Best AR-10 type rifle in .308 for Target

[codefour]

I am going to purchase a long range .308 AR-10 style rifle. It will mostly be shot from 200-400 yards and occasionally out to 700 yds. I have previous long range shooting experience with Remington 700's. I have two gorgeous 700's that I will not part with.

I am looking for recommendations for a LR .308 AR type rifle. I want at least a twenty inch barrel, preferably a twenty-two inch barrel for maximum velocity. I would also like a target contour barrel like a medium bull barrel. The rifle has to be reliable as well. I do not want any FTF or FTE stuff.

I like the JP Ent LRP-07 platform. But JP can take 6-9 months to acquire. I like Larue Tactical, but they only have M4 profile barrels that only go to 18 inches if I remember correctly. Knights Armament is great, but a bit out of my price range.

Any suggestions are appreciated. I have shot a friends DPMS SASS and it shot well but the barrel was 18 inches (too short). I liked the 26 inch bull barrel DPMS Target rifle in .308, but is it really that good? I don't mind paying for quality.

Yes, I am sticking to .308 Win. I have gallons of processed brass that is ready to load. I like .260 Win, but I don't want to deal with another caliber, i.e. dies, new bullet etc..

Thank you in advance to the TFL inmates..

[Bennyfatsack]

You've already got some nice rem 700, this ain't an ar10 but a very nice looking and performing .308 platform, take a look at the desert tactical scout, it's another bolt action but look at the you tube reviews, they look great. Out if my financial reach for a good while but I will own one.

[trigger643]

I have an Armalite AR10 Super SASS and a good friend of mine has an LWRC REPR, as well as a DPMS Panther LR-308.

These are the only .308 AR style rifles I've personal experience with.

The Panther LR-308 is a capable rifle with decent accuracy. With M118 it frequently provides groups of 1 MOA or slightly less.

The AR10 Super SASS is also quite capable with slightly better accuracy than the Panther, delivering consistent Sub 1 MOA groups with M118 or 168gr FGMM.

But the LWRC REPR, using the same ammunition, groups 0.75 MOA and less.

Once my LWRC arrives, I'll be selling my Armalite. ...Stay tuned...

[mtlucas0311]

Build it.

It doesn't matter if it's an AR 15 or AR 10, all the magic is in the barrel. I'd buy a complete lower then the upper receiver assembly and a bolt carrier. You can then buy the exact barrel/bolt you want and a free float tube, gas block and gas tube to match. If you've shot long range in the past you know the difference a high quality barrel (like a Krieger) makes over any factory barrel.

I was in the same position you were a year or so ago when my buddy asked me to find him an AR 10 in .243 for his son. What he wanted wasn't really available so I built it. By not buying into the designer manufacturers I saved him enough to hang a Geissele trigger in it. DPMS has all the parts readily and reasonably available.

Regards,
Mike

[Duzell]

starting my ar10 using the cmmg dpms style lower, as i just am to cheap to pay 3 k on a rifle i could build for half

[Bart B.]

The US Army Rifle Team used AR-10's in .308 Winchester to win the 1000-yard service rifle team match and set a record doing it. They chose the AR-10 because it had the best features to support accuracy and was able to convince the NRA to allow it to be used as as service rifle. Therefore, I suggest it be used as it's probably going to be your best choice. Check out the "New 1K Service Rifle Record" section in the following:

http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/...championships/

Whomever rebuilds it, get a Kreiger 1:11 twist 22 inch barrel with a .3075" groove diameter, or even a 1:12 twist 24 inch one if you will ever want to shoot at 1000 yards. Also, have its bolt face squared up with the chamber axis else reloads won't shoot too accurate. The US Army used hot handloads with Berger 185 VLD's with new cases so their out of square bolt faces were not a problem.

[Jimro]

The DPMS LR-308 with 24" stainless bull barrel is one of the better target rifles out there, although one guy I know complains about inconsistencies in barrel quality.

You could definitely do worse.

Jimro

[jehu]

Get the LWRC with 20" bbl.!

[codefour]

Thank you all for the replies. I already have a DPMS 308 stripped lower receiver I bought for a rainy day build. I have built other AR-15s at work and home. It cant be that hard.

I have never used Krieger barrels but I know many guys that have. I always used K&P )IIRC) barrels on my 700's. It will be cheaper to build a AR and have Krieger set the head space and have the bolt face squared. Does Krieger square the bolt face.

Who makes a good DPMS patterned Bolt Carrier Group and Bolt. Does the upper receiver housing really make that large of a difference.? All my AR experience with AR builds was with service grade patrol type rifles.

