crimsonfalcon07

Saw this pop up today in my news feed. Technically it's the Mk47, not the ARK-47, but it does seem like an ARK to me. http://www.cmmginc.com/category_s/1998.htm It looks pretty interesting to me. I like that they were smart enough to have it use AK mags, and AR fire control and safety, etc. Should have a lot of modularity, and the 7.62x39 is a pretty solid round. I think I might spring for one of these when they come out. What say you?

Calling worked great for SLR. They were very polite and let me know they'd be sending out the rifle tube today. The shipment of the original package was quick as well, and I always appreciate a company who is quick to take care of any issues. Having had about the worst customer service of my life from ASUS this year, I'm especially keen on supporting companies with good customer service. I also got through to Primary Arms, and they've issued me an RMA. So, all appears to be well. Hopefully there are no issues with the Aero Precision BCG.

They don't sell individual bolts outside of the JP bolt that was out of stock. They pretty much only had standard DPMS BCG's and chromed ones in .308, and the Aero Precision NiB-X BCG was around 100 dollars cheaper than their chromed one, and still less expensive than just a standard DPMS BCG. The chrome one was almost as much as both BCG's combined. If I'm paying that much anyways, I'd rather take the chance of getting a better product and find out for the community whether or not the more affordable NiB-X options are worth buying. If not, Aero and Primary Arms are both reputable dealers, and will doubtless take care of me. I'm using this build to do a lot of experimentation. I'll be testing out the build stock to get a baseline before I send it off for the Teludyne Tech Straightjacket treatment, so I will hopefully be able to provide a before and after on that for you all as well.

Well, if I have to buy a bolt anyways, I might as well contribute something to the community, right? I'm not sure how the bolt was out of spec; they just said that they had tried it on multiple barrels and were unable to headspace it, and could only conclude it was out of spec. I can't imagine a barrel manufacturer like Rainier having headspace issues with a correctly made bolt. They'll still headspace if you buy bolt and barrel, and they'll headspace to a customer-provided bolt as well. They just forgot at first, and then discovered that the bolt was somehow out of spec and unable to headspace to any of their barrels. If I can't get a refund from Primary Arms, I may just buy a JP enhanced bolt to go with the BCG, and get another lower, as I have that spare upper sitting around. Then I'll have a good start on whatever I end up doing for the next build.

More complications. I got the barrel returned, and they attempted to headspace my bolt to a barrel at Rainier, only to find out that the bolt was out of spec. Great. I still haven't heard back from SLR Rifleworks regarding the missing gas tube from my order. So. As per the Rule, I had tried out the Radical Firearms WMD NiB-X coated 308 BCG. It is out of spec, and fits the adage "you get what you paid for." Or not even that. I have contacted Primary Arms to see about returning it for a refund. I have now ordered yet another new BCG to try out, this time from Aero Precision (also the NiB-X one that just came out, brand new). I figured, rather than asking about it when it's brand new, and knowing that I'll just be told that the Rule stipulates that I have to get it and tell you all, that I'd just do the research. I have thus far learned that PSA PA-10 lowers and Radical Firearms BCG's are NOT good to go, and should be avoided at all costs. I like the LUTH-AR MBS stock, the Aero receiver set, particularly the M5E1 upper, and the JP Captured RSA. The Troy ambi release with the Seekins billet button work very well in the Aero set, and make an excellent combination for AP owners.

Yessir, that's the one. I have one of those on all of my AR's, although that's largely because I'm lefty, and I really like the way that one works.

Thanks for the help. I realized I misspoke just now, since I actually *don't* have a Rainier handguard. I was thinking Rainier because I just spoke to them about my barrel. It's actually an Aero Precision handguard, on the AP M5E1 enhanced receiver.

Good to know. Thanks. I'm not sure if the AP handguard is proprietary or not because they don't seem to even sell a 308 barrel nut wrench. Experimentation must happen! Thanks very much for your help.

I've got one of those AR-15 multi-tool things. Will that cover any of these?

