I am new to ARs and have a question. I have a mil spec Stag Model 3. I know it doesn't have a floating barell but what do I have to do to make it that way????? Is it a waste of money?
Go shoot it. Try many different ammo types and/or handloads. Wring it out. Find the most accurate load. If the accuracy achieved is sufficient for YOU, given YOUR purposes for the rifle, then yes, free-floating will be a waste of money.
If it's not sufficiently accurate, then no, it MAY be not be a waste of money - it may or may not be worth it to get a FF handguard (i.e. it may or may not enhance accuracy some or even a lot, but the chances are good that it will enhance accuracy at least a little bit.)
If it's not sufficiently accurate, then no, it MAY be not be a waste of money - it may or may not be worth it to get a FF handguard (i.e. it may or may not enhance accuracy some or even a lot, but the chances are good that it will enhance accuracy at least a little bit.)
+1. Good suggestions.
What do you mean by "Mil-Spec"? If its Stag's M4 clone (with plastic handguards), then it (being a Stag), should be more than accurate for shooting with irons, or even optics out to 100-200yds.
If you want to hang something off of the handguards, then a free-floating quad-rail is about as cheap as a non-free floating one of the same quality, so there's no reason not to.
Depending on the handguards, length you want, and your carbine/rifle, you'll have a few choices as to how to put one on (should you feel like you need to).
so by me putting a bipod on my ar that doesnt have a FF, the accuracy will be off? im with the op, ive never really knew the FF was all about.
Anything that touches the barrel affects accuracy to some degree - is that enough to worry about? Depends on what you're doing with it and what you expect from it.
Uber-high quality barrels will achieve sub-MOA accuracy out to 500yds with no problems - if your barrel does this, then mounting something to the barrel that applies stress (like a bipod if you're preloading it properly) will definitely be noticeable at 200+yds, but if you're just shooting at less than 100yds with a MOA barrel, then I doubt you'll ever notice.
Uber-high quality barrels will achieve sub-MOA accuracy out to 500yds with no problems - if your barrel does this, then mounting something to the barrel that applies stress (like a bipod if you're preloading it properly) will definitely be noticeable at 200+yds, but if you're just shooting at less than 100yds with a MOA barrel, then I doubt you'll ever notice.
Pressure will affect POI, but as far as accuracy it can go either way - I've seen plenty of rifles (long skinny barreled ones) that HATE free float. On the other hand, if you already have a gas port, sight and flash hider hanging off the barrel - stabilizing that to the receiver might be a good idea - welp, I'm just speculating here.
Well - accuracy is affected if your POI isn't consistently changing. A bipod hanging off of the barrel or handguards that are touching the barrel will cause different POI shifts depending on how much you're pre-loading it or how much weight you're putting on the gun (or how stable the ground is under it).
That's a good point though - I had a skinny barrel Remington 700 that shot like crap when I put it into a free-floating stock (it shot slightly better as long as I wasn't on a bipod with it).
I've done my homework and for now I'm going to stick with what I have. I do have a quad rail on mine so other than that and a gas block I don't anything else hanging off the barell. I took to the range and shot some 55 grain. At 100 yds my group is about the size of a 50 cent piece, 200 yds about 3 inches. I am using a red dot with a magnifier. I think with more range time I should be able to tighten up some. Thanks for all your help.
Similar threads
