My Experiences with Shooting and the AR-15

My Experiences with Shooting and the AR-15

I bought an AR-15 HBar (Armalite-16 heavy barrel) in 1986 for use as a high accuracy rifle for high power long range rifle sports shooting.  I had been doing this shooting sport for several years and already owned several military rifles, a bolt action Springfield 03-A3 chambered for 30-03, an M1 Garrand, also in 30-03, and my main high power civilian bolt action rifle, a Winchester Model 70 chambered for .308, with a Hart stainless steel barrel and equipped with competition stock and sights.

As with many high power accuracy shooters, I made my own target rounds by combining specially weighed  brass and bullets with my own powder loads.  Part of the science in accurizing a rifle is choosing several appropriate combinations of bullet weights and powder weights, creating the completed rounds, then testing on a firing range for accuracy.  My AR-15 shot accurately up to 300 yards with 52 grain bullets, but they would “keyhole” at 600 yards, so I developed a load for 69 grain Sierra HPBT bullets, which shot well at 600 yards.

As a refresher, the national match high power rifle course (all iron sights) consists of 1.) 10 shots standing at 200 yards within 10 minutes, 2.) 10 shots standing to sitting at 200 yards within 60 seconds, 3.) 10 shots standing to prone at 300 yards within 70 seconds, 4.) 20 shots prone at 600 yards within 20 minutes.  Total 50 shots.  Regional course increases all four stages to 20 shots each.

For about ten years in the 1980-90’s, I was a member of the Fort Worth Rifle and Pistol club, now defunct.  We shot high power matches every month during that time.  I also participated in State championship high power rifle matches in Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico, and in the national competitions in Camp Perry Ohio each year.  The reigning national high power rifle champion for many of those years was David Tubb from Canadien, Texas.  Many of my other contemporaries were also very good shooters.  I however, was only able to attain sharpshooter ranking, one of the lower categories.  The full range of categories are marksman, sharpshooter, expert, master, high master.  I nearly reached “expert” several times, but did not quite make it.

As I got older, I drifted back to golf, shooting larger projectiles normally shorter distances.

As can be seen, high power rifle shooting has all to do with accuracy at fairly long distances and the physics and ballistics involved.  It has nothing to do with hunting animals or with home security, or such.  While the AR-15 HBar was not my target gun of choice, (it was the Winchester Model 70), the AR was a very fine accurate high power rifle.  Shooting this rifle in high power matches, I never would have believed that it would evolve in the uninformed millennial mind as some horrendous weapon of mass destruction, as it recently has.

Ray Gruszecki

February 28, 2018