A while back someone mentioned a good .223 accurized rifle to me. From what I recall it started with Rock... or had rock in the name as the maker. Does this ring a bell?

Thanks,

Dan

Possibly..........www.rockriverarms.com

Rock Island Armory?

Rock River Arms

Possibly..........www.rockriverarms.com


Yes, this is it. How do rockriver rifles compare to other accurized .223? Any one company stand out as best?

Dan

What do you want to do with the rifle? Rock River claims 3/4 moa for their National Match rifle, Armalite claims 1 moa for their version. I've seen both those rifles shoot that well with a good shooter using the iron sights and good ammo.

If you want to shoot service rifle type matches, you are limited to the type of rifle you can compete with. If you just want a shooter, let you checkbook be your guide and get whatever configuration you want. I know those two companies make rifles that shoot sub moa...how much more accuracy do you want from a magazine fed semi automatic rifle? I'm sure there are others that will do it as well...my Colt HBAR will shoot sub-moa but it requires heavy bullets to do so...which is ideal for service rifle matches. If you want to shoot 40-55gr bullets at full velocity..you DO NOT want a barrel with a fast twist of 1-7" , or a 1-8". You'll notice that Rock River offers a 1-12" twist on it's longer barrel varmint versions. You want to see the opposite of accuracy just try to spin a 40gr bullet at 34-3500fps out of a 1-7" barrel...the bullets will never even make it to the target...they will explode when they leave the barrel...because they are spinning 350,000 rpm's and cannot hold together.

You can always get a Les Baer, which is GUARANTEED to shoot 1/2 moa, but for $2-3K it should. www.lesbaer.com

Now that would be one maker that better than the others, but you'll pay for it...like most things in life.

What do you want to do with the rifle? Rock River claims 3/4 moa for their National Match rifle, Armalite claims 1 moa for their version. I've seen both those rifles shoot that well with a good shooter using the iron sights and good ammo.

If you want to shoot service rifle type matches, you are limited to the type of rifle you can compete with. If you just want a shooter, let you checkbook be your guide and get whatever configuration you want. I know those two companies make rifles that shoot sub moa...how much more accuracy do you want from a magazine fed semi automatic rifle? I'm sure there are others that will do it as well...my Colt HBAR will shoot sub-moa but it requires heavy bullets to do so...which is ideal for service rifle matches. If you want to shoot 40-55gr bullets at full velocity..you DO NOT want a barrel with a fast twist of 1-7" , or a 1-8". You'll notice that Rock River offers a 1-12" twist on it's longer barrel varmint versions. You want to see the opposite of accuracy just try to spin a 40gr bullet at 34-3500fps out of a 1-7" barrel...the bullets will never even make it to the target...they will explode when they leave the barrel...because they are spinning 350,000 rpm's and cannot hold together.

You can always get a Les Baer, which is GUARANTEED to shoot 1/2 moa, but for $2-3K it should. www.lesbaer.com

Now that would be one maker that better than the others, but you'll pay for it...like most things in life.


Thanks so much for the information. I am interested in target work - but just for fun.

kciH wrote: "you DO NOT want a barrel with a fast twist of 1-7" , or a 1-8'...try to spin a 40gr bullet at 34-3500fps out of a 1-7" barrel...the bullets will never even make it to the target...they will explode when they leave the barrel...because they are spinning 350,000 rpm's and cannot hold together."

Why would someone want a barrel with such twist as to make the bullets less accurate or explode? Isn't the whole idea to make a gun shoot as accurate as possible?

Dan

The fast twist barrels enable shooting heavier bullets that are accurate to long range, like 1000 yards, where the lighter bullets are not accurate to long range. A heavy streamlined bullet started out much slower overtakes the lighter faster bullets a lot sooner than one would expect. In order for long range accuracy the bullet needs to stay supersonic, at least match accuracy, so the heavy for caliber high BC bullets are used...which require a fast twist to stabilize. You can shoot 55's out of a 1-7 twist, but you have to back down the velocity.