breastroker

My Gen 1 DPMS lower SSA upper with 18 inch Faxon mid-weight barrel weighs 5.73 pounds without scope and base. With heavy Vortex 6-24x50 scope it weighs 7.23 pounds. The upper weighs almost 3 ounces too much. A pencil profile 18 inch barrel could weigh less than 32 ounces, maybe as low as 28 ounces. Titanium carriers are coming soon, another 3-4 ounces less. So a hunting MSR in 308 could be as light as 5 pounds.

OK, I want that Titanium AR 308 firing pin, who and when??? So if Geissele were to make a SSA trigger with titanium hammer, with the same strength springs lock time would be reduced???

My 1991 Chicom SKS was $95 and would shoot 1 MOA with good brass ammo, and under 2 MOA with the then 8 cent steel cored ammo. Boy those were the days. 22LR was close to 1 to 2 cents a round. Last year I sold my SKS for $600, bought an $800 scope with the money.

It's really that bad???? heck a cheap SKS can shoot 1 MOA with good ammo. Even a worn out AK47 can shoot 6-8 MOA

No just my pet peaves, my brother is a LEO, on a SWAT team and he is soon to retire too. Like the LEO Robocop states, 0.01% actually need the heavy duty stuff. Not sure if he meant 6061 or 6065??? Generally 7075 T6 weighs much less than the more generic 6061. I am not sure I could shoot any 308 without a good brake, bad shoulder. The V7 Furion titanium brake is not only 1.45 ounces but with two chambers cuts recoil by 45-50%. Technology is advancing rapidly, used to think Novesky and other $$$ were top quality, but even companies like Battle Arms is going to many titanium parts, and their new Detroit lower AR15 is sweet looking.

How many people here are service men serving on the front line???? Do you have Taliban or Isis in your sites? Do SWAT teams really use their AR10s to hammer through barriers or do they use more appropriate things like sledge hammers? Bad things happen even to mil spec AR's when you try to smash the buffer tube and stock. The whole "Tactical" thing is almost over, over done. 99.99% of us will never use the stock to break in a door, we really don't have need of a flash hider, and we don't shoot 5000 rounds a month, let alone a year. My pet peeve is the flash hider, if hunting any animal within a mile will start running. If you think you need one inside a building, take the best flash hider there is and shoot inside a building, some one will still see the flash! Of course the one really usefull item is a suppressor, that costs at least $1000 to get started with an AR308. As to battle rifles, how much does the M1 and M14 weigh? Less than 12 pounds! How much did the M16 weigh, closer to 7 pounds. Only when it got "Tactical" and single shot did it gain weight. There are a lot of 10-12 pound AR15's in 556! They are usually called Safe Queens. I quote Master Sargent Kyle Lamb " I wish I had a 4 pound AR when I was active duty" Quite frankly every one of my replacement parts are higher quality than the parts they replaced. Of course there is no Mil Spec in the AR10/ AR308 world, there should be it would help the market.

Darn, now I want to get it to 5.5 pounds the next barrier. The SAA upper receiver is at least 3 ounces heavier than what I expected. Really nothing I can do with the lower right now. There is zero reasons for a forward assist. If only 2A would come out with a Balios Lite 308 receiver set. I expect before the end of this year we will have a titanium trigger group, that would cut 1 ounce, they already have titanium trigger pins. Also expect someone who is already working with titanium to come out with a carrier at least 2-3 ounces less than the JP LMOS carrier. There really is no reason to have a 10-12 pound AR308. Even my SASS barreled upper weighs only 7.3 pounds using this lower.

Thanks Washguy, weighing came in less than what I thought. The Aero 30MM scope mount weighs 3.1 ounces and the Vortex weighs 21.4 ounces so 24.5 total. Subtract that from 116.20 or 7.266 pounds and you get 91.7 ounces or 5.73 pounds. That's with the 2.1 ounce Wilson combat adjustable gas block and gas tube. When I get the Rubber City adjustable carrier I will put the 1.4 ounce 2A titanium gas block and tube. That would get it to 91.0 ounces.

Washguy, of course that's with a shorter 16 inch barrel, but we all know H's NexGen is one sweet upper. If I had used the 16 inch barrel from Faxon it would have been 3 ounces lighter. I wish I had the money to drop on the nexgen, but you know I like to build rifles, and shoot a LOT. as you know from the 6.8 forum I was just over 6 pounds, so I swapped out the titanium V7 parts with the aluminum ones to get below 6 pounds. All you would have to do to get under 6 would be to use the V7 Furian 1.45 ounce muzzle brake. My goal was a good shooting rifle, on I could take hunting in the Nevada mountains. My DPMS SASS originally weighed 11.5 pounds with scope, got it down to 7.37 pounds this year with this DPMS lower. I should mention the SSA-E trigger helps with the groups, and with the 24 power scope I can see where every bullet hits at 100 yards. That photo at the range was me adjusting the scope at 75 yards. Winds were from the east about 10 MPH. Five minutes later the winds were over 30 MPH from the west. $100 target frames were bent in half on the pistol side. I will take some photos later of the weights of the entire rifle, of course the scope is now mounted on the upper. The lower was 22.55 ounces after I went to the aluminum V7 parts. Robo, you got a spare professional camera? Those are just cell phone low res.

