Recently my friend LuckyDucky posted a thread about "Apparently ammo can affect accuracy". He seemed surprised.

Here is the original thread: http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/1925646_Apparently_ammo_can_affect_accuracy.html

He was testing a new rifle and scope and managed to shoot 5 shots of Federal ammo into 2 inches at 100 yards. However, he also shot some ZQI ammo he had and it didn't make a group, it made a buckshot pattern. He was concerned as he wasn't sure if the problem was the ammo, his rifle, his scope, or maybe even him.

Some folks in that thread said that they had good experiences with ZQI ammo and others said their experience with it was terrible.

Finally LuckyDucky sent me a note and asked if he sent some of the ammo to me would I test it to see how well I could shoot it. I said, Sure!

I got the package yesterday and the ammo looked nice and clean.



However, this claim on the box was the concern.



Could it actually do that? Well, I have a couple of rifles in .308 that I have placed in the One MOA All Day Long Contest with and I have proven that they are indeed capable of 1 MOA all day long.

Today I took two of them to the range and shot the ammo.

I will first use my Accuracy International AE rifle. It is a fine shooter.



I started the day by shooting this 5 shot group at 100 yards with my handloads.



It was a .77 MOA group, about what I expect with this fine rifle.

I then shot two 5-shot groups with the ZQI ammo.



They measured 2.30 MOA and 1.47 MOA.





I then shot two groups with some South African ammo that I have had good luck with I the past. I thought it would be "more fair" to compare ZQI to the SA ammo than to my handloads.



Those two groups measured 1.24 MOA and .90 MOA.





I then switched to my heavy bench rifle, a Savage.



The two groups of ZQI measured 3.44 MOA and 2.36 MOA.





Then two South African groups which measured 1.69 and 2.46 MOA.





Before I quit for the day, I shot another group with my handloads. .89 MOA



The averages for the other other ammo were:

ZQI - 2.39 MOA

South African - 1.57 MOA

Conclusions:

1. I have only shot these 8 groups of five shots each today. I can't make any absolutely positive statements with such a small sample. However, it looks like the claim of "Less Than One Minute of Angle at 100 Meters" is not accurate.

2. The ammo is not terrible, but 2.39 MOA is not less than 1 MOA.

3. The South African battle pack ammo is pretty good for military ball.

4. Nothing compares to good, well developed handloads.

5. My groups with the ZQI ammo were much better than LuckyDucky's groups, but still not 1 MOA. We will leave it to LuckyDucky to draw his own conclusions about that.

6. It was a bluebird day, with 66 degree temperatures, and better than any day I ever spent at work.

It is fun to shoot stuff, especially with free ammo.