Rifle for Service Rifle

Sightron STAC 2.5-17X56 LRIRMOA. The huge front objective is a nod to Europe where these scopes are doing very well... they hunt at night.

But on an AR with the scope in the sky, I have plenty of clearance over my forend so this scope will fit easily. I will check on close range viewing when my next shipment shows up.

LR viewing is excellent per SIII glass.

I have been testing with my goto SIII6-24 and at 100yds on paper, great but it will likely be too much mag for close stages.

Reviewing last years course of fire and see what works best for my eyes. haven't done unsupported shooting in a very long time and with a heavy trigger, steep learning curve but alot of fun and definitely beats not shooting during the winter.

Got a load that is 3/4" average at 100yds - should be good enough

Jerry
 
trigger'06 said:
Scope looks a twitch on the heavy side(old guy perspective) but has a nice magnification range. Hope you can come down to the coast to play this year. It will be fun as always.
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Definitely no light weight but the overall weight of my AR is pretty light so I should be able to hoof it downrange. The weight does help me steady my wobble

Any guesses on dates?

And course of fire?

I really want to try this and if the timing works, would love to shoot a match. Oh, the zillion newbies question to follow :)

Jerry
 
Shipment arrived and I took more time to look through the STAC 2.5-17.5. It is an overcast winter day - grey and med on daylight brightness.

At 2.5X, WOW, sure lit up the image. Even inside my office no problem seeing the entire office. Yes, big objective is helping here for sure. Great clarity of image to the edges. No fishbowling. Panning is sharp and a flat image. Should work great for the movers.

The door knob and lock on my office door is easily and clearly viewed from 12 FEET away.. Not yards... FEET!!! Pretty sure it will work for the CQB portion

NO problem reading license plates in a parking lot 70 to 100yds away.

At 17.5X, no problem resolving the texture and gaps between the rock facing on a chimney about 750yds from my office window. Its that faux rock that comes in rectangles and installed like tile. Gaps are like 1/4".

Knurling on the knobs, and lettering all have a NF'ish feel to it. Nice to use for sure.

I will be putting one of these on my AR shortly. If anyone is interested and want 2014 pricing, please let me know asap before inventory runs out and we reset to 2015 pricing.

Jerry
 
I'm looking at getting into service rifle as well this year, and was even looking at the same rifle as the OP!! I was wondering if anyone thinks the new Nightforce SHV 3-10x42 would be a good scope on the AR. Seems like a nice mag range, and with the smaller diameter front objective it could be mounted nice and low.

I do have a 5.5-22x50 NXS I will be using on my F/TR rifle, would that be too much mag on the bottom end for service rifle usage?
 
In Ontario, the PR follows the CAFSC COF. Only 10 shots are fired at 500m but 90 shots are fired at under 100m, out of 210 rounds in total. There are 50 shots at moving targets.

At the NSCC ( once a year ), the old and modified COF is followed. In that COF over 32 rounds are fired at 500m, 20 rounds are fired at under 100m out of 160 rounds in total. There is no moving target.

At the NSCC and the old COF. There are way more belly shooting and there are 40 rounds of deliberate shots where you can "wait" to fire a shot. There is a lot of time. There are also 2 sighters per match and lots of time gone in between when scoring is happening( that is why the whole the matches drag on forever....that is another story ). A higher power scope allows you to watch the mirage and other things in between.

At the CAFSAC and Ontario matches, the whistle blasts, the shooter walks up to the firing point and fires at "regular rate" per the CF doctrine within 60 second. There is no time to setup and to ponder on each shot, everything needs to be done within 60 seconds. As soon as the one match is over, the second starts. There is no time wasted in between. You need to be efficient. For new guys, keep it simple with your setup.

When you think about SVC, you have to think of which COF you are dealing with. If you are going to shoot the CAFSAC Cof in Ontario, you want to have a rifle that is more efficient at off hand position within 100m. The top couple of soldiers in Ontario with issued weapons outshot civilians with open guns every year.

If you want to shoot the old COF, a DMR with at least 6X magnification will give you an edge at all the ever flowing deliberate shots and waiting.
 
GT, great info... Thanks

SouthPaw700, there really isn't such a thing as a low mounted scope for an AR. Given the stock layout, everything is flying high in the air for a proper sight picture.

I have my SIII6-24X50 scope in Burris XTR Xtra high rings and that is a good height for most applications. I think there is like 3/4", maybe even 1" of gap over the forend. There is room for any objective lense.

For the short stuff, the 6X is too much mag in my opinion and image can't focus that close. With the STAC, 2.5X is no problem for 25yds - clear and wide field of view.

I love high mag scopes but they simple aren't set up for distances inside 50yds... most of the time.

To answer the question about the NXS, just dial it to 5.5 and look at something close. Can you get the image in focus?

Jerry
 
Awesome info thanks guys! I was also curious about barrel length. Would a 16" barrel be a handicap at all? Maybe at 500 yds? Would it be better to look for something with an 18" or 20" barrel?

