Frogman's R-15 review

[Frogman]

         Picked up my new Remington R-15 last night.  I also ordered a new 3 - 9 X 40 Nikon Pro Master camoflaged scope to go on it.  Rifle was $870.00  scope was $130.00.  I mounted the scope on the rifle with an old set of Weaver see through mounts.  All I have for now.
        Today (5/10/08) I went to the range to shoot the new R-15.  Following is my review:



        This is a very nice looking rifle.  It felt light and comfortable to me.  Even though the scope camo is a little different than the gun it still looks nice on the rifle.



Above is a closer shot of the scope and rifle.  I will need better scope mounts so the scope can be mounted further forward on the rifle.  As it is I have to position my head too far back on the stock to see the full field of view through the scope.  It could also be a little higher to be absolutely comfortable.  Positioning the scope on the rifle needs some improvement.  I will need to get some different mounts.  This will have to do for now.

The camo coating on the rifle is very tough and durable.  One of the scope mounts was difficult to get on.  Then it had to be moved to get the scope further forward.  After all this moving around I was surprised that the finish on the flat top mounting rail was not scratched.  Seems to be really tough.
The aluminum free float forend is very comfortable and has two sling swivel studs attached.  There are also pre-drilled and tapped screw holes on each side of the front of the forend to attach additional Picatinny rails.  Here are photos:





The Remington name and R-15 logo on the right side of the rifle is very unobtrusive.



Fit and finish on the rifle is very good.  It really looks sharp and drew lots of positive comments at the range today.



Looking good on the bench.

I started out shooting at 25 yards to get the scope on the paper.  Only took a few shots to get close then I  started shooting at 100 yards.  I started out with some mixed loads I had to get the rifle and scope further zeroed in.



This is my first target at 100 yards.  It is an 8 1/2 X 11 sheet of paper with a one inch red dot stuck on it.  The top five holes are where I had to bring the scope down and to the left a little to zero in.  The tight group of 6 shots just above the red dot had me really excited.  This was about 9:00 AM this morning and conditions were perfect with little wind.  As the morning wore on the wind picked up and made accurate shooting more challenging.  Two guys were at a bench near me shooting their bench rest rifles and they were having trouble with the wind too.
The trigger on this rifle is just not that great.  There is some creep with a kind of mushy let off.  Not at all crisp.  There may be a Timney drop in trigger in this rifle soon.   Once I started shooting some reloads I just couldn't seem to equal that first tight group.  I'm going to have to continue working on a good load for this rifle.  I shot mostly 50 grain bullets today.  I think the 60 grain V-Maxes will probably shoot better in this 1 - 9 twist barrel.  Here are some other groups I shot with the loads hand written on the targets.  Remember that I had swirling wind most of the morning!









That first group was my best.  Some of the other groups weren't too bad and were close to one inch at 100 yards.  Others were a little larger.  Not too bad for an out of the box AR on a windy day.


 
I plan to load some more ammo with 60 gr. V-Max bullets and W748 powder which seems to shoot really well in my Colt AR.

So far I really like this rifle and I think it will make a perfect coyote gun.  Some of these groups show potential.  I just need some load development to fine tune things.  A better trigger would help as would a better set of scope mounts.



I hope this review is useful.  I will update the information as I gain experience with the rifle and work up some more loads.  Thanks for reading.  Now I have some cleaning to do.

Jim

[wv_yoter]

Pretty cool Jim

[KySongDog]

Nice review and a nice lookin' rifle. 



Semp

[FinsnFur]

Frogman, can I move this over to the "REVIEWS" section? I think it'd make a pretty good archive if someone was looking for the info later on and went there scrolling through the topics.

[alscalls]

Sweet!

[LORDDAL]

wow nice lookin gun really like the camo job on it

[Frogman]

Sure Jim

Frogman, can I move this over to the "REVIEWS" section? I think it'd make a pretty good archive if someone was looking for the info later on and went there scrolling through the topics.

That would be great. 

Thanks!

[Yotehntr]

Great review/pics Frogman! Looking forward to seeing how the loading progressess with the heavier bullets. My RRA didn't care much for the 50 grainers either. It does better with the 55 nosler's, thats what I've stuck with. Thanks for the review!

[Frogman]

Spent most of today 5/13/08 at the range again trying to find a load for the R-15.  I tried some 50 grain V-maxs and some 60 grain V-Maxs.  About one inch groups at 100 yards is the best I have been able to do.  The wind was better today so that was less of a problem.  Some photos:



I set the chronograph up for some of these loads. 



The four digit numbers under the targets are the velocities.
Here are some groups:









This was my best group today.



This one was not so good?



This one was at 200 yards.  5th shot was pulled and didn't even show up in the photo??

Nice looking rifle!  I just don't think this gun will do much better with it's 4 1/2 to 5 pound trigger.  Some of the groups show some promise with the first three shots, but it sure is hard to keep 5 rounds in a nice tight group.  I will keep trying.

Jim

[coyotehunter_1]

Jim,
on the new AR
Not bad shooting for a brand new rifle, any of those shots would put fur on the ground.  Finding the sweet spot is half the fun, it looks to me like your already in the neighborhood. 

Personally, I would wear the gun in "a bit more" before doing anything major with the lawyer trigger, it may slick up.


   

[msmith]

Good review and a very nice rifle Jim. Now you have to bring it up and show it off. 

[Silencer]

Glad to hear the camo finish is at least durable.  My biggest complaint with my Rem 1187 is the camo.