Me personally I don't like the stock set up or the length of the barrel on that Stag for target shooting.
I've shot competitively at the Army Small Arms competition, the Inter service Match, and the National Match. I continue to shoot EIC matches, we are able to shoot up to 4 in any calendar year. I'm not sure what to recommend, I have been duly challenged shooting the service rifle. There are a few brands that make a match service rifle that does pretty well out of the box. Rock River and Bushmaster comes to mind off the top of my head, but there are more. Google match service rifle. You will be forced to shoot iron sights for competition, this will teach you proper shooting technique, I think this is better to learn before shooting with optics.
The Civilian Marksmanship Program, or CMP, hold competitions all over the states as does the NRA. Competition distances are 200, 300, and 600 yards. 70 grain 5.56 rounds, with a match rifle are very accurate out to 600 yards. (550 m) Although I've done fairly well with a "rack" rifle at the same distance with 55 grain rounds. You will also need to look into a good leather sling, spotting scope, a shooting jacket, and some gloves if you want to be competitive down the line. These are not necessary to start out, but they will certainly help. Especially the sling, don't skimp. Some kind of "shooting stool" will also make life easier on the range.
If you do want to get into target shooting with the service style rifle, let me know and I can send you some info on wind, weather and ballistics. You will need to learn some simple math, and how to think in mils. Or fractions of a degree. The circles on a target used in target shooting are set up so that you can quickly and effectivly figure out how many mils up/down, left/right to adjust for wind, weather, lighting etc...
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