BLACK RIFLE Whitetails

I was a late arrival to the AR scene. For years I felt the entire gun-lobbying apparatus was collectively shoving them down our throats to make a political point, and I have never been one to wear politics on my sleeve. Interestingly, it was high-volume varmint shooting (more pointedly, writing a book on the subject) that changed my view.

I ordered a loaner rifle from Rock River Arms to include in that varmint book, shot it extensively and found many of my notions were well off the mark. Largest among these was that ARs are inherently inaccurate. That Rock River Arms A4 Varmint easily assembled five-shot, ½-inch groups at 100 yards with tailored handloads, which made it relatively easy (via a turreted Trijicon AccuPoint 5-20x50mm scope) to pick off soda-bottle-sized ground squirrels out to 400 yards. When the consignment period ended on that rifle I immediately had my own AR-15 varmint rifle built. It also shoots ½-MOA groups. Since that time I’ve acquired an Alexander