So, got in touch with Rainier finally, and they just had me reject the shipment, and so I'll hopefully get those parts in another week or so. I also received my SLR Sentry 7 gas block today, but the gas tube I ordered was not in the package, so I need to find out what happened to that. Also got the MechArmor charging handle in. It's pretty easy to use, although it does make contact with the cheek riser on the LUTH-AR MBS when on full extension. Now that I've got that part, I was able to install the BCG and see how the JP captured RSA works. Seems to work fine for normal manipulation, although we'll have to see what sort of issues I have, if any, once I get the rest installed and such. So, I need to figure out what sort of tools to pull together if I do the barrel install myself. Since I have that extra upper sitting around, and if I hang around here, it seems pretty likely that I'll end up doing another build, it may just be worth my while to invest in a good vice block and do it all myself. Anything you lot recommend over the DPMS Claw for barrel installations?

I have the Seekins button on mine, ordered from Primary Arms, and the Troy Ambi release. Works great on my Aero set.

Good luck. I'm pretty sure the PA-10 and PTAC-10 are completely different, from my experience with the company, but I do hope it works out for you.

You could see if they still have the M5E1 receivers with handguard still available. I bought mine something like a month later than the advertisement :)

And not only that, but there's fitment issues with the lowers and aftermarket triggers. That was what made me send mine back. I don't want to be grinding on an expensive trigger to make it fit because they screwed up the placement for the takedown and pivot pins. They said that it will be fixed in a rendition that has "cal multi" but had no ETA, and in the meantime, have continued selling the defective lowers. That really soured me on PSA, although I like their AR-15 parts just fine. Just more proof that there's no set standard or milspec for 308 AR's like there is for the AR-15.

I bailed on my PSA build, after getting burned by their out-of-spec receiver parts, which they have yet to fix. I'd stay away as well. There are plenty of good options available for affordable prices.

UTG has two different classes of gear; they have some that they have made overseas for airsoft, which is to different specs (and the picatinny rails aren't the same, so they're not really cross-compatible), and the stuff they make for actual firearms, which in my experience is actually built quite well, and in the US. Buying UTG does take a bit more care than buying from other companies that don't make airsoft gear, but I've been pretty happy with the few UTG parts I've picked up.

Well, I got a email notification that Rainier has shipped my barrel...before the bolt got there. It's also impossible to reach them via phone, and I have yet to hear back from the emails I sent. Evidently they didn't read the notes in the order, although that was the process they told me to follow since they removed the bolt headspacing option from their site. Sigh.

I didn't get a stock trigger. I got a Geissele SSA-E. I'm not sure this really counts as a budget build. I bought everything on sale, but very few, if any, of the parts are stock parts, excepting a few screws and springs and the like here and there. Final parts list is: Aero Precision M5 Lower Aero Precision M5E1 Enhanced assembled upper with Aero Precision 15" Keymod handguard Aero Precision takedown and pivot pins, DPMS takedown and pivot springs and detents Aero Precision bolt catch, DPMS bolt catch plunger, spring, and screw Geissele SSA-E trigger Troy Ambidextrous magazine release, Seekins Precision magazine release button, DPMS spring Battle Arms Development BAD-ASS safety ATI Scorpion grip, DPMS screw, lock washer, safety selector detent and spring DPMS Receiver Extension buffer tube JP Enterprises Silent Captured Recoil Spring Assembly (308 version, obviously) (I bought a buffer spring and retainer, but those aren't necessary for this buffer) LUTH-AR MBS stock, which came with a screw, although I bought an extra. MechArmor Tacops Sniper charging handle Radical Firearms 308 BCG with WMD NiB coating Rainier Arms Ultramatch 20" barrel in .308 WIN for DPMS SLR Sentry 7 Premium Set-Screw gas-block with melonite coating SLR black rifle-length gas tube Still will need keymod bipod attachment and bipod, and possibly some other gadgets, and maybe an extra muzzle brake. Also an optic. I think I've settled on a Vortex Viper PST 6-24x50 with an Aero Precision ultralight scope mount for that. I got all the small parts separately, rather than buying a lower parts or build kit. There are really quite a few parts that go into one of these things! So I may still get a muzzle device, but will be getting one with the Teludyne SJBS. I would get the gas block and gas tube with the mod too, but I wanted to shoot this thing first and see how important it was to me to have them mod it, and get a before/after comparison for myself. Also, I'd like to mention that Aero Precision's customer service was stellar. I ordered the M5E1 receiver combo set and evidently had something wrong with my address, and they called me up and sorted it out and shipped it within about 36 hours of placing the order (I placed the order really late at night). Quick shipping too, and they've been very responsive to all of my questions. I just got impatient and didn't want to wait for them to release the handguards... Also they had really good deals. I don't really want to think about how much this rifle has cost me in total. I got what I think are pretty good deals on almost everything; most every purchase was at at least a 15% discount off of normal pricing. But that's still a lot of premium parts, with an extra upper receiver thrown in the mix. I might have to put that, and maybe some blades, up for sale to help defray some of the cost. At the end of the day, I want a rifle that I will be happy with, and I don't want to feel like, once I've spent a few grand, that I cheaped out on something and end up having to buy it later anyways.

