For a while now there has been a lot of talk about how ineffective the 5.56 service round is. It’s all over the internet gun boards and the popular slick newsstand gun magazines. Time and time again we are all told how the 5.56 is a 200-yard gun, or if you’re using a carbine, you’re stuck with a 50-yard gun. Everyone knows this, it’s just plain common sense! The problem is, it’s not really true. A whole lot of people sound off about something they really don’t know much about and have zero experience with. This amused me for a few years, then as more and more time passed it really started to bug me to the point of aggravation. A certain type will always repeat the same inaccurate info and we all know that. The problem is that it causes those in military service to lose confidence in their service weapon and what it can do. Confidence in your tools is an important thing, if you believe in and know for a fact what your rifle can do, you shoot it better.
Most serious followers of the AR15 platform know about the MK12 rifles and have read stories about 500 to 800-yard kills and how effective it has been in the GWOT. A few are at least vaguely familiar with High Power service rifle matches. But they assume any AR15 type rifle that can be used for these ranges is by necessity some super customized and specialized weapon. Obviously there is truth in that. To shoot a winning score at Camp Perry you have to have some specialized rifle work done and use special ammo. When these accomplishments are brought up in discussion, they are shot down by the people who “know better” because they are not the same guns issued out to troops or normal civilian users for self protection. And so it goes on and on, that the AR15 is a 200-yard gun.
It is not. It will do more than most believe, and it will do it with military-issue ammo.
Can A Rack Grade AR-15 And M855 Make 1,000 Yard Hits?
October 20, 2015
ConventionalShooter, Guest Article AR-15 11 Comments
Firearm User Network 
Colorado Pete
Oct 20, 2015 @ 23:35:15
Good one, thanks!
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John Tate
Oct 21, 2015 @ 13:50:17
Thank you for this article, AR at 1,000 yds … in fact, both articles.
You’ve hit a nerve – but it’s my “funny bone.”
In 3 weeks I’ll be thirty years older than Jack Benny. (That joke is part of the theme: how many of today’s youth keep up with comics from the 40s ~ 60s? One of Jack Benny’s characteristics was his ‘thriftiness;’ the other was that he was perennially 39 years old.)
During my brief years of active, competitive shooting (85 – 95), the M14 was used by all military teams. Why, because in part, the original AR barrel/bullet combination couldn’t shoot well past 500 yards. (More or less.) So the article’s title is historically true. The first ARs came with 1-in-14 or 1-in-12 twist barrels that would work for the ~50 gr bullets. But they didn’t work well at long range.
The new ARs with (for example) 1-in-7 (that’s what my Colt AR carbine has), work well with longer bullets (~60+ gr), but won’t shoot the light ones. That is, my AR really is a “50 yard” gun if used with light bullets. I’ve obtained some 69 gr Sierra match bullets to play with; we’ll see how those perform.
Note that the author of the story has an HBAR, 1-in-7, first with 80 gr bullets, then with M855 62 gr.
Finally, I think my favorite line is: ” I would gladly use up three rounds than have to deal with a bad guy at 50 yards.” This plays to the Rattle Battle competition – rapid fire at 600 yds. LOVE IT!
Again, THANK YOU for the story and the movie. Neat stuff!
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John M. Buol Jr.
Oct 21, 2015 @ 14:49:07
The point the original author was making, and the reason I passed this along, was to point out what a capable shooter can do with pedestrian gear. Regular, rack grade, general issue equipment is often much more capable than many shooters have the skill to realize.
Musketry schools were teaching this in the last half of the 1800s, Guess it’s a good idea to occasionally remind the new guard of these things.
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Shawn
Oct 21, 2015 @ 20:44:34
the 1-7 twist will indeed shoot light weight bullets very accurately saying otherwise is repeating a popular fire arms myth, a 1/7 twist will shoot a 53 grain flat base HP superbly as well as 40 grain ballsitic tips http://looserounds.com/2012/06/13/17-twist-and-light-bullets-the-myth-debunked/
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John M. Buol Jr.
Oct 21, 2015 @ 20:47:02
Nice add. M193 (55 grain) is generally more accurate than 62 grain M855 out of 1:7 and 1:8 twist.
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Shawn
Oct 21, 2015 @ 20:53:16
well. i wrote it haha and I was the guy that shot the A2 to 100o yards. there is also a article where I wrote about shooting a rack M4 to 1,000 yards you can find on looseorunds
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John M. Buol Jr.
Oct 21, 2015 @ 21:01:13
More good stuff:
http://looserounds.com/2013/09/30/more-1000-yard-shooting-m1903-m14-and-even-a-colt-commando/
http://looserounds.com/2013/06/13/accuracy-of-the-milspec-ar15-carbine-barrel/
Thanks for all this!
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John Tate
Oct 22, 2015 @ 08:14:28
Once upon a time, snipers and military teams did use “rack weapons.” But they were the cream of the crop.
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John M. Buol Jr.
Oct 22, 2015 @ 08:17:30
Given that modern sniping doctrine was largely developed by competitive shooters, they also tended to come from that background as well.
https://firearmusernetwork.com/2014/08/02/sniper-training-history/
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John Tate
Oct 22, 2015 @ 08:20:23
The first article is interesting reading, but there are some really important omissions: in particular, the relationship between bullet weight and rate of barrel twist.
On the one hand, the author talks about 77 and 80 grain bullets shooting well at 1,000 yards. That’s true – for one reason, they have the ballistic qualities to buck the wind to those distances. But, such a long, heavy bullet requires a really fast spin, one delivered by say a 1-in-7 twist barrel.
The 800 yard Viet Nam era shot he talks about being performed with a 55 grain bullet may well be true; but that barrel was most likely a 1-in-14 twist which won’t stabilize an 80 grain bullet; nor will the 1-in-7 stabilize a 55 gr.
For more specific examples, play with the tool at:
http://www.bergerbullets.com/twist-rate-calculator/
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John M. Buol Jr.
Oct 22, 2015 @ 08:24:25
Good info, thanks!
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