Ive built a budget benchrest ar. Psa 223 wylde 18" upper 1in 7 twist, anderson lower with psa lower kit and psa 3.5 lb single stage trigger, topped off with an arken sh4 . Trying to narrow down what ammo it likes best. Also wondering what is realistic. Im getting 2-3 moa with winchester 855 green tips, monarch bulk, and 62 grain hand loads also. I did get about 1.5 ish moa with 55 grain hornadys and cfe223 25.2 grains powder. I have some heavier 68 grain hornady that i haven’t loaded yet. What’s realistic with this setup ?
Ooooh…Me too. Well sort of. PSA 223 wylde upper, 18" stainless barrel,…PSA Liberty lower. Vortex strike Eagle 1-8x. Maybe not true bench rest quality, but my “target” AR gun. I mean bench rest and AR platform in the same sentence might offend some bench guys…meh, but the gun will certainly shoot better than I am capable of.
I put a Hiperfire EDT sharpshooter trigger (single stage) on it (got it on sale…prolly from PSA…yes looked it up $90). Although since that time…I have used PSA EPT (enhanced polished) triggers in about 5 general builds since, and admit they are fantastic for $39 (on sale) trigger. I’m not enough a rifleman at this point for the trigger to make that big of a difference.
Been so busy with other build stuff, haven’t gone back to it and loaded anything specific for it yet. I’m kind of new to reloading (3-4 years) but I have some 69gr & 77gr Hornady BTHP waiting, as well as some 69gr & 77gr Sierra HPBT.
I have had pretty good luck with the CFE223 in 55gr and 62gr but haven’t loaded anything heavier yet. Also AC-2230 with 62gr BT bullets
I would be shocked if you don’t getter better accuracy with the 69gr bullets and 77gr. I think you can get that down to 1 MOA with these heavier rounds. I think the gun is certainly capable and the heavier rounds will perform better.
I have some factory Hornady 75gr BTHP rounds, but haven’t shot them yet.
Glad to see I’m not the only nut doing this. PSA certainly does a good job of making guns “affordable”. I now have built 5 AR’s, an AR-47 (7.62x39) and two 300BO guns.
Yes…I’m already a member of the “PSA purchase support group” thread 
I guess i just want to know what realistic accuracy to expect. 2 moa with bulk ammo, maybe 1.5 moa with hand loads ?
Yeah… I would expect that easily. Probably slightly better even.
However…the BULLET/projectile…will matter greatly. Get match quality bullets and you can get LESS than 1 MOA for certain. I saw pics of 55gr Blitzking projectiles with less than .5 MOA at 100yds test.
I would expect better in general with heavier round and an 18" barrel (although a 20" barrel would be better). I mean if we are talking reasonable ranges. I would think 1 moa is not on outrageous expectation for the rifle.
I think most off the shelf 16" AR’s will do around 2" MOA with M855(55gr) ball & M193 (62gr) ammo, and better still with Uncle Fred’s ole 77’s. Okay…maybe I’m wrong about that. I looked on sniper forum and another and bulk M855/M193 is shooting roughly 2 moa.
I’ll have to go back and look and see if I saved targets from my range trip a few months ago. I can shoot on my property for short distances, but not all that comfortable trying to shoot long range. My place is full of trees and I have the acreage, but doesn’t mean someone is not out wandering in the woods that I don’t see. I’m not completely out in the boonies. My short/pistol range has a nice backstop, but it’s only 130’ max shooting distance. Man if I had a bulldozer…I’d have me an awesome range already.
Now let me say I am an absolutely NOT an expert by any means. I’ve shot for 35+ years, but a novice at long range shooting and reloading as well. I have not the training or round count down range to provide any real guidance. I do know from talking with other real shooter with much more experience in both loading and shooting that the heavier bullets provide better accuracy at somewhat longer distances.
What we (you and I) really need is to build ourselves a couple 6.5 Creedmoor rifles to work with 
I have a nice Free State Armory AR-10 (7.62x51). I would only need to build the 6.5 CM upper and swap it onto the lower. Fantasies aside for the moment…
get some match grade ammo and try that puppy out. I’d expect you’ll be happy with the result.
Although as i understand it this 18" 223 wylde with 1/7 twist should like heavier bullets, it really doesn’t.
Horrible groups with 68 grain ,even match ammo.
I was about to give up until i decided to throw in some 50 grain reloads and success. Tight groups at 100 yards. Whats going on here ?
Could be the lede into the forcing cone. Could be the twist isn’t actually what’s advertised. Could be any number of things, possibly not even related to barrel twist or chambering at all.
Yep, all possible. I was close to giving up and starting over with a new upper. I guess having an accurate ar that prefers 50 or 55 grain bullets isn’t the worst thing. Will probably save me money
Started the break in / sight in process yesterday with my son yesterday with one of these.
https://palmettostatearmory.com/psa-18-rifle-length-223-wylde-1-7-stainless-steel-15-lightweight-m-lok-upper-with-mbus-sight-set-nib-bcg.html
Nothing short of sweet with cheap X-Tac 55gr.
Are you using reloads?
Ive tried everything. My best group just an hour ago is 9/10" at 100 yards with hornady 50 grain that i hand loaded. It hates heavy bullets.
I’d suggest running some factory rounds and see how it does.
I did
How many total down range?
About 100 -150 rounds total. Even factory match grade ammo shoots erratic. Im assuming the rifling or chamber wasn’t cut quite right but its fantastic with 50-55 grain rounds
That’s crazy because my PSA 223 wyld 18 inch likes the Winchester match 69 grain I haven’t found any other round that it likes yet…
I have that same upper as my coyote gun. I use hornady 55gr vmax. It loves that ammo! Sub moa all day