M4 accuracy with reloads

[janobles14]

will the oal of .223 loads in my bushy M4 make much difference in accuracy? i know that it should matter (as in most hunting rifles) but i didnt know if the tolerance specs of battle rifles would make that much difference.

thoughts?

 

[rino451]

You'll probably see more accuracy lost from deviation round-to-round just form the reloading unless you're meticulous. Then you're spending so much time reloading to feed the beast, you don't get to shoot that much. It's WAY too difficult to keep up with an AR when reloading for accuracy (to the extent that OAL matters).

Two hours of reloading can be gone in minutes in an AR.

And having said all that, you'd probably have to increase OAL to the point that you can't load the rounds into the mags to make that much difference in accuracy. The freebore on most AR's is generous.

 

[nicholst55]

Unless you have a non-standard chamber and throat in your AR, the magazine is your limiting factor in regards to cartridge OAL. If it won't feed from the magazine, it doesn't matter how accurate it is.

Exceptions are when you're single-loading on the 600-yard line, but you're not going to be there with your M4 anyway.

 

[rcmodel]

No, it will probably make no difference at all.

As others already stated, the 5.56 chamber specs provide enough leade or free-bore for a bumper-jack handle!

Your greatest potential accuracy improvement is better bullets, not seating length.

My old Colt pencil-barrel SP-1 carbine will shoot well under an inch with 55 grain Hornady V-Max or Nosler Ballistic-Tip bullets.

With 55 grain FMJ it is lucky to shoot under 3 inch groups.

Seat them to fit the magazine, and play around with bullets & powder charges if you want the best accuracy possible.