Finally took her out to see what she is all about. It is indeed one fine rifle. Although I was limited to the indoor 50 yard range here in Montreal, the groups with the peep sight was giving me an indication of what this rifle is capable in terms of accuracy.
The best group I got using bulgarian surplus ammo was 3" @ 50 yards. That all changed when I loaded it with my hand loads. I had a few Sierra 180 gr SPBT left over from my previous bolt gun. I used a fairly mild formula with IMR 4350 and my groups @ 50 was around 1.5".
Considering I was having visual challenges with the peep sight, the gun was not disappointing me. I know all this can be improved with optics, a shim tune up, and hand loads.
The highlight of my shoot was feeding the gun a few subsonic rounds I put together with 7.5 grains of Red Dot pushing a 110gr Speer Spire Point bullet. Boy was that quiet and very accurate by 1.25" @ 50 yards with the peep. I did not have a chrono but by the time it made a sound at the backstop, my guess is that it was travelling at about 800-750 fps. Hand cycling was a fun. It was like shooting a bolt gun!
I am perplexed by the rear sight adjustment. At the my preliminary zeroing, my shots were shooting 3" below my POA @ 50 yards with the elevation dial below the #1 mark. I am assuming that this means 100 meters? In order to zero it at 2" above from my POA, I had to adjust the dial to the #4 mark. Is this right? I think it was at the fulton armory site that gave an advice on this matter. I think it involved filling the front site?
One happy newbie M14 owner!
The best group I got using bulgarian surplus ammo was 3" @ 50 yards. That all changed when I loaded it with my hand loads. I had a few Sierra 180 gr SPBT left over from my previous bolt gun. I used a fairly mild formula with IMR 4350 and my groups @ 50 was around 1.5".
Considering I was having visual challenges with the peep sight, the gun was not disappointing me. I know all this can be improved with optics, a shim tune up, and hand loads.
The highlight of my shoot was feeding the gun a few subsonic rounds I put together with 7.5 grains of Red Dot pushing a 110gr Speer Spire Point bullet. Boy was that quiet and very accurate by 1.25" @ 50 yards with the peep. I did not have a chrono but by the time it made a sound at the backstop, my guess is that it was travelling at about 800-750 fps. Hand cycling was a fun. It was like shooting a bolt gun!
I am perplexed by the rear sight adjustment. At the my preliminary zeroing, my shots were shooting 3" below my POA @ 50 yards with the elevation dial below the #1 mark. I am assuming that this means 100 meters? In order to zero it at 2" above from my POA, I had to adjust the dial to the #4 mark. Is this right? I think it was at the fulton armory site that gave an advice on this matter. I think it involved filling the front site?
One happy newbie M14 owner!
