In the last year or two, I’ve really gotten into the PDW, the smallest compact ARs and, of course, my SBRs. The reason is they’re just crazy stupid fun; however, I also still love an outstanding tack driver, you know, for hunting, and then, something that I can really reach out there consistently, and hit my steel, because that is, that’s a fun factor 10, to bang on a steel easily at 500 yards. Now, I’ve heard a lot about Rock River Arms’ reputation for quality and accuracy, so I had to get what would be considered one of their most accurate 20, you know, 223s 556, the LAR-15M RS. Now, let’s just see what we can do with this, put it to the test, see how far we can go up there on the hill, or I should say how easily and quickly we can go to the top of the hill. Check this out.
When I took this out of the box, and held it for the first time, it feels like a tack driver, I know, you know, can it feel like a tack driver, yeah, it can, umm, we won’t know until we start shooting, but before that, let’s just take a quick look at the specs and tech, show you, you know, all the things that a lot of people want to know, some of the housekeeping, and go from there.
Rock River Arms R3 Specs and Tech
.223 Wylde Chamber
7.6 lbs unloaded
Forged RRA Lower LAR-15M
Forged A4 Upper
RRA Tuned & Ported Brake ½-28 thread
Mid-Length Gas System
Low profile Gas Block
18’’ Fluted SS Cryogenically treated barrel, 1:8 Twist
RRA Two Stage Varmint Trigger
RRA Winter Trigger Guard
Hogue Rubber Grip
Guarantee ¾ MOA accuracy at 100 yards
I just want to show you some of the features. We’ll start at the front here, it’s got a really interesting comp, you know, we’ll see what that does for recoil, not that it really has any issues with recoil but this has been very intently specifically designed.
And then we have really large flutes in here and then we get up to the gas blocks and the barrel is significantly thicker, again, with this large fluting.
Then we come back, we’ve got our Hogue grip, we have very pronounced safety, I like that, it’s a little different.
And then Rock River has their own stock here with a quick detach here, quick detach here, ok, and it adjusts here, I like that. You know, other than that it’s pretty simple, the whole idea is accuracy.
I’m just breaking in the RS here, I seasoned the barrel the other day without even an optic on it. Primary Arms sent me the GLX, ok. The reason I want this is that particular BDC because I like it kiss and I want to reach out there.
Anyway, I got this mounted and started zeroing it at 100 and I’m not kidding, right out of the box, putting it on, the 6-inch target was right at three o’clock on it. I made a couple adjustments and I’ll show you, I was pretty much almost on the Bullseye I’m using. Special thanks also to Hornady sending me some of this 62 grain full metal jacket black. I’m using this for another review and I’m finding this stuff to have incredible accuracy, way exceeding my expectations. Anyway, let’s look through here and I’ll show you what you can see. I’m gonna have separate review for the optic, the GLX.
Just checked the groupings and other than my own flinch, put them all in a quarter at a hundred. I’m gonna have some fun at 300 and 400 but I just wanna jump right up to 500 use this BDC and see if we can hit that.
That says a lot for all of three. I don’t know which it is, if it’s the gun of his optic, if it’s the ammo. I’m gonna say the gun definitely, I am really liking this, I just need to convince Rock River Arms to let me keep this so that I can continue to use for optic reviews because that was fantastic five shots after, I don’t know, maybe running through seven shots to get it zeroed.
We’re gonna have some fun with it, I actually have some guests out today. We’re just gonna all take turns and we’re gonna bang on that steel and that’s gonna be the proof in the pudding and we’ll see.
There you got it! Got it! Yep! Nice! Nice!
Fine!
So, what’s your take on that? That’s pretty awesome!
You like the scope, you like the BDC? The glass is great, the glass is awesome clarity and it just works. It’s kiss! It is! Yeah! Nice!
Just want to go up there at 500 again.
I don’t think we need to go 100, 200, 300. I think what I’m gonna do now is, we’ll see if we get to it today, I wanna try a bunch of different ammo, see what I get for groups at 100, just so you have an idea of what this likes, it’s definitely like the Hornady 62 grain for sure, maybe hit some of the smaller spinning targets. Yeah, when it shoots like that, you know, it kind of cuts things short either that or if I can find a longer distance, we’ll see if we can stretch this out…
This is the different ammo that I wanna test, you know, we passed with flying cutters, banging on steel at 500 almost effortlessly. We’ll start off, I’ve got four little quarter-sized targets down there at 100 yards, ok, so we’ll just go this bottom four and then go from there.
You can see there, that’s a pretty awesome group for just getting it zeroed. So far this is what we got, there’s the Hornady front here, the 75 grain.
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This is my PPU, that was just an accident or something, so that’s the five with the PPU and then, this is the Black, the 62 grain, that was the first shot, ok, with a cold barrel. This is what I got it zeroed on and then this is the IWI with the Sierra MatchKing and then that is my browning. Ok, so that’s the Hornady Varmint the 55 grain A-MAX, that’s pretty solid, we had one flyer here. And then over here, this is the Frontier, that was from a different shot, you know, we started here and then we stringed right, yeah, but that’s not too bad, it’s not as near as good as the Varmint, and then, this was the Winchester green tip. I got better with a different gun, but, again, for range ammo, you know, that’s not, well, that’s ok.
So, the last two was the Remington, it’s all right.
That’s 75 Hornady, you know, that’s probably I think about my bets group. I can’t remember which one that was.
There you have it guys, it is what it is. You decide for yourself what you think, I know what I think.
