ardrummer292

In my experience, and depending on your tolerance, at least a six pack. :D

Maybe so. I won't be starting this build until October, so I've still got some time to hack out the details.

I'm about to contact Rainier about their Noveske barrel. I'm gonna have to suck that one up no matter what, since Lothar Walther's cost for a custom barrel is about the same price. As far as I've been told, the Armalite is about as reliable as the Larue, which is about as reliable as the KAC, which is about as reliable as the blah blah blah... I'm sure the KAC is awesome and all, but it seems that I'd be better served buying something less expensive and decking it out with the parts I want. From there, I can spend the difference on ammo. Seems like a decent plan to me.

If you're referring to my comment about the KAC's price, that's due to the diminishing returns I'd likely see from spending that much money on a "blaster."

Sweet African space Christ. I'm going to start a build thread since I have some of the specifics down. I think we're done here, gentlemen. Thank you for the ball busting, but mostly for the help. :D

Well, on that note, I think I'll go sit in a corner. :banana:

My main reason for getting an adjustable gas block would be to open it all the way and overgas the crap out the system for really terrible conditions. Suppressed use would be a bonus. :) A bit, yes. I would like the lightest weight rifle possible without sacrificing rapid fire capability. In my mind, this kinda mandates something more than a lightweight barrel. I do plan on fitting the gas block under the rail. I'm already set on the Trijicon VCOG 1-6x with a custom BDC. I'll have a RMR on top. The ACOG/RMR has been my favorite optics setup for a long time, but I can't justify the weight penalty associated with the TA648 or TA55 ACOGs. Hence, the VCOG seems to be a suitable solution. :) Absolute worst case scenario? I can see dumping 100 rounds in 2 minutes, followed by a sustained rate of fire of about 20 rounds a minute. Ammo expenditure while breaking contact, dismounted, in open terrain, is pretty high. I reckon a medium contour barrel would offer "good enough" accuracy after that much shooting, or at least better accuracy than a lightweight barrel.

No offense taken, my friend. I am very new to this whole thing and am most grateful for any knowledge you're willing to share. :) It seems Syrac makes a .936 diameter block as well. That should broaden my options a bit, right? Here's to hoping a medium/heavy barrel won't interfere with fitting a Troy Alpha rail to the thing. :P

I'm worried about putting the stock Armalite light profile chrome lined barrel through a high sustained rate of fire. I'm afraid of severely degraded accuracy due to rapid overheating, or worse yet, permanent damage to the barrel due to rapid fire. I saw the Noveske barrel. It isn't chrome lined, but it's a nice heavy contour and looks like it'll do the job. My main concern with it is the chamber, which appears to be optimized for a round I doubt I'll ever buy (M118 LR). Would the chamber screw up reliability with M80 ball? Another thing I've been thinking about is installing a Syrac adjustable gas block. I figure that I could have the gas port slightly over-bored, then have the adjustable gas block there to regulate the amount of gas used to cycle the action. If the action gets gunked up and I need the rifle to keep running, I reckon I could open up the adjustable block a bit and get the rifle to power through the grime. On the flip side, I could close the block a bit for suppressed use. What do you think?

Rsquared, do you know of any medium contour 16in chrome lined barrels that'll fit an AR-10? All I've been able to find are a few places that *might* do a custom job (Lothar Walther, Miller Precision, SAOD).

Yeah, but it's a light profile. I'm looking for a medium profile. :P Oh, now you're just messing with me. :D

Done, and done. I don't plan on attending a class without having a little insurance against poor weapons handling. :) Now, does anyone have an answer for this little gem?

