What is your longest shot with a 5.56 rifle?

Status
Not open for further replies.
750 yards, but it was a custom built AR-15. I was using my friends ammo too. 86gr Bergers IIRC. My longest shot with open sights was with a CMMG carbine at 550 on a steel plate. Its not difficult, just have to know where to hold and watch your wind flags.
 
want to see some neat shooting go look up on youtube' rattle battle match at camp perry. It starts at 600 yards and there are many folks who can empty at least one mag into the shil. with a clean score if you get the wind right.

many folks have shot long range with a open sighted 20" ar15 out to a K with no problems. Hey I even got my long range master card with a open sighted ar15 at 800, 900 and 1000 matches.

Now with a space gun with good aperture open sights its almost like cheating at 1000.
 
On a palma target which is the standard target the X ring is 10" and the 10 ring is 20". now thats like 1 minute for the x and 2 minutes for the 10 ring. throw in the distance and the light and wind and it makes it fun.

Now in palma you get to use either 308 win or 223 rem.
You also shoot at 800, 900 and 1000 on the same targets.
Have not looked at the results from the nationals for a few years but if my memory serves me right the highest place for a opened sighted sevice rifle legal ar15 was 21st overall.

That might of been beat but not sure.

Now the bull is like 44" I think (been away) which is 8 ring wide and its not hard to keep it in that but its hard to stay in the 10 ring.

That target I found faily easy at 800 yards and not bad at 900 but trust me when I say looking at that black with a service rifle ar15 at 1000 is not a easy thing.

but the best fun is rattle battle at 600 yards . you should really check out the different youtube videos from camp perry. remember if you watch either the marine or army teams watch how many times they change that 20 round mag out in 50 seconds.
 
800+ meters with an M-16A2, SS109 and a Hensoldt ZF Model One Scope. Great grouping and surprising penetration as well. We were lucky to have a "Georgia overdrive" in decline and wind.
 
615 meters (672 yards). Rack grade M16A2 shooting M855. 10 for 10 on an iron maiden target, Range 19 at Joint Base Lewis McChord.

Jimro
 
With my 3-gun AR, handloaded 75gr hornady BTHP, and TA33 ACOG, I successfully kept all my shots on an 8.5x11 sheet of paper while confirming zero with the BDC from 100 meters all the way to 600 meters.

It was only 3 shots at each distance. But I wasn't shooting to try to make tiny groups.


My BEST shooting with a 5.56 rifle was at the recent CMMG 3-gun match. Engaged 3 flash targets at 300 yards and one flash target at 400 yards, on the clock, one shot per target... as quickly as I have ever made that kind of shot.

A couple days later in the team event I had to throw a bunch of rounds at those same 300 yard target. I suspect the nerves and the pressure of a bunch more people watching got to me. :(

IMG-20120515-00338.jpg

DSC_0199.jpg
 
Joed is correct, 300 yards is pushing it. The 5.56 is more like a 75 yard cartridge.

All you guys hitting things at 1000 arent shooting 5.56, you are shooting some other cartridge that you mis-labeled as 5.56, because thats just simply un-possible.
 
Joed is correct, 300 yards is pushing it. The 5.56 is more like a 75 yard cartridge.

All you guys hitting things at 1000 arent shooting 5.56, you are shooting some other cartridge that you mis-labeled as 5.56, because thats just simply un-possible.
Click to expand...

I see what you did there.
 
it all depends on ballistics.

Once your bullet goes from super-sonic to sub-sonic, it destabilizes a bit, but can still travel accurately for a few hundred yards past that.

For a M.O.A. rifle, 1000 yards means a 10" group taking out wind and drop. When you add the inconsistencies of velocity and wind, it looks like a 15" or 20" group. It's possible, but then the bullet is going so slow that it doesn't have enough energy to do as much damage. It all depends on what your "effective range" requirements are.

oh, and also how much you are willing to aim over the target (more than 50 feet i'm assuming). I'm no ballistics expert in .223/5.56mm NATO.

I think almost everyone is talking 5.56mm NATO here because that is very comparable to the .223.
 
it all depends on ballistics.
Click to expand...

EXACTLY.

Almost nobody (outside of military) shoots 55/62gr bullets beyond 500m in a 223/5.56 case, and even the military has seen the light with the Mk. 262 round using 77gr Sierra Matchkings.

At 500' ASL elevation and standard atmosphere (59F, 0% humidity, 29.92" pressure) a 308 Winchester pushing a 175gr Sierra Matchking @ 2700fps (basically M118LR) drops 10.8mil @ 1000yd and drifts 2.8mil in a 10mph wind. It arrives on target with 527ft/lb energy.

An 8 twist 223 pushing an 80gr A-Max @ 2800fps drops 10.3mil over the same distance and drifts 2.9 mils. It arrives on target with 241ft/lb energy.

In fact, the difference in wind drift at 1000yd between the two is just 1.5 inches.

A 223 pushing a 75gr Berger VLD @ 3000fps (achievable in my 26" barrel) drops just 9.1mil @ 1000yd, and drifts 2.8mil....actually drifting 0.9" less @ 100yd than the 175 Matchking.

A 7 twist 223 shooting a 90gr Berger VLD @ 2700fps experiences 9.7 mil drop @ 1000yd with only 2.3 mil drift, arriving with 356ft/lb energy. This bullet at this velocity drifts almost 20" less than the "long range benchmark" 308/175 load.