Also, I currently reload for my F/TR rifle, but I haven't loaded for an AR before. What brass would you guys recommend? Would Winchester brass be OK? Any other brands that would be of good value? I have 16 lbs of H4895 that I'm hoping to use.
 
I'm looking to squeeze out every last possible point so that is why I want a little more mag at longer range. With that said myself and others have done VERY well with 3-4 power scopes inclufing the elcan. The challenge is finding a decent powered scope that is light enough to work well on the AR.
 
SouthPaw700 said:
Awesome info thanks guys! I was also curious about barrel length. Would a 16" barrel be a handicap at all? Maybe at 500 yds? Would it be better to look for something with an 18" or 20" barrel?

Also, I currently reload for my F/TR rifle, but I haven't loaded for an AR before. What brass would you guys recommend? Would Winchester brass be OK? Any other brands that would be of good value? I have 16 lbs of H4895 that I'm hoping to use.
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Barrel length would also be related to barrel weight. If the balance of the rifle is ungainly, it isn't going to be best for position shooting.
A compact, lighter scope is preferable, and forget adjustable parallax. Just one more thing to forget while changing elevations and windage.
I have seen outstanding shooting done with the 2 1/2-10 Nightforce - the model with the straight tube, without objective bell.
 
I am using 1F Win brass that was definitely shot through another AR - bought bulk from a SFRC when they had a bunch. All crimped primers so a bit of prep and all good. This brass is proving to be quite tough so maybe built to stronger specs then the normal Win ammo brass????

Hrn 75gr BTHP will be my bullet of choice. Now available in bulk and shooting well at 100yds.

H4895 should work well but bulk loading will be slowed down as an extruded power. I have used IMR8208 and Benchmark in testing. Both work great and flow better through a powder measure. For now, WCC735 is working great and sure speeds up loading.

Good luck...

Jerry
 
I have found that RE15 and CFE223 meter very nicely.

Back to barrels, for a very serious SR competition barrel, have a look at the one that kombayotch is listing in the EE.
 
SouthPaw700 said:
Awesome info thanks guys! I was also curious about barrel length. Would a 16" barrel be a handicap at all? Maybe at 500 yds? Would it be better to look for something with an 18" or 20" barrel?

Also, I currently reload for my F/TR rifle, but I haven't loaded for an AR before. What brass would you guys recommend? Would Winchester brass be OK? Any other brands that would be of good value? I have 16 lbs of H4895 that I'm hoping to use.
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16" is good enough. If you are in Ontario shooting the CAFSAC COF with the ORA, you will figure out very quickly basic marksmanship skill trumps over space guns. Instead of using too much of your time to ponder on reloading, brass selection and barrel length, grab your rifle, dry fire and review all the basic marksmanship principles at all positions.

There is no point of shooting 50/10V at 500m, but get completely trashed at the position shootings at 200m and 100m. You will still lose the entire match big time. I guarantee that if you know what you are doing, you can win with a 16" carbine with issued ball ammo. How do I know? One of the guys on my team shot over 230 on a cold ####ty day off season with a norinco M4 and a beat up Spectre DR at the 200m match....but again the guy is on the Bisley team.
 
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I would suggest that a superior shot is going to get better scores when shooting a superior rifle than when shooting an indifferent one.
An indifferent shooter will not become a winner by buying superior equipment, although there are those who try to substitute $ for skill.
 
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Excellent advice guys, I appreciate it! I'm getting pretty pumped to try this out, I'm gonna keep my eyes open for a decently priced new or used rifle that would be suitable without breaking the bank. Now if I can just keep from going stir crazy while I wait for my ranges to become accessible again!

Was thinking about equipment, is a sling a useful item to have? Any other items that would be useful that might not be immediately obvious to a SR n00b?
 
tiriaq said:
I would suggest that a superior shot is going to get better scores when shooting a superior rifle than when shooting an indifferent one.
An indifferent shooter will not become a winner by buying superior equipment, although there are those who try to substitute $ for skill.
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This is the truth.
 
No. Although 1:8 might be a better choice than 1:7. If someone is going to be shooting 90 grainers, or tracers, the 1:7 makes sense; otherwise 1:8 will do it all. Light bullets through 80 grains. Magazine feed becomes the issue with 80s. That's why the 77s are made. As far as that goes, 1:9 barrels do well with all but the longest bullets.
The faster twist barrels do just fine with lighter bullets.
 
SouthPaw700 said:
Was thinking about equipment, is a sling a useful item to have?
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I have never seen a sling used in a SR match. Any comments at matches about using slings have always been negative. The troops never use one and they beat civies with monotonous regularity.
 
theDuck said:
I have never seen a sling used in a SR match. Any comments at matches about using slings have always been negative. The troops never use one and they beat civies with monotonous regularity.
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Bingo. Just one more thing to have to worry about when all you should be doing is making perfect shots.
 
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