3 Gun Rifle Accuracy
Most AR-15 rifles built today are accurate enough for the casual 3 Gun shooter at local matches. However, if your local 3 Gun matches shoot over 300 yards, I would suggest you spend a little time ensuring your rifle’s accuracy is up to par, and/or changing what you need to in order to get it there. For most factory rifles, a simple trigger upgrade will improve your accuracy, and a barrel upgrade will greatly improve your long distance accuracy with your 3 Gun rifle.
Most factory AR-15 rifles can shoot 1-1.5 MOA (Minute of Angle*) with decent ammo from a fixed rest. Custom made rifles should shoot 0.5-1 MOA. If your 3 Gun rifle can shoot multiple 5 shot groups under 2 MOA with you shooting it from a single support under the forearm, then you should be good to go for most 3 Gun competitions. If you can’t do that, then you need to determine if the lacking variable is your shooting skill or the rifle itself.
Ideally, everyone starts with a .5 MOA rifle, so you have a greater chance of hitting with error. Think of it this way, if you’re shooting a 4” target at 200 yards, and your 3 Gun rifle is capable of .5 MOA, then you have 1.5 MOA of “operator error” that will still allow you to hit the target. If you’re shooting a rifle capable of only 1.5 MOA, then you only have .5 MOA of operator error. In this way, to some degree, bad shooting skill can be made up for with a good rifle. However, on the same note, a good shooter can still typically perform well even with a bad rifle.
The single biggest accuracy improvement you can make to your 3 Gun rifle is a better trigger. If you remove the shooter from the equation, the trigger doesn’t matter, but because we don’t operate with machine like repeatability, a lighter and cleaner trigger will ensure less variability in the trigger pull (and the affect it has on the accuracy of the rifle). Factory AR-15 triggers are usually around 7 pounds, and do not have a clean break. Single stage triggers are typically the best for 3 Gun, but 2 stage triggers will do fine as well (and are cheaper). The JP Single stage trigger is a good option, as is the Timney, and so is the 3 Gun Geisell. The cheapest low pull trigger is the Rock River 2 stage, which is under $100 for a 4 lb trigger pull with a much cleaner break (though not as short as a single stage trigger pull). If your AR-15 still has the factory trigger and you want to shoot 3 Gun, you should seriously consider changing that.
The majority of the AR-15’s inherent accuracy is in the barrel. If your 3 Gun rifle already shoots under 1 MOA, then you probably don’t need a new barrel. Most of the major AR-15 manufacturers use the same barrels on their rifles, and the majority of them will shoot well right out of the box. However, if you can’t get your rifle to pattern 5 shot groups under 1-1.5 MOA, then you might consider a new barrel before shooting matches with targets over 300 yards or you are probably going to end up extremely frustrated. There are many good barrel manufacturers, including JP, White Oak Armement, Krieger, etc – just find one in your price range (with good reviews) and buy it. It will be worth your while and you will see you 3 Gun performance go way up immediately.
If you haven't already bought an AR-15 or if you are debating whether you should sell your old AR-15 and buy a ready made 3 Gun AR-15, whether you should spend the time and money altering your current AR-15, or whether you should buy another AR-15 and modify that on then let's go ahead and look at a few ready made 3 Gun AR-15s that will perform great for 3 Gun competition right out of the box. We'll also look at a few that aren't pefect out of the box can be be easily made into very high performance 3 Gun rifles with very little modification
Look over a few specific 3 Gun Rifles...
*Minute of Angle - Each click of the scope turret is usually 1/4 MOA change and on some scopes 1/8 MOA. Normally, shooters refer to these adjustments as a change of a fraction of an inch at 100 yards rather than the true value of MOA for which they are supposedly calibrated to. The value of inch is a nice easy number to work with and most of us can easily visualize its length and its multiples without the aid of a calculator. One thing to be aware of is that some scopes, are calibrated such that an adjustment of 1 MOA corresponds to exactly 1 inch, although the exact amount should be 1.047". This is commonly known as the Shooter's MOA (SMOA) or Inches Per Hundred Yards (IPHY). While the difference between one true MOA and one SMOA is less than half of an inch even at 1000 yards, this error compounds significantly on longer range shots that may require adjustment upwards of 20-30 MOA to compensate for the bullet drop. If a shot requires an adjustment of 20 MOA or more, the difference between true MOA and SMOA will add up to 10 inches or more.
