Jgun

Hey Edgecrusher, I noticed your post on being the first here to go with a PWS product. I'll give you that, but as far as I'm concerned PWS is an established company with a good rep. Now I may just be the last one to hear about Thor, but unless that's the case, I don't know if we're camparing apples to apples here. I think I'd be quicker to take a chance, sight unseen, on a PWS than I would on the Thor. I, personally, had great expectations for Kaiser and now I own an orphan.

I have relatives in Lviv Ukraine. Last time I was there I was led to understand that there were many restrictions to firearms ownership. I was also told that handguns were not available to the general public. Of course if your connected everything is available.

I've been hearing about the .338 Ruger compact magnum. I have yet to see the dimensions, but I'm told it will fit a large platform AR. I have not seen an AR in this caliber although I have seen the .338 federal in the AR, and I'm told that when a .308 AR is worn out in the throat. the barrel can be re chambered to .338 federal. Anyone know how the two differ? Is there factory brass available for the Ruger?

I wouldn't. Even if all of your uppers were chambered to the exact same depth (not likely) and the head space was adequate that you could safely shoot all of your uppers using the same bolt, your not considering the fact that machined parts that mesh (like gears) wear in such a way that they develop a close "fit" where the high spots wear off and the two parts fit together as a matched set. This is why you should mark duplicate parts in an engine when doing repairs and return all parts to their original locations to maintain that fit. It's almost like lapping. Your bolt lugs and barrel extension lugs will also develop that unique "fit" between the two parts. If your life depended on it, you might very well be able to swap BCG's to keep a gun running, but we're talking AR's here not AK's. At the very least I'd suggest that you get a dedicated bolt for each upper.

As previously stated, it may or may not, be a high quality rifle. The information provided by the company offers little further information than was provided by the first link you posted. It states that it's a 1 in 10 twist barrel, but doesn't say whether the barrel is a stainless or chromolly barrel or if the barrel is chome plated, or what brand blank is used. The receiver appears to be an Armalite pattern forged receiver, but that doesn't guarantee what magazines it's designed for. If you want to use the Magpul mags you need to find out if it will accommodate them. Maybe you can find a dealer that has one in stock locally and go there to examine it for yourself. $2400 is a lot of money to spend on a gun that you've never actually examined, or read any reviews on. If the company is making a good product they should be anxious to get them into the hands of testers in order to get some positive publicity. Maybe they can direct you to some third party evaluations/reviews on them?

Eotech 3X is SPF.

You know, we often decide to build a certain thing, car, motorcycle, gun or something else, going with a configuration that might be described as less than ideal. If your making a tool you want the most efficient, least complex, least expensive to make and operate system, but when building these things, sometimes we're driven be other factors, the need to make something unique, or maybe the challenge of making something work that others say is not possible. Now, we all know that the 5.56 setups have pretty much all been covered by now, it would be hard to come up with something that hasn't been tried. But, with the other cartridges you get the pleasure of experimenting somewhat, if that appeals to you. That being said, you have to know that the advantages of the 300BLK over the 7.62X39 really make it the logical choice. The only reasons I can think of for going with the AK rd might be the availability of surplus ammo, and possibly the gratification of being the only one at the range shooting a 7.62X39 AR. If you choose to go that route you just need to be willing to deal with the possible inherent problems with the conversion that Survivalshop mentioned, along with the fact(if I'm not mistaken) that you don't get as many rds in your mag with an AK cal AR.

If you want explore uncharted territory, You have to be prepared to take some risks, and maybe replace a few parts from time to time. That's the price of admission when you want to lead the way vs copying what others have already proven out. Look at it this way, when some member down the road asks if it's possible to build a short barreled piston operated midlength gas system 300BLK, You'll be able to answer the question from first hand experience. Who knows, it might turn out to be the sweet setup that gives you the best performance with the lowest recoil. I for one will be very interested to hear if you find it to be at all ammo sensitive. Good luck with it.

I have a Eotech 3X magnifier, on a Eotech marked, Samson FTS mount. It also has the ARMS quick release lever which allows you to take the magnifier off the FTS mount (which is NOT quick release) not sure what the idea was for that, maybe to allow moving the magnifier from one FTS mount on one gun to another FTS on a different gun? Anyway, as you can see in the picture, I have gone to a higher power magnifier behind my Eotech and the 3X is just sitting around. I don't think it's likely that my eyesight will improve, so if anyone is interested, I'll take $250 for it, plus shipping (should be able to go in a flat rate box) Magnifier for sale is the one NOT mounted on the upper.

