Jgun

I thought I'd expand on what I last posted. As stated, I have a Dillon XL650, which was my first loader and purchased to load large quantities of pistol ammo for competition. It is a great machine and I don't regret for a minute buying it. I have yet to load anything other than pistol cals on it. I ended up with the Lee single stage as a gift, I certainly don't think it would be my choice if I were going out to buy a new single stage with loading for rifle cals in mind. The Lee has an 812" dia ram compared to the Dillon's 1.5" ram. Of course, the Lee only has the resistance of one action taking place on each upstroke while the progressive is sizing/depriming, priming, flaring/charging, seating, and crimping at 5 different stations simultaneously, so there is much more resistance felt loading 9mm on the progressive than I encounter forming and loading 300 BLK on the Lee. That being said, I'd consider the Lee aluminum to be "adequate" for loading pistol cartridges, but not ideal for rifle. I have not done any precision loading for 7.62 but expect to for my planned M1A. As far as coming to love loading, I'm still waiting for that to happen but it seems that for making specific loadings for what we're trying to do with these guns, there is no alternative. I have yet to see any kind of financial savings from loading, just the ability to get ammo matched to my gun/planned use with oal matched to my chamber. Something I can't buy anywhere. I am following your thread with great interest because, although I have the other tools I need, I will eventually be needing to purchase a heavier single stage myself in the future and just as you, I don't wish to buy more press than I need. IMO, You have two choices, either purchase a loading "kit" that will have everything you need (but not the highest quality components) and you'll be on your way to educating yourself to what loading is all about, and then upgrading as you go when the limitations of certain components start to hold you back, and you've become more knowledgeable so are better able to judge what is what as far as quality and price go, or you can wait, and either buy a component at a time, or save until you can afford to buy a higher end "kit". I, personally, was not interested in loading, and put it off as long as possible, and now regret that I didn't start sooner. Because as we all know, there's no substitute for experience, of which I need to gain much more.

I inherited that exact Lee press from a friend who had decided to stop loading. I have never tried loading .308 or anything larger on it. I have been using it for my 300 load development, but as weaponizer points out, it's not the beefiest thing out there. I find it up to the task for the 300 and probably would be OK for .223, but I can see where it might not be your best bet for larger rifle calibers. So if your buying it with the idea of loading for everything your building you might be disappointed. The beauty of the lee setup you posted, is that it is complete with most of what you need to get started. It might be a good "learner" set up for you, and then you can upgrade individual components as you can afford it, or come across good deals. I have not compared prices, but I doubt you can duplicate all those components individually for the price Midway is selling it for.

When I commented on the plastic mags I was referring to my application. On my Saga I have an after market mag well installed. This requires that the mags be modified by removing the front tab that locks the front of the mag into the receiver. The mod makes it possible to (at least for me) make faster mag changes, and have the mags drop free as soon as you hit the mag release button. The down side of this is that the mags are not locked in quite as securely as with the factory set up. I don't know this for sure, because I haven't even handled one of these guns yet, but I'm guessing that the AKDEL would be easier to modify for drop free mags and rapid mag changes without compromising the security of the mag retention, just like the AR 15 (if it doesn't work right out of the box). I don't know what state your in, but as far as I know they are on sale as we speak, I see them listed on Gunbroker, and I have heard nothing about them being restricted (YET) . Depending where you are the HC mags could be an issue, but I was really just addressing the possible benefits of the design, especially for anyone that needs to switch from AR to shotgun and back quickly and often, (LE, Military,3 gun competitors). I already have a sizable investment in my Saiga, and even if this thing takes off, I don't expect to switch to the AKDEL for shotgun competition, but as I previously stated, the introduction of another well designed, box fed semi 12 ga is a good thing for us, choices are good, and it ought to have the side effect of bringing the price of the Saiga's back down to a reasonable level.

I think you will be doing yourself a favor to buy yourself an inexpensive single stage, in order to get your load development done, should cost you under $100. and then you can also go for the Dillon for loading in volume after you've got your load down. after all, the dies are going to be usable for both, you need some sort of scale anyway, so the only thing specific to each would be the actual press and a powder drop. I personally like the 650 over the 550 because of the auto indexing. I had considered the 1050 but the caliber conversions and shell plates make switching calibers noticeably more expensive on the big machine, besides which I've been told that switching calibers takes longer on the big one as well.

Sounds like you've at least got a plan, not yet for me. I'm thinking I'll just buy parts as I come across something that gets me excited (like the upper) and see where the build takes me. I look forward to seeing pictures of your build posted here. Good luck with it!

