Range Report - RRA LAR9

[Divided Attention]

Well, after waiting since April to take delivery of my birthday, anniversary etc gift - I finally got to pick up my Rock River Arms LAR9 10.5" barrel SBR last week! Today we finally got time to get to the range. We went to an indoor range, as we might have blown away outdoors!

We started at 15 - 20 yards to tune in the optics. MAR stripped and cleaned it last week as recommended before taking it to the range. We have iron sights as well as a Trijicon Reflex sight.

Challenge #1 - while the mags may feel like my 9mm pistol mags they do NOT load like them. Once you get the hang of it they load much easier, but until you get the down and side motion down pat it is most embarrassing when the bullet goes flying.

Challenge #2 - training the "off hand trigger finger". I am VERY right handed, and VERY left eye dominant, so I have recently learned to shoot long arms left handed so I do not have to contort to see down the sights.

The trigger is short, smooth and clean, but rather heavy - I like it though. Recoil is quite minimal, and overall this is a fun gun to run!

At first I had a few FTF with the factory magazine, but it is the stiffer of the 3 mags to load. The only FTF/FTE I had with the additional magazines was when the brass catcher folded up just outside the ejection port and caused a back up. AFter the first 100 rounds, all magazines ran without issue.

The first few "sets" were 3 careful shots to tune the sights. The first grouping out of the box was a bullseye and 2 a fingertip high looking like a figure 8. The next several sets were similar, so we adjusted the Trijicon a hair down - then the groupings were quarter sized. Russ had to do the iron sites as the safety glasses I had brought with me were my Rx and are tinted a bit and I couldn't make out the rear site in the lighting. The rear site was fined tuned to the left a bit. These shots were all done using the "off hand" as a brace on the bench.

Then the fun - steady shooting the mag dry! Ran the target out to 25 yards and just had a ball! All the groupings stayed within an orange size and these were made unsupported. We fired home reloads and FMJ, all ran well, although the factory mag seemed to like the round nosed better than the "cone" shape of the reloads.

Overall this gun was pleasing to shoot right out of the box! Fun day at the range! Can't wait to get outdoors and try some more!

[Revet]

Am very interested to read about your experiences with the 9mm SBR. I bought a Colt 6450 (16") awhile back, mostly just to have something different in my collection. Then I took it to the ranch and fell in love with the thing. It quickly became my favorite plinking gun that's also very effective on 'yotes and rats if they aren't too far away.

Now I have a hankering for a short barrel version with a suppressor. I was thinking about going with a 10.5" upper for the Colt, but may just spring for a whole new rifle like the LAR9. Reliability and accuracy (in a realistic sense) are of course paramount. Plinking cacti and shooting steel with a 9mm carbine is a hoot and a little more affordable than my .223s, but I want to be able to trust it as a defensive weapon as well.

Regarding the mags, I think the Colt subgun and RRA Uzi type are similar. I used to lay the round on a phone book then press the mag onto it until popped into position. It worked for me and made the last few easier to load. But I have a Maglula LULA now and am happy with that. It's so easy to burn through ammo with these things that I wish someone could invent something like a McFadden Ultimate Clip Loader for them.