Help with my rock rivers coyote carbine! Suffering accuracy

W

Want moa

New member
I know I'm new to this forum but just looking for some insight. I bought my rra coyote carbine a few months ago and have only taken only out to the range a handful of times. Rock river claims 3/4" moa from this rifle but I'm not getting anywhere near that, even with a vice. Most of my shooting has been with my Harris bipod or sandbags an my groups at 100 yards are conservatively 2" at best but usually 2-4". The weird thing is it will throw bullets sporadically, for example I could have 2 bullet holes nearly touching but then my next set of 2 will be 3" away but also nearly touching, and so forth. Always around my center target, left, right, above and below. It's like it is consistently inconsistent. I have always cleaned and babied this gun, and the ammo most recently used was 55 gr 193fmj ball, which I know isn't top of the line but even still I should be getting better accuracy than this. Has anyone ever dealt with a similar issue? I'm tempted to send it back to rock river arms and have them check it out for themselves. Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated.
Topped with a Burris p.e.p.r. Mount and p223 Nikon scope 4-12 x40mm
1/9 twist
16" hbar
Everything on gun is stock
 
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A lot of times with a shifting point of impact it's a scope problem.Try mounting the scope again,
or better yet put on a different scope for awhile.
Sure is frustrating till you find the culprit
 
Before you send it back get some good quality ammo and give that a try. Another thing is also check the scope. I have 2 RRA ar's one predator pursuit 20in and the other is a car-4 16in. Both shot cheap ammo in the 1in group range and then when I switched over to my reload with 55gr NBT they shrank to the 1/2" range. Another thing is to try some heavier bullets in the 60+gr range and see if it likes them better.
 
I tend to agree with the scope check as a first start. If you get some shots touching and then a shift in impact, I very well could be a scope mounting issue. Check to make sure the screws are torqued properly. I had a similar issue and found I needed to lap the scope rings. Everything settled in right after that.
 
I sincerely doubt the problem is with the rifle itself. It sounds like ammo or optics. It could very well be both. 2" groups with cheap ball ammo doesn't seem all that unreasonable to me. Recheck how the scope is mounted and get yourself some quality ammo. I'd venture to guess a box of Hornady Superformance or something similar and those groups would shrink considerably. I quit shooting factory ammo after a bad box of Remington Corelokt I had for a 270 bolt gun, my reloads showed the true accuracy potential of my rifles.
 
PM Ritch Johnson. He's down in St George and can get you straightened out.

Sounds to me like something is loose, causung the irratic groups. Barrel nut, scope mounts, reciever not square...etc
 
I agree with what's been said already. It seems like 90% of the time when someone makes a post here like yours, the problem turns out to be something on their end. So I would first make absolutely sure it's not your scope or mount.

If that's checks out, get yourself some quality .223 ammo. Something like hornady 55 vmax, federal premium 55gr etc. These should shoot decent at least in any 9 twist AR.

If all that fails, then I would contact RRA. They make a 3/4" accuracy guarantee, so give them a chance to make it right.

I know both my RRA rifles do better than 3/4 MOA, and I haven't heard of many or any that wouldn't.
 
First get some good ammo and not the FMJ junk. Do you have other guns that you can shoot 3/4" groups with?? Manufactures will say their guns will do it, but if the shooter doesnt have the capability it isnt going to happen. I have never had a problem getting an RRA to shoot less than 1" groups but I dont shoot junk ammo either.
 
Originally Posted By: digger11 A lot of times with a shifting point of impact it's a scope problem.Try mounting the scope again,
or better yet put on a different scope for awhile.
Sure is frustrating till you find the culprit

thats what i was going to say
 
Originally Posted By: reb8600First get some good ammo and not the FMJ junk. Do you have other guns that you can shoot 3/4" groups with?? Manufactures will say their guns will do it, but if the shooter doesnt have the capability it isnt going to happen. I have never had a problem getting an RRA to shoot less than 1" groups but I dont shoot junk ammo either.

ALL of the above ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

1) Get some good ammunition
2) Check the scope mounting for tightness, but don't overdo it

Don't take offense, but are you a good shooter? Do you have any friends that are good shooters who could try the gun? Does this gun have the RRNM trigger group?

You could have a bad Nikon ... but those scopes have been proven to be solid.
 
Originally Posted By: punxsutawnI tend to agree with the scope check as a first start. If you get some shots touching and then a shift in impact, I very well could be a scope mounting issue. Check to make sure the screws are torqued properly. I had a similar issue and found I needed to lap the scope rings. Everything settled in right after that.


This has all been useful info and is much appreciated. What did you mean when you said you needed to lap the scope rings?
 
Me and a buddy purchased this same rra a few months back, and he has consistently shot tighter groups on avg than some of my best groups with my gun. After switching weapons he had come to the agreement that something seemed off with my rifle. I am by no means an expert shooter but I do consider myself to have some skill, ripping heads off of squirrels from 150+ yards.
 
I have checked the scope mounts to ensure they were not loose, but I didn't understand a previous answer of this thread about my mount rings not being set correctly. How would I check the barrel nut or the receiver to be square. I apologize for what is most likely questions to basic knowledge but any and all help is appreciated.
 
Your most likely culprit is either your optic (they do go bad overnight sometimes), but most likely it's your ammunition...Spend a few bucks and get a box of known premium ammunition, such as Black Hills 52gr Match HP or similar...

First, try a proven optic on the rifle and if the problem still exists, buy, or load, some quality rounds...Federal used to produce some 50gr HP that was extremely accurate at a reasonable cost, but I'm not sure if it's still available..

I use the cheap military ammo for function checks and somewhat of a break in (not the shoot and clean type) for a new AR rifle since I've found that most don't begin to shoot to their potential until after at least 100 rounds have been through them..

I have two 16", 1/9 twist, ARs..One is a higher dollar competition set up and the other a bargain basement ($335) upper and both will shoot 1/2" or better on any given day with good ammo...

The comment about the mount not being correctly set boils down to the one piece mounts can be clamped down on the platform and still not be absolutely square and tight after a few shots...They have, at times, been initially mounted by shooters that are in a hurry and seem to be secure but the locking lugs are not really seated in place securely and can work loose due to recoil, allowing the optic to shift between shots..

Until you have checked the two items above, don't worry about loose barrel nuts or barrel/receiver alignment as those are things for a competition shooter to get into to wring out that last little bit of accuracy..A dirty barrel or muzzle damage would be more likely in that area...
 
Originally Posted By: OldTurtle.....but most likely it's your ammunition...Spend a few bucks and get a box of known premium ammunition, such as Black Hills 52gr Match HP or similar...



Do this 1st and then worry about the other stuff. I've never had a gun that shot crappy ammo well.
 
I had not shot my RRA since the PM hunt in Feb. I cleaned it and put it away. I took it out today to check the zero and try some loads in a couple other rifles. Here is what an RRA will do with GOOD ammo. These are my reloads. The first picture is the first 3 shots fired. I had to make some adjustments to zero it in. The last picture is the last 4 rounds I had in the mag. I shot them to see how it would group.



 
The loose nut is usually one behind the gun! Seriously though, I have only met a couple guns that would not shoot less than an inch. Personally I will not own any that shoots more than .5 inches. Ammo is usually the #1 issue, loose scope mounts/Loose scope a close second. Burris Signature Zee Rings can cure a lot of scope mounting evils and save a ton of marks on scopes. Everything I own up to my 50BMG wears them.
 
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