vtecpaoche

The 13.8 just covers the gas block. I like it although the openings in the handguards are a bit sharp. I put the squid grips on mine to provide some extra grip and cover the sharp openings where my hand would be. To be honest, this thing is heavy. I doubt I would be running and gunning with this. Keeping the weight down is ideal. Now I know what to look forward to. I started over a year ago. I've been acquiring something new every so often. Wife is angry with me for spending all the time working on them. Good thing she does not know how much I'm spending.

I have the 13.8" version of the TRX and it definitely covers the gas block. I have a 20" barrel with the rifle length gas system.

If you are going with JP, another option for springs/buffer would be the JP Silent Captured Spring (JPSCS-10). I have that one on my build. I also have the JP adjustable gas block. It functioned well once I adjusted the right amount of gas. This only takes a few shots. The only knock is that the adjustment was on the side which was covered by my Troy handguards. Not that big of a deal as I just drilled a hole in the handguard to allow the allen key to adjust the block. I'm not sure if the MKM set would have that issue. I've seen people recommend Syrac which is adjustable from the front. I couldn't wait for JP to provide me with a bolt carrier. I had one on order since January and finally decided to cancel it. It was available on Brownells recently though but I already picked up one from GB. If you like the concept of a BAD lever, the Magpul one will not fit. I opted for the Phase 5 Tactical one. I'm a big fan of the Geissele triggers. I have the SSA-E one on my Maten. This is a 2 stage trigger vs the JP which is a single stage trigger.

Pin them to 10 rounders. Mag Block sells the blocks to limit the magazine to 10 rounds. I'm not sure what the policy is in MA. NJ does not allow the mags to be shipped but certain states allow you to receive mags if they were disassembled. http://www.magazineblocks.com/magento/products/magblock-kits/ar10/pmag-lr-20-magblock-10-20-308.html Another option is to ship it to a place that pins the mags. MidwestPX offers this service.

I'm using a standard DPMS style BCG. My Maten upper does not have a forward assist. The 308 BCG usually is heavy to push the round in without the need of a FA. I did have some issues where I ride the charging handle in. If you just let it go, the bolt will most certainly chamber the round. You usually pull the BCG by the charging handle. A BCG with the side serrations for the FA to catch onto should work on an upper without the FA. A lightened BCG like the JP one that does not have the side serrations would still work on an upper with a FA but the FA will not work. The only one I know is different are the side chargers.

Nice, I fired my Maten build a few weeks back for the first time with the same BCG. I have an adjustable gas block on the build. I dialed the gas way down for the first shot. After firing the round, the BCG was pretty much lodged. I tugged at the charging handle and no luck. My brother in law had to use a piece of wood and hammer to tap the BCG out. This happened a few times until I dialed the gas to lock the bolt back. I was able to chamber the 7.62 round in but did not fire it. I'm pretty sure it would not have been an issue. Like mentioned above, I plan on getting my money's worth on this one.

Seems to be normal when you get an upper at PSA and BCM. The good thing is they have bolt carriers available at $189.99 each. No charging handles though. http://palmettostatearmory.com/index.php/featured/m16-bolt-carrier-group-13009.html

I'm not sure where to post this so I figure I'd put it here. Palmetto State Armory has American Eagle .308 Win 150gr FMJ-BT 20 rd box (AE308D) in stock. It's $17.99 for a box. http://palmettostatearmory.com/index.php/federal-308-win-150gr-fmj-bt-20rd-box.html They also have Federal Gold Medal Match .308 175gr Sierra MatchKing BTHP 20 rd box (GM308M2). It's $29.99 for a box. I'm not sure if this is a good deal though so perhaps others can chime in. Seems like it was about a $24.99/box according to what I read in another thread here in November last year. http://palmettostatearmory.com/index.php/ammunition/rifle-ammunition/308-7-62/federal-gold-medal-match-308-175gr-sierra-matchking-bthp-20rds.html Some people may have had negative experiences with PSA and their delayed shipping. I think they have improved recently as my buddy ordered some stuff from them recently and got it in a few days.

Did you remove the extractor and the ejector before testing? That's concerning that it does not close on the go gauge. As for tightness, my barrel is very tight. I have a hard time extracting the snap caps.

Glad to hear that it ran well with the bolt carrier group. I recall reading on the Harris Tactical site that because it is Nickel Boron, you should use something like FireClean on it. I purchased a bottle out of curiosity in the past and just put a few drops on the BCG. I've yet to shoot my build yet but it still looks wet after sitting in the safe for a few weeks.

Very nicely done. Look forward to the range report.

I run the Ergo Tactical Deluxe grip on mine. I've got big paws and like that the Deluxe grip is wider than any of the other grips I've tried. The MIAD for me is comfortable also but it just seems a bit skinny for my mits.

Strange, if a modern 308 barrel is meant to accept 7.62x51, wouldn't the 308 barrels all fail the 308 no go gauge test? My guess is that the no go would be at least 1.6355 (go gauge for 7.62x51). Since, I could not turn the bolt with the 308 no go gauge, I guess my barrel/bolt combo does not meet the go gauge for 7.62x51.

Just got it today. No markings on mine either. It does pass the go/no go 308 gauge test on my barrel so I'm pretty happy.

I have the 20" stainless steel Rainier Arms Selec .308 Barrel. The link to the barrel specs are below. It's listed as 308 but the testing by LoneWolfUSMC showed that his barrel was able to accept 7.62x51. I guess not all the barrels/BCG combination would allow 7.62x51. http://www.rainierarms.com/?page=shop/detail&product_id=2691 I just want to know if I can use 7.62x51 as I purchased 500 rounds of it.