[TMD]

I currently own a Ruger SR762 and a LWRC REPR both have 16" barrels which is more than adequate for 400 yrd shooting. While the Ruger may be softer shooting the LWRC will hold .5 MOA with my hand loads. Not too many piston driven .308 AR's out there that will do that.
While the Ruger is only offered with a 16" barrel the LWRC offers several barrel lengths including a 20".

[DPI7800]

LaRue has a 20" offering in the OBR, which the USAMU has been cleaning up with in many sniper matches. The down side of LaRue is the customer service is the worst I have encountered anywhere, in any industry. So with that in mind the LWRC R.E.P.R. may be the way to go.

[tahunua001]

I would go with DPMS as they are the most affordable for what you're looking for and have a generally decent construction about them. remingtons are just rebranded DPMS with a camo dipping coating that peels off in slivers after a while, leaving a really ugly gun. bushmaster is also a DPMS with a name brand markup. I don't know much about other companies other than larue and Ruger are very expensive and armalite takes a different mag from everyone else so they are more spendy.

[mtlucas0311]

"Does Krieger square the bolt face"

http://www.kriegerbarrels.com/AR_10D...#AR-10/DPMS-LR

I do not see it specifically mentioned, but given the nature of the shooters who buy their barrels I would imagine they do everything they can to increase accuracy and consistency. You don't have to buy directly from Krieger, there are many places that sell their barrels ready to install. I usually buy mine from a gunsmith on commercial row at Perry. They always come with a matched bolt, so I've never had to do anything with them other than install them on the upper. I looked for his business card for a half hour last night but couldn't find it. He's always in the same building as White Oak, just inside the door as you walk in, he's a big advocate for gain twist barrels, and is into the 1000 yard matches. (I'm a bullseye and service rifle shooter so I max out at either 50 yards or 600) Perhaps one of the Perry regulars can recall his business name.

If you have a DPMS stripped lower I would buy DPMS for the rest. They're not like AR15's where just about every bodies stuff interchanges, there's enough variation between manufacturers to be a pain. I put a Geissele trigger in the one I built, no regrets there. One point the gunsmith I referenced above seemed to stress was the use of the thick walled upper for the 308's. I believe he found they made a difference (in accuracy) in the 308's, but not in the 5.56 rifles. They seem to be about the same price, but they may not be legal in some matches so I'd check into that if you're interested in competitions. I bought a standard DPMS bolt carrier, I see no real need for the fancy coatings that they're selling for big bucks. I haven't seen any abundance of them at Perry, and if they provided some advantage they would be there. I think it's just the new cool thing to do to closet rifles; maybe Bart B. has some insight on the topic.

Regards,
Mike

[tobnpr]

Any suggestions are appreciated. I have shot a friends DPMS SASS and it shot well but the barrel was 18 inches (too short). I liked the 26 inch bull barrel DPMS Target rifle in .308, but is it really that good? I don't mind paying for quality.

How good, is "really that good", to you?

Bought my son one last Xmas. Panther, RFLR-308; 26", SS bull barrel- the thing is a BEAST.
I'm a bit better with it than he is (cloverleafs at 100 yards), but he has no problem with hitting a 10" plate at 600 yards with boring regularity. So much so, that last time out he stretched it to 1000 yards- and while he didn't get any hits on the 10" plate (damn, that's small...), many of the splashes were within inches of it. For a $grand, it's an incredible value. We've got twice that much in it with mods and the optic, but still...

I would suggest replacing the trigger if you go that route. It pretty much sucks... I put in a JPFC-1.

We wanted the .260 but was not available, might still change out the barrel at some point (we have .260 "stuff"already) because it would be significantly better at 1000 yards. For your max range of 700, the .308 is plenty adequate.

[HiBC]

On squaring the bolt face:I agree a square bolt face is a good thing.No argument.

If you look at a Garand or M-14 bolt and receiever,and imagine the multiple machining operations,heat treat distortion,and surfaces difficult to fixture,the likelihood of something being out of square is high.

If you consider modern machining methods and the geometry of an AR bolt,

The bolt face,bolt body,and locking lugs would all be made on the same machine with one chucking.

A basic inspection setup would determine if the bolt face and locking lugs were square and parallel.variation here would surprise me.
A basic inspection would confirm the bore of the BCG was coaxial with the OD of the BCG.Pretty easy to keep this precise.

Likely you will buy the barrel assembled to the barrel extension.

