Monday Gunday: Erin Shoots Her AR

Yesterday I took Francisco N. Stein to the range and fed him a bunch of ammo. My goals were:

1. Function check the rifle to make sure the upper played nicely with the lower;
2. Test the magazines for feed issues;
3. See if there were ammo types he liked or hated;
4. Zero my red/green dot and iron sights. 

I am pleased to report that everything went very well. 

What? I like Magpul. 

 All told, I fired 130 rounds of ammunition from Frank. Because I am a cheapskate, I bought 55gr .223 because it was the most affordable which meant more (literal) bang for my buck. 80 rounds were acquired from Lucky Gunner via a gift certificate I acquired last Christmas; the last 50 were bought from Walmart on the way to the range.

• 223 Rem - 55 gr FMJ Boat Tail - PMC - 20 Rounds
• 223 Rem - 55 gr - Wolf Gold FMJ - 20 Rounds
• 223 Rem - 55gr FMJ BT - Federal American Eagle - 20 Rounds
• 223 Rem - 55 gr SP - Prvi Partizan - 20 Rounds
• 223 Rem - 55 gr FMJ - Perfecta - 50 Rounds ($14.99 at Walmart)

Frank ate every single one of these without issue. I'm not sure of one of them is "more accurate" than the others, but the Perfecta were the ones I used last and they were the finishing zero on my optics. Considering that they were the best deal and most convenient to buy, I'm going to be using them from now one (unless I find something better). 

I also tested all five of my magazines:

• Magpul 40-round
• ProMag 30-round
• three aluminum STANAG magazines

All of them worked flawlessly at max capacity (yes, even the ProMag). While I am aware that this is not a conclusive test and that some may fail sooner than other, I'm still happy to see that none of them were immediate junk.

Here is the final target after I got the sights more or less zeroed at 25 yards. I'm going to have to beg forgiveness for some of the stray shots in the 8 and 9 rings; once I was satisfied I was chewing through the bullseye I went a bit happy with the remainder of my shots.

The next time I have more ammo I'm going to take Frank out to 50 yards and see how well he does there. I have a magnifier for the red/green dot that I'd like to test.