I wanted an AR308 under 6 pounds, stared with the beautiful FAXON 18 inch mid length barrel at 36.1 ounces. Used a JP LMOS carrier, DPMS lower with all V7 aluminum parts such as takedown pins, selector, mag catch. Using a 1.85 ounce MagPul K grip with titanium screw. Upper is a SAA stripped, no dust cover and delerin plug in the FA. The major weight removal was using the 4 ounce Smoke Composites stock carbon fiber that replaces both the buffer tube and the stock. Cuts over a pound. Next is my custom build hand guard, using an aluminum DPMS barrel nut and an AR15 AP Custom type carbon fiber tube epoxied into 1.7 inches of the DPMS 308 CF tube. Total weight was 4.7 ounces. Right now it weighs 5.95 pounds, hoping to cut a couple of ounces soon. With the light weight action and adjustable gas block it shoots smooth and soft, with NO AR TWANG!!! Have about 50 rounds through it using my Vortex 6-24x50 scope. With the scope and mount it weighs 7.49 pounds, less than many AR15's without scope. Haven't adjusted the gas block yet, it likes the Federal 175 SMKs, looking to see if it will shoot the 168 SMKs and others I have. had a 3 shot group about the size of a nickel just before they closed the range due to high winds (35+) and then the monsoon hit on the way home.

I have a Magpul 10 and 20, and a DPMS 5 round for "hunting" that came with the LR Hunter model. Anyone know of a 5 or 10 round in aluminum???

Frustrated that I don't seem to know how to cut and paste in this forum. Also how do I post photos of my 5.9 pound 18 inch Faxon barreled AR308??? Want to fill in the details of this build, and the beautiful Faxon barrel.

Still looking for an 308 upper without forward assist. I just built a 5.9 pound 18 inch barreled AR308 using a DPMS lower and a SAA upper. SAA upper has problems such as an over sized takedown pin hole and weighs 14.4 ounces stripped. I higher quality upper in 7075 should weigh less than 13 ounces without the un-necessary forward assist.

Can't find anything 308 at their web site

My DPMS 308 now weighs 7.7 pounds with a DPMS SASS 58 ounce barrel. Super accurate. My next lower will weigh 15.7 ounces, existing DPMS weighs 24 total. Looking at the 18 inch Faxon barrel, that would cut the weight to 6.3 pounds With the super light lower my AR308 will weigh 5.8 pounds. with the Faxon barrel. I am using a JP LOMS BCG, no need for forward assist. Does anyone know of a light weight no forward assist upper that should weigh under 13 ounces or better???

It is shocking that a AR15 carbine buffer is $10 while a AR10 carbine buffer is over $30. Almost as bad for the rifle buffers. But by using AR15 buffers and cutting 0.63 inches with a tubing cutter, you get a AR10 buffer. Unless you have a LOT of bucks and are sure the $125 stainless AR10 rifle buffer is what you need, you would be better off using a AR15 rifle buffer and filling it with different weight tungsten powder. Should be able to get between the stock weight of 5.4 ounces up to nearly 10 ounces.

Make your own HEAVY BUFFER I am on another build trip. I have several Spikes Tactical T2 buffers that use tungsten powder instead of steel and tungsten discs. Not sue if they are the cause, but I NEVER heard the AR twang until I used a lower without the T2 buffer. Getting an AR10, going to make a heavy rifle buffer. Purchased a bottle dog ear tipping weight tungsten. It was the best price for pure tungsten, $14 for 3 ounces of powdered tungsten. Going to take the AR10 buffer apart and put the powdered tungsten in. Hoping for another two to three ounces. Heavy AR10 buffers are VERY EXPENSIVE ($125). Standard rifle weight is 5.4 ounces, Heavy Buffers makes a 303 stainless 10 ounce buffer. Pretty simple, drive out the roll pin that holds the plastic buffer tip, remove tip. Shake out the steel or tungsten discs that are inside. Fill buffer with tungsten allowing space for the plastic tip to be installed. Reinstall tip and roll pin. Shoot Actually I would weigh every step, and use epoxy on area between plastic bottom and tungsten powder so nothing can escape. Next project or projects is adding adjustable gas blocks to my ARs as they are ALL overgassed. Then I plan on cutting weight from the bolt carrier and buffers. My new DPMS 308 Long Range 308 Lite rifle gets in to the FFL tomorrow. Going to break in the barrel by shooting 3-5 shots each time, then clean with JB Bore Cleaner and Bore Snakes. I figure it will take 20-30 shots to get the new 8-33x50 scope dialed in starting at 25 yards, then 50 then 100, finally at 200 yards. I have a Wilson Combat adjustable gas block on order, depending on how the 308 recoil affects me I may take the barrel off and have the muzzle threaded for a JP Enterprise 'Cooley" brake. Last year there were days I could not lift my right arm up to shoulder level without horrible pain. Much less pain this year. With the gas block installed I will go with a lighter rifle length buffer. They don't make one, but I have the JP Enterprise AR15 LMOS buffer that weighs 3 ounces compared to 5.4 stock. It is too long, plan on using a tubing cutter to cut the aluminum to the correct length and then drill a new roll pin hole for the plastic bumper piece

Just purchased a DPMS 24 inch with 2 stage trigger and carbon fiber hand guard. It will get to my FFL on Tuesday. Going with an 8-32x50 scope and a Tubbs adjustable butt plate. Also an Ergo grip with palm shelf. Also have 200 Hornady 155 GR coming to go with my 20 boxes of 308 ammo, including 5 boxes of Federal Premium Gold 175 GR HPBT