First Rifle

[dromia]

I wasn't trying to sell it to you BTW, just citing it as an example of how good they are.

Yes I an an RFD though, look at my signature.

[HALODIN]

I don't need much of an invitation, any hint of an RFD and a URL and I can't help but click on it...

[Dave Sattar]

Responding to Halodin's post of 18 Jan 2013, subject 'First Rifle', re a possible Steyr AUG chambered for .223 Remmington / 5.56 NATO.

I have a Steyr AUG and am very happy with it. In my club there are several shooters with 7.62mm/.308 rifles. One of us has an Accuracy International chambered in 7.62/.308. When we last held an informal competition in the club on a 300 yd target at Bisley, the owner of the A.I. won. I came second with my then 'stock' Steyr AUG and the others, mostly shooting that A.I. , came in behind me. Given that the A.I. was designed as a sniper rifle and the AUG an assault rifle, I was perfectly happy :-)

Having owned it now for 2 years, I've a few observations about the AUG:

TRIGGER
----------------------
'Out the box' it comes a military grade trigger, with a pull weight of around 9 pounds. Now a bullpup configuration is never going to have a wonderful precision trigger, but having that military weight trigger on a UK legal 'straight pull' civilian action used for target shooting is ridiculous. The whole point of a military type trigger pull as I understand it, is that subjected to the bumps and thumps of a rough life in the field, it isn't going to go *bang* by accident, and for the AUG with its 'pull through the single shot stage to go full auto' setup that's especially true. (Please note, I've never served in any military force, pure civilian shooter here, so any who have served, please feel free to correct my misunderstandings). Anyway, while I eventually got pretty comfortable with it, the 9lb trigger weight isn't exactly conducive to precision shooting...

There's a gizmo out there available for the AUG called a 'Trigger Tamer' that you'll be wanting if you have a Steyr AUG. It alters the anchor point of the trigger spring so that the trigger pull is about 1/3rd lighter. Sounds great, but in practice, when I fitted one, the rifle would fire once - but it could not be re-cocked after that. I took it out and went back to the original trigger setup.

A year or so later the folks at Low Mil Ranges fitted another Trigger Tamer for me and now the rifle works properly, with the reduced trigger pull weight. OK, around 6lb is still a *lot* compared to the 1.5lb or so of the straight pull AR-15's with their drop in match triggers but it's still a really noticeable improvement. Heh, *any* reduction from 9lb would be worth having...


COCKING HANDLE
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It's perfectly fine for intended purpose on the military version for cocking the action. After that the rifle is reloaded semi or fully automatically, but for UK legal 'straight pull' actions, that cocking handle is a total pain - literally...

For right handed shooter you'll tend to operate it with a palm up left hand, in which case your pinky finger takes the strain and after 20-30 shots the first joint bone is really aching. Or you operate it palm down with your strong index finger taking the load easily, in which case your index finger knuckle is scraping along the picatinny rail and taking skin off. Nothing good about this. Once again, the folks at Low Mill Ranges can sort you out with an extended cocking handle. With this simple modification you can now operate the cocking handle in strong palm down mode, with index and middle finger on the handle. Strong fingers, no pain, and far enough away from the rail so no skinned knuckles.


USEABLE RANGE & BULLET WEIGHTS
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From 100 to 300 yds I'll confidently go up against shooters in my club equipped with any rifle, though that pesky AI can *always* beat me. Grrrrrr.....

At 600 yds standard 55 grain bullets get blown about too much. Using 69 grain bullets though and I can still hang on the AI's coat tails. I'd not be happy to shoot it beyond 600 yds though, too much possibility of the bullets being blown off target


BIPOD MOUNT
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On the stock AUG there's no provision for mounting a standard bipod unless you go with one of those odd looking ones that straddle the top rail. However Steyr do make a fitting that replaces the moveable fore grip with a short length of Picatinny rail facing downward. With that fitted you can mount whatever bipod you might want.


RANGE COMPENSATION SCOPE RETICULES
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Going in I considered this to be total nonsense, but while still relatively new to serious rifle shooting at that time, I was persuaded by a salesman at a local rifle shop here in the UK. For about a year after that, overawed by the more experienced shooters in my club, I used to carefully resight the rifle in for whatever range I was going to shoot, using only the main crosshairs, ignoring the potential of my scope.

Then after a year or so, secure in the knowledge that I could set the AUG scope up for any range from 100 to 600 yds, I decided to try out the scope's advertised capabilities. The way it works is, you zero the rifle at 100 yds and then there are crosshair elevation marks for 200, 300, 400, 500 and 600yds on the vertical line below the main crosshairs. So in theory you just use the appropriate mark for the range you're shooting at and you'll hit the target. Yeah, I know, sounds like voodoo black magic or a snake oil salesman's pitch...

When I first tried this I had a moderator fitted to the rifle and at 600yds on Century Range at Bisley on a beautifully still day, using the 600 yd elevation marks I was hitting dirt about 10 feet below the target. Disgusted, after a few shots I retired from the firing line for a while. Then I had a revelation. The scope manufacturers (American) probably assumed no moderator as moderators/silencers are relatively rare on the American shooting scene and every one is different anyway, so impossible to predict for. Many month before I'd already detmined that my moderator caused about a 1 inch drop in point of impact at 100 yds.... So I took the moderator off and had another go using the 600 yds aiming mark.

First shot landed on the target, somewhere out on the white. I cranked in about 5-6 minutes of scope adjustment and I was close to the middle, ended up with a few 'V bulls' by the end of the my shooting detail.

So while such graduated reticules won't guarantee 'V-bull' / 'X-ring' first shot hit precision, in my limited one sample experience, for the advertised bullet weight, factory ammo, they really do work. At least mine does: Bushnell Fullfield II, 6.5 x 20x - 50mm objective, adjustable parallax. It's got low profile 'hunter' turrets and today I'd really prefer higher profile 'target' type turrets, but the fitted turrets work well enough.

Regards,

>> Dave Sattar <<

[HALODIN]

Thanks Dave, that's a great review, lots of invaluable information in there. :goodjob:

I'm finding my .223 slot the hardest to fill, perhaps I'll buy a Spike's Tactical upper to go on my ST-22 or an LMT 223S or an AK-10[1-3] or perhaps a AICS Remington .223 or just maybe a Steyr AUG... You've certainly given me a lot to think about.

Cheers,

Craig.

[HALODIN]

How cool would I look at the range with one of these...

http://www.cgfirearms.co.uk/(S(wk31suik ... n%20Rifles

[Mike357]

How cool would I look at the range with one of these...

http://www.cgfirearms.co.uk/(S(wk31suik ... n%20Rifles

Not very :lol:

[HALODIN]

I don't think you're taking this seriously...

[tkd67]

I don't think you're taking this seriously...

Seriously though, that 7.62x39 would look a dream in my cabinet and at £700 not that big a dent razz

[HALODIN]

That's odd that link seems to have timed out, it now goes to the main page. For anyone interested I linked to the "23K Gold Plated Chinese AK47 Type 56 7.62X39" @ £900

[HALODIN]

It needs the black pistol and fore grip IMO. I plan to buy a .223 Saiga when I find the right one...

Seriously though, that 7.62x39 would look a dream in my cabinet and at £700 not that big a dent razz