mineralman55

For new builders, this is perfect advice. KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid). I think Mr. Stoner got the design right, so I'm not going to second guess him. My own experience says this is the way to go for newbies. Experienced builders know how to experiment.

Follow up on the Griffin. I've had it out several times now, and it is excellent. Recoil is practically non-existent, it is less than a 5.56 AR. Noise abatement to me the shooter, and to the others on the line is likewise excellent. The fellow shooters who were quite close paid me no mind. There was another shooter there with a bolt action rifle and a Cooley-like brake on it, and it was annoyingly loud several bench slots away. As far as flash, I couldn't tell, as my shooting sessions were in bright sunlight. I didn't see any flash, but that aspect still remains to be seen. All in all, it's an excellent product especially considering the price (~$89). I'd buy another.

Thought I'd add another datapoint to this discussion. With my SI 308 build there's nothing terribly fancy about it. It has a standard weight BCG, standard DPMS buffer, standard DPMS recoil spring, Syrac adjustable gas block and a Griffin Armaments compensator. It is the easiest, most pleasant shooting rifle I have. It has less recoil than a 5.56 AR15 heavy barrel.While setting up the rifle I adjusted the GB thru its full range of settings. I didn't notice a whole lot of difference in the recoil regardless of the setting (although it did change the ejection patter of the empty cases.) I can only conclude that the majority of my recoil reduction is due to the compensator. Just something to consider.

I was. Midland for many years. Several of my children are native Texans. Now, Texas is just... over that way.

I didn't notice a gas block in the video...

42, 42.5, 43, 43.5, 44 grains in 1x-fired LC cases, Win LR primers, COAL 2.796", +-0.002".

My Shadow Ops NiB BCG functions flawlessly, but seems to have developed a thin, black stain on its surface. The bolt is even worse. Scrubbing with Hoppe's #9 and a plastic toothbrush doesn't affect it. What can you use on NiB to clean it up?

These are ACS/Stoner 20 round mags. Got them from Midway. Work flawlessly, no problems at all.

In Louisiana, he'd be called normal. Doesn't everyone have these things?

Well, very kind of you to offer to help me out, but sorry to disappoint you. It works beautifully now. Rifle just needed to break in. Actually, I kind of like the steel ACS/Stoner mags better, but it's good to see they both work.

I'm hoping more vendors will come out with items for our 308 platforms. Anyone see anything specific?

Loading up some new AA4064 with 168 BTHP in the 7.62x51. Will have reports soon (someday).

Loaded up 7.62x51. 40 grains of TAC underneath a Sierra 168 BTHP. Last of my TAC :(. Gotta get some more.

There are so many great powders for pistol these days. I use HS-6 with 230 LRN, 7.1 grains seems to work fine, great accuracy, very clean. I also like Silhouette, AA#2 for lighter recoiling loads, AA#5 is great for higher velocity loads and also burns cleanly. You have two great powders for the .45. Get a couple loading manuals and try them out.

1:10 twist, it weighs 2.5lbs, just looks like a standard contour. Go to the Bison Armory website and take a look. If you call Ben he may even give you the discount still. Yah, I need to get some more pics of this. It's a good looking build.

