COBrien

Welcome from Oklahoma!

Welcome from, apparently, the only guy here from Oklahoma! Lots of great info around here, and even more helpful folks.

Bubbas4570 is GTG. Bought his slightly used heavy buffer -- it looks brand new! Shipped quickly, arrived intact, in original packaging. Great guy to deal with.

AFAIK, all DPMS .308 ARs will accept PMAGs. Gen I, Gen II, doesn't matter.

Got a Slash Heavy Buffer on its way from bubbas4570, and just purchased a "gently used" ("only a few boxes of .308 put through it") Smith Enterprise "Good Iron" brake online for $53.

So, it's a selectable HellFire trigger setup. I didn't see any mention of Form 4s, Class III, etc. on the webpage. I don't know how this can be NFA compliant...

You're looking for the DPMS Gen I "sporting/hunting" style upper. After speaking with them while looking for a rifle-length handguard, they're not making ANY more parts for the Gen I rifles. Doubt you'll have luck going to them for the upper. Hopefully someone has one just lying around...

PM incoming.

I don't know much of anything that likes being in the desert in direct sunlight...

I have only used it outside once, and had no problem seeing the dot at 50 yards. That was using the included boresighting target which, IIRC, SiteLite claims is coated with something special to make the laser easier to see in sunlight. Looks like satin-matte cardstock to me... I generally use it indoors after mounting a new scope -- I know it's exactly 30 feet from one corner of the living room to the back wall of my bedroom, so I set my target up there. The wife thought I was nuts until I boresighted her AR after mounting her Eotech. When she took it to the range the next day to qualify, she only needed 3 clicks to get it dead-on. She doesn't giggle about my methods any more... I do have the ballistic software on my laptop, and it's actually pretty good. It's no Strelok, but it serves its purpose. You input your caliber, weight, muzzle velocity, height above bore, and zero range, then choose the "near distance" you want to use the laser at (in my case, 30 feet). It will then tell you how far below the center of the crosshairs the laser point needs to be, and give you the option to print out a target with crosshairs in the center and a 1/2" diameter circle where the laser should be held. Printing a target from the software makes for an easy setup. Put your rifle in a good rest/bipod, turn the laser on, line the dot up inside the circle, and adjust your crosshairs to match the ones on the target. The kit comes with a reticle level of sorts -- a small target with a bubble level glued to it. You hang it with the level, well, level, and can use it to adjust your crosshairs. I loaned mine out to a friend once and it came back with the level gone and a boogered up spot on the target. I have always leveled my reticles by other means, so I don't much miss the level on the SiteLite target.

Mine is red. The green one is the SL500, the big boy. I bought my SL100 when I was a broke law student -- I couldn't afford the SL500...

I bought a SiteLite SL100 several years ago, and it's probably the best firearms-related investment I've ever made (aside from my 2nd gun safe...). It has a magnet that keeps it in place at the muzzle and comes with various arbors and O-rings, as well as a target marked in half-inch (maybe quarter-inch?) increments. Plus SiteLite offers a free download of their ballistics program with an activation code you get in the package. It's not perfect, but it's pretty damn good. I've used it to boresight my Mini-14, 10/22, Savage 110 (.270), LR-308, my .22 WMR, and the wife's AR-15. A friend had me boresight his .30-06 and it was within 1/2" of where we needed it to be at 100 yards (note, we didn't start off at a shorter distance -- went straight to 100 yards just to see how close it actually was).

Before you go buying any parts, be sure to look and make sure whatever you're considering is listed as fitting the DPMS or LR308 platform. There are 3 or 4 (5 with Daniel Defense?) different patterns, the 2 most common ones being DPMS/Remington/Bushmaster/LR308 and Armalite. If you have questions about what fits, feel free to post up here or contact the manufacturer directly.

I've recently been looking at Sig's new line of suppressors with their new QD setup. Specifically the SRD762-QD -- http://sigsilencers.com/products/rifles/srd762-qd/ They make a couple of different QD devices, including a FH and 2 different "compensators." Looks like an interesting system...

Replying so I don't lose this thread... I'll be removing the gas block from my DPMS LR308T soon. Looking at it, I thought it looked like there was some type of adhesive there.

