Hi there folks!
So back in the fall I bought a Bushmaster ACR. After taking it a couple times to the local indoor range, I was getting seriously bummed by it's restricted status so I sent it away to Ian over at Herron Arms. In discussion with Ian, we decided to machine an AAC blackout style flash hider right into the barrel towards the goal of making the rifle as short as possible while still achieving the non-restricted status. I also went with a Chrome Moly blank, 1 in 9 twist, and I requested a 5.56x45 chamber as compared to .223 remington.
Because barrel parts are so difficult to get, Ian cannibalizes the factory barrel for all the gas system bits, as well as the barrel extension. With Gravel Agency as the distributor for the rifle, maybe we'll someday be able to purchase these parts directly from them so that we could keep the factory barrel, but for the time being it seems to be "sacrifice one to make the other!"
The gun came back just before Christmas, and upon first inspection, boy was I excited! Even more so when I called the CFC a week later and confirmed that they had received the verifier's report and that the no-longer-restricted gun had been dropped from the system.
I got to the indoor range a couple more times, but was getting really itchy to take her outdoors and stretch her legs a bit. While I was waiting for a good weekend, I ordered up a Geissele Super ACR trigger. It showed up early this week and was no trouble at all to get installed. What a difference it makes!
After having tried pretty much everything under the sun including various Trijicon ACOGs. the Elcan, both Gen I&GenII Vortex Razors, an aimpoint M4, and an EOTech EXPS3-2, a Leupold MkIV MR/T 1.5-5, and Leupold's new VX-6 1-6x24mm, I switched back to what I think is my favorite all-purpose scope for a semi .223: the Leupold VX-1 2-7x28 rimfire! I have a couple of these scopes that I've sent to the great folks at Korth Industries to have the parallax set at 100 yards, as well as having CDS turrets installed in them. The result is a super-lightweight low power variable that minimizes degradation in the handling department that is my key criticism of the optically better yet much heavier optics.
Then the planets lined up and I found a free day on the weekend to go out to the range! I had my v1 Boris target I wanted to test out as well, and the icing on the cake was when my shooting buddy called to say he had bought a Sako TRG44 in .338 Lapua Magnum and that he needed to sight in. SWEET! Off we went.
We had a pretty busy day....I was wringing out my ACR while he played with his Swiss Arms Black Special Target, we did the science project on his TRG, and then pitted him and the TRG against my custom Ruger M77 .308 Scout Rifle. As an aside, we were only shooting at 350 yards, so I was able to at least give him a run for his money...
Anyway....here he is shooting the non-restricted ACR:
I now have about 600 rounds through the gun, and I have yet to clean it. I'll keep going until I get a stoppage, or until I can stand it anymore and have to clean on principle. Function has been flawless....no failures to feed and no failures to extract. After about the first 100 indoor rounds after getting it back from Ian, the front gas block came loose. I pounded in the taper pins extra hard, and they seem to now be holding tight after another 400 rounds.
The Geisselle super acr trigger is worth every last nickel...it replaced the gritty and somewhat mushy factory trigger with a two stage match trigger that breaks like glass with no over travel. I think it is as good, possible better than the trigger on a Swiss arms gun.
We were busy enough that I unfortunately did not take any pictures of my accuracy testing target. I am shooting bulk loaded ammunition manufactured on my Dillon 650 (winchester brass, barnes varmint grenade, benchmark powder, and cci small rifle primer), and I'm while I'm sad to report I did not shoot any sub 1 MOA groups, I was able to consistently shoot 1.75 to 2.25MOA groups, proned out, using an MSAR 5/30 mag as a mono-pod. I feel comfortable reporting that the gun has reasonable practical accuracy and will more than meet my needs, which is service conditions styled shooting with my buddies out on my rural property.
Strong points of the rifle are the serious adjustability of the stock, and the controls which I find are very ergonomnic. I prefer the balance of the ACR to the balance of my non-restricted Swiss Arms Classic Green. I'm a little worried about the polymer lower, but I'm hoping that it grows on me and it's likely a major contributing factor to the balance and weight of the rifle.
I LOVE using the LAR 10 round magazines, and I will also report that the amber MSAR 5/30 magazines I recently bought from DLASK Arms worked with 100% reliability.
Lastly, Boris v1 was a big hit with my shooting buddies:
I've got Boris v2 off at the fabricator right now, and I'm working on v3 and v4. The black masking tape my buddy sourced works awesome for patching, as does regular masking tape for the white areas of the target. The Boris pictured above has probably more than 200 rounds through it and it's as usable as it was when it was new. I hope to have the new league website up and running by summer so other folks can get in on the fun!
My posse of gun friends will be heading out again in a month or so, and I'll make sure to bring the ACR and take proper pictures of the accuracy target.
Thanks for reading!
