Jgun

Why can't you reload for an AR-10?

Although not technically a SBR because it's got a 14.5" Noveske Afghan barrel with fixed brake, my MA TEN groups sub MOA at 100 yds, off the bench with match ammo. Never tried it at 200. Mine is the second one pictured in the thread. http://308ar.com/forum/mega-arms/lets-see-your-ma-ten-builds/

Sorry to hear that you've decided not to take the plunge and build one yourself, Hope we didn't scare you off. There are certainly many quality .308 AR's to chose from these days. I think that the only reason to build one yourself would be if you would get pleasure from the process of actually doing it yourself, or if you want it spec ed out in a way not commercially offered. I'm not sure that you really save any money, maybe just get a better appointed gun for equal money. I think it's kind of like the difference between someone that would choose spend a certain amount of money to build a custom car/MC instead of going into a dealership and spending an equal amount to buy a car, that may or may not be better, but is, at least when you buy it, not unique from that model bought by anyone else.

Looks like a fun day, must say I'm jealous. I think you may be surprised by your .45 carbine. I have shot my Kriss, and a friends .45acp AR (16" Olympic Arms heavy barrel upper, CNC Gunsmithing lower) at 12"steel plates at 75yds (never at paper targets) both with unmagnified red dot sights, and if the gun's zeroed for the range, you can ring the steel continually, offhand. I've found them to be surprisingly accurate at 75, never tried mine out to 100 though. You'll have to let us know what yours does at long range when you find the time to try it.

I have no knowledge of the legal end of it so can offer nothing in regard to the trust, but personally, I would want to use a lathe to thread a barrel for use with a suppressor. For safety reasons as well as function/accuracy reasons, concentricity is extremely important when mounting a suppressor. Just out of curiosity, how do you plan to turn down the end of the barrel to the appropriate major dia for the thread? Please post your results with regard to the trust. I'm sure there are many here that would find the information invaluable.

I'm sure that I'm showing my ignorance here, but since I have not handled one of these Mega monolithic uppers, I'm going by the descriptions furnished by the other posters. When I suggested that you might have to modify the bottom of the rail for access to the clamping screws on the YHM (or other) gas blocks that are being discussed, I was thinking that the four clamping screws that I see, that are mounted to the left and right of the barrel centerline on the pictured YHM gas block, are unlikely to line up with the slots that are routinely located along the centerline on the bottom of most rails to allow you to tighten the two set screws that many of the low pro gas blocks have on the bottom. If you're unable to angle your allen wrench to reach those clamp screws, you might be forced to make some other access holes if you elect to go that route. Regarding the welding of the BABC on after the barrel, gas tube, gas block are mounted, that doesn't provide a practical means of replacing the gas tube (should it become necessary) without grinding off the weld to remove the muzzle brake, unless there is enough room between the front of the rail and the back of the BABC to slide the GB forward to get access to drive out the roll pin retaining the gas tube in the gas block does it?

Anyone handled one of these? I wonder if they'll ever offer one for the large platform guns? I have an idea there will be a LOT of interesting things showing up in the next few weeks, after SHOT. http://i718.photobucket.com/albums/ww189/wjt1169/seekins%20mono%20setups/3gun-TAR-loading01-B3-1024.jpg

What are you thinking about for the other components (barrel, handguard, stock) ?

When I assembled my Kaiser gun, I remember being surprised that I could actually feel the difference in weight between the Kaiser receiver set and the MA TEN set I had on hand at the time. I remember asking Greg (the owner of Kaiser) about it and he claimed that his receiver set was the lightest billit set available at that time. I seem to recall that the difference between the two sets was something like 4-5oz. My opinion (based on no documented testing) is that the thinner walled upper receivers (like the Kaiser) may be able to flex a little more than a heavier walled upper. I'm thinking bench rest bolt action receiver vs hunting rifle receiver, I realize that in an AR the barrel extension actually mates to the bolt, unlike a bolt action, but I think that a heavier walled receiver "may" be capable of being more accurate than a thinner walled, all other things being equal. I just weighed the billit POF rec set that I have on hand at the moment and it weighs 1lb 12oz. using a kitchen scale. Any chance your receiver is still stripped Robocop? If so maybe you could give us a weight?

pictured from left to right, 125gr Speer TNT, 125gr SMK, 155gr Lapua Scenar, 175gr SMK, and 210gr SMK. If you decide to try out the 125gr SMK's we'll have to compare results.

I tried out the crimp die in my press and it's so simple that even I can do it. no moving parts for you to adjust, the instructions say to raise the ram, bottom out the die against the shell plate in the raised position, lower the ram and then adjust the die down 1/2 turn. The crimp is created by the shell plate putting pressure on the bottom of the crimp die which in turn squeezes the four die "fingers" creating the crimp. pretty neat actually. I am going to use it more for added insurance than anything else, I've had no indications of bullet set back, but think it's a good idea for me considering how shallow I'm seating my bullets. I'll take some pics of the bullets I'm testing and try to post them later.

I want one!!!!!

these are the kind of things that I usually obsess over while putting something together, when I don't have the luxury of just duplicating a rifle that I've already seen. I haven't put one of the monolithic uppers together, so I'm just suggesting this as something else you need to be sure of. I don't know which length upper your going to be using, but if your planning to have a long (12" ?) rail, with that -14" barrel you mentioned, your going to have a shorter gas system with a gas block that will be covered by the rail. Now I know from some of the ones I've built, that there is often access on the bottom to tighten the setscrews of the bottom of the gas block (as mentioned by Robocop), but if you should elect to go with the two piece gas block, you may need to cut some type of access holes to tighten it in place, depending on how the GB is designed. As adviced by 98, I think you'd be smart to give Mega a call and ask the tech, if it's feasible to do it. Your State restrictions, may just make the mono upper a poor choice for you. It might be that you would do better with a rail that can be removed to access the barrel nut from the side to be able to remove the barrel from the upper with the gas block and brake still attached.