Got the BCG today. Detail stripped the BCG. Put the 308 Go gauge (1.630) in the barrel, put the stripped bolt in and it rotated freely with no issues. I swapped out the Go gauge with the 308 No Go Gauge (1.634) and repeated. The bolt does not rotate. Looks like it is good to go for 308. I was watching the Maten Build by LoneWolfUSMC on YouTube. He's got a great video on how to measure headspace starting at 6:34 into the video. Now based on the information provided, the Go gauge for 7.62 NATO, the Go gauge is 1.6355, No Go is 1.638 and Field is 1.6445. Seeing how I could not close on a 1.634, I guess I cannot use 7.62 NATO on my barrel. Is that correct?

I've got a Rainier barrel. The headspacing should be good for .308 and 7.62x51 from a review I saw online. Since I've purchased the gauges, I have to use them.

I would venture to say that these are the same ones listed for sale on Harris Tactical which is a reseller for Elite Tactical Advantage. From HT's website, it states the bolt is Carpenter 158 steel, case hardened, shot peened, magnetic particle inspected. Does not state if it was batch or individually tested. Best bet is to message the seller directly on GB. I've already bit the bullet and purchased one though. It should be arriving tomorrow.

I have the Go/No-Go gauges that I ordered from Brownells. I don't plan on taking any chances with the build. Putting together this one was expensive enough to justify the couple of bucks to make sure a bolt isn't going to blow it up. I'll let you know how that goes but I'm not sure when I'll be back with a range report. I felt bad also. Harris Tactical cancelled my order as soon as I sent an email asking if they could even though it was late in the evening for them. I tried cancelling orders elsewhere and it goes into a black hole. I'm not sure if it was cancelled or not. I wouldn't have mind keeping my order with them if they were going to ship soon.

Ok, broke down and purchased one on GB on Wednesday evening and cancelled my order from Harris Tactical. It looks like the same thing but I don't have to wait another month. The BCG was the only thing I was missing to complete mine so I just bit the bullet to get it. I called Thursday morning to pay for it and it's set to arrive on Monday.

Are these the same ones that Harris Tactical is selling on their website? They specifically state that they sell Elite Tactical Advantage on the bottom of their website. I have one on order with Harris Tactical but the delivery date keeps moving later and later. I'm tempted to just pick up one of these off of GB. The price is the same.

Interesting, I pre-ordered quite some time back. The dates kept moving. They said they were billing on Mar 15th with shipping this date a few weeks back. Then on the 12th, they changed the date to Early April. Now, it looks like it has moved again with the possibility of Late March. I'm crossing my fingers it would be earlier than later.

Hello from the communist state of NJ. I always wanted to get an AR chambered in 308. I was mainly into handguns before but picked up my first AR15 about a year back. After a while, I built a second competition style one but always knew that I wanted something in 308. I did some preliminary research and realized that this was going to be an entirely different animal. I looked around and settled on the Mega Arms Maten as it had an upper and lower set. I saw sets available but did not buy anything. Then last December as things were flying off the shelf, I decided to jump into it. It all started with a message from an online retailer that told me they had Magpul LR20 mags that were pinned to 15 rounds to be NJ legal. I jumped on them although they cost me a pretty penny. I then started hunting for a Mega Arms Maten but had no luck. I was set to be notified from multiple places. Online places started receiving them in January but I was always too late and were gone by the time I logged in. I emailed Mega Arms to see if they knew of any distributors who may have it. They pointed me to this one distributor that was receiving a shipment from their factory shortly and was told to place an order there. This distributor was fortunately taking back orders so I was finally able to secure one. It shipped shortly afterwards. I then had to do all the research. I quickly learned there are two different players in this. The Armalite stuff and the DPMS stuff. I was going to go with the Armalite path but settled on the DPMS path as it seemed more readily available. After a few weeks, I think I've acquired most of the stuff I needed to complete the build. 20" stainless stell Rainier Arms Select 308 barrel, PRI MSTN QC Brake, Troy BattleRail TRX and a JP adjustable gas block completed most of the upper. My buddy and I were able to complete building the upper. Fortunately, I just completed the fun of building an upper for my brother in law's AR15 so I had some experience with this. I've built quite a few lowers so this was pretty straightforward and fortunately, I had a spare AR15 lower parts kit. Between the Maten parts and the AR15 lower parts kit, I was able to complete the lower. Function check of the Maten lower made me realize the bolt catch was kind of flimsy. I then got a dedicated AR10 bolt catch with a Phase 5 Tactical extended bolt release. I was lucky to be able to source a Nikon M-308 with BDC scope. My buddy found a guy online selling it. The upper is now at a gunsmith to get the muzzle brake pinned (NJ law!). I should get it back in a few days. The only thing missing is a stock, buffer and complete DPMS bolt carrier group. The Magpul PRS stock is on back order. I've decided to go with a JP silent captured spring for 308. This is inbound. For the stock, I'm temporarily going with a Magpul MOE Rifle Stock until the PRS comes in. The MOE Rifle stock is also inbound. The only thing missing now is a complete DPMS bolt carrier group. I've given up on getting a DPMS one as it seems no where in stock. I did order one of the JP Low Mass bolts as it is compatible with the DPMS style. I'm hoping this comes in soon. I also need to figure out what type of ammo I should use during the break in period once it is complete.