The shortcomings of the rifle had been sort of nagging me since January. I knew it needed two things: a two-stage trigger, and a more powerful scope. I finally decided that I would spend a little more money on this already over-budget rifle. I like the Bushnell drop zone scope that was on it, so I went with another scope from the same series. This one however is 4.5-18x, probably about as powerful a scope as you would even dare put on a 5.56 caliber rifle. They can be purchased pretty reasonably on eBay. I got one for $169.00 dollars, shipped. Although the SWFA scope mount that I was using was very good, it is a 30mm mount that has insert bushings to reduce it to 1" if so desired. I just didn't like the idea of using the bushings, so I ended up putting out another $80 dollars for a Burris P.E.P.R. mount, which is almost identical to the SWFA.
I then started reading up on two-stage triggers for the AR. There are a lot of excellent options available. The trouble is, when you get into the highly recommended ones, they become commensurately pricey. I'm not cheap, mind you, but I've already got close to fifteen hundred bucks invested in this rifle, and I'm not sure if I want to try to set some price record with it! At any rate, I found one by Rock River Arms that was a lot more reasonable - under $80 bucks. I've used various RRA parts on other AR's, and always found their stuff to be very good quality. So, with another click of the "buy it now" button, my AR had all the upgrades I felt it needed.
Using a laser bore sight tool this time, I took extra pains to make sure I could get on paper quickly at the range. Despite my confidence, I started off at 50 yards just to put the odds further in my favor. My first two shots were on the upper right corner of the target, so I was in business right from the get go. Moving out to 100 yards, I fine-tuned the zero until I was completely satisfied with it. Then, I settled in to see what the rifle and I could do together. It's been a long time since I shot anything with a scope this powerful. I had forgotten how much movement you can get, even with a bipod, with an 18 power optic. For whatever reason, I just wasn't in the grove either. I just couldn't seem to get the breathing, trigger squeeze, and sight picture to all gel together. For the first twenty rounds or so, I felt like I had entered a trigger jerking contest, and was winning! Consequently, I consider it to be a pretty lackluster performance on my part. The rifle, on the other hand, functioned flawlessly and put the hole right where I aimed it with the relatively few shots where I could pull all of my marksmanship elements together. I was, despite my mediocre shooting, delighted because the rifle demonstrated, in those few shots, its potential. I had enough X ring shots over the course of 80 rounds to preclude it being a fluke. The rifle can shoot. I'm looking forward to getting up to the range when it's not crowded, with nothing pressing on my mind, and really focus on marksmanship fundamentals. School's out in 4 weeks, and I know where I'll be!
The shortcomings of the rifle had been sort of nagging me since January. I knew it needed two things: a two-stage trigger, and a more powerful scope. I finally decided that I would spend a little more money on this already over-budget rifle. I like the Bushnell drop zone scope that was on it, so I went with another scope from the same series. This one however is 4.5-18x, probably about as powerful a scope as you would even dare put on a 5.56 caliber rifle. They can be purchased pretty reasonably on eBay. I got one for $169.00 dollars, shipped. Although the SWFA scope mount that I was using was very good, it is a 30mm mount that has insert bushings to reduce it to 1" if so desired. I just didn't like the idea of using the bushings, so I ended up putting out another $80 dollars for a Burris P.E.P.R. mount, which is almost identical to the SWFA. 
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