Your going to have to post pictures of the barrel and the other new components, before it all goes together, This Will be fun to watch.....

My 125 SMK's showed up today, along with a Lee 300BLK factory crimp die. I just did a quick check, and the extended length of the MK's works out so that when seated to the same depth as the 125gr Speer TNT's that I tested, the SMK is just about .050" from the lead of the rifling, while still fitting in the Pmag. Next chance I get, I'm going to load them up with a little more powder and see what happens. I'd also like to try out the factory crimp die, but I'm not 100% sure how to tell when I've got enough, but not too much, crimp. It seems as though there is no adjustment to the die, only the height in which it's set in the press. Any of you guys try these type of dies before?

300BLK seems to conspicuously absent among the cartridges that the manufacturer reccommends this powder for. I think I'll give them a call to see if there's any reason for that. If I find out anything useful, I'll post it.

If I'm getting it right, because of your state requirement, and the proprietary tool that you need to use with the Mega mono setup, The way I figure it, You have to tighten the barrel first, and can't have the GB on there (even loose), or the barrel nut wrench won't fit, so, after you tighten the bare barrel on the upper, You could then install your gas block and gas tube, and finally, you could have the muzzle brake pinned/welded on after the other parts are in place. If you ever needed to replace the gas tube you should be able to loosen and move the gas block forward without removing the muzzle device. The only hitch comes if you decide you want to remove the barrel, then your going to have to remove the muzzle device to take the gas block off to use the barrel nut wrench. By the way, this might not apply to the BABC because it's not too large in dia, but you might have to remove your muzzle device anyway, even if using a two piece gas block, if the barrel nut wrench doesn't slip over the OD of your chosen muzzle device.

I had mistakenly thought that the ballistic tipped bullets were generally more expensive than the non tipped. I just took a look at the Noslers on Midway's site and see that they are comparable in price to the 125 SMK's. Although I noted in the G&A load data that the 125 Nosler's were faster than the other's, none of the bullets listed, came close to the 2550 fps I'm currently pushing the Speer TNT's to. I'm not positive because they haven't arrived from Midway yet, but I believe that the 125gr SMK's are flat bottoms and don't share the boattail configuration of the 135,150,155,168, and 175gr SMK's. If I can't push the 125 SMK's to 2600, I'll try the 125gr Nosler's and the 135gr SMK's. Thanks for the advice.

I just came across this today. I think he's a member here. I don't see it on his sight yet so you might have to PM him if you think it serves your purpose better thanthe other options that we've listed. http://m14forum.com/modern-m14/107607-new-product-your-dual-purpose-modern-m14.html

I keep getting conflicting opinions regarding the superiority of boat tail vs flat bottoms. I was able to make major PF with plenty of margin, using the 145gr boat tails and 20gr of powder. What I have found when going from the 145gr BT's to the Speer 125gr FB's is that the extra powder needed to get the 2600 fps I would need for PF requires me to load the bullet very shallow in the case (to leave more room in the case for powder). I would not be able to use a BT bullet seated that shallow. The only reason for trying the SMK's over the Speers, is that the match kings are a longer bullet and will load with the bullet ogive closer to the lead of the rifling, hopefully giving better accuracy. I plan to try increasing the powder charge one grain, loaded behind the the SMK's. If this doesn't get me 325 PF I will start testing some 130/135's.

My experience in mounting a compact HWS like a Doctor, Cmore STS, or Aimpoint T1, not something as big as an EOTECH, is that Your doing it for fast acquisition of close in targets. I have tried using the YHM 45 degree riser, and it didn't locate the window of the HWS in a good position to use the sight while maintaining good cheek weld. I have not tried one of those mounts that attach the HWS directly to the scopes tube so can't comment on how well they locate it in that regard. I made my own mount that locates the HWS in the same place as this mount, and have found that it works very well for me. In that location all that is needed is to roll the gun slightly between the primary optic and the HWS in order to go from engaging long and short targets. I'm not sure if you will be able to use a tube mounted HWS without having to reset your cheek position on the stock when transitioning back and forth between the two optics. www.predatortactical.com/Burkett-Off-Set-Mount-c22

I just took a closer look at the two pics you posted. In the first one from model 1 Sales, I see that the "Dissipater" barrels that they have pictured, have the front handguard retainer, but I'm not familiar with the Magpul MOE handguard, does that also make use of the front handguard retainer? What I'm wondering is, would there be any reason, other than looks, for mounting an A2 front sight to your barrel if you intended to use a freefloat handguard and weren't planning to make use of the factory style front handguard retainer? does the A2 front sight, mounted to the barrel, offer any advantages over a non folding front sight mounted to the front of an extended ff rail?

I hadn't taken the pins into account. As you say, boring the sight out from .625" to .710" wouldnt be hard, and going in with an endmill and then reaming the holes to take pins would also be doable, but once you do, your stuck with that setup, unless you don't mind having the two crescent shaped grooves on the bottom of your barrel showing if you ever decided to remove it and go back to a set of BUIS on your upper/rail. It does look good though. I was looking at some sights online, and Vltor has a flip up front sight that comes out of a short pic rail section that bolts to the barrel, of course it doesn't have the classic look of an A2 front sight.

Thanks edgecrusher, I just got back from the local smoke shop and they've got the Jan. G&A on sale, so I guess I missed my chance to pick up a copy.

Anyone know what the ID is on the A2 front sight? It would seem that it ahould be pretty easy to set up any barrel for this setup as long as the OD of the barrel matched the ID of the A2 sight or was close enough so you could bore the sight out, or use bushings if it was bigger than the barrel.