How Accurate?
I topped the gun with a Premier Arms red dot and went to work at the range, but let’s forego the preliminaries and jump straight to the conclusion — I’m shocked. After two days and nearly a case of ammo, I discovered the gun definitely had dietary preferences. Using Black Hills Ammunition Black Gold 125-gr. Hornady GMX, I routinely had three-shot, two-hole groups at 80 yards from a rest, including one measuring .544 center to center. This from a “pistol” with a 10″ barrel!
Why 80 yards? First, because it’s roughly 3/4 of a city block and a reasonable engagement distance for a gun such as this. Secondly and more important, somebody had already moved a heavy picnic table to the line and left it there, almost as if they knew I was coming. Work smarter, not harder I always say!
Meanwhile, 168-gr. rounds such as the Black Hills Hornady ELD-M did okay — as in grouping in the 1.5-2″ range. Note I’m being a little facetious when I’m saying a 1.5″ group was merely okay. Checking in with the folks at Springfield, they had no specific direction on preferred ammo but were happy I was getting great groups.
No kidding? In other news, Faith Hill is somewhat attractive and people with dirt on the couple from Arkansas tend to have shorter lifespans.
Regardless, there’s no denying my particular gun is a tack-driver with the light bullets. I would have been happy if this had been a full-sized AR10, but in a pistol, such accuracy is neigh-on unbelievable — which is the very reason I went to the range twice just to make sure!
Zero malfunctions were noted, even with no extra lubrication of the BCG. More powerful cartridges in AR-platforms tend to perform better due to increased kinetic energy available to make things work but lots of lube is always a good thing in this entire family of rifles. Regardless, with the SAINT Victor .308 pistol, my small bottle of oil stayed in the range bag waiting for difficulties to arise, such as failing to go into battery — and the oil is still sitting there unused.
Recoil is noteworthy in the pistol, not because it’s excessive, but for those who normally shoot a .556 AR-rifle, your first few shots will result in a “Whoa … ” moment. After all, you’re putting out nearly 2,500 ft lbs. of energy downrange with each trigger pull in a relatively light gun. Newton’s law still applies. Muzzle blast is likewise significant but what else would you expect? Fortunately, the two-piece muzzle device sends all the hot love downrange instead of back at the shooter or more typically with muzzle brakes, back at his range partners.
