Dultimatpredator
Well-known member
Well I finally got around to it and went out to try some group tests for the first time with my AR stoner 243 upper. I found out the other day from a member here that my AR Stoner was manufactured by Bear Creek Arsenal and rebranded...which I cringed since Bear creek Arsenal has had a lot of mixed and bad reviews in the past along with recent bad luck with their hiring sting. Well, the stoner had had bother but great, sub MOA , Five star reviews so it put me back at ease a little bit. It’s the first gas AR I’ve had in about 20 years. The last...and only one before it I owned was a bushmaster targeter vaminter that wouldn’t cycle and jammed every other round. I’m sure it was a gas issue now that look back and have more knowledge on how ARs function now.
Before my group session I took it to the range a couple times and put 43 rounds through it to make sure if functioned. It’s been running smooth as silk after I checked the correct Cartridge OAL and loaded them shorter. I did have dents in the middle of alot the cases along with paint chipping off my shell defector. I fixed the issue by taking the soft side piece of Velcro that had two way stock tape on it and stuck it on my shell defector. The fired cases look literally perfect now.
I cleaned it the barrel the night before and had no bluing come out it. I had previously loaded up some 55 grain nosler ballistic tips to try with three different powders For my little Remington 600. I don’t know if my gun would like the light, little, short bullets but I wanted to give them a try. I made sure to check the OAL so they weren’t to long in my AR chamber and also dropped every one in my Lyman case checker being paranoid as I stuck one in my AR the first trip out because my ammo was load too long.
All 55 grain ammo shot and functioned fine. The three powders I tried were H380, H4895(my favorite power for 243’s), and Varget.
I first tried the first five H380 loads and wasn’t expecting great results since every time I’ve used H380 in anything Ive never had acceptable groups. It shot just as I expected. I never measured the groups being they weren’t impressive...as expected. Only one of the h380 groups shot MOA and all others were approximately 1.25” to 1.5”.
I then grabbed the five H4895 loads. Four out of the five shot SUB MOA with the best being .3” from 45.5 grains...a load one grain over max. I was hoping for a nice little cloverleaf from one of the loads with this powder like I normally get from most 243’s with this powder but it didn’t happen. I normally do load in .2 grain increments for ladder testing so I plan on loading up some 45.3, 45.7, and a few more 45.5 grain loads to test againto see if it tightens my group up. I was looking in my book on velocity to check my 45.5 grain load. After did the math it looks like I’d be around 4030 FPS with my 22” barrel. Which was my original plan...to have a coyote lazer that I put my crosshairs directly on a coyote out to 400 yards.
I then tested my five Varget loads. I had two shoot sub MOA with the tighest measuring.4” using 46 grains...a load .5 grains over max. Like all my 243’s I own, I was quickly finding out my gun was no different and likes it’s loads just a little over max. I’ve never really tried varget in a 243 before so I didn’t know what to expect. I’m planning on loading some 45.8, 46, and 46.2 grain loads to try again. To see if I can close the gap. My 46 grain varget load looks to be close to or around 3950 FPS.
The one thing bugging me while shooting was my 2.5 lb single stage CMC trigger. That single stage trigger all of a sudden had ALOT of travel in it before braking which was riling me up and throwing me off.
If I can’t get a nice little cloverleaf from my next six load ladder test tries I plan on loading up some 60 grain Seirra hollow points next. I never tried the sierras before but have heard great things about them and have seen a nice little cloverleaf shot out of another 243 bear creek upper by one of our other members here recently so I’m going to have to give them a go.
In all honesty I have shot better groups with my other ARs and rifles(to be fair, with ALOT more load testing and bullet choices) but figured for a cheap, cheap upper that gets a lot of bad rap here and every other forum on the net I wanted to put out a post with groups and functioning. To be fair to the rifle I’ve only shot 15 groups of three loads through it so far, the trigger imo mentally was throwing me off, and it might not like 55 grain nosler ballistic tips, or I just wasn’t on my game yesterday. But for an economy $330 upper...if I would have saved a $100 and bought it from Bear creek instead of Midway USA, gets a thumbs up in my book. I’m sure I can get it to shoot tighter with the right load, and, or, a different bullet selection. I do see that bear creek guarantees their barrels to shoot MOA as well...and I’ve seen a lot of posts with other “new” calibers that had issues. Well I know of two others here that own the same 243 upper that both shoot sub MOA so Bear creek must have the 243’s figured out. My smith also has a 7.62x39 stoner/rebranded bear creek barrel type upper that shoots bug holes and function perfectly. He had a guy walk into his shop and asked to order one. Long story short no deposit was taken, the guy never showed, and he didn’t want to send it back to Midway so he kept it. My smith said he loves that cheap little upper and glad the guy never picked it up. I’ll have to mess with my trigger to see if there’s anyway to remove the travel as well.
