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RRA Varmint vs semi custom

skeetlee

Gunny Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Jun 13, 2008
1,565
33
49
Central Illinois
I spent some time with a good dude this weekend, and he has a couple sweet varmint type AR rifles. Needless to say while shooting them I decided I want another for myself. " I currently have none."

I have always liked the Rock River Predator pursuit rifles as well as the varmint rifles. My question is, will a factory RR Varmint rifle shoot as well as a semi custom made by the likes of WOA, seekins, D-Tech? Accuracy is everything to me, and I wont be happy with a rifle that wont shoot well. Will the Wilson barrel shoot well enough, or should I spend the extra cash? I normally wouldn't hesitate in spending the money, but in real life, I wont shoot the AR a bunch. Ill shoot a bit of long range steel, ill shoot a few groups, and ill kill a few coyotes with one. Just not sure what route to go. Lee
 
I had a 18" varmint, 20" varmint, and 20" predator pursuit. I've had a few others that shot as well but never one that outshot them. Those rock rivers are hammers.
 
Mine will shoot 9/16" groups with Black Hill 69gr SMKs all day long with the odd .5 thrown in for good measure, as redneck stated they are hammers.
 
Bought my wife a RRA 20" Varmint a couple of years ago. Mated to a RRA lower with a Geiselle 2 stage DMR, Magpul PRS, and NF glass. I was disappointed in the upper to lower fit as it was very loose (I know it doesn't effect accuracy of the system) but in my book makes them harder to drive well. Tightened that up with a JP rear pin. It took the barrel 150-200 rounds to "come in". In the early days I ran some factory Hornady (terribly slow), some FGM 77's, BH77OTM, Mk262Mod1, etc... and it didn't seem to have a real preference. Now it get's a steady diet of either C4's 77's in Remmy brass or Black Hills 77 OTM's. In my book it's a 3/4 MOA rifle on most days and a 1/2 MOA rifle on good days. A REALLY good AR driver might keep it close to the 1/2 MOA day in and day out, but I can't. Hope this helps.
 
In my experience, most of the mass produced "factory match" barrels, RRA included, can and will shoot well, but are also not as consistent as premium high end barrels like Krieger, Bartlein, Lilja, etc. They seem to have narrower accuracy nodes, and when out of the node, tend to have much larger groups than their hand lapped, cut rifled (Lilja isn't I know), more expensive counterparts.

Lets say where a Krieger might shoot .3 moa when in a node, and at worst 1 moa when WAY out, a RRA might shoot .5 moa when in a node, and at worst 1.5 moa when out. The RRA's .5 moa accuracy node may also be in a +/- 15 fps band, where a Krieger can stay < .5 moa +/- 30 fps, making day-to-day temperature and DA swings have less effect on down range performance.

Again, from my experience with a 20" RRA Varminter, making 3/4-1 moa groups was an every day thing, and while I could sometimes shoot a bughole or two, it wasn't very frequent.

My Krieger barreled AR15's are literally 1/2 moa barrels on most days, where my RRA, Armalite, and DPMS match barrels are closer to 3/4 on good days.

Is it worth it to spend $400-$500 on a barrel to gain an extra 1/4 moa and an extra 50% barrel life? That's the question only you can answer. For me, it's a big YES.
 
I have a RRA Varmint with a 20" barrel that shoots 1/2 minute. I thought about getting one in 308 but I wanted all my 308's to work with PMags.
 
In my experience, most of the mass produced "factory match" barrels, RRA included, can and will shoot well, but are also not as consistent as premium high end barrels like Krieger, Bartlein, Lilja, etc. They seem to have narrower accuracy nodes, and when out of the node, tend to have much larger groups than their hand lapped, cut rifled (Lilja isn't I know), more expensive counterparts.

Lets say where a Krieger might shoot .3 moa when in a node, and at worst 1 moa when WAY out, a RRA might shoot .5 moa when in a node, and at worst 1.5 moa when out. The RRA's .5 moa accuracy node may also be in a +/- 15 fps band, where a Krieger can stay < .5 moa +/- 30 fps, making day-to-day temperature and DA swings have less effect on down range performance.

Again, from my experience with a 20" RRA Varminter, making 3/4-1 moa groups was an every day thing, and while I could sometimes shoot a bughole or two, it wasn't very frequent.

My Krieger barreled AR15's are literally 1/2 moa barrels on most days, where my RRA, Armalite, and DPMS match barrels are closer to 3/4 on good days.

Is it worth it to spend $400-$500 on a barrel to gain an extra 1/4 moa and an extra 50% barrel life? That's the question only you can answer. For me, it's a big YES.

I have a KAC LPR which comes with a krieger, and I had two custom uppers from GAP one with krieger one with a rock. While they all match what the rock rivers were capable of none out performed them, ever, with any load. The rock rivers ate anything and were far less picky than the GAP's were. My LPR shoots everything I've tried well also. For what my LPR cost or either of the GAP uppers I could have two RRA's with geissele triggers.
 
The rock rivers ate anything and were far less picky than the GAP's were.

Not surprising.

What is surprising is that you couldn't get your Rock or Krieger barrels to shoot better than your RRA's. What kind of groups do you average with them?
 
Not surprising.

What is surprising is that you couldn't get your Rock or Krieger barrels to shoot better than your RRA's. What kind of groups do you average with them?

I posted here back in 2005 about my first one the 18" varmint shooting 1/4MOA with the cheap Winchester 45gr value pack varmint stuff as well as a few black hills loads. I posted pics and everything and people called BS, a gas gun besides a MK12 mod0 build couldn't do that they said. I had numerous groups I shot that went into the .0's for 5 rounds. 10 round groups under 1/4MOA even. It was by far the most accurate AR I've ever owned, shot, or seen and as accurate as the most accurate bolt guns I've had. I even won a local 200 yard BR comp with it shooting that cheap Winchester stuff.

The other two were also very accurate (1/2moa or right under) and my LPR, and the two GAP uppers I had were the same. You really can't ask much more than that out of an AR and if you somehow get it don't be an idiot like me and sell it because you're too impatient to earn the money to buy your next toy. I let go of a lot of great guns and lost a lot of money because I had to have instant gratification. I'd give a pretty penny to get that rifle back.
 
Spray & pray, if you want accuracy stay with the bolt gun lee.
 
Brother, I have been around some amazingly accurate RRA Varmints. All of the old boys that I know that have one shoot handloads into ridiculously small groups. I still think I'd prefer a different brand for a defensive weapon, but for out of the box accuracy (especially the price) I think it would be pretty hard to beat a RRA Varmint.

Just my .02 with my limited experience.
 
20" predator pursuit has equaled the accuracy of my premium AR15 barrels. It is used for varmint hunting mainly now, thus the round count is under 1500 and I do not know about barrel life compared to a premium barrel. I like the RR varmint tube for prairie dogs where one does not have to carry it around.
 
I already have some amazingly accurate bolt rifles. several actually. I think I would like to play with something a little different this time. thanks for all the replies. I like hearing from others experiences. The new rock river X series look pretty good!! lee