(Blah) I'm guessing I'm not the only one who's seen the new ZQI ammo in white boxes at Walmart and has sort of avoided it. Well I was on the way to the range to re-check my AR zero and only had 15 rounds of 5.56 with me, so I stopped to get some more. I didn't want to pay much and they had a 30-round box of ZQI 5.56 for $9.98 on rollback. Hard to beat $0.33/round unless you're buying in bulk, so I figured I'd try it out (I refuse to pay over $0.40/round even in a pinch and everything else is more than that).
(Blah Blah) I didn't test for velocity or anything. I just stuck the gun on sandbags and was zeroing for 50 yards with my Aimpoint PRO. A red dot isn't the most precise optic type for reporting accuracy, but that made the results that much more impressive.
(Blah Blah Blah) My barrel is a Daniel Defense 16" CHF, chrome lined, 1:7 with gov't profile and mid-length gas system. MK262 Mod1 will shoot .7MOA from my barrel. In my experience XM193 and XM855 both do about 3.0MOA or there-abouts. One this particular range trip, my 15 rounds of XM193 was coming in around 1.5" at 50 yards.
(Is It Good or Not?!) I was shocked when I opened up the ZQI and shot a 5-round group. I wasn't measuring with a ruler, but was using a rife target with the 1" squares so it's easy to see approximate group size. The first group was ~0.75" @50yds. The second and third were tighter, coming in somewhere around .6". Bear in mind my dot size is 1" at 50 yards, so I'm betting it had more to offer with a magnified optic to help this shooter. Still, I'm pretty thrilled with near-MOA accuracy for bulk .223 cost.
(Bottom Line?) Going forward, ZQI will be my first choice when I'm at Walmart, if I don't specifically need 55gr (ZQI 5.56 is 62gr). I prefer to buy American, but Winchester and Federal be damned, charging nearly twice as much for half the accuracy. If I want real accuracy I'll still buy Black Hills 77gr, and if I'm buying in bulk I'll still buy Federal .223 or 5.56, but I'll happily send my Walmart-ammo money to the Turks as long as the keep sending their ammo to Walmart at that price. I'll be trying the 9mm next.
It also fed and ejected the same as my XM193..
(Blah Blah) I didn't test for velocity or anything. I just stuck the gun on sandbags and was zeroing for 50 yards with my Aimpoint PRO. A red dot isn't the most precise optic type for reporting accuracy, but that made the results that much more impressive.
(Blah Blah Blah) My barrel is a Daniel Defense 16" CHF, chrome lined, 1:7 with gov't profile and mid-length gas system. MK262 Mod1 will shoot .7MOA from my barrel. In my experience XM193 and XM855 both do about 3.0MOA or there-abouts. One this particular range trip, my 15 rounds of XM193 was coming in around 1.5" at 50 yards.
(Is It Good or Not?!) I was shocked when I opened up the ZQI and shot a 5-round group. I wasn't measuring with a ruler, but was using a rife target with the 1" squares so it's easy to see approximate group size. The first group was ~0.75" @50yds. The second and third were tighter, coming in somewhere around .6". Bear in mind my dot size is 1" at 50 yards, so I'm betting it had more to offer with a magnified optic to help this shooter. Still, I'm pretty thrilled with near-MOA accuracy for bulk .223 cost.
(Bottom Line?) Going forward, ZQI will be my first choice when I'm at Walmart, if I don't specifically need 55gr (ZQI 5.56 is 62gr). I prefer to buy American, but Winchester and Federal be damned, charging nearly twice as much for half the accuracy. If I want real accuracy I'll still buy Black Hills 77gr, and if I'm buying in bulk I'll still buy Federal .223 or 5.56, but I'll happily send my Walmart-ammo money to the Turks as long as the keep sending their ammo to Walmart at that price. I'll be trying the 9mm next.
It also fed and ejected the same as my XM193..