3 Gun Competition STAG 3G AR-15

STAG Arms
https://www.stagarms.com/

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Zombies may not be taking over America yet, but in the world of shooting sports, 3-Gun competitions for sure already are. You can’t talk about shooting these days without hearing about the popularity of 3-Gun. STAG Arms, a sponsor of the TV show 3-Gun Nation, hopes to capture the rifle part of the 3 Gun market with a new rifle created specifically for competition in 3-Gun events. It is called the STAG Arms 3G, MSRP $1,495. All of the competitors in the finals of 3-Gun Nation this year, being held in Las Vegas next week, will be shooting the STAG Arms 3G, and I am pretty sure all of the competitors are going to ask to keep them or buy them after the event. It is a really nice gun.

The 3G is an 18″ barreled AR-15 with about all the bells and whistles you could want for 3-Gun and a lot more. It comes standard with a 15″ Sampson free floating handguard, a Magpull ACS stock and MOE handgrip, and a Geissele Super 3-Gun trigger created specifically for 3-Gun competition. The gas system is the full rifle length version, not the shorter M4 version. This makes for a lot less felt recoil and very smooth control-ability shot to shot. STAG also makes one of the few reliable .22 conversion kits for the AR, and it works flawlessly in this new 3G.

I guess the question is, how many people would buy a dedicated gun for 3-Gun? The STAG 3G would answer that question,” it doesn’t matter. ” The 3G is a formidable battle rifle with almost perfect balance. The twist on the gun is 1 in 8,” which is capable of stabilizing a wide range of bullet types, and the 18″ barrel turns a corner as fast as a 16″ M4, but with a better gas system and more velocity. You also couldn’t ask for a better stock and hand filling grip than the Magpull product. STAG really didn’t skimp on this rifle and they made some important add-on choices that you may not have gotten as right forced to make the choices yourself.

I personally find quad rails annoying, even with too-fat rail covers. This smart Samson handguard comes with 3 short rail sections to mount whatever you like on the gun. It makes for a comfortable, hand sized forward grip and the flexibility to add what you want. You can see from the pictures I like the stumpy UTG/Leapers forward vertical grip, and I was able to mount this in less than five minutes. What I like about it most is that you don’t need a special AR wrench to take the handguard off. It utilizes a collar and two Allen screws, and slides off with little or no effort. For ease of use the Samson wins hands down.

I can’t say I understand the difference between a single stage and a two stage AR trigger because I haven’t messed around with them that much. This Geissele trigger is supposed to be a “hybrid” pull, durable enough for heavy use yet light and controllable for long shots. In my test rifle the trigger broke at 3.5 to 4 pounds, and is snappy and sure. There is no play in the front of the pull at all, not even a wiggle, and less than 1/8″ of travel before it breaks. A 4 pound trigger may be considered a little too light in a traditional battle rifle, but battle rifles have historically been made to carry safety-off, and they are made for the lowest common denominator in safety and shooting ability. If you train on this 3G and get to know it, I don’t feel the 4 pound trigger is too light for a self defense/combat situation, yet it is light and sure enough to take a delicate long aimed shot. The safety is also snappy and sure on these STAGs.

The flashhider/muzzle break is an interesting animal. I haven’t seen it on another rifle, even a STAG. It has top ports and front ports, and breaching fins. I haven’t seen a 3-Gun stage with door breaching, so I’ll assume this is part of the multi-purpose aspect of the rifle. I have yet to find a reliable method for measuring the effectiveness of a flash hider or muzzle break, but the 18″ barrel is also going to help with muzzle flash. More powder burning inside the barrel means less powder burning outside the barrel, which is what causes muzzle flash. Shooting the gun in daylight produces no flash at all that would handicap you, and the recoil shot to shot is completely manageable.

For accuracy, we measured a consistent 1″ or less 5 shot group with the 3G at 100 yards. But even more important, it was easy to keep 10 or 15 shots within 2.” You are going to be shooting a hot gun in a 3-Gun competition. A rifle that can make an inch cold-rifle isn’t as important as one that doesn’t fluxuate when the gun has just emptied three mags. We were also able to shoot this gun briefly at 200 yards. You’ll see from the wet targets that we hit a stormy afternoon at Manatee Gun Range, and they called the range cold right after we got the one group off that you see here.

Outside of a flyer that was probably a raindrop shot, the 1 MOA held out to 200. Nice also was that we were using a Nikon 223 scope, and we dialed that in after shooting at 100 just putting the scope on the 200 mark. The 18″ barrel in the 3G is close enough to the 24″ used in ammo testing at the prescribed 3240 fps. that the 223 series relies upon.

The 3G is available with Dueck Defense Rapid Transition Sights (RTS) which are offset iron sights that are used for close in shots. Other than looking cool because you turn your rifle on its side to shoot, gangsta style, I don’t see a lot of value in them. We shot this gun a lot, with both the NIkon 223 1-4 and the new Hi-Lux 1-4 called the CMR. The 1 power is an eyes open walking sight picture, and the Hi-Lux even has an illuminated half circle in the middle, like a red dot, but green. If you set yourself to remember to turn your power up during your transition movement for a long shot stage(aka walking or running between stage shoot stations), there is no advantage to turning your rifle sideways.

I suppose if you have a stage in 3-Gun where you take close shots then an immediate far shot, the sideways sights might be superior. But even at 200 yards, on the Hi-Lux especially, a good scope on 1 power is sufficient, and you don’t have to change your sight picture to turn the rifle on its side.

There are few rifles I have ever removed from the box and said to myself, “what else do you need?” This STAG Arms 3G was one of them. STAG is one of the largest makers of AR receivers in the country and supplies many of the other brands you know. They also are the only maker of left handed ARs, and this 3G does also come in a lefty version. STAG knows ARs, and this 3G is a truly tasteful and smart gun.

I already used STAG ARs for much of my product testing as you may have noticed from some of the AR stuff we’ve done. They are great guns. I can’t say whether I will ever find my way into 3-Gun competition. There isn’t much going on down here in South Florida. But if all my neighbors turn into zombies or the black helicopters land to take me to the FEMA camp, this 3G is most likely the gun I will go down holding. I’m keeping mine.