The DD lite rail and Magpul PRS stock are good quality components, but how well the gun shoots will be largely determined by the quality of the barrel, BCG and how carefully they assemble them. Why don't you contact them and find out what barrels they use along with the bolt carrier group. You should also make sure that the rifle is of the configuration you prefer, either, Armalite pattern, or DPMS/ KAC. If it's not available in the pattern you want it won't matter how well it's made.

This is all going to be guessing, because the only 300BLK I've built so far is DI and has an 18" barrel and carbine gas system, but from what I've seen, I think the carbine gas system is your best bet if you want to be able to shoot all of the different weight bullets out of it, from the 110 AMax up to the 220 subsonics. I have read where people have had problems getting the big subsonics to cycle in some of the shorter guns. My barrel maker told me that he could tailor the barrel to shoot almost any weight bullet I wanted, by adjusting the size of the gas port in the barrel slightly, but once you do that you've limited yourself as to what your going to want to shoot out of it. If it were my build I'd definitely go carbine gas system. My 18" 300BLK has noticeably less recoil than my 14.5" mid length 5.56 gun, but I attribute that to the lightened BCG and adjustable gas block. I also realize that all this info comes from DI guns and your piston operating system will most likely act differently. If your having a barrel made for this build, why don't you just ask your barrel maker and go with his recommendation? I know if I had to do it without the input of someone that had already built one, I'd opt for the shorter system just to be sure i had a gun that would function reliably.

I took a look at those AXTS lowers, very nice, but $429 for a stripped 5.56 lower (which is what I'm interested in) is kind of out there. Hopefully it will come down in price once it's been out for a while. I do like that it's marked multi instead of 5.56.

Based on your experience with the Fulton barrel/YHM FH combo, I guess the YHM FH must be 3". Since your giving it to ADCO with the instructions that it be 16" finished, my concern was probably unnecessary. As far as tough, light rails go, I like the DD Lite series rails. Their a little pricey but I have found that they're a couple of oz. lighter than most of the comparable rails, have a narrow width (at least the AR 15's) and the bolt up is rock solid. The Larue rail also has an excellent mounting design, but isn't DPMS thread compatible. The Christensen is still a question mark for me, as I haven't had a chance to handle one, but the idea of the actual rails being made of carbon fiber is something that I'll need to try out for myself before I'm sold. The other rail question that comes to mind, If your planning to run a can, do you intend to have an adjustable GB like the switch block? If so your going to have to make sure the rail length will be compatible to give access to the GB adjustment.

I would have to agree that the 300BLK would IMO make a better CQB SBR cartridge than the 7.62X51. The 300 shoots the same projectile as the .308, out of a lighter platform and the ballistics and powder charge seem to be better suited for effective use at closer range. I think that as you continue to make the .308 barrel shorter your ending up with more and more powder that doesn't have enough barrel to impart energy to the bullet. That being said there will always be people that want to take things to the limit. I know that Noveske sells the 12.5" Leonidas barrel (neat video of it in action on their site) so I guess there are some applications where it has a practical use. I don't know what the length of the YHM suppressor mount is but I would think that if you'd prefer not to go for the tax stamp and your going to end up with a 16" minimum barrel length anyway, you should go with as much barrel as possible to give you the best ballistic performance you can get within your desired 16" restriction. I used the Noveske 14.5" Afghan barrel and mounted the BABC 2.5" MB on it. with the thread overlap I ended up with a just under 16.5" barrel length. If the YHM FH/mount is 2.5" or less you may end up being a little shy of 16" with a 13.5" barrel once you take the barrel thread overlap into account. By the way, My 14.5" fluted barreled, carbine with the 14" Noveske rail and ACE Hammer stock is not very light. I'm thinking that if lightness is a priority, you may want to consider a lighter/shorter handguard setup, a lighter barrel profile than the Noveske and definitely a lighter butt stock. The CTR is the lightest adjustable stock I've weighed.

I'd be inclined to skip the carbon wrapped barrel on a SBR or even a 14.5" barrel with pinned brake. In my experience you don't save all that much weight over a steel barrel, maybe fluted if you want to get fancy. I have an 18" carbon wrapped barrel that weighs, I think, one pound less the the fluted 14.5" Noveske Afghan barrel. If you've got the cash to spare, then by all means buy the lightest parts and don't even consider price. You could even go with the Christensen carbine length handguard and then you probably would feel the difference, but if your only going to save around 1 lb going CF for the barrel, i think you'd do better to just go with a good quality steel barrel at around 1/2 the price of the CF wrapped. I think the CF barrels really start to make sense when your getting into the longer, or bull profile barrels. Sure wish I could get in on the SBR/suppressor fun.

