There ain’t no day like a range day, which kinda goes without saying, but it bears repeating if for no other reason than to remind others you got out to shoot.

Last Friday was one of those days.

My friend and industry photographer Yamil Sued needed to sight in two rifles and invited me to tag along with him out to the Ben Avery Shooting Facility. The public range at Ben Avery is wide open during the work week with plenty of shooting benches available without having to wait. Best of all, you can shoot out to 200 yards, if needed.

With a Sig Sauer Tango6 5-30x56 scope, Yamil was dialing in his .308 build at 100 yards with certainty. Photo by P. Erhardt

Shocking, I know, that in the Arizona summer people aren’t flocking to the outdoor range, but all the better for us. The Phoenix Valley hit its first 110 degree day on Monday, and 100+ degrees are in our immediate and distant future.

Fortunately for us, the early morning temps were around 84 on Friday, which was made all the more comfortable considering the firing line is covered allowing us to shoot in the shade.

While Yamil was working with one .223 and one .308 AR-style rifle, I brought out my own .223 AR which was assembled mostly from parts/kits from Palmetto State Armory. The only non-PSA components were the a Stark One AR Rifle Grip from Stark Equipment, an Inforce WMLx Gen 2 White Light, and Bushnell CQTS II 1x32 30mm Red Dot – which is no longer offered by Bushnell.

My AR is a hodgepodge of components, mostly from Palmetto State Armory. Fun fact, the starting point for this build was actually the Stark grip. Because of its excellent ergonomics – I’m a big fan – I’ll probably start with the same for the next build. Photo by P. Erhardt

In other words, like so many Modern Sporting Rifles it’s a collection of parts, and I’m OK with that. The best thing about today’s MSR/AR market is you can easily spec out the rifle you want. And if you don’t like it, disassemble it and start over. It is modularity at its finest.

Earlier this year we had sighted in my rifle at 25 yards on an indoor range. While it was decent in terms of accuracy, it was not delivering one-hole groupings. Or, perhaps more accurately, I wasn’t.

At Ben Avery I wanted to shoot it out to 50 yards to see how it (and I) performed. Keep in mind that I’m still running a zero magnification optic on the rifle, which made things, well, challenging.

Putting a full thirty-round mag through the gun in strings of five shots I learned two things. First, at 50 yards I had little to no idea where I was hitting. And two, I kept almost all the rounds on the 12” by 12” TRUGLO target. Being as supportive as he could, Yamil noted I was shooting ‘minute of bad guy’.

Clearly there are no precision trophies in my future, but I am not unhappy with this target, especially considering I am still learning the rifle, trigger and optic. Photo by P. Erhardt

I’ll take it. This particular AR isn’t for hunting or competition. Watching riots and the looting of businesses under the guise of ‘peaceful protests' makes one see the wisdom of an AR. I picked up this one to be a defensive rifle. That's why I opted for the Bushnell red dot optic.

I still need to do some shooting – and sighting in - with the MBUS sights and confirm the sights are cowitnessed properly with the red dot. And, of course, I can use a lot more practice in general. A helluva lot more.

Thankfully, these incredibly hot summer days in Arizona mean there’s probably a shooting bench with my name on it waiting for me over at Ben Avery.

Here’s to scheduling another range day real soon.

– Paul Erhardt, Managing Editor, the Outdoor Wire Digital Network