Already got one, custom built by a local AK guru. It came with a lifetime warranty. Can't wait to try and break it. ;)

No offense intended on my part, Magwa. I'm sure your DPMS runs like a champ. :) It looks like the Armalite offering is top contender currently. Does anyone know where I could find a medium profile 16'' chrome lined barrel? A mid-length gas system would be a plus, as would a .750 diameter at the gas block. Basically, just like the Mega Arms 16'' barrel, but chrome lined and able to fit an AR-10. :)

I know the engineering process, I was just being ornery. :D What's the deal with the receiver extension specs you mentioned? I hadn't thought about that stuff before. If I had enough experience under my belt, I would probably try and build one myself. One would think that I have enough experience as-is, since I was an assistant armorer as well as a shooter for my unit, but I'm really not confident enough in my abilities to trust my life on a rifle I built. Not yet, anyway. Thankfully, I have some friends who are Marines who will get me back up to speed. I can go fast, clear malfunctions, transition, and move in a team environment just fine. My fundamentals are where I really need work. Only hits count, right? I was not aware that SHTF gun was a category. Well, knowing that, do you have any recommendations? Man, I hope I'm not wearing out my welcome here already. If so, thanks for the help anyway. :D

I hate being right all the time. Don't tell the missus, she'll never believe you. :D That's good information. I haven't actually taken thermo or fluid dynamics yet, just getting through mechanical dynamics now. Material mechanics is on deck for the summer. Any course or career recommendations for a future small arms R&D engineer? :) Hey, someone has to design all these cool toys! :D It seems that I have hit critical beer consumption and have shut down the analytical portion of my mind for the evening. Here's what I came up with: Armalite AR-10A: looks pretty cool, probably doesn't suck. Why not? Larue: does too many things for what I need. Nope. S&W M&P-10: too many proprietary parts, none available to the public yet. Nope. DPMS: yuck, it's a DPMS. Nope. LMT: very shiny and neat, but not enough to warrant the price increase. Nope. KAC: HA. Nope. RRA: lacks general awesomeness and does not fetch me beer. Nope. Windham: what's that? Nope. Home build: I can only count to potato. Nope. Sig/PWS/LWRC/CMMG: piston is the devil. Nope. So, the good Dr. Yuengling's recommendation seems to lean towards the Armalite offering. I don't know if that's a good idea, considering the doctor in question also recommended that I tattoo the Terminal Lance logo on my arse. Thankfully, I made it out of that one scot-free. shibiwan, is this the standard engineering thought process? If so, I'm gonna need a new liver in a few years...

I'm an engineering student, I can't help it. :D I just wish I had a more thorough understanding of fluid dynamics and thermodynamics so I could choose a rifle from hard data points instead of second-hand information. Not that I don't appreciate everyone's help and experience, of course. :)

If only my research-obsessed mind would allow me to... :P

^^^ THIS ^^^ is what I've been wanting to know. Does anyone else out there agree (or disagree) with shibiwan's assessment? Are there any rifles you can think of that are behind the "reliability curve?" I don't plan on taking the rifle with me on a low-crawl tour of the Great Dismal Swamp, nor do I plan on dumping 500-1000 rounds in one engagement, but it would be nice if I had a rifle that could function after such shenanigans. :D ***EDITED TO ADD*** I don't know if this is of any consequence, but I'll be throwing a Trijicon 1-6x VCOG with RMR on this rifle with a custom BDC. This is in order to maintain optic consistency across my platforms (AR-15/TA31 ACOG + RMR, AK-47/TA33 ACOG + RMR, AK-74/TA11 ACOG + RMR).

I read a couple training course AARs that talked about KAC, LMT, and Larue .308 ARs having issues running M80 ball at high round counts. That said, if those rifles are having issues, I've got to assume the more economical offerings would perform similarly. Since almost all of these rifles will be more accurate than I am in combat conditions, I guess I'm wondering if money buys reliability. Here's the dilemma I'm trying to get over: higher cost = greater accuracy = tighter tolerances = lower reliability when Murphy shows up. Is one of these factors wrong? Yeah, we checked the headspace and timing before clearing it for use. No idea on date of manufacture. The barrel extension cracked right behind the threads and sent the barrel about 6 feet downrange. That wasn't nearly as scary as when one of my guys had a .50 round cook off on his groin protector after clearing a FTF. Lucky guy! :D I don't have the 7.62 ball yet, but I plan on picking up at least 1000 rounds with the rifle. As far as me being overzealous... well, I have a propensity for mag dumps and plan to have at least 6 of the Magpul 25 rounders racked up in my chest rig. :D I guess my concern is more along the lines of, "Which rifle could I keep in the fight longer?" Granted, the "fight" in question has a 99.99% probability of being a high round count training course, but I do tend to plan for the worst case scenario. :)