Here’s my gun and some of my groups I shot yesterday...
Before my group session I took it to the range a couple times and put 43 rounds through it to make sure if functioned. It’s been running smooth as silk after I checked the correct Cartridge OAL and loaded them shorter. I did have dents in the middle of alot the cases along with paint chipping off my shell defector. I fixed the issue by taking the soft side piece of Velcro that had two way stock tape on it and stuck it on my shell defector. The fired cases look literally perfect now.
I cleaned it the barrel the night before and had no bluing come out it. I had previously loaded up some 55 grain nosler ballistic tips to try with three different powders For my little Remington 600. I don’t know if my gun would like the light, little, short bullets but I wanted to give them a try. I made sure to check the OAL so they weren’t to long in my AR chamber and also dropped every one in my Lyman case checker being paranoid as I stuck one in my AR the first trip out because my ammo was load too long.
All 55 grain ammo shot and functioned fine. The three powders I tried were H380, H4895(my favorite power for 243’s), and Varget.
I first tried the first five H380 loads and wasn’t expecting great results since every time I’ve used H380 in anything Ive never had acceptable groups. It shot just as I expected. I never measured the groups being they weren’t impressive...as expected. Only one of the h380 groups shot MOA and all others were approximately 1.25” to 1.5”.
I then grabbed the five H4895 loads. Four out of the five shot SUB MOA with the best being .3” from 45.5 grains...a load one grain over max. I was hoping for a nice little cloverleaf from one of the loads with this powder like I normally get from most 243’s with this powder but it didn’t happen. I normally do load in .2 grain increments for ladder testing so I plan on loading up some 45.3, 45.7, and a few more 45.5 grain loads to test againto see if it tightens my group up. I was looking in my book on velocity to check my 45.5 grain load. After did the math it looks like I’d be around 4030 FPS with my 22” barrel. Which was my original plan...to have a coyote lazer that I put my crosshairs directly on a coyote out to 400 yards.
I then tested my five Varget loads. I had two shoot sub MOA with the tighest measuring.4” using 46 grains...a load .5 grains over max. Like all my 243’s I own, I was quickly finding out my gun was no different and likes it’s loads just a little over max. I’ve never really tried varget in a 243 before so I didn’t know what to expect. I’m planning on loading some 45.8, 46, and 46.2 grain loads to try again. To see if I can close the gap. My 46 grain varget load looks to be close to or around 3950 FPS.
The one thing bugging me while shooting was my 2.5 lb single stage CMC trigger. That single stage trigger all of a sudden had ALOT of travel in it before braking which was riling me up and throwing me off.
If I can’t get a nice little cloverleaf from my next six load ladder test tries I plan on loading up some 60 grain Seirra hollow points next. I never tried the sierras before but have heard great things about them and have seen a nice little cloverleaf shot out of another 243 bear creek upper by one of our other members here recently so I’m going to have to give them a go.
In all honesty I have shot better groups with my other ARs and rifles(to be fair, with ALOT more load testing and bullet choices) but figured for a cheap, cheap upper that gets a lot of bad rap here and every other forum on the net I wanted to put out a post with groups and functioning. To be fair to the rifle I’ve only shot 15 groups of three loads through it so far, the trigger imo mentally was throwing me off, and it might not like 55 grain nosler ballistic tips, or I just wasn’t on my game yesterday. But for an economy $330 upper...if I would have saved a $100 and bought it from Bear creek instead of Midway USA, gets a thumbs up in my book. I’m sure I can get it to shoot tighter with the right load, and, or, a different bullet selection. I do see that bear creek guarantees their barrels to shoot MOA as well...and I’ve seen a lot of posts with other “new” calibers that had issues. Well I know of two others here that own the same 243 upper that both shoot sub MOA so Bear creek must have the 243’s figured out. My smith also has a 7.62x39 stoner/rebranded bear creek barrel type upper that shoots bug holes and function perfectly. He had a guy walk into his shop and asked to order one. Long story short no deposit was taken, the guy never showed, and he didn’t want to send it back to Midway so he kept it. My smith said he loves that cheap little upper and glad the guy never picked it up. I’ll have to mess with my trigger to see if there’s anyway to remove the travel as well.
Here’s my gun and some of my groups I shot yesterday...
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