Rifles

A cottage industry of add-on parts, optics and accessories has also sprung up. Accurate, easy to shoot well and reliable (if cleaned regularly), the AR has become an American classic.

Para USA--renowned for 1911-style autos--is now manufacturing a black rifle. Called the TTR (Tactical Target Rifle), it’s a 5.56mm (.223) semiauto equipped with a folding stock. Civilian versions will come with 161/2-inch chrome-lined barrels with a 1:9-inch twist--a good compromise that will stabilize anything from 40- to 60-grain-plus bullets. A rugged, adjustable aperture sight that folds down is mounted on a Picatinny (military-standard 1913 or STANAG 2324) rail that will also accommodate most any type of optic the user desires. We put on an issue Trijicon ACOG (Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight) for zeroing and initial familiarization and also shot some CQB (Close Quarters Battle) drills with an Aimpoint M68 CCO (Close Combat Optics). The rear sight quickly folded down, just clearing the ACOG.

This rifle did not like GI 62-grain M855 ball; groups were so bad that we didn’t bother to shoot it at any extended distances with issue ammo. Things changed dramatically, though, when we loaded Hornady 55-grain ammo using V-Max bullets. Staff Sergeant John Buol, a former All-Army Champion, shot several nice groups prone at 100 and 200 yards that would have been match-winners. His comments were positive on the iron sights (“clear and precise”) and the clean-breaking single-stage trigger. I wasn’t concerned with the disparity in groups between the Hornady and Lake City ball. All rifles have ammo preferences, and the shooter needs to try out different loads during the familiarization process. There were no malfunctions with either Lake City ball or the commercial stuff; several hundred rounds of GI ball, commercial Hornady and some other mixed brands of 55-grain ammo I had on hand were fired without any maintenance, except lubing.