Yeah... the "Ma Deuce" broke a barrel extension, sending the barrel downrange. I overlubed the M240, making the receiver catch fire at about the same time I shot the chrome/Stellite/whatever lining out of the barrel. I also saw one of my buddies blow up a Mk44 minigun; for those familiar with the "Jesus clip," it broke and sent the flashhider downrange with all 6 barrels in tow. Oddly enough, one of the few guns I managed NOT to break (aside from my issued M4) was a salty old M60E4, which is still my favorite machine gun of all time. :D I would like to have the ability to run steel case. It definitely won't be my first choice, as I plan on having a healthy stockpile of US manufacture 7.62 NATO M80 ball on hand. That said, I get a little overzealous at the range sometimes, so having cheap blasting ammo would be nice. :)

I like the fact that the PredatAR doesn't have the weird breakdown feature. Less moving parts means less stuff to go wrong, right? I've heard of the MWS choking on crappy mil-surplus ammo, which kinda puts me off a bit. I hate to oversimplify the question here, but what will the LMT and Larue rifles do that an Armalite AR-10A A4 won't? Will they be more reliable with crap ammo after being broken in? Will they hold up better as a pry bar/blunt instrument? Can I expect these rifles to function after taking a spill into a clay-mud field with the dust cover open? I feel that buying a beautiful $3k rifle, then feeding it a steady diet of garbage ammo and rough handling, may not be the rifle's intended use. As a side note, I don't expect Glock reliability, just regular AR-15 reliability. My experience with ARs (both issued and personal) has shown me that they are VERY reliable; this is all coming from a guy that managed to destroy both an M240 and a M2HB in one range outing! I'm just looking for that great AR-15 dependability in a bigger package. :D

I was wondering if I could pick up the PredatAR with a heavier barrel. That seems like it would be a solid setup while staying within my weight limit. Yeah, but I'd hate to spend double the money for a KAC when other companies have great customer service as well. :P I wish that was possible, man. I can probably handle a few at my local gun shop to figure out what is "acceptable" in terms of balance. As far as reliability goes, I was hoping to get all that information here. In true newbie fashion, I completely failed to search "battle rifle" on these boards before posting my thread. I'm going to do some research, then drop by a gun shop and have a fondle. I guess that's my afternoon spent, then. :D ***EDITED TO ADD*** After a little thought, my main criteria is reliability through adverse conditions with crap ammo (i.e. Wolf/Brown Bear/other steel case). Again, I would like to avoid piston if possible. Shame on me for wanting a unicorn rifle, right? :P

I thought about it, but I want to stick with a military standard cartridge for ease of acquisition.

Thank you all for the replies. There's some great knowledge to be had out there, and it looks like I've come to the right place! Good to know! My main concern is being able to run the system when absolutely filthy, which would probably necessitate overgassing the system temporarily. Thanks for the input! I can't seem to find that particular model on the Armalite website. My Google-fu must be weak. :P Yeah, the LMT is pretty nails. While I dig it a good bit, I wouldn't mind something a bit lighter. I looked at the PredatOBR. Beautiful rifle, although I couldn't seem to find the weight. It also has that weird breakdown feature, which I honestly have no use for. I'd hate to spend extra money on a feature I don't need. Maybe the PredatAR would be a better fit? Ya see, it's posts like this that show me I've gotta lot of stuff to learn... :D I run my gear very hard, so I would really prefer to get something off the shelf and have manufacturer support in case of function issues. One of my buddies has a Windham AR-15 and it has been running great so far. I guess we'll have to wait and see how their .308 offering pans out. You guys are fantastic. Keep the information coming! :)