I had not replied to this post prior to now because since I've never owned the Aimpoint, I couldn't offer a preference for you. I do have the XPS and magnifier on one of my guns and think it's a good set up. I have never found the FTS mount visually annoying. I like the big window of the XPS, and as already stated above, the dot w circle is good for rapid sight acquisition. I switched from the 3X Eotech magnifier because I wanted more magnification, with the higher power the Eotech reticle gets BIG in the widow, but I didn't find it to be a problem with the 3X. I have found that using two independent optics instead of the piggybacked magnifier, allows me to zero to 2 different ranges, which is helpful with the 300 BLK, but maybe less so with .223.

I don't know what your barrel OD is as far as GB compatability goes, but I think JP makes a railed adjustable GB. Since you have the barrel in your possesion, If you check their website you should be able to tell if they have one thats compatable with your barrel/application.

That's one of the beauties of the 300 BLK in an AR, the only proprietary part is the barrel. I've never shot the 6.8, but from what I understand, it is ballistically superior to the BLK out past 250 yds, but, for me, I think the the commonality of components between the 5.56mm and the 300 BLK in the AR platform just make it so much more economical for me to own, and be able to shoot regularly instead of just once in a while. Maybe not as cheap as shooting .223 but certainly cheaper than 6.8.

If the actual receiver set turns out to be true to the CAD rendering, this will be a beautiful set, very streamlined but with That angular look that I really like. If I didn't already have my POF set for my next one, based on their reputation for making a quality product, and the rendering and appearance of the prototype, this would be the one I'd be building on next. Not that there's a single bad thing I can say about the MA TEN set, just that I'd like to build something that didn't look the same, twice. I am betting that this set will cost a good deal more than the MA Ten, especially with Branson's group buy. Maybe we need a group buy for these when they become available, as well?

Like Imshur says, the DPMS is a known product, disregarding the chrome plating, you can be reasonably certain that it will function for you, the other one may work fine, and if so would be a good deal. The question is, do you want to be the Guinea pig to find out for the rest of us? The first day you take your new build to the range your going to want it to function 100% and if your bargain BCG of unknown origin gives you any trouble that $60 savings isn't going to seem like such a good deal. I'm thinking that's the kind of part you test in a gun that you know to be good and then if it passes the test you get another as a spare. The other question is , would you want to send that bolt to a barrel maker to headspace to your barrel?

this is the barrel on my 7.62 Mega. As you can see it's described as 7.62 carbine gas system, but I can assure you the gas block is located where I said. noveskerifleworks.com/cgi-bin/imcart/display.cgi?item_id=b-145-762&cat=160&page=1&search=&since=&status= and this is the 5.56 Afghan barrel. as you can see it's described as being mid length. noveskerifleworks.com/cgi-bin/imcart/display.cgi?item_id=b-145-556&cat=158&page=1&search=&since=&status=

It's just another example of why building the .308 AR's is so much more "interesting" than building the 5.56 guns because of there being no industry standard for them.

here's where things always get confusing to me. The way it was explained to me when I first started building .308 instead of 5.56, was that 5.56 mid length was considered 7.62 carbine. The reason that I describe the Noveske 7.62 cal 14.5 " Afghan barrel as carbine length is because that is what they call it on their website. I also have a 5.56 cal 14.5" Noveske Afghan barrel on another gun and as far as I know Noveske describes that as a mid length gas system (7.5" being 5.56 carbine length) That was why I was saying that I was unaware of a mid length gas setup for 7.62. If I go by their specs and call 9.4" carbine length for the 7.62 then a 5.56 carbine gb location would have to be considered Pistol or SBR for the 7.62 cal. Obviously what really matters is getting it straight with your barrel maker (if having a custom barrel made) so he puts the port and GB mounting dia in the right place for you. I always wonder about whether you could cut down/modify the gas tube to locate it where you wanted, because that seems to be the thing that limits us as to where we can locate them, (fitting one of the standard gas tube lengths).

Just for my information, If 9.4" is cabine on a 7.62 gun anf 12.750" is rifle length, what is the location of the back of the GB on a mid length gas system?

I don't know how the different barrel makers decide gas block locations, so this may not apply for other brand barrels. I have a Noveske 7.62 Afghan barrel on one of my guns. Noveske discribes this as a barrel with a carbine gas system. The distance from the font of the receiver to the back of the gas block is around 9.400" , which puts the front of the gas block at 10.400" assuming your using a 1" GB and not one of those long GB's. the 1" GB would be covered by a true 11" long rail with approx 1/2" to spare. The rifle length GB for the 7.62 is approx. 12.725" from the recceiver to the back of the GB so you'd need a 14" rail to cover that. I know that Armalite has a different length (by about .250") but I don't know of any other standard gas block locations in between those two, so I guess your looking at a carbine gas system if you want the GB covered by your 11" rail.