Jgun

I've been looking at different calibers for my next large frame AR build, and although I initially liked the idea of trying one of the more "exotic" long range calibers, If I'm honest about what I'm likely to be doing with this gun, the 6.5 cals that are favored by the bench rest shooters, are probably more specialized than I need. I have considered the .260 but once again, I find myself leaning towards .308. I really don't have anyplace nearby that I can shoot 800-1000m and for some reason most of those smaller dia rds just don't appeal to me as much as 30 cal. Anyway, I've been looking at .308 barrels, and I'd like to have a 22" if I could choose, but I'm seeing that Rainier is offering their Ultramatch in a 24" length for $400. that sounds like a pretty decent price for an off the shelf barrel, but, since my goal is maximum accuracy, I'm wondering how much potential accuracy I might be giving away with an off the shelf barrel vs a custom chambered barrel. I know the Lothar, and Krieger barrels are good choices, but will cost more and probably take quite a while to get, although I could then get my prefered 22" length. I'd be interested in any advice or guidance that you other members could offer to help me to make the right choice here as far as a barrel, and if anyone can offer any reason why I'd be batter off with a different cal for my intended goal of long range (not really long) max accuracy shooting either prone or off the bench. Thanks in advance for any help.

My PRS is on it's way. And MAYBE someday my JAE stock will ship.

Since they're listed as out of stock, does that mean they sold 300 already? And yes, large and small platform AR's use fifferent charging handles, along with different bolt catch and I think mag release. As far as I know, trigger (size) and selector are the same for both platforms.

What type of bike is the top one with the fancy paint job? Is that an actual police dept bike, I don't see anything identifying what state/city. Those look like aftermarket rotors on the front, looks like someone spared no expense on that one.

If you win the auction, Let me know if your interested in parting with that 50 barrel. Good luck!!!

I'm guessing the PRI LR308 wrench would be for a DPMS type barrel nut. It sounds as though you need the PRI AR10 barrel nut wrench, which apparantly also fits AR 15 barrel nuts, Since you ordered it from Midway, can you exchange it with them for the AR 10 wrench?

Thats how my Apex AR 15 ff tube is designed, I haven't installed an Apex .308 handguard. And as you say, if the PRI AR 10 wrench fits the AR 15 barrel nut I have, it would be logical to assume that an AR 15 barrel nut wrench should fit the AR 10 nut as well.

OK, so I take a walk out to the shop, and within a minute, I found the PRI wrench sitting on the shelf, That would never happen if I were looking for it to install a barrel. I'd be searching for two hours before giving up and ordering a new one. Anyway, the wrench that I have in my hand has 5 pins located symmetrically on one side and is marked AR 10 on that side, and has 4 pins located asymmetrically on the other side. there are no other markings on the wrench, but the side with the 5 pins fits the AR 15 nut that I have on hand, so maybe the AR 10 and AR 15 nuts use the same wrench? It's my guess that the wrench I have on hand is the Armalite combo I listed above, I'd suggest that you contact PRI before ordering, just to verify that my info is accurate. Hope thats of some help.

I have the PRI wrench that I bought to install a Larue rail, which is Armalite pattern, on a .308 upper (Kaiser) and was then supprised to find that it also fit the reg AR 15 barrel nut that Apex uses for their AR 15 handguards. It has pins on opposite sides so it fit's both. I'll see if I can find it to see if it's marked so I can tell you which it is, but you should be able to call PRI and ask which one it is, maybe the Armalite combo #03-0085C ? If i can find it and it's marked I'll post the part #.

I thought I'd like to run one of Slashes Xheavy carbine buffers and spring even though I'm going with the PRS, for reasons of commonality of parts with all of my CTR stocked .308 AR's. I've actually never used a rifle length buffer, tube,or spring on any AR I've built. Does anyone believe that there is any function advantage to the rifle buffer and spring vs the Xheavy carbine buffer and spring?

Just curious, are you able to build an AR pistol in your state (don't they require pistol marked lowers) and then convert it to an SBR? Or are you talking about going with a different lower if you SBR it? I was told that in my state (no SBR's for civilians) I could register an AR as a pistol (no stock, but pistol marked lower not needed) and have it added to my pistol license, but it's a one way trip, once declared a pistol, I can't convert it back to a rifle.

I've heard that after the barrel, a good trigger is pobably the next most important component in your being able to get the best possible groups, with quality match ammo probably next in line.

Got it, I've ordered a .308 PRS stock so I won't need to modify the cheek riser. From what I'm getting from your last post, all I need is the buffer tube to be able to use the rifle length buffer, but if I'd like to go with a carbine buffer and spring, I'll need the spacer for the inside, correct?

I forgot to address the skill required to build an accurate M1A. Although I'm just now getting started there definitely seems to be more more mystery in making an M!A shoot well as compared to the AR's, and the limitations on the max barrel dia in front of the gas cylinder , along with the difficulty in freefloating it, certainly seems to make fine tuning the barrel harmonics, along with specific loads for your setup, more important than it is with the AR platform. Good luck with your build, and, as I'm sure you know from your AR 15 experience, a high quality barrel will go a long way to getting you the best accuracy attainable from your build.

