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View Full Version : Experience w/Rainier Arms SPR ultramatch Upper?



xjkrenzer
29 April 2009, 15:27
Im considering buying one of these
SPR 18 inch Upper (http://www.rainierarms.com/?page=shop/detail&product_id=1162)
when i get home from deployment, im also interested in the 20 Evolution Series Upper (http://www.rainierarms.com/?page=shop/detail&product_id=1387) from rainier arms. Does anyone have any experience with these or any of Rainier Arms custom shop line? thanks

Stickman
30 April 2009, 12:09
I'm not sure how much help this is as its not directly answering your question.

I do not have any of the complete uppers you asked about. I do own the RA 16" & 18" barrels, and they are more accurate than me. As with any of the upper end barrels, you are going to need high quality glass, high quality ammo, and high skill levels if you want to honestly see what the barrel is capable of.


I tend to shoot mid range ammo, and usually 55 grain through mine. It puts this ammo downrange in nice tight groups, and when its been loaned out to members of special teams, they have always come back with great things to say about it.

My 16" barrel has seen much more use than my 18" barrel.

Stickman
30 April 2009, 12:14
16" RA Barrel with M4/SPR can (DD 12.0 Lite rail)

http://stickman.rainierarms.com/galleries/Magpul%20II/IMG_1309%201028%20Stick.jpg







18" RA Barrel with SCAR Light can (DD 14.0 Lite rail)

http://stickman.rainierarms.com/galleries/Magpul%20II/IMG_4238%201028%20WEVO.jpg

nstueve
30 April 2009, 15:31
I have the rainier ultramatch recon it is the 16" model.

First off let me say I have fired less than 200 rounds through this gun. Of those 200 rounds only 100 I would guess with a scope. To really judge by my experience would be a poor decision. I think the gun really needs to be shot some more before I would make any real opinion about it.

Let me also mention rainier arms has been one of the best companies I have dealt with as far as customer service goes.

Just putting that out there as I know if you were not happy with your purchase or the rifle they would make it right.

To get you all excited here is the first 3 shot group on paper with a scope at 100yds no wind. The .223 bullet hole you see above my thumb is from my brothers bushmaster before I stopped him from wasting the target. The two bullet holes to the right of the mini gatorade bottle are from a dragunov not sure what caliber they are.

http://home.centurytel.net/jucara/group.jpg

This was the very first three shots at 100yds. I started at 25 yards got the scope close and moved to 50 then 100.

I was shooting with a nxs niteforce 10 power scope.

The ammo was walmart federal 200rd fmj 55gr bullets for 39 bucks

Now that all being said I have yet to be able to replicate a similar group.

After that first group two buddies and myself all took turns shooting. The best any of us shot was maybe 1.5" 3 shot groups. We all shot together prolly close to 30 rds. About three groups apiece.

I was kind of discouraged as the gun seemed to be losing accuracy? I shook it off that it just needed some cleaning as it was new and had a few rds through it.

Since that day I have been shooting one other time. I went to a different area to shoot, with no wind perfect weather. I thought I would see if I could get the gun to shoot again after it was all cleaned up with bore snake and some clr bore kleen.

Tried walmart 200rd 55gr fmj like before, but still 1.5" to 2.0" groups at 100.

Tried walmart 200rd 55gr hollow points still same 1.5" to 2.0"

Tried several different groups with various reloads, still same if not worse.

I also want to mention I had my friend and his grandpa with me, who are both decent behind a rifle and we all shot pretty much the same with it.

So I called up Mike at rainier, and told him about my whole experience, and he gave several suggestions, and mentioned that he thought he had heard this problem before with the ultramatch uppers with Shilen barrel.

He instructed me try the gun at 200yds and I should once again be excited when I see the groups. His explanation was the Shilen barrels shoot really hot at 100yds right out of the box, then loosen up abit, but stay dead on at 200yds the whole time. As you continue to shoot and break/work the barrel in it will start to come back in at 100yds just like it was out of the box.

He said something with the rifling of the barrels for some reason after the first few rounds the barrel has trouble stabilizing the bullet at 100yds and closer thus explaining me peppering the target. The bullet was still trying to stabilize as it was reaching its target.

I have yet to shoot again as weather and work have all slowed me down.

But soon I hope to get back out and shoot at 200yds and see what I can come up with. I will try and let you know what happens.

xjkrenzer
2 May 2009, 04:24
Stick, nstueve thank you both for your input, Rainier is located about 30 minutes from my Home of record in wa. so i'll defiantly be doing some shopping in july when i get home. From what you've said i believe this will be my best buy. thanks again - Zak

trinydex
4 May 2009, 14:02
Tried walmart 200rd 55gr fmj like before, but still 1.5" to 2.0" groups at 100.

Tried walmart 200rd 55gr hollow points still same 1.5" to 2.0"


shooting match ammo?

John Hwang
4 May 2009, 17:19
I'm not the best shot but the last 5 shot group, it was under 1". It was about .75" and we were using 55 grain match ammo as that's all we had laying around. When shooting heavier rounds it will get down to 1/5 groups all day. All the holes should be touching each other at 100 if you know what you are doing.

chase102798
4 May 2009, 20:53
Hi,

I have the 18" SPR Ultra-match upper and it is quite outstanding. I shoot mine with a 10x SS scope. I have shot about 500 rounds through it by now. The first 200 or so were Black hills 75 gr loads and they shot fantastic. Consistently shot 5/8 MOA.

Then I got some Redding Bushing dies, bought 1000 rounds of once-fired Lake City on Gunbroker, and dug in for a long case prep session. Ended up with 1000 uniformed target loads with nosler 77 gr custom comp HPs. This load just made me laugh silly. It shoots 1/4 MOA all day long. (Longest I've shot is 300 yards)

The upper was put together perfectly and well thought out. They used all premium components (Young Manf. Chrome carrier, PRI charge handle, PWS comp, etc) and these parts were exactly what I was looking for. The barrel is very easy to clean too. The shilen ratchet rifling just slides cleaning patches through effortlessly. I just can't say enough good about this upper.

I buy all my stuff from Rainier now. Their customer service is amazing. Everytime I email them questions, they return with precise answers within 24 hours. Plus their website is really nice for info and photos.

I would seriously do yourself a favor and get one of those uppers. When you price out the components, you will see that they are priced right for the consumer. Hope that helped. :)

p.s. This may sound like I'm blowing alot of smoke for Rainer and this upper, but when I was just getting into buying an AR, their service and product quality did alot to win me over since I was new and had some bad experiences with other places.