I would think if you put the muzzle on a tailstock center,and the barrel extension in a collet or 4 jaw,then put an indicator on the barrel extension shoulder,you could confirm bore to extension perpendicularity.
If there was a problem,I'd contact my barrel mfgr.

Its also not so hard to inspect the face of an upper for squareness.

If a .0005 or .0001 test indicator tells you its good,its good.Lapping?Well,maybe...but starting with quality parts makes more sense.Why would an upper have an out of square face?Put a facing cut in the same operation that cuts the threads!

IMO,The AR system lends itself to assembling components manufactured with precision.Identifying and replacing a non-compliant part might beat lapping a bolt face.With good components,to hold production,massed produced assembled tolerances of less than .0004 across a bolt face is quite do-able

The older systems,intricate steel forgings,heat treat distortion,etc required blueprinting precision in the build.

Generally,there is the Armalite AR-10,and everything else.
I say that because there are little things that make the Armalite unique.(I'm not arguing better or worse,just different)

I do not know the current mag situation,but earlier AR-10's were developed when the Clinton ban made making high cap mag bodies a problem.Surplus M-14 mags were modified and used in the AR-10.The DPMS,and most others,use a scaled up AR-15 mag.

For whatever reason,a DPMS and AR upper/lower will not pin together and mix.

The Armalite barrel nut and forend do not interchange with DPMS.

I'm not sure,but the barrel extensions may be different.

BCG is different,and the Armalite bolt has a firing pin return spring.The DPMS does not.

My brother's AR-10 T with Kreiger 20 in fluted bbl is amazing.I won't claim an MOA value,as he shoots 3 shot groups.I have seen those fit the orange diamond on a sight in target at 600 yds.WW brass,no prep other than trim and deburr,Dillon production ammo with 168 gr Nosler Comps and Varget.

For an ultimate beast,I'd go Armalite.

I own a DPMS.Its an LR308L. 7.9 lbs.It shoots approx. 1 MOA + or -,probably more dependent on me.Plenty good for my purposes,and way cheaper.

[buckhorn_cortez]

After evaluating a number of AR10 style rifles, I ordered a Les Baer .308 Sniper with a 20-inch barrel.

Six hundred yard shots are relatively easy and I have shot 18-inch torso targets at 960 yards. The challenge becomes doping the crosswind between you and the target - the rifle is easily capable of doing that distance with repeatable results.

The downside to the rifle is that it is heavy. With the 3.5 - 25x, 50mm scope I use, it weighs just a little over 13 pounds. Because of the rifle's weight and with the Enforcer muzzle brake, the recoil is about .243 level making shooting it a real pleasure.

Les makes his own barrels, receivers, bolts, bolt carriers, gas blocks, etc.; and uses quality parts on things he doesn't make like a Geissele two-stage trigger and Magpul stock.

Mine came with two, 10 shot, 100 yard test targets shot and signed by Les Baer. The large group was 0.375 inches - meaning nearly a one hole group. The small group was 0.353 inches - another close to one hole group.

Not cheap. You have to wait for it to be built - but if you want a high performance AR10 it's hard to beat.

You can order the rifle with a barrel up to 24-inches in length. If you order it through Crazy John (1911 Heaven), you can get at less than list price.

[Unlicensed Dremel]

I'd go with a GAP (Georgia Precision), and definitely get said ".308" in .260 rem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoH0IytAFXw

http://www.gaprecision.net/ga-precis...n-gap-10-.html


But KAC (Knight's) are quite good too, as are others.

[mavracer]

I built my own around a DPMS SASS barrel and AERO receivers, I get plenty of velocity to reach 1000 I just have to use the right bullet, 700 would be a cake walk.
The DPMS heavy barrel would be a good choice but you'll want a better trigger soon.

[G.barnes]

Mavracer, how is the fit and finish of the aero receivers?

[Bart B.]

I'm not aware of any semiauto match grade riflesmith that squared up bolt faces. Which is why they've shot most accurate with new cases. None of the military team rifles had it done.

It's best to first square the receiver face with the tenon thread axis, then lap the bolt lugs to full contact, then square the bolt face before installing and headspacing the barrel. If your 'smith doesn't do that in order, don't expect best accuracy with fired cases from it to shoot as accurate as new ones. No sizing die made fixes out of square case heads made so when flattened by peak pressure against unsquare bolt faces.

[mavracer]

Mavracer, how is the fit and finish of the aero receivers?

Excellent, The onlt issue I have at all is the take down pin is tight, which I don't mind.