Yes, a good analogy. Probably why I find myself attracted to them. I already like the 1911's and HD's in spite of what some say is their outdated design. considering the popularity of both, I guess I'm not alone. I must admit, I'm finding that the situation with the M14's is a little different than with the others. It seems as though the aftermarket hasn't caught up with the increasing interest in the M1A's. The GI parts have gone through the roof price wise and there aren't that many options for quality aftermarket parts yet, but I've seen a number of new parts being introduced, especially modern chassis type stocks, so hopefully, they'll start to become more reasonable to put together in the future.

Forgot to mention in my last post, everything I said applies only if your trying to build an accurate gun to serve a purpose, without any emotional component involved in the decision. if Your one of the M14/M1A faithful, none of that applies because your not going to be satisfied with anything else, and none of the, shall we say, idiosyncracies of the design will bother to you.

I'm putting together my first M1A, 22" not a scout build, but in my limited experience up to this point, an M1A "build" vs buying a new or used Springfield Armory rifle, will run substantially more than an AR build, especially if your trying to build it with USGI parts. The M1A receivers run anywhere from around $600/$700 on the low end to over $1000 on the high. I'm not aware of any large platform AR receiver sets that are $1K. you need to buy a rail or FF tube for the AR but you need a stock for the M1A. I think when I'm finished with my M1A build it will have cost me close to twice what I've put .308 AR's together for. I'm not sure about the accuracy, but most people I know say the AR's outshoot the M1A's (I'm hoping to prove them wrong) I'd definitely say an AR is the way to go if your on a budget, unless you've got friends with M1A experience and parts, to walk you through it and help with the build.

The NIB is supposed to be an excellent finish that is said to improve the function and wear resistance of your gun. I remember reading somewhere where a builder wient with a TIN coated BCG and ran into problems with excellerated wear on his hammer because the carrier was harder and wore it out when it reset the trigger during cycling. I don't know if NIB has properties like that, but as far as I know they say it increases the smoothness of the action, decreases wear, and reduces the need to lubricate the action. All good things, I think that if you went for it and decided it was too flashy for you you could always have the outside cerakoted and still have all the functional benefits. I had a friend that had his 1911 competition gun NIB plated, and I found that it felt very slippery, and made fast racking of the slide difficult, but a slippery finish on the receiver of an AR receiver probably wouldn't give as much trouble as it was on the 1911.

I might opt to go with the block, just to keep all of the buffers and springs in my .308's the same. I always like the idea of being able to swap parts between guns in a pinch if I need to to keep a gun running until I can order the replacement part. The reason I was asking is because, if I can use either AR 15 or AR10 PRS stocks, it increases my chances of finding a used one at a good price.

If I'm getting this right, your saying that aside from the cheek piece of the .308 version being shorter in the front to accomidate the longer stroke of the .308 charging handle, they are identical, is that correct? I remember seeing a post where someone was showing how he cut the cheek riser in the front for CH clearance. I just wasn't sure if they used different buffer tubes and internals, Don't the PRS stocks require A2 buffer tubes and rifle buffers? are the large and small platform parts the same in this regard?

Maybe someone can remind me, I seem to recall that the AR 15 PRS stock is supposed to fit the large plaform guns, but that some modification is needed. Does it use a different buffer tube, buffer and spring than the large platform version? Don't you have to trim the cheek riser or something, for charging handle clearance?

On the other hand, the maintreaming of much of this technology, is making it possible for the home shop machinist to do things that were unimaginable a few years ago. You now can get inexpensive (relatively) 3 axis bench top cnc mills that, with the use of your PC, make it feasible for the motivated hobbyest to turn out pretty sophisticated small parts if he's so inclined.

The technology already exists, they are using it to make very expensive and large aircraft parts out of titanium. bypassing the expensive forging process. the material is deposited in a vacuum chamber so no contaminints are introduced. It doesn't presently turn out a close tolerance finished part, just makes it unnessecarry to make a forging first. If your interested there's an interesting article on the process in the current issue of modern machine shop. Its callaed ultrasonic additive manufacturing and you can get further info on it at mmsonline.com

Yeah, I like these SWS rails. I've got two of them now, and my go for another on my 14.5" 300 upper (whenever I commit). I'll tell you this, although the Apex I have is the small platform one, and my SWS rails are all large platform, I'd say that in general the Apex are lighter, and of course more versitile with the ability to add and remove the rails. I'd love to try the reach setup, as far as I knew KMT was no more, but I'm going to follow up on the contact info you posted, thanks for the heads up. On another unrelated topic, I spoke to LOKI the other day. I was asking about their collapsing stock, the one that appears similar to the Honey badger stock, but LOKi's will fit on a standard AR instead of requiring a proprietary lower receiver. He told me that all they are producing right now are going for complete builds to fill contracts, but once they are caught up, they hope to start selling them individually to the civilian market. That looks like something I'm going to be trying out for sure.

I'm not really sure when this will be finished, or even what cal to go with. but in a weak moment I ordered the hanguard I plan to use. In all of the large platform builds that I've done for myself, I've never built one as a dedicated long range gun, so this one will be that. I saw a picture of a FDE gun built using a Kaiser receiver set along with this handguard (modified for the REACH side charging system) and liked the way it looked, so I'm copying that gun (more or less). So now I'm in search of a PRS stock, anybody know where I can find one cheap?