Cheers,
Brobee
So back in the fall I bought a Bushmaster ACR. After taking it a couple times to the local indoor range, I was getting seriously bummed by it's restricted status so I sent it away to Ian over at Herron Arms. In discussion with Ian, we decided to machine an AAC blackout style flash hider right into the barrel towards the goal of making the rifle as short as possible while still achieving the non-restricted status. I also went with a Chrome Moly blank, 1 in 9 twist, and I requested a 5.56x45 chamber as compared to .223 remington.
Because barrel parts are so difficult to get, Ian cannibalizes the factory barrel for all the gas system bits, as well as the barrel extension. With Gravel Agency as the distributor for the rifle, maybe we'll someday be able to purchase these parts directly from them so that we could keep the factory barrel, but for the time being it seems to be "sacrifice one to make the other!"
The gun came back just before Christmas, and upon first inspection, boy was I excited! Even more so when I called the CFC a week later and confirmed that they had received the verifier's report and that the no-longer-restricted gun had been dropped from the system.
I got to the indoor range a couple more times, but was getting really itchy to take her outdoors and stretch her legs a bit. While I was waiting for a good weekend, I ordered up a Geissele Super ACR trigger. It showed up early this week and was no trouble at all to get installed. What a difference it makes!
After having tried pretty much everything under the sun including various Trijicon ACOGs. the Elcan, both Gen I&GenII Vortex Razors, an aimpoint M4, and an EOTech EXPS3-2, a Leupold MkIV MR/T 1.5-5, and Leupold's new VX-6 1-6x24mm, I switched back to what I think is my favorite all-purpose scope for a semi .223: the Leupold VX-1 2-7x28 rimfire! I have a couple of these scopes that I've sent to the great folks at Korth Industries to have the parallax set at 100 yards, as well as having CDS turrets installed in them. The result is a super-lightweight low power variable that minimizes degradation in the handling department that is my key criticism of the optically better yet much heavier optics.
Then the planets lined up and I found a free day on the weekend to go out to the range! I had my v1 Boris target I wanted to test out as well, and the icing on the cake was when my shooting buddy called to say he had bought a Sako TRG44 in .338 Lapua Magnum and that he needed to sight in. SWEET! Off we went.
We had a pretty busy day....I was wringing out my ACR while he played with his Swiss Arms Black Special Target, we did the science project on his TRG, and then pitted him and the TRG against my custom Ruger M77 .308 Scout Rifle. As an aside, we were only shooting at 350 yards, so I was able to at least give him a run for his money...
Anyway....here he is shooting the non-restricted ACR:
I now have about 600 rounds through the gun, and I have yet to clean it. I'll keep going until I get a stoppage, or until I can stand it anymore and have to clean on principle. Function has been flawless....no failures to feed and no failures to extract. After about the first 100 indoor rounds after getting it back from Ian, the front gas block came loose. I pounded in the taper pins extra hard, and they seem to now be holding tight after another 400 rounds.
The Geisselle super acr trigger is worth every last nickel...it replaced the gritty and somewhat mushy factory trigger with a two stage match trigger that breaks like glass with no over travel. I think it is as good, possible better than the trigger on a Swiss arms gun.
We were busy enough that I unfortunately did not take any pictures of my accuracy testing target. I am shooting bulk loaded ammunition manufactured on my Dillon 650 (winchester brass, barnes varmint grenade, benchmark powder, and cci small rifle primer), and I'm while I'm sad to report I did not shoot any sub 1 MOA groups, I was able to consistently shoot 1.75 to 2.25MOA groups, proned out, using an MSAR 5/30 mag as a mono-pod. I feel comfortable reporting that the gun has reasonable practical accuracy and will more than meet my needs, which is service conditions styled shooting with my buddies out on my rural property.
Strong points of the rifle are the serious adjustability of the stock, and the controls which I find are very ergonomnic. I prefer the balance of the ACR to the balance of my non-restricted Swiss Arms Classic Green. I'm a little worried about the polymer lower, but I'm hoping that it grows on me and it's likely a major contributing factor to the balance and weight of the rifle.
I LOVE using the LAR 10 round magazines, and I will also report that the amber MSAR 5/30 magazines I recently bought from DLASK Arms worked with 100% reliability.
Lastly, Boris v1 was a big hit with my shooting buddies:
I've got Boris v2 off at the fabricator right now, and I'm working on v3 and v4. The black masking tape my buddy sourced works awesome for patching, as does regular masking tape for the white areas of the target. The Boris pictured above has probably more than 200 rounds through it and it's as usable as it was when it was new. I hope to have the new league website up and running by summer so other folks can get in on the fun!
My posse of gun friends will be heading out again in a month or so, and I'll make sure to bring the ACR and take proper pictures of the accuracy target.
Thanks for reading!
Cheers,
Brobee
Last edited:
