gnatshooter

I don't get it. Why would 'the rail' make me want to remove my iron sights?

Friends, I'm once again imposing on your patience as a newbie who has what's likely a dumb question. The question is, What's the point of removable sights? I have a new DPMS LR 308T, and even though it "went home" to the factory to fix a FTE, that doesn't stop me shopping for it. And one of the things this rifle needs is sights. Maybe this sounds weird, but once I have sights on the rifle, I want them to stay on. And part of them staying on is not coming off very easily. So what's the point of a 'removable' or 'detachable' sight? For the front sight on my DPMS, I got the JP Enterprises globe sight, which you can see at http://bit.ly/1ceM9JA It's not a cheap unit, but I'm a massively huge fan -- maybe a pusher -- of Lyman globe sights. Once this thing is on my rifle, I don't want it coming off easily. In fact, I can't think of a good excuse for taking it off. And part of its 'removability' is that it's held on with only one screw. I'd rather have three screws, but you can't have everything. Is Loctite on the threads good enough to keep this sight on? Or is there a way of 'pinning' something to a Picatinny rail? Okay, so I guess that's two questions.

I fix my own stuff. I figure, why should I pay someone else to have that kind of fun?

PatriotUSA17, Welcome to the forum. For a handy rifle that's up for shooting distances you have in mind, you might want to consider the DPMS LR-308T. I have to agree with EasyEJL about home defense, though. You'd want the right tool for the right job, and home defense is a different job. For around the house, or even the back yard, you may want to look at the Mossberg 590 12-gauge shotgun. It carries 8 rounds in the tube +1 in the chamber, it's cheap to feed, and you can put anything in there from birdshot, to buckshot, to slugs. Heck, you can even buy shells that have little bundles of darts, or short lengths of chain. And in your spare time you can pay some attention to pheasants and quail, too. When it comes to body armor, you should look at the companies that sell armor and what rounds they guarantee against penetration. I don't believe .308 will do what you think. Shot placement is important, and that means practice, practice! Happy hunting!

Here is a really innovative muzzle device.

While you-all have been cookin', I have been lookin' around. Lots of people say the linear compensator is not kind to the shooter's ears, but just kind to the people next to the shooter. But they don't say, compared to what, and don't say, they have muffs on and the others don't. Lots of people say the linear compensator increases recoil but reduces muzzle jump. Some people say the linear comp reduces recoil but that's just plain violating the laws of physics. You can't have compensation in both directions, sorry. I found two YouTube videos which claim that the linear compensator did nothing at all that they could notice. Seems like they might be right. And there are a lot of people out there who say that after trying lots of stuff with naked ears, the best thing to put on your threaded barrel end is a thread protector. Thing is, people who want to sell muzzle devices have some profits in mind, and they could make some good cash by doing real tests that show real results. Wouldn't take rocket surgeons to do this, either. Maybe nobody has anything they can prove actually works, so they're just selling inflatable brassieres for rifles.

Friends, I have the DPMS LR-308T, which according to the maker weighs in at 9.75 lbs. http://bit.ly/16PDZqk DPMS also offers the 'Compact Hunter', which costs $310 more and weighs only 7.75 lbs. http://bit.ly/11PkMjm I'm the cook of the house, and the way I figure it, the 308T weighs about 2/3 of a frozen frying chicken more than the other .308. While hunting, I'm gonna be thinking about lugging that extra bunch of frozen chicken around the whole time. Do you know where the extra 2 pounds is on the 308T, and if I could lighten it up without spending $310? Thanks!

I'm not convinced by the hoarding theory. With the hoarding theory, factories pump out giant quantities of ammo that disappears from store shelves in minutes or hours, instead of weeks. I don't have that here in Iowa. Here, the local gun stores simply can't get ammunition. The ammo is not on the shelves because the retailers aren't getting it from their suppliers. I ask the clerks why they can't get ammo. They say, "It's the hoarders." But I ask them, "How do the hoarders get the ammo before you do?" They have no answer to that one. One possibility is that we have retailers bidding against each other and some retailers out-bidding the others. And maybe the retailers around here are saying, "No, at prices like that we're not buying any for our customers." But I'm not hearing anything like that, from *any* source. Hoarders might deserve some of the blame, but I don't see that they get all the blame. They certainly don't in this neck of the woods.

Friends, I have a couple questions about what muzzle device to get for my LR 308. First, some background. Mine came with a factory flash hider, held on by 5/8" x 24 tpi threads and a crush washer. I'm not a big fan of recoil, which is something I learned to dislike quite a bit whilst hunting with a Mossberg 590 pump shotgun and 1-ounce slugs. So I got a Bennie Cooley oversize compensator from JP Enterprises. It worked exactly as advertised, as far as reducing reoil by more than half. Also, the concussion almost took my head off, and my ears were still ringing a day later. So, I will be selling the compensator to someone who shoots with earmuffs/plugs. When I go hunting, my ears go naked. So the question is, what to put on the muzzle for noise. A linear compensator like this comes highly recommended: The theory is, that this muzzle device works by sending the muzzle blast forward. However, some people say that it also *in*creases recoil. The notion is that by pusing the noise forward, it also pushes back against your shoulder. But there's also flash hiders, including something like this: I have to wonder if a flash hider designed like this might make the muzzle blast more manageable by more slowly releasing the exploding gases through the holes in the side. Now, I've heard that simply having the muzzle crowned can make a big difference with handling muzzle blast. Sort of like the linear compensator, working like a 'megaphone' pointing the blast away from the shooter. I can see the idea working, but I have to wonder if the result would really be noticeable. The LR 308 isn't crowned at the factory (or has a 'flat crown'), so that might be something I should do anyhow to enhance accuracy. Does anyone have any range experience with muzzle devices like the ones I've mentioned, and any comments and advice to offer? Thanks!

For me, moving up to the .308 AR platform was a two-part process. Part 1 was moving up to .308. I had a reasonable collection of guns, but for shooting deer, all I had was a Mossberg 590 with slugs. With that comes not much effective range, and not much accuracy. I started looking at the larger calibers out there for rifles, and eventually settled on .308. It could do what I wanted, and -- this was inspirational -- even in the depths of the ammo shortage, there was nearly always *at least some* .308 on the shelf. Part 2 was moving to the AR platform. I had originally set my sights on the BAR, which everyone agrees is a fine, sweet gun, and weighs less than my Mossberg for toting around in the woods. But the more I looked for a BAR, and realized they were impossible to find, the more I realized I would be giving up a lot on other features. For instance, the BAR gives you 4 rounds in the magazine +1 up the spout. And you can't get extended magazines for them. So, it would not really be SHTF armament. So, the AR platform it was. I guess there's maybe a Part 3 here involving choosing DPMS, but that would take me off-topic. In short, I needed a hunting rifle in that caliber, with SHTF capabilities.

My first day on the forum and I already learned something new. Thanks blue, I shoulda thought of lifting the upper for measuring the rail there. There's still the question of how tall the rail is over the gas block.

Hi folks, I just joined! Anyhow, if you want to see what kind of response I got from DPMS asking about rail heights on the LR-308, go to https://www.dpmsinc.com/crm.asp?mk=cfcrw5t6ev-22725 It's really excruciating. If you want to know rail heights, you're "over-thinking"! I wasn't real happy with him making up numbers, either.