I haven't seen much said about Model 1 AR-15s, so I thought I would give a quick review of a recent purchase.
I purchased an A2 version of a Bushmaster XM-15 about a year ago secondhand. After trying different ways of getting an optic mounted on it, I got frustrated and decided to buy a flattop upper. Since this was going to be used for longer distance shooting, I thought I would get a longer barrel than the 16” standard. I was surprised to find that most sites had very little in stock due to the fear of Barack Mugabe coming to power. The only thing that Midway had was either really expensive ($1000), or really cheap (Model 1) and nothing in 20 or 24” barrels.
I had never heard of Model 1, but from the reviews I saw the only complaints people had were with the iron sights. I didn’t want iron sights, so I ordered an upper directly from Model 1. Specs:
20'' stainless heavy barrel , 1-9 twist
$360 +10 for swivel stud
I ordered 9/17 and received it 9/24. The first time I took it out to shoot, I was disappointed in the accuracy. I only had a couple types of ammo with me, Prvi Partisan and Rem UMC 223. The Prvi shot 3” groups, the Rem 4+ inch groups.
So I got together as many brands of ammo I could (8 different brands + some handloads) and did 5 shot groups with each. The best was Federal M855, Winchester White box Q3131, Federal XM193, and some Hornady match. The Hornady match was about the same as the others, about 1.5-2 MOA. Some brands would walk towards the target as I shot the group. S&B would start about 3.5 inches low left and finish near the bullseye. Hmmm. I was wondering about the relatively cheap scope I was using (BSA), mount, rings and barrel.
Then I tried some handloads using Hornady SPSX 50 grain varmint bullets and Hornady standard 55gr FMJBT, both with IMR 3031 powder. Both groups were less than an inch at 100 yards. The difference was night and day. Both were four leaf clovers with a fifth about an inch away. Much better.
Now I have to work up some handloads specifically for this upper, maybe I can get one ragged hole.
Is it hard to get commercial ammo that will do better than 1.5 MOA?
I purchased an A2 version of a Bushmaster XM-15 about a year ago secondhand. After trying different ways of getting an optic mounted on it, I got frustrated and decided to buy a flattop upper. Since this was going to be used for longer distance shooting, I thought I would get a longer barrel than the 16” standard. I was surprised to find that most sites had very little in stock due to the fear of Barack Mugabe coming to power. The only thing that Midway had was either really expensive ($1000), or really cheap (Model 1) and nothing in 20 or 24” barrels.
I had never heard of Model 1, but from the reviews I saw the only complaints people had were with the iron sights. I didn’t want iron sights, so I ordered an upper directly from Model 1. Specs:
20'' stainless heavy barrel , 1-9 twist
$360 +10 for swivel stud
I ordered 9/17 and received it 9/24. The first time I took it out to shoot, I was disappointed in the accuracy. I only had a couple types of ammo with me, Prvi Partisan and Rem UMC 223. The Prvi shot 3” groups, the Rem 4+ inch groups.
So I got together as many brands of ammo I could (8 different brands + some handloads) and did 5 shot groups with each. The best was Federal M855, Winchester White box Q3131, Federal XM193, and some Hornady match. The Hornady match was about the same as the others, about 1.5-2 MOA. Some brands would walk towards the target as I shot the group. S&B would start about 3.5 inches low left and finish near the bullseye. Hmmm. I was wondering about the relatively cheap scope I was using (BSA), mount, rings and barrel.
Then I tried some handloads using Hornady SPSX 50 grain varmint bullets and Hornady standard 55gr FMJBT, both with IMR 3031 powder. Both groups were less than an inch at 100 yards. The difference was night and day. Both were four leaf clovers with a fifth about an inch away. Much better.
Now I have to work up some handloads specifically for this upper, maybe I can get one ragged hole.
Is it hard to get commercial ammo that will do better than 1.5 MOA?
