ripper51

Received the upper and put it all together. Went to range. Discovered front sight post bent to right and ears crushed together slightly. Makes it impossible to raise or lower front sight. I will locally obtain a replacement sight, then try it out benched. Hope it wasn't tested with bent post at DPMS. Good hunting and hold hard. BTW, no outside damage to shippers package and it hadn't been opened prior to arriving at my door. Sometimes things just fall thru the crack and no matter what you do to make it better, stuff happens.

After making my apologies to Mike & all at DPMS, was please to find a package in the mail today. Turns out the barrel was twisted in the original upper along with a couple of other issues. Nice folks replaced the entire upper. I'll give you all a shooting report this weekend.

7.62x51mm turning cover into concealment since 1970.

All- I've read and re-read my original post and subsequent and finally came out of my fog. For some reason, probably old-timers disease, it seemed like it had been a month and a half rather than half a month since they received the rifle. I probably should apologize to them as they do generally a pretty good job of building these rifles after all. And its not like I haven't waited around before for repairs. Been doing all my own repairs on FALs FN's, G3's, MP5's , M1A's and other rifles ever since I left armorer's school. I generally don't do initial warranty work as manufacturers like to correct their own mistakes- it build customer relations. I think I was believing this was one of those case where they hopped to it to provide the customer with a flawless experience. Sort of like what happens after a warranty job by Mercedes on you SEL500- what problem they ask? So pardon my crassness with some of the posts, and let's see what they do with this.

robo, I might have given credence to their claims and deferred to their time frame except for the dismissive tone of voice used by the rep and the nonchalant attitude by others. I have waited as much as 8 weeks for Springfield Armory and as little as 3 days for Rock River. Waiting 2 or 3 weeks would have been Ok if that had been the original estimate. I am actually one of those folks who waves people ahead of me into the grocery line. Since it was a warranty issue and the rifle had obviously been manufactured to a high standard (they don't get any tighter fitting) I chose to follow their advice, return the upper and await what I thought would have been a replacement upper. To continually quote a 7-10-16 business day timeline struck me as odd. The time started from the 12 when they received it. It doesn't restart again when I call. But that was the impression left. All in all it left a bad taste in my mouth and I will not recommend DPMS service to others.

I sent my brand new out of the box LR 308 Classic upper back to DPMS at their request. I had been trying to set mechanical zero and ran into issues. This is an A2 setup with a detachable carry handle (A3 setup), mounted on the rear picatinny rail. The A2-style front post sight was loose in it mounting and appeared to be in an oversized hole. The rear sight was loose all over even after tightening down what you can. I ended up getting a mechanical zero but the rear sighted was all the way to the right against the handle, leaving no windage adjustment available to the right. I called and emailed and DPMS responded right away. I sent it back and DPMS received it Sept 12. I waited until the following Monday Sept 17 to call and ask about progress. I was told they couldn't get to it until other jobs were completed and they could schedule range time to test it out. The person I spoke with quoted 7-10 business days for a repair. I asked if it had even been examined and they acted like I questioned their family tree. Of course it hadn't been examined. If they could schedule range time, and if they could find the time to get to it and if the repair person had time then they would begin the process. I explained that I was a high power shooter and had planned on trying this out in high power. That we only had a couple of full distance matches left before the closest range close for winter. The repair guy hung up. I sent an email detailing my disappointment and telling them to either repair it, replace the upper or send it back so I could sell it and get a reputable piece of iron. They read the email responded with "Contact Mike at ext 278" and deleted my email from their records. I tried calling and emailling- no joy. I finally called late yesterday. Mike was gone home but another gent explained that was the way Mike ran repair. He explained it was a busy time with hunting season, many repairs and fewer folks to do the repairs. I explained that I really wanted to try out this rifle at a full distance High Power match, to no avail. The rifle is scheduled to be first tested this coming Tuesday on the range. Then they expected it will take 7-14 business days for repairs. That puts me past the end date for the full distance range. So I have decided to wait whatever time it takes them to fix it. And I now have serious doubts that they know how. I will take this and sell it for whatever I can get and go get an A2 Nm from some one who does know what they are doing. Bottom line is that I will do business with Century Arms before I buy anything else from DPMS.

Thanks to all for their welcomes and comments. I am proud of my family and their service as I am proud of the fellow servicemembers , active, retired and former on this board. I'll have more fun when DPMS ships my upper BACK to me. ;D

I have and LR 308 in A2 configuration lower and A3 upper. Upper came with the carry handle and A2 sights. Tried mechanically zero- not good. Rear sight windage all the way the right, elevation was adjusted at the front sight first and left the front sight almost out of the base. I checked and re-tightened the carry handle to be sure of an even fit. Same results. Contacted DPMS and shipped it back. Arrived on Sep 12 and has been worked on since. DPMS isn't very good about communicating status are they? I get the usual 7-10 days estimate no matter who I talk with. Polite folks but non-informative. I have one more full distance High Power match before winter sets in and wanted to use this if possible. Am sort of disappointed.

More common name, and I don't mind it being associated with the callsign, is Mike Schwartz. I am a 61 yo former Navy enlisted and officer, former LEO, former chief geek and nerd for various multinational corporations and currently a humble teacher of vocational arts to 8th graders.I have spent time in garden and not so garden spots, I call Marines (former and current) friends, have a wife, daughter and son who are/were Army. Son and daughter both visited the Middle East. I am at home in El Paso Texas, shoot NRA High Power Rifle, play at IPSC and IDPSA, regularly read the Bible and attend a Catholic Church without shame or reservation. (And it hasn't burst into flames, yet) I also cling to my guns, reload my own ammo, hunter, gather and play with my four adorable grandchildren while I have the time. I have taught handguns, epee, sabre and foil as well as rifle. I used to have lots of papers attesting to my skills in computers, electronics, gunsmithing, gun repair, business and other things but grew tired of trying to find "the method" for cataloging and keeping up with them. I quit and burned the papers. I enjoy life and its methods as well as lessons. And I have been married to the most wonderful woman I could imagine, my best friend Teri, for almost 36 years. Think I'll prowl the forum. See y'all on the trail.

I am a confirmed 7.62x51 preacher. I have sinned sometimes by going out with the little ladies in 223, but I always had a 308 nearby. I normally shoot M1A in NRA High Power- Class is Expert. Decided to try a DPMS LR308 in A2 configuration. First thing, it was heavy. The heavy 20 inch barrel contributed to that. Barrel wasn't free floated so had to compensate when slinging up. Could not get a 25 yd/25 meter zero on it to save me. At 200 yds it was printing 8 inch groups at 11 oclock 5 ring. With Federal Gold Match 168's. Cranked the sights almost hard against the right side stop. Adjusted the front sight as it is- post A2.- opposite of up was....down. Finally got the sights set for 200 and then the wind picked up. No place to go. rear sights were a mess- loose, droopy, bending spring was interesting but useless. Front site post was rattling around in base like a mariachi dancer. Loose also. Called DPMS who said- send it on back and we'll make it right. Question is- are they serious?http://308ar.com/forum/Smileys/default/grin.gif To have sights like that on an M1A meant major barrel misalignment. On an Ar15? Gas port is aligned and it is possible things are out of alignment elsewhere. What is DPMS rep like? Will they fix it? I would like to use it in High Power.