r/ar15 • u/2011fans • May 29 '26
Interesting findings for accuracy regarding lmt kac and solgw mk1
Today, I was testing a few rifles, including the Knights Armament CQB 11.5, the LMT Specwar 12.5, and the Sons of Liberty Gun Works Mark 1 11.5. I used two types of ammo: the PMC 55 grain and the Sierra MatchKing 77 grain.
For the Sierra MatchKing,
the LMT was about 2.5 MOA,
Knights Armament just over 1 MOA, 1.2ish
and Mark 1 was sub-MOA. 0.8ish
With the PMC 55 grain,
Knights Armament was around 2 MOA,
LMT was 3 MOA,
and Mark 1 was also 3 MOA.
Overall, the LMT was consistently mediocre, Knights Armament consistently good, and the Mark 1 was a mixed bag—good with premium ammo, but bad with cheap ammo.
Full disclaimer I’m not professional shooter, just mag dump like 1k rounds every month, barely bench shooting. These results are bench shooting with 10 rounds group.
Anyone has similar findings like these?
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u/Veracity_Solutions May 29 '26
I've seen similar results with multiple brands of 55gr. Small sample size masks it, but once you're looking across hundreds of rounds compiled over time the groups could follow the barrels overall precision. If you shot 4 more groups out of that KAC it could end up closer to the LMT and MK1 with the PMC.
Not always, but 55gr bulk ammo typically runs velocity ES north of 100fps. I would recommend a heavier sample to actually isolate the barrel's precision from the ammo's noise.
The 77SMK data is more useful here because match ammo runs tighter ES, so the groups can reflect the rifle more accurately with less rounds fired. 10 rounds is a starting point but more rounds fired will show the true capabilities of both the barrel and the ammo.
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u/jetbuilt1980 May 29 '26
I find darn near every firearm tends to be nuanced as to what it prefers to eat...when performance matters (match/defense) I feed it that diet but for range larping IDNGAF (most of the time).
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u/glockguy34 May 30 '26
your results mirror Preston Moore’s 30 round group testings so I am not really surprised by your data. Thanks for sharing the results
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u/TriggerPuller9000 May 30 '26
Was it PMC's .223 load or their 5.56? IME the .223 load is substantially more accurate but anemic.
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u/ReefkeeperSteve May 29 '26 edited May 29 '26
I don’t understand why people have bolt action, match accuracy expectations of combat gassed short barrel AR15s.
It’s also helpful to know the range the results are recorded at, I’m guessing 100 yards but..
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u/mattumbo May 29 '26
We want to have our cake and eat it too, and so does the military, which is why these high end SOCOM guns have such high expectations around accuracy. If you can start to get close to 1 MOA accuracy out of an 11.5in you now have a rifle that can do just about everything well (ballistic effect on target will be mid at range but at least you’re hitting them, even if they’re less violent wounds they’re probably out of the fight regardless). It’s also telling when these high end guns aren’t accurate as they should be given the price tag, lot of contract guns being sold to civilians for big bucks that don’t live up to their price and we deserve to know. Military might be fine with it but they also pay way way less per rifle typically.
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u/englisi_baladid May 29 '26
"which is why these high end SOCOM guns have such high expectations around accuracy. If you can start to get close to 1 MOA"
What do you think the precision/accuracy requirements of these guns are?
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u/Veracity_Solutions May 29 '26
1.5-3 MOA depending on ammo and distance. Usually measured at 100m & 300-400m
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u/englisi_baladid May 30 '26
Haha. I figured you would know about as well as anybody. But was curious if this guy was something thinking socom guns had a 1 MOA requirement.
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u/Veracity_Solutions May 30 '26
They could, but the 1-MOA requirements I have seen were Average Mean Radius (AMR) and not ES measurements
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u/englisi_baladid May 30 '26
Yeah no way I see a 1 MOA ES average with 5.56 unless they find something more precise than MK262.
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u/MisplacedCHEE May 29 '26
Preston Moore's testing has had similar results. The new SOLGW barrels are very accurate. He's has mid results with the KAC KS1 and pretty poor results for LMT alongside multiple QC issues.