Latest update I see on these is that Tony Rumore (Tromix) is working on them, and another well known builder is working on high cap mags for them. They have a couple of things going for them, they share ergonomics and most controls with the AR rifle (except for the charging handle) so you should be able to jump back and forth between the AR and shotgun pretty seamlessly, and unlike the Saiga's, they use steel mags. People are saying that these things are going to blow the Saiga's out of the water for 3 Gun once the high cap mags become available. I can see that happening, IF they run. The up side of that is that the price of the Saiga's should come back down to where it belongs if there is another , maybe better, option out there.

I was just addressing 98's statement about being so close to going for the Barrett .338 which, I didn't realize when I originally made the post about buying a Barrett, is also a bolt gun. And I'm not trying to be a stickler for accuracy here, was just kidding about it being an AR, but if your really going to be accurate the guns we all call AR's are just copies of the Stoner design which was given the AR designation for Armalite Rifle. So, as has been mentioned of the forum before, the only "real" AR would have to come from Armalite, and the number designation after AR indicates which Armalite rifle it is. So, the AR 30 although a bolt gun, is actually an AR while all of our semi auto Armalite clones are not. I don't want any one here to think I'd seriously argue this point on the forum, just kidding around about it is all.

This is also an option for a .338 LM and is, technically, an AR www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=246006425

If they're selling the complete gun for 5K, I'm guessing, your going to at the minimum, need their upper and lower, their mags, their bolt, and then you have to get the appropriate barrel, with correct extension (if it's different than a 7.62 extension), you will need a gas system tuned to the cartridge. I doubt you can call any of the big barrel makers and ask them to make this barrel, they won't know what size gas port to drill in the barrel. Your experience with 220 subsonic in the 300 should give you some idea what could happen if you don't get it right. Even if you could get them to sell you those parts separate from a complete gun, (doubtful) I'd bet your going to be looking at spending close to the price of the complete gun from them, to build one for yourself. And then you've got those mags that I'd bet are over $100 each, and then there's the spares, like an extra bolt, and I'd be surprised if they would guarantee the receiver if they didn't build the gun. As much as I prefer to build vs buy my guns, I think this is one instance where the cheaper course of action in the long run would be just to buy one from the Manufacturer, If I could afford that kind of money I might consider it, but I'd want to take a hard look at the company to see if I thought they'd still be around in 5 years, A lot of good company's that make good products don't end up making it in the long run, and then you own an orphan. In a case like this you might do better to consider a Barrett if you've got your heart set on a BIG caliber SA gun.

I have been contemplating going with a different caliber for my next large platform AR build. Although, as the video would attest, there are AR type weapons out there in many of the larger calibers, these guns, as far as I can tell, seem to be mostly proprietary, and don't utilize enough off the shelf AR parts to make building one economically practical for me. Not to mention the fact that if you could get your hands on the individual components to build one of these really BIG AR's in the first place, what do you do for the replacement parts that you will inevitably need, if the company goes out of business or chooses not to continue to manufacture them, The mags alone would be a deal breaker for me. Now here's my question, I know that I could easily build an AR in one of the benchrest calibers like .260 or 6mmBR but does anyone know what the largest caliber you can build, using stock receiver and mags is? I've been told .338 federal and .338 Ruger CM are options, anyone know of any others?

I think i read somewhere that many of the problems associated with the M4 carbine are attributed to the carbine length gas system. I don't own a 16" AR with rifle length gas system, so can't comment on them from personal experience, but I definitely prefer the midlength gas system to the carbine gas system on a 14.5" or 16" 5.56 gun.

You can be sure that I will be eager to hear what your results are with this configuration. I think that my experience with different optic configurations is much more limited than my knowledge of the gas guns themselves(although I may be wrong here as well) When I originally set up my Eotech, lever flip to side magnifier, it was, in my mind, an improvement over one of my friends mounts, that required you to pull back to flip the magnifier. But when I got to try it out under timed conditions, I felt that there was room for improvement. When the Trijicon TR-21, TR-24 optics came out I got try them on friends guns and liked them, so mounted one. What I found was (for me) I was slower engaging close targets than I Had been with my unmagnified Eotech, that was when I decided to add the 45 degree mounted mini red dot. I have found that (for me) that works faster on most targets up to around 75 yds, where I go to my magnified optic. I have found that I do better when I don't have to adjust my hands or cheek on the gun. What I am now finding is that the narrow range of eye relief sometimes slows me down while I adjust position for best eye relief. For me, the perfect setup would be a 45 mini red dot for the close stuff and an illuminated reticle (like the TR 24) scope with a wide range of eye relief and a little more magnification than the 4X of the Trijicon. I don't think I need a variable power scope, but would like something with a good field of view and wide eye relief range, so as to enable me to acquire my target quickly. For me (I think) that setup would be faster for my purposes than anything that requires me to move the magnifier by hand to go from 1X to magnified. Are you aware of any fixed optics in the 6X range that have good FOV and are forgiving as far as eye relief goes? One of my friends suggested the 6X48 ACOG, which on paper looks good, but is pretty large, pretty pricey and I think is supposed to be heavy. The problem with these optics setups is that it's hard to find someone who has the one you want to try out and it gets expensive buying them to try out yourself.