Most factory AR-15 rifles can shoot 1-1.5 MOA (Minute of Angle*) with decent ammo from a fixed rest. Custom made rifles should shoot 0.5-1 MOA. If your 3 Gun rifle can shoot multiple 5 shot groups under 2 MOA with you shooting it from a single support under the forearm, then you should be good to go for most 3 Gun competitions. If you can’t do that, then you need to determine if the lacking variable is your shooting skill or the rifle itself.
Ideally, everyone starts with a .5 MOA rifle, so you have a greater chance of hitting with error. Think of it this way, if you’re shooting a 4” target at 200 yards, and your 3 Gun rifle is capable of .5 MOA, then you have 1.5 MOA of “operator error” that will still allow you to hit the target. If you’re shooting a rifle capable of only 1.5 MOA, then you only have .5 MOA of operator error. In this way, to some degree, bad shooting skill can be made up for with a good rifle. However, on the same note, a good shooter can still typically perform well even with a bad rifle.
The single biggest accuracy improvement you can make to your 3 Gun rifle is a better trigger. If you remove the shooter from the equation, the trigger doesn’t matter, but because we don’t operate with machine like repeatability, a lighter and cleaner trigger will ensure less variability in the trigger pull (and the affect it has on the accuracy of the rifle). Factory AR-15 triggers are usually around 7 pounds, and do not have a clean break. Single stage triggers are typically the best for 3 Gun, but 2 stage triggers will do fine as well (and are cheaper). The JP Single stage trigger is a good option, as is the Timney, and so is the 3 Gun Geisell. The cheapest low pull trigger is the Rock River 2 stage, which is under $100 for a 4 lb trigger pull with a much cleaner break (though not as short as a single stage trigger pull). If your AR-15 still has the factory trigger and you want to shoot 3 Gun, you should seriously consider changing that.
The majority of the AR-15’s inherent accuracy is in the barrel. If your 3 Gun rifle already shoots under 1 MOA, then you probably don’t need a new barrel. Most of the major AR-15 manufacturers use the same barrels on their rifles, and the majority of them will shoot well right out of the box. However, if you can’t get your rifle to pattern 5 shot groups under 1-1.5 MOA, then you might consider a new barrel before shooting matches with targets over 300 yards or you are probably going to end up extremely frustrated. There are many good barrel manufacturers, including JP, White Oak Armement, Krieger, etc – just find one in your price range (with good reviews) and buy it. It will be worth your while and you will see you 3 Gun performance go way up immediately.
If you haven't already bought an AR-15 or if you are debating whether you should sell your old AR-15 and buy a ready made 3 Gun AR-15, whether you should spend the time and money altering your current AR-15, or whether you should buy another AR-15 and modify that on then let's go ahead and look at a few ready made 3 Gun AR-15s that will perform great for 3 Gun competition right out of the box. We'll also look at a few that aren't pefect out of the box can be be easily made into very high performance 3 Gun rifles with very little modification
Look over a few specific 3 Gun Rifles...
*Minute of Angle - Each click of the scope turret is usually 1/4 MOA change and on some scopes 1/8 MOA. Normally, shooters refer to these adjustments as a change of a fraction of an inch at 100 yards rather than the true value of MOA for which they are supposedly calibrated to. The value of inch is a nice easy number to work with and most of us can easily visualize its length and its multiples without the aid of a calculator. One thing to be aware of is that some scopes, are calibrated such that an adjustment of 1 MOA corresponds to exactly 1 inch, although the exact amount should be 1.047". This is commonly known as the Shooter's MOA (SMOA) or Inches Per Hundred Yards (IPHY). While the difference between one true MOA and one SMOA is less than half of an inch even at 1000 yards, this error compounds significantly on longer range shots that may require adjustment upwards of 20-30 MOA to compensate for the bullet drop. If a shot requires an adjustment of 20 MOA or more, the difference between true MOA and SMOA will add up to 10 inches or more.