Savage AR's

[26 Inf]

Perhaps more time spent honing the user would yield better results than chasing gear.

Well, I have fumbled my way through a couple of sniper schools, as well as several patrol rifle instructor courses, I even have some trophies, but I'm obviously not as awesome as I should be.

Or maybe I'm honest, with 1 MOA to 2 MOA of wobble while shooting unsupported fairly quickly, plus a 2 MOA dot, I'm thinking that would equal edge hits with some misses using a 4 MOA rifle.

Myself, I wouldn't want a 4 MOA rifle, so yeah I'm just a big ol' bumblin' gear chaser.

[vicious_cb]

Was it Molon who posted some stunning groups shot with a Colt 6920?

I think people read the gun rags where the ONLY good thing they can say about a mass marketed AR is that it is accurate and then assume the writer meant the accuracy was superior to other ARs.

Andy

I wouldnt say stunning but alot better than most people would expect.

Originally Posted By Molon:
I performed accuracy testing of my Colt 6920 upper shooting from a bench-rest at 100 yards using hand-loaded 52 grain Sierra MatchKings. A Leupold VARI-X III scope set at 25X magnification was used for sighting.

Three 10-shot groups were obtained for analysis that measured as follows:

1.30"
1.36"
1.64".

The three 10-shot groups were overlayed on each other using the RSI Shooting Lab software program to obtain a 30-shot composite group. The mean radius of the composite group measured 0.41".

His Colt SOCOM results, on the other-hand, were pretty stunning.

Originally Posted By Molon:
The Colt 14.5" M4A1 SOCOM barrel used in this evaluation was free-floated during testing using a Daniel Defense Omega free-float railed handguard. Using the match-grade hand-loads, I fired three 10-shot groups from the Colt SOCOM barrel at a distance of 100 yards. Those groups had extreme spreads of:

0.90”
1.02”
0.93”

for a 10-shot group average extreme spread of 0.95”. All three of the 10-shot groups were over-layed on each other using RSI Shooting Lab to form a 30-shot composite group. The mean radius for the composite group was 0.35”.

The smallest 10-shot group.

But people just buy Colts because of the brand name right?

[AndyLate]

I mis-remembered and confused the 6920 and SOCOM groups.

1.6" 10 shot group is not stunning but definitely adequate.

Guns and Ammo would have shot a bunch of 3 round groups with the 6920, picked the best and declared it a 1/4 MOA gun.

Andy

[.45fmjoe]

Everyone loves the pretty pony, that’s all.

My last 6920 came from the factory with some kind of black paint (alumablack?) covering the multitude of dings on the upper and lower receivers. The machining of the selector stops is HORRIBLE underneath the anodizing - it literally looks like they were chewed off by a rabid beaver. I don't buy Colts for their beauty. I buy them for the quality of the parts, it's just automatic and I don't have to question it.

[Slater]

The other top tier companies such as Daniel Defense, LMT, BCM, etc. don't seem to have any issues with their finishes. I realize that Colt is used to mass production for military contracts where a few dents and dings probably don't violate DCMA's inspections, but maybe just a LITTLE more care with their civilian production.

FWIW, I have three Colts, and the external finish looks just fine.

[26 Inf]

The other top tier companies such as Daniel Defense, LMT, BCM, etc. don't seem to have any issues with their finishes.

Heck, if you lay budget brand Noreen, Anderson, Pro-Fab, and PSA stripped lower receivers alongside a Colt stripped lower receiver and judge by the finish of the forging flash in the contact areas on the 'backstrap' (exposed with the A2 grip), and inside the trigger guard area, plus overall appearance, in my judgement, having done so just a moment ago, Colt comes in last.

Granted, forging flash is not a war stopper, but attention to these areas in budget receivers makes me go hmmm!

[Slater]

Colt, LMT, BCM, etc. are still tops but the budget brands seem to have made some strides in recent years. They may have taken some cues from the upper tier companies. To use Stag Arms as an example, I don't think that many of us would put them as a top-flight manufacturer. Lately though, some of their barrels have gone from 4140, non-chromed, 1:9 twist to 4150, chromed, 1:7 types.