Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles 200 yard accuracy

So I got scope mounted on bushmaster . It's a $150 sig whiskey 3-9x40. Barrel is 16", trigger is stock at 7.5 lbs. Stock hand guards, cheap bipod, shooting 55gr 223 federal or Geco probably both( took loaded mags). Zeroed @ 50 yrs dead on. At 200 was about 4" high so I shot at bottom of 8" ring. All but a couple fell in 5" ring. It was windy today, & I have a hard time keeping steady at that distance. Trigger is stiff at 7.5, but breaks crisp. Just curious what this rifle, & factory ammo should group?

“Just curious what this rifle, & factory ammo should group?”

Is this a serious question?

I’ll say it should be capable of sub 1/4” one shot groups but only if you do your part.

WOW a comedian

That answers the question nicely.

Yes it was a serious question. My hunting rifle sets in a mechanical rifle rest where I can dial it up, down ,right & left. The trigger is half the pull, & the rest holds it almost perfectly still. I set it at 100 yds and it's a tack driver. I know I'm the error in the equation, plus the trigger sucks on the ar. I'm sure I can do a lot better, but 1/4" ? I doubt it.

The setup and ammo you are using is not condusive to fine accuracy. I would expect to see 4-5" groups at 200 yds. That ammo is minute of bad guy to about 300 yds.

Read TWR's post again. Slowly this time. Also, why even shoot if you are putting your rifle in a vise? No hunting rifle should be clamped down. It should be steered by the owner. Just sayin.. Just so you know, your question is extremely vague. Guys answering with a should shoot "4-5" groups", have no clue...

It's not in a vise & not clamped down. I never said that. What I was implying was that it was a better setup for getting a bolt gun set accurately. It's not something you could put an ar in unless you had 5 round mag, which I don't.

You seem to have actually read my post. Thank you. I believe I could do better, was not very steady today. With a better trigger I might get 2-3" group.

I read your post.

16” Bushmaster. Which one? Chrome lined pencil barrel? HBAR or V Match?

$150 scope in who knows what mount, you never did tell us which mount you wound up with. 223 Federal or Geco, which version and which one?

7.5 lb trigger? Can you manipulate it without moving off the bull?

I’m sorry but lately folks here are asking questions without thinking about them. Details matter if you want a decent answer. I mean heck, you were the one shooting it, how did it do?

Xm15 es2, chrome lined, 1 in 8 twist, one piece weaver offset mount similar to the burris pepr. I bought this before 2016 election figuring they wouldn't be available. Came with a cheap hammers red dot. Vortex sparc I had on it is all I'll ever need. Not sure if it was federal xm193 or geco, but positive it was 223 55gr. Honestly at that distance & with the stiff trigger it's hard to squeeze a shot off without some movement. I'd say with a better trigger & more practice results would be better. Now here is an easily answered question for an experienced shooter. At 200 yds I'm 4" high with vortex red dot or this scope. Both were set dead on at 50. I've consistently read maybe 2" high with 50-200 yd set up. It's 206 yds according to my rangefinder. Does 4" high sound right?

FMJ ammo is not target ammo as you know. Usually 3 moa is acceptable but I’ve seen some shoot better at times.

The trigger can be worked through just pay attention.

A 1/4” off at 50 yards will make a huge difference at 200. That’s why we should sight in at 200 and see where 50 hits. 4” high at 200 is not right but again, with FMJ ammo, it would be hard to call a zero, especially a 3 shot zero by centering the group at 200. Shooting a 10 shot group at 200 will give you a better idea of where zero is.

A hundred bucks more or less will get you a much better trigger.

That's about par for FMJ ammo.
Nothing you do will change that.

You are not going to get great accuracy shooting FMJ ammo.

Here is an example shooting some factory varmint ammo (50 grain Federal) from an HBAR profile 8 twist 16" barrel. This was earlier this month over some bags. This is three, 3 shot groups. Average into the .3s. I would expect that at 200 yards I would still be around the 1" range + or - a couple tenths.

I'm assuming you're shooting 3 shot groups and here's the thing, unless you're getting a one hole group at 50 yards, you don't know if you're dead on.

Look at the groups above, those look great until you consider all 3, 3 shot groups are in different spots. Overlap them and they're over an inch. (no offense Ted) That's why 10 shot groups are better at telling what's going on. Trying to call zero off a 50 yard group is useless past that range.

Zero at 200 then shoot at other distances and see where you hit, right the results down.

Or zero at 100 yards and do the same because unless you're only concerned with getting hits somewhere on a full sized silhouette, you need to forget the 25, 50 or even the 36 yard zero. You need to know exactly where your gun hits at the distances you want to shoot in the conditions you are in.

Wind has a big impact, thus the change in point of impact.

Wind flags teach a lot, few use them.

Ten shot groups definitely give you more insight into dispersion (range of hits off of point of aim), and so help to better adjust POA to be centered where you want the average shot centered.

I started using the ten shot groups on the 24hourcampfire black rifle challenge targets, and now all of my friends who care about accuracy are piling on.

Ten shot groups tell me more about minute of ground squirrel, which is what I'm using varmint ammo for.

"Wind has a big impact, thus the change in point of impact."

It's pretty common to see groups start on one side and go to the other side or back and forth in a 10 shot group, even without the wind.

Yeah, probably fairly close, but I wouldn't be too surprised that that combination would be around 2.5-3 MOA at 100 yards, so very likely 5-6" 200 yard groups, even with 5 shot groups.

It is what it is, maybe plus or minus a very small amount. But once in a while it might be better but usually there aint no Coupe De' Ville at the bottom of the Cracker Jack box.

And that's why guys build "precision" AR's.

MM