I only shoot irons.
I've only shot irons my entire time in the hobby.
I've gotten extremely good with them over the years. 3" to 4" groups with irons and a stock rifle at 100meters is extremely good! Well done.
I don't hand load at all. So I only use factory ammo. Usually bulk. Using a decent quality AR15 and the cheapest junk 5.56mm I could find I would average about 4" to 6" groups at 100 meters, 10 round groups always. Sometimes occasional fluke smaller groups but over many that was the average (4 to 6). I don't shoot 2 or 3 round groups and I don't shoot all day and take the one fluke really tight group as my potential skill indicator.
That was always prone on the ground resting on a shooting bag. No lock in devices or anything.
I HATE scopes. Every time I put one on a gun I spend more time f**king with it than I do shooting. They fog up, they lose zero, a lot of optics need batteries, they're expensive...just can't stand them. #### them lol
I'm 35 and my eyes are sharp. If they fade I'll have to concede one day I guess but until then I rock irons.
I'm in the same boat as you brother. I always hear BS on these forums about guys shooting "2 MOA with irons all day" yadda yadda. Even guys with really high end guns and after being on a lot of ranges around a lot of fellow shooters, I've never seen anyone do this consistently...or at all really lol
The limiting factor on irons is the sight radius big time, the thickness of the front post (having a thin tapered post vice a big thick one or a "ball on post" type) and having a rear mounted peep vice the buckhorn type notch and post setup midway down the barrel (leading to a short sight radius on top of the other drawbacks) Although some rifles that have a long enough radius with the buckhorn type sights can be used pretty effectively.
I have a Mint Model 72A Winchester Tube Fed bolt .22LR that can print 10 rounds into 4" patterns at 100 meters using the stock semi buckhorn sights! I just picked it up and stripped and refinished it completely.
It's my most accurate gun meter for meter (limited in range obviously due to the caliber) I'm trying to figure out a way to retrofit it with a rear receiver mounted peep sight and then file and taper the front post to precision. I'm twitching to see how much more accurately I will be able to shoot this thing in that setup!
That's great shooting man. Be proud!