New Update: 11/11/13
I finally decided to bite the bullet and go for broke. I ended up going to Buck and Jakes and buying the Ambush Firearms 5.56 AR 15. Ambush Firearms is a hunting subsidiary of Daniels Defense. I was looking at the AR15 Ruger 556 standard or carbine AR15 out at Buck and Jakes on the West side and also one at Gander Mountain. But my gut told me to go with the Direct Gas Injection type of AR15. Reason being I'm not going to be shooting that much and I wanted an AR15 that I can use parts from other manufactures if I ever need to. The Piston Systems are more propitiatory and I would be stuck buying certain parts at a higher cost down the road.
I also purchased a new Rifle Scope for the AR15. I actually bought the scope and rings before I bought the rifle.
I went with a Nikon Scope. It's the M-223 model. And it's a 4 x 16 x 42 with the BCD 600 Reticle. It's a lot of scope, but I can also use it on my other rifle (Rem Model 660 in 222 caliber) I got a Rock River single piece 1" high mount for the scope. The mount has big (hug) knobs on it to tighten it up on the Picatinny rails. So I can take the scope off and on without moving the point of impact too much. (at least that's my hope right now). I did not lap the scope rings for the scope as I don't have the equipment to test the rings and to lap them right now. But since it's a one piece ring setup I'm hoping its holding the scope in the rings straight.
I cleaned the new Ambush after I bought it and then took it to the shooting range and tried it out. I first laser bore sighted the scope rifle combination in on a 25 yard target in my side yard.
The first shot I took with this brand new rifle was right in the bulls eye. I was ready to go home after that happened. I knew it would not get any better than that. LOL. I was really amazed that I was able to hit the bulls eye on the very first shot with this new gun. The second shot was not as good. Although it was pretty windy the day I was shooting. The group was not very tight. My neighbors AR15 shot better and it had not been shot before either. Well he never shot it but I guess they shot a few rounds though it at the factory to test it. But I used Rem Accutip V 55 grain bullets in the High Standard and it's barrel has a 1:9 twist. These Remington AccuTip 55 gr bullets are better (IMHO) than the Rem PSP 55 gr bullets. The Point Soft Point 55 grain Rem bullets are not as sharp at the points and get out of shape easier. I noticed that some of the noses on the PSP bullets were misshaped. I was running out of the Rem 223 Accutip Bullets so I'm saving the rest for hunting. They are not cheap at about 32 dollars for 20 bullets /box. { Added Feb 15, 2014 I looked around at Gander Mountain and Buck& Jakes for months before I finally found some more boxes of the Remingtion AccuTip 55 gr bullets. I finally got a couple new boxes of these now. But I also figured out that Hornady makes these AccuTips for Remington and that I can get the Hornady V-Max 55 gr bullets cheaper than the Remington AccuTips 55 gr and they are basically the same bullet. The Remington's have a tan plastic tip while the Hornady have a red plastic tip. }
I went to the 200 yard range next and tried out the BCD reticle on the Nikon scope. But I forget to change the parallax knob setting from 100 yards to 200 yards when I first started shooting the Ambush. I was hitting all my bullets inside the first circle outside the bulls eye.
I'm using the Shot N C type targets.
Later I remembered to set the parallax knob on the Nikon scope to 200 yards.
The Nikon Scope has the type of adjustment knobs that you can turn by hand and then the knobs pull up and you can reset the knob to the zero mark without moving the reticles. So once you turn the knobs and get the scope adjusted for 100 or 200 yards you can then pull the knobs outward and move the knob back to the zero setting. Then you just push the knobs back down to re-engage them. After this you can turn the knob to adjust for different ranges or you can just use the BCD reticle to shoot at a longer range.
Nikon has a web site and a software computer program that can tell you which range each of the small circles and tick marks on the BCD reticle represents. For example if you zero at 100 yards you can shoot at 200 yard using the first circle below the cross hairs. The next circle below that is about 300 yards.
The Nikon program allows for all types of variables such at altitude, temp, barometric pressure and the type of ammo you are using. The program does not take into consideration the type of gun you are shooting. But it's still pretty neat. You can also print out a hard copy of the different ranges for different conditions and different types of ammo. One could print out a book with all the variables.
I can use the computer program on a lap top if so desired. I think you may have to buy the program, but I'm not really sure if you have to buy it or can download it for free. But, the web site is free to use right now.
