that, a decent range cart or anything that will help you carry all this crap from line to line.

I pretty much got all my HP gear from Creedmoor Sports and Ray-Vin.

Good luck in your endeavours.

 

[paulo]

Check out hpirifles.com Mike makes some of the best service and match rifles around.
Paul

 

[atek3]

WOA and Geiselle are the way to go for SR.

Considering the Bay Area is mostly 200 yard courses, have you considered going with a Space Gun? I think the better sights and trigger of a match rifle allow you to progress more quickly (at least it did for me when I went from SR to MR).

If you're dead-set on SR ignore my last paragraph.

Either way, have fun, let us know when you start to shoot the spotter out

atek3

PS http://www.nationalmatch.us is a great High Power Forum.

 

[P-32]

SVEN,

Good combo.....

I have a WOP upper with a Pac-Nor with a 6 1/2 to 1 twist as I had dreams of shooting 90's at a 1000. Not going to happen.

I have a new WOP upper with a Kreiger in 7 to 1. Both uppers shoot. Both uppers like 77's and 80 gr SMK's.

I also shoot wood guns. My match 308 M-1 has 1/2 moa sights. Both WOP's have 1/4 x 1/4 sights. I like the 1/4's a little better as the WOP upper can use the finer sight adjustment with meaning.

I use a WOP tuned RRA 2 stage trigger which seem to work well and it always makes weight. John does a fine job no matter what he works on. I did have a trigger go south on me. I happened to have a spare from John. The solution was John is going to tune up the bad one at no charge. I was willing to pay for him to do it as it had lots of trigger pulls on it. A M-1 or M-14/M-1A trigger would have needed tweeking long before the RRA stopped. I understand John uses the Geiselle trigger himself though.

Loads....I use RE-15 period for powder, end of report. For primers I use Rem 7 1/2's and if I can't get those, CCI BR's. I found between these 2 there is no real difference as both shoot pretty much to the same point of aim.

I tried Federal match once and pierced primers on loads the Rem & CCI did just fine with. I can get at least 10 reloads out of my brass so I know I'm not loading all that hot.

Stay away from Federal brass. I ordered a 1000 once fired GI for my new upper and got Fed. I was not real happy but I had to get going on the loading for a large event. (Camp Perry) I lost primers, had alibis and the rifle seemed like it was possesed. Being I'm a tight wad, I shot the Federal stuff until I was out of what I had loaded. The first time I shot some loads loaded with Lake City brass, I won the match. And it was a big match with horrible condiditions with gusting winds to 35 MPH.

Good luck