That's a beautiful gun, any chance you could post a couple of closer shots of the receiver and the rail? I'm also curious, as you describe it, I'm understanding that you have a heavy buffer in it, along with the CWS and the tungsten insert. Do you still need to pull the pivot pin to open the upper? As I have understood the CWS to work, it's supposed to delay the bolt opening slightly, right? Isn't it supposed to reduce the rate of fire in FA weapons? So, I'm wondering, can you detect any slower cycling during rapid fire or double taps?

I took a look online at the leica scope you selected. It looks like a very nice scope. Your going to have to give us a review of it once you've got it mounted and taken it to the range. I also have been looking around for a good optic to mount on My Kaiser .308. I find myself overwhelmed with all the different scopes out there, and I've never spent the kind of money for a scope that these name brand optics are going for. I have had a chance to try out a S&B, a Nightforce, a nice Nikon, and an IOR. The ones that get all the attention seem to be the ones out of my price range (S&B, US Optics) The Nightforce has a good reputation but it's pretty heavy. I'm still having a hard time dealing with the idea of spending + 1K for a scope, but that seems to be the norm. I also hate the idea of going to great lengths to build a light gun just to add 2+ lbs to it with the glass. I also am not sure what magnification I should go for. I understand all of the negatives associated with the higher magnification (higher price, weight and smaller FOV) But I'd really like to see what the gun is capable of accuracywise, and think that the higher magnification will be better for that, if not for real world use. I think may have to educate myself about scopes the hard way, by buying the wrong power or lower quality first and learn from my mistakes.

I don't think I could afford to feed a FA .458, although I'd like to try.

Tell me if this makes sense. I don't own a Romainian but have owned others so hopfully this will apply to the Romanian as well. If you Field strip the gun, removing the dust cover , and bcg. I would also remove your Mako handguard just to get down to the factory riveted AK parts. Now, if you flip it over upside down, and lay the sheet metal receiver across two pieces of anything you know to be the same thickness, resting on a surface you know to be flat (granite countertop?) now you should be able to take a small carpenters square and put it against the sides of the receiver and see if/how much the receiver is "racked" because both sides of the receiver should be perpendicular to the surface you are resting the gun on. If you find that the stamped receiver is in fact "square" the next thing you want to do is check the machined front and rear trunnions to see if they were installed squarely, If they look OK the next thing I would check would be that the barrel is in line with the axis of the receiver both horizontally and vertically. You should be able to do this by putting a ruler down the side of the receiver from front to back on both sides and seeing if the barrel is going off at an angle. as far as checking the barrel on the vertical plane, You just need to measure the distance from the bottom surface of the barrel to the counter top at the muzzle and receiver ends, this distance should also be the same taking any differences in the barrel dia into account. Now if that is OK You would next check to see if the barrel was installed off a few degrees radially. If you check these things, you ought to be able to ascertain if your problem is due to a gun that was damaged vs a gun that was improperly assembled, and then it will be easier for you to determine the best method to correct the problem, if you feel it's Worth the trouble to do it at all.

I have not personally used the 220 subsonic , or any other factory ammunition yet. So understand that I'm just throwing out ideas. I think I read a thread somewhere (300 BLK forum?) where they were discussing that the 220 subsonic performed better in a suppressed application where the extra back pressure aided cycling. I think that the discussion was about someone that had a problem similar to what your describing, but I thought they had a SBR. If it were me I'd give AAC another call and ask them if your problem might be ammunition related. If, in fact your problem is due to not enough gas impulse, I would think your options are, different ammo, open up the gas port to get more gas to cycle with the present ammo, run a suppressor, or see if you can get a lighter buffer and/or buffer spring.

some questions for you, When you manually cycle the action, does the bolt carrier go back far enough to lock on the bolt catch? If so what spring and buffer do you have, also what ammo are you using, the 220 subsonic? In your opinion is it short stroking (traveling far enough back to eject the empty case but not far enough to clear the back of the mag and strip and load a new rd?

