I became interested to getting into long range shooting earlier this year when shooting sports became an interest as my main hobby. I posed a theoretical question a few weeks ago here: If you could do it all over again...The purpose of that was not to have people to tell me what I should buy for my first setup, but rather steer me away my own thoughts and opinions, to experienced shooters know how in order to make an educated purchase decision.
Quickly, the conclusion came to: buy a full custom, AI, TRG, etc and a minimum of a sshd 5-20 performance caliber scope. Buy once, cry once. I was expecting to hear this. I would go out and buy an AI AE mkIII, however, I'm new to the sport. I don't know if it's something I'll get into, do rarely, or lose interest. As such I decided to put one foot in and buy a decent, low-midrange tactical rifle, the FN SPR A1. Got it from Mike @ Tactical Coordination. Bought it over a r700 5r because I wanted something different and maybe add a little detail on the SPR for future buyers as there's not much out there. One thing I did do, was invest more in my optic. I bought a used HDMR g2dmr with badger rings from Joeyhotfizzle. Thanks again Joey!
I bought 1 box of fgmm 168, 175, hornady superperformance 168 A-Max, 2 boxes of 150 fmjbt American Eagle for sight in and familiarization, caldwell rear bag, and a cheap platic case (holds the whole rifle and scope fine but is flimsy). I had everything else I needed for at least the first shoot.
I finally got it all in this pass week so I went out to the range on Friday. These are the first shots I have ever taken from a precision orientated rifle. I would have taken more pictures of the rifle but honestly didn't think of it.
I was shooting from a very stable and natural position. Zeroing took me awhile as my bore zero did not get me one paper at first. I shot three groups of FGMM 168, FGMM 175, and Hornady in that order. Waited for cooldown. Shot 1 group of Hornady, FGMM 175, FGMM 168, and 150fmjbt in that order. By far I shot the FGMM 168g the best. I only shot a couple groups with 150 fmjbt, the confirmation of zero group was only a little tiny bit better then the grouping a brought back home. Honestly, I was expecting it to shoot a lot better than it did, I should have saved money and bought 147 fmj instead. The hornady honestly all groups felt pretty good on my end, even if it was not, it still would have had a large spread (again I was shooting from a very stable position and was not yanking on the trigger). It might be an indication my rifle does not like hot loads.
Something I noticed is the trigger pull, although very crisp, is a little heavier than my SSA trigger in my AR. Caused very very slight northeast diagonal movement of the rifle while squeezing, hard to notice other than during extreme concentration. In correlation to the target it was around an 1/8" of movement. I'll be lightening the trigger via adjustment screw to as low as it'll go.
The action felt smooth. Although I don't have my r700 and m77 mkII to compare it to, it's I think about the same as the m77 and less smooth during lock up than the r700. The magazine is well built, but as others have said, the system of lock up sucks. It takes a little more force than it should it should to get it to lock into place bolt closed and open. I actually could get 5 rounds (4 round mag) into it, lock up being a little more difficult, but feed just fine.
For further accuracy testing of my rifle, I purchased ammo from Southwest. I also purchased a triad stock pack for extra cheekweld.
Quickly, the conclusion came to: buy a full custom, AI, TRG, etc and a minimum of a sshd 5-20 performance caliber scope. Buy once, cry once. I was expecting to hear this. I would go out and buy an AI AE mkIII, however, I'm new to the sport. I don't know if it's something I'll get into, do rarely, or lose interest. As such I decided to put one foot in and buy a decent, low-midrange tactical rifle, the FN SPR A1. Got it from Mike @ Tactical Coordination. Bought it over a r700 5r because I wanted something different and maybe add a little detail on the SPR for future buyers as there's not much out there. One thing I did do, was invest more in my optic. I bought a used HDMR g2dmr with badger rings from Joeyhotfizzle. Thanks again Joey!
I bought 1 box of fgmm 168, 175, hornady superperformance 168 A-Max, 2 boxes of 150 fmjbt American Eagle for sight in and familiarization, caldwell rear bag, and a cheap platic case (holds the whole rifle and scope fine but is flimsy). I had everything else I needed for at least the first shoot.
I finally got it all in this pass week so I went out to the range on Friday. These are the first shots I have ever taken from a precision orientated rifle. I would have taken more pictures of the rifle but honestly didn't think of it.
I was shooting from a very stable and natural position. Zeroing took me awhile as my bore zero did not get me one paper at first. I shot three groups of FGMM 168, FGMM 175, and Hornady in that order. Waited for cooldown. Shot 1 group of Hornady, FGMM 175, FGMM 168, and 150fmjbt in that order. By far I shot the FGMM 168g the best. I only shot a couple groups with 150 fmjbt, the confirmation of zero group was only a little tiny bit better then the grouping a brought back home. Honestly, I was expecting it to shoot a lot better than it did, I should have saved money and bought 147 fmj instead. The hornady honestly all groups felt pretty good on my end, even if it was not, it still would have had a large spread (again I was shooting from a very stable position and was not yanking on the trigger). It might be an indication my rifle does not like hot loads.
Something I noticed is the trigger pull, although very crisp, is a little heavier than my SSA trigger in my AR. Caused very very slight northeast diagonal movement of the rifle while squeezing, hard to notice other than during extreme concentration. In correlation to the target it was around an 1/8" of movement. I'll be lightening the trigger via adjustment screw to as low as it'll go.
The action felt smooth. Although I don't have my r700 and m77 mkII to compare it to, it's I think about the same as the m77 and less smooth during lock up than the r700. The magazine is well built, but as others have said, the system of lock up sucks. It takes a little more force than it should it should to get it to lock into place bolt closed and open. I actually could get 5 rounds (4 round mag) into it, lock up being a little more difficult, but feed just fine.
For further accuracy testing of my rifle, I purchased ammo from Southwest. I also purchased a triad stock pack for extra cheekweld.
