I have finally had the chance to get out and shoot my AR at 100 yards. I am thrilled! I bought the Bushmaster with 20" varmint barrel, free floated, flat-top version(no sights).

With a 4-12 scope and Winchester factory ammo, I shot a 5 shot group that measured 7/8 of one inch. I am totally psyched about this. So many people have told me that you can't get good accuracy out of a semi-auto, especially the AR variants. After researching for a couple of months on the web, I found that a lot of people using the heavy barreled versions were getting sub MOA with handloads.

I bought the Bushmaster mainly because it is made here in Maine. The tech support at Bushmaster told me not to expect the best accuracy until after I have "polished the bore" with about 20 rounds. The reason is because the chamber and bore are chrome lined and it takes about 200 rounds to get it polished. When it got to me new, the chrome in the barrel looked like gray primer. I now have around 50 rounds through it and the bore looks like brushed stainless. They say that after the 200 rounds, it should look like a mirror.

If it actually gets more accurate from here, it will be awesome. I'm hoping that I can shrink the groups through hand loading even more.

I would highly recommend a Bushmaster!