I'm shooting off a Caldwell Tact Driver Shooting Bag. The rifle is a little unbalanced as I wish I could move the rifle forward a little more in the shooting back to balance it more on the bag. The back end of the rifle wants to drop down when I push the rifle as far up into the bag's grooves as it will go. The magazine won't let the rifle go any further forward. Still the bag is a pretty stable platform and the scope is pretty steady if you control your breathing.
The trigger on the Ambush is a two stage Geissele Super Semi-Automatic SSA trigger.
You can read more about this gun here:
ambushfirearms.com/shop/rifles/ambush-5-56mm.htmlNote: The other day (two days ago) this web site (Daniel Defense web site) was giving me an error message about the sites security certificate not being right. I called DD and told them about this problem and today the web sites working without the error message. To me this shows that they listened and fixed their web sites security certificate pretty fast. To be fair the girl that answered my phone call (actually she called me back after I left a message on their answering machine) told me that they were working on their web site at the time. So maybe they were already in the process of working on the security certificate. Anyway they got it working better now.
I've not been out hunting with the new rifle yet. I'm still trying to figure out how to take the castle nut off and putting on a new part that will be able to attach my single point sling that I bought at Gander Mountain. The gun didn't come with any sling mounts or attachment Rings. So I'm going with a single point type sling to try that out. I had a 3 point sling on my neighbors High Standard AR15 that I used to hunt one night and that gun had sling attachments at the front and rear on the gun. But I didn't like the way the rifle fit over my shoulder with that sling setup. I think I will like the gun hanging in front of me much better. But I'll have to see how that goes.
I'm going to have to try to find some more Remington Accutip-V 55 grain shells. I can't find them at Gander Mountain or at Buck and Jakes. Maybe Rural King will have some or if I get lucky I can find some at Wal-Mart
Oh, one more thing. The Ambush comes with the barrel threaded but it does not come with a flash suppressor on the end of the barrel. It's got a thread protector screwed onto the threads at the end of the barrel.
I have no idea if I need a flash suppressor or not. And if so what type to get. I'll have to do more research to see if they would help with the accuracy of the gun/shooter combination.
And the Ambush uses a 1:7 twist rate on the barrels groves. This is on a 18" long cold hammer forged type barrel. The barrel is not chrome lined but it's got a salt bath nitride finish. But I think that part of the inside of the bolt carrier is chromed. It appears much brighter than the rest of the metal on the bolt carrier. But I can't find any thing in writing about the Ambush Bolt carrier's metal. I think it may be shot peened and magnetic tested but I could be mixing that up with the Ruger AR15. It's definitely magnetically tested and shot peened. and the inside of the bolt carrier where the carrier goes into the bolt carrier is chrome plated. I can see it inside the bolt carrier where the hot gases enter the bolt carrier from the gas key above this spot.
If I didn't have to get out and clean up the leaves in my yard and on the roof I'd be going back to the range and doing some hunting later tonight.
Its' going to be getting really cold tomorrow with some snow possible. I need to get my damn truck fixed so that it will start in the cold. Right now the damn thing only wants to start properly when it's above 60 deg F. Below 50 Deg F it just gets harder to start. And at 30 deg F and below it may not fire at all. It's got a bad Engine Control Module or IC chip inside the distributor. I paid over $200 for the IC chip to replace the factor original one when it went bad two years ago on summer. Now the stupid thing doesn't work when it gets cold. Just my luck I had it installed in July when it was hot outside. But this is the second winter with the new IC chip that won't work when it gets cold. So I'm having a new one put in soon. I just hope the second new on is better than the first new one. They now cost $300 if you can find them anywhere. I'm tying to located a old factory original at a junk yard to see if that will be a cheaper way to go. Also my mechanic said it's a better IC chip and that the after market one's are junk. Base on my experience with the first after market IC chip I have to agree with my mechanic.
It's a bitch to get stuck out in the cold when you can't get your truck to start and you are cold and hungry and sleepy after coyote hunting all night long.
{Added Feb 15, 2014. I got the IC problem fixed now so the truck starts up in even the very coldest of weather. The IC chip inside the truck's distributor was bad and It was only two years old. It was bad from the day I bought it. Now that problem is solved and I can trust my truck to start in cold weather. That was a bitch before I finally got it fixed.}
PS: Salt Bath information
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferritic_nitrocarburizing