I agree that the .458 is super expensive ammo wise, but I like the idea of shooting the equivilant of 45-70 out of an AR. Certainly not something I'll put a lot of rds through, which is why I'm thinking just an upper not a dedicated gun. I saw a video recently of someone shooting one and it looks like a LOT of fun.

Yes I see it. You have what looks like all of the colors on those handguard covers, I mistakenly thought the grip and CTR were greener than FDE. Thats because my eyesight sucks these days. by the way what color is the front hanguard panel (left side of pic)?

without removing the brake I'm thinking a carful application of cold blue where the bare metal is exposed. Gun looks good, The forest green Magpul stuff is starting to grow on me.

A .308 is a 800-1000yd rifle. and heavier platform than the 300/6.8. Personally, I think that the well equipped AR shooter needs at least one of each flavor. I'm looking at .458 now

I sure wish I could get involved with the suppressors. It must be nice to shoot without needing ear pro. I was talking to the guy that made my 300 BLK barrel about another project I'm considering, and the subject of the 300 BLK vs the 6.8 SPC came up. I don't own a 6.8 so cannot say from personal experience how accurate this is. He told me that the 6.8 is a 450 yd cartridge, which shoots flatter than the 300, which he calls a 250 yd cartridge. He tells me that from his personal experience hunting with both, out to 200yds the 300 BLK does more damage (bigger bullet and all). before I built my first .308 AR and again when I started thinking about the 300, I did a little reading on the 6.8. What I found was that there have been some complaints with the 6.8 bolts not being as durable as a 300 BLK (.223) or a 7.62. In addition, the mags are more expensive than .223 mags and I have heard that some people have had reliability problems with them. Aside from the suppressor issue, I think the question you need to ask yourself is, Do I need a 250yd gun or a 450 yd gun. and if you decide on the 450 you have to accept the fact that it will most likely cost you more to shoot than the 300. Oh and by the way, we also discussed how long it will be before the 300 craze dies down and it becomes just another cartridge as we all know it inevitably will.

I had never read the wikipedia definition of the scout concept, nor was I aware that Copper was credited with originating the concept. My only exposure to them has been from handling a SAI scout rifle. I did realize that it referred to a forward mounted scope. Since I've stated where my admittedly limited knowledge of the configuration comes from, and was basically comparing the setups that I own and have experience with, and further stated that in regards to what you could expect to see through the lens with your suggested set up, that I was just guessing at what I thought you'd get, let me ask this question, when you refer to a long eye relief optic are you describing an optic that allows you a wide amount of eye relief meaning eye anywhere from 3 to 5 " from scope, or are you talking about a scope that has a narrow range but that range could be as much as 7 " from eyepiece to eye? The reason I ask is because I thought that the range of eye relief was in direct relation to the level of magnification, No? meaning more magnification narrower range of eye relief. I am not trying to come off like some expert here, and when I said I was guessing that you'd restrict your field of view if you put the smaller lens'd optic in front, it was because I took my magnifier off the gun and held it in front of the XPS and that's what I saw. You said that you did the same thing, when you looked through the eotech didn't you find that the housing of your tube type scope blocked out some of the window of the eotech? I was thinking that even if you were using a magnifier with a longer eye relief, you'd lose that effect of the housing around the lens disappearing and just seeing the red dot and the background as you do with an unmodified eotech. As I said I'm not trying to come off like an expert, just sharing ideas, and always looking for a better setup, which is why after doing the piggybacked magnifier behind the red dot the first time I went to the other setup (which works better for me) the second time. I'm in the process of figuring out what I want to do for an optic on my 300, and, as of right now I plan to go with the 45 degree red dot and probably a greater magnification tube scope than on my last one,in the conventional location. That is of course unless I find something I like better, first.

When I mentioned timing the barrel nut, I was referring to one of the railed hand guards that I installed, that when I tightened the barrel nut that came with the rail and then installed the rail and bolted it to the nut, there was an unsightly gap between the back of the rail and the top rail of the upper receiver. The only way to correct the problem was to remove some material from the barrel nut in order to move it, and the rail, further back, but it was important that when the nut was tightened on the receiver the mounting holes for the rail would be oriented properly. This is not something you will be likely to have to do. In fact most handguards are designed so this is not required, BUT, once you start mixing and matching parts, especially with the .308 guns, things start to get more interesting. If you have been building these things for a while I'm sure you've already encountered the part that according to the mfg should fit, but in reality doesn't. That is where you will have to use your imagination to figure out how to make it work.