Well, made a few changes, thanks to Black Friday. I ended up ordering the M5E1 upper with handguard, which arrived today. It's very nice, and appears to be really solid. The only movement is between the upper and lower receivers, and that's no more than you'd expect from any AR build. Ordered a 20" Rainier Ultramatch on their fantastic BF deal. I think it was nearly 150 off. Paid under 400 shipped, anyways, and got the bolt shipped out to them today for free headspacing. I ordered the SLR gas block and rifle-length gas tube, and MechArmor charging handle instead of the Raptor, which I'm not sure if it will ever come back in stock. So now I have every necessary part to complete the actual rifle build except for muzzle brake, and just need to get an optic. I plan on shooting it some stock, so I can have a before-and-after comparison when I get the Teludyne Tech SJBS mod done. I do now have a spare standard-style Aero upper receiver that I don't need, so may end up selling that.

Centennial Gun Club has some gunsmiths, and I've done some business with Rocky Mountain Guns and Ammo in Parker. CGC tends to have better selection than most places.

Ceramic is very sharp, and needs minimal sharpening, but doesn't have as much lateral strength (duh). A lot of people think that they can abuse their knives, and ceramic knives are significantly less forgiving than steel for stupidity. I personally prefer a premium steel for my blades, but ceramic blades can be pretty nice. M390 is probably my favorite small-knife steel, while CPM 3V is my favorite for larger blades.

I have the radical firearms one, but haven't tried it out. Still saving up for the last few parts. There are visible machining marks under the WMD NiB coating, but it doesn't look like anything that would inhibit function. If nobody else has one by the time I finish my build, I'll report back.

It's a pretty new company. From what I've gleaned from my own experience building a 308 AR, you don't really do it so much to save money as much as to get exactly the gun you want. There are great 308 AR's out there pre-built. If you're not too picky, any of them will do. If you want something specific, you may want to do the build yourself, or if you plan on doing a lot of upgrading. The other advantage to building it yourself is that you can space out the expenditures a bit, and buy stuff during sales.

Got most of the parts installed today. The Aero receiver set is very nice. Just need barrel, charging handle, buffer, and handguard now.

Thanks for the thoughts. There's some interesting ideas here, and I've been giving it some thought. With regards to the lead sled, I'm still not getting it though. I had figured that it would be best to eliminate the human element for the sighting in. If you have the human element involved, you're opening up your margin of error by that much more. When sighting in, I always try to eliminate as much as possible, because when I shoot, I don't want to have to worry about the margin of error from having set up my scope wrong, in addition to any other shooting technique errors and other difficulties. I confess I don't see the advantage to doing it any other way, unless maybe you just never practice after you've sighted it in?