07-15-2018, 11:56 PM
Hi Taz, welcome,
1/2" grouping with a semi-auto is not impossible but needs to have one of the best available barrels. Throw in a decent scope and trigger and your $800 budget has blown out. The AR15 receiver is fairly light and flimsy compared to more solid bolt actions. It was designed this way for mass production with a military short-range provenance. Turning that into a gun that rivals what you already have is going to take a few dollars (unless you are extremely lucky with a cheaper barrel). Semi-auto's also require full-length sizing with COAL's restricted by the internal length of the magazine. This means you don't enjoy the accuracy benefits of fire forming cases and end up with longer than preferred bullet jumps. With an AR15 you are forgoing accuracy for a quick firing gun, i.e. more firepower. If there was no downside to semi-auto's then Bench Rest, F-Class and Target Rifle competition shooters would all be using them, and they don't.
Top quality barrels are around the $500 mark (e.g. Lilja). That does not leave much for the rest of the upper. You could buy a blown-out second hand upper and swap the barrel for a good one. Hopefully the upper is square with the barrel. You also need a mount and scope so I hope the cost of the scope was not in your original budget.
Or, you could stick with your budget and enjoy the utility of semi-auto in an efficient calibre. You won't get the same size groups as your bolt guns but if you qualify your expectations of accuracy where cheap semi-auto's are concerned you won't be disappointed.
1/2" grouping with a semi-auto is not impossible but needs to have one of the best available barrels. Throw in a decent scope and trigger and your $800 budget has blown out. The AR15 receiver is fairly light and flimsy compared to more solid bolt actions. It was designed this way for mass production with a military short-range provenance. Turning that into a gun that rivals what you already have is going to take a few dollars (unless you are extremely lucky with a cheaper barrel). Semi-auto's also require full-length sizing with COAL's restricted by the internal length of the magazine. This means you don't enjoy the accuracy benefits of fire forming cases and end up with longer than preferred bullet jumps. With an AR15 you are forgoing accuracy for a quick firing gun, i.e. more firepower. If there was no downside to semi-auto's then Bench Rest, F-Class and Target Rifle competition shooters would all be using them, and they don't.
Top quality barrels are around the $500 mark (e.g. Lilja). That does not leave much for the rest of the upper. You could buy a blown-out second hand upper and swap the barrel for a good one. Hopefully the upper is square with the barrel. You also need a mount and scope so I hope the cost of the scope was not in your original budget.
Or, you could stick with your budget and enjoy the utility of semi-auto in an efficient calibre. You won't get the same size groups as your bolt guns but if you qualify your expectations of accuracy where cheap semi-auto's are concerned you won't be disappointed.