Finally, after over 14 months of planning, and gathering parts, I got my AR308 built. The whole project was a positive experience and I plan to do it again. There were so many people on this forum who helped with advice and an enthusiastic willingness to help me spend money. Thank you all. The parts list is: SI-Defense matched upper/lower DPMS LPK DPMS standard buffer and buffer spring Bison Armory 20” black Cerekoted barrel Bison Armory Intermediate length gas tube Syrac clamp on adjustable gas block Magpul MOE buttstock Magpul MOE Plus pistolgrip Apex 15” freefloat handguard Shadow Ops NiB BCG Knight’s Armament BUIS Tac Ops Ambi charging handle Griffin Armament 7.62 Tactical compensator I had a couple design criteria for this my first AR308 build. First, accuracy and reliability: required. It better go bang on each trigger pull and give me <1.5MOA with the iron sights. To that end, I kept it pretty much off-the-shelf for the majority of the parts. Second, I wanted a clean, uncluttered look. I’ve seen too many gaudy ARs that look like they were built by the Transformers on LSD. Third, I was shooting for 8 lbs total weight. Didn’t make it, but more on that later. Lastly, I was aiming for a total cost of $1500-$2000. Came in at the top end of that, but quality costs especially with these rifles. I really wanted an 18” barrel, but they weren’t available at the time, and Bison offered such a deal on their 20” barrels ($225!) that I couldn’t turn it down. Beautifully custom Cerekoted black (after all, it is a black rifle) they guarantee 1MOA. The choice of handguard presented a problem. I wanted a monorail style, not quad, and it had to accommodate a clamp-on, adjustable gas block. A lot of freefloat handguards won’t accommodate a clamp-on, only those held in place by set screws. I really liked the new Midwest Industries rail and it will take a clamp-on gas block, but their new handguard only fits the newer “low profile” DPMS uppers. The fly in the ointment is my upper receiver is the older “high profile” DPMS style from SI. This really limits some of the components you can get. For those of you considering the SI receivers, specify the newer “low profile” DPMS style. You’ll have a few more choices available to you. Still, nothing wrong with the Apex handguards, so I went with that. The weight is an issue, as I wanted to keep it down. Adding up the manufacturers’ listed weights for their products, I calculated 8.2 lbs for the finished product. That would have been acceptable, but when I actually weighed the finished rifle it came up to 9.5 lbs. That was disappointing, but it’s endurable. M1s and M14s weigh about that much. I think the manufacturers need to be more honest on their products’ weights. Finally got it together with the help of a friend who had an AR barrel wrench. It went together easily and I took it to the range. First outing wasn’t good. The rifle acted undergassed, and accuracy got progressively worse. I took it home broke it down and found the barrel nut had come loose. We retightened, carefully reinstalled the Apex and went back to the range. This time was fantastic. 39.5 grains of TAC under a Sierra 168 BTHP easily got well under 2MOA with the iron sights. I adjusted the Syrac as per their instruction, easily done. Function was flawless. Cases are thrown out about 4 o’clock in a neat little pile. And the Griffin compensator, oh my! This thing shoots easier than a 5.56 and no one nearby even noticed the report. I can shoot this all day without a shoulder pad. The only problem I encountered was that the BCG wouldn’t lock back on either my second ACS mag, or the Pmag. This was bothersome, but after about 120 rounds everything seemed to break in. It locks back on all mags now. Future plans? Shoot it some more, try out some different handloads. The accuracy of this rifle begs for a scope to be fitted. I have a Leupold 3x9 Vari II sitting unused. Anyone have a recommendation for a quick release mount for the Picatinney rail? This has turned out so well I’m planning a second AR308 build. SI has said they are coming out with some new models this year. I can’t wait.

Well, if you'll find me a mistress I'll buy her some clothing! :))

Uhhh, no. Varget is a stick powder. It can be wonderful in a variety of cartridges, but it's a stick. I've found AA2520 and TAC to be outstanding ball powders in the 7.62 and 5.56.

Indeed it was. Philly fans deserve an 0-16 team every year. :fawkdance:

I'll add my voice here. I love this forum. Good folks, good information on building these wonderful rifles, great deals on things, and help, not hassles from the members. There are some 308-rifle forums that became nothing but mutual admiration societies of the same self-proclaimed experts pontificating on why they're right and everyone else is wrong. Not here. Great forum. I'd like to see a multi-day shoot sometime.

What powder is "H4835"? Is this some new, super secret formulation? Let us in on it! Or as most of us here did you score a 450 on the English part of the SATs? ::)

Who makes a quality ambidextrous selector switch? I'm thinking of getting a couple for various ARs both big (308) and small (5.56)

Yeah, they are. Another shabby performance by an overpaid QB, an "O" line that couldn't stop a collegiate pass rush and a defense that's good for stats and can't make the critical stop. Stick in a fork. They're done.

If I can't figure out what's going on, I just might.

The AR Stoner mags arrived today. Only $18 from Midway. Put them in and both check perfect. The BCG manually locks back properly. Now I need to get to the range, site it in, and post some pics. I compared the Stoner mags to the Magpul. The top back of the mags are not similar at all. Would an "Armalite" Pmag be that different that it wouldn't lock back? If so, I'm wondering if an Armalite style mag was put in the bag by mistake?