223 is a VERY capable long range cartridge, provided one uses the proper bullets and doesn't need the downrange energy provided by larger, heavier bullets.
 
Yes you are right and when I shoot at 600 back in any of my 223 cal rifles in either my service rifle or space gun I am shooting the berger 75vld. Its a winner at 600 out of my service rifle but a real ROCKET back at 1000.

her is the difference between 223 and 556.
the cartridges are the same but the difference is in the rifle.
on the 556 lead is .2265 and on the 223 it is .2240
on the 556 free bore is .0566 and the 223 is .0250
on the 556 angle of rifling is 1-13-23 and on the 223 it is 3-10-36

The 556 is basically a looser dimension for a military rifle.

also the berger 75vld is not subsonic at 1000.

Now if you shoot the wylde chamber which most match shooters do the free bore goes to .0619 and the angle of rifling goes to 1-15-0 and that is to get a more perfect alignment for use of VLD type bullets. WHICH it does very nicely
 
Last edited:
Had a buddy tell me once that my 223 AI AR shooting 69 Sierra's couldn't keep up with his 22-250 shooting 55 Remington bulk bullets at longer ranges. I just smiled back at him.

IMO, one of the best applications for the AR's is coyote hunting. Most guys like to go bang, bang, bang. That's OK, but i'd rather just go bang once. I was always fascinated by the long-range applications of the AR platform, especially coyotes.

The best bullets i found for that application were the Nosler and Sierra 69's, 65 JLK Low Drag, and the 65 SGK. Had 2 1-shot kills at 550 yds. and the bullets performed well. Here's one at 556 using the Weaver V16/3 MOA TK Lee reticle--
IMG_0825.jpg

IMG_0778.jpg

450 with same reticle--

IMG_0911.jpg

though i preferred the 3-9x PFI 22 Long Rifle Rapid Reticle adapted to the trajectory of my load right here for this app. [mom's 3-shot gp. @ 425 yds.] --

momthe425ydline.jpg

IMG_0726-1.jpg
 
dbrown said:
I was wondering what are your guys longest shots with any type of 5.56 rifle.
Click to expand...
Shot out of an AR with a Spike's Tactical lower, and a Rock River Arms upper with a 24 inch bull barrel, 500 yards on a 2 foot diameter steel plate. Cant remember what scope I was using, the gun got dropped and the lens cracked and the scope was replaced.
 
I didn't have a third award banner beneath my Marine Rifle Expert Badge because I couldn't hit a black spot 1/3 the width of the front sight post at 500yd. I scored a 248 on the old USMC KD course at Edson range. 5.56mm 1/7 twist..
 
600 yards over here.

I've hit targets further away than that, but I wasn't shooting for group (and didn't measure or record anything) it was more like a slow-fire mag dump. I think that target was 800 yards away, that I had set up for my PTR-91. (No, I don't remember what the group was for the PTR-91 off the top of my head...)
 
I've shot my Swiss Arms PE 90 (Sig 550) out to 500m (550 yards). I was hitting a 13" steel plate about 40% of the time. The ammunition I was using was 55gr Winchester white box, which shoots about 2.5 MOA with my rifle (it doesn't like white box for some reason, but it's the cheapest stuff I have locally available). I'll be trying it again with match grade ammo, and that should help up my hit percentage significantly. But still, even with the ammunition that does not shoot exceedingly well in my gun, I was engaging point targets at close to the maximum effective range listed for my gun. I've also started shooting at 300m more regularly, and am slowly improving my ability to read wind and properly compensate. In calm conditions, I've shot near MOA 5 shot 300m groups with Hornady Steel Match. The rifle is bone stock, and wears a Vortex Razor HD 1-4x24. I found the most effective way of engaging the target was to fire a 5 shot string over about 5 seconds with the same point of aim. Using this method, I was achieving up to a 60% hit rate. I actually borrowed this idea from the Swiss idea of DM training.
 
Last edited:
joed said:
You're going to hear some amazing stories on this post. Might even hear how someone had to use a spotter because of the curvature of the earth they couldn't see the target. At best the 5.56 is a 300 yard cartridge, beyond that it's a crap shoot.
Click to expand...

Going past 300 yards does significantly diminish the ability of military ammunition to fragment, but it is a very capable cartridge at ranges far past that... both in ability to hit a target, and for proper expanding ammunition to take small game.

 
Years ago, I shot my iron-sighted AR at a 600 yard High Power match in the slow prone. I don't recall my score, but I'm sure it was probably quite mediocre.

For 3 Gun stuff, longest shot was on a 30 second bonus target at Rocky Mountain 3 Gun a few years back. USPSA-sized steel target at 550 yards. I hit it with an ACOG-equipped JP.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

M
  • Locked
Longest Distance Your Accurate with Your SKS
Replies
16
Views
4K
d2wing
d2wing
D
  • Locked
Whats your longest .22-250 shot?
Replies
0
Views
524
dennisH87
D
S
  • Locked
Longest distance did you ever shot regardless of caliber??
2 3 4 5
Replies
123
Views
5K
Auburn1992
A
M
  • Locked
most reliable 308 battle rifle
2 3
Replies
55
Views
5K
MarcusWendt
M
N
  • Locked
maximum effective range of rifles
2
Replies
40
Views
5K
labgrade
L
Back
Top