I've been kicking around the TAC30. The Primary Arms 1-6x with 5.56/7.62x51/5.45x39 ACSS reticle is also a strong contender, IMO. Up to 6x magnification with holdover points out to 800 yards, plus a range estimator built in (not really helpful for hog hunting unless/until I can figure out a good "rule of thumb").

Oops! My bad. I'd edit my post, but... Lol!

Congrats, GRA. Based on the fact that you went 10-7, I assume you are now a retired LEO. Thank you for your service, both military and LE. How many (now former) coworkers asked you to be a reserve officer?

I'm using some QD Warne rings on my LR-308 (and was using them on my Mini-14...). The best piece of advice I can give on the Warne QD rings is to snug them onto your scope first -- leave enough slack to adjust as necessary once you get it on the rifle -- then mount the rings onto the receiver. Slide each ring to the back of the slot (they will have some forward-back movement), then lock them down with the lever. Adjust your scope for eye relief and square your reticle, then torque the bolts down in an 'X' pattern. I like to snug them all up in an 'X', then go back and do a final torque. I'm OCD when it comes to mounting scopes, so I have a torque driver to torque the bolts down to 20 INCH-pounds. Any time you remove and replace your scope, be sure to slide it all the way back in the slots before tightening the levers. This will lessen the POA/POI shift and, theoretically, should get you back to your original zero. Be sure to degrease your rings and their bolts before you start mounting. Bolts that have been degreased don't require LocTite, according to Warne, but I usually put a drop of blue LocTite on the threads before mounting a scope. They still come apart without any fuss, but they won't loosen up on you, even with .308 recoil.

I just wanted to come back to this thread to post a quick update. EDIT: Just looked at how long this post was. So much for a "quick" update. I hated the Ergo (?) grip that was on the rifle, it's been swapped out for a Hogue Beavertail. Much better. I pulled the rifle out of the safe last Friday night and heard a "clunk" when I picked it up. Strange, this rifle only makes noise when you pull the bang switch. Got to fiddling with it, and realized the Burris Tactical rings the PO installed weren't tight enough and were sliding back and forth on the upper. Can't have that. Besides, I prefer Warne rings anyhow. Scavenged a pair of Warne medium-height QD rings from my Mini-14 and got the scope mounted up to my liking (slightly lower rings, corrected eye relief, bolts torqued to 20 in-lbs., rings as far apart as possible, etc.). I also squared the scope in the rings -- it had been canted just enough to be really annoying to me but not noticeable to anyone else who looked through the scope. I finished breaking the rifle in (per DPMS's instructions) Saturday. Polished off the Federal XM80 I had (all 100 rounds of it), running a BoreSnake wet with Ballistol down the bore after every 10 rounds. Each pass with the BoreSnake was smoother than the one before it. Getting on toward the last 30 rounds or so, the bolt stopped locking open on an empty mag. Chalking that up to 100 rounds fired through a new rifle without a good cleaning in between. Switched to 168 grain FGMM, and it went right back to locking open on an empty mag. Must be getting dirty enough for the .308 vs. 7.62 loads to make a difference. It ate the .308 stuff like a champ -- all that worrying for nothing. At 100 yards, the FGMM 168s were quite good. 1" groups, with 2 shots from each 3-shot group touching. Also tried some FGMM 175s. She didn't seem to like them quite as much, but I'll do some more shooting and see how she does. Took the rifle on its first hog hunt Sunday. Spent some 8 hours in the 95°+ weather and didn't see a single damned pig. Lots of wallers, tons of tracks, and 12 or more deer, but not one hog on 800+ acres. The place has apparently become a haven for timber rattlers (6 caught in the last month, vs. 2 all last year), so I didn't venture very far off into the woods -- I stuck to tree lines overlooking open pastures. Realized daylight hunting during the summer is for the birds, will go back this fall before and during deer season. Now it's time to find the time to go over to my friend's house to swap on this FA gas block and rifle-length FF tube. And start rolling pennies to get a lower-power scope and 2 more sets of Warne QD rings (one set to replace the ones I robbed from my Mini...).

You're close. 50mm is the diameter of the objective lens of your scope. The diameter of the objective bell (the actual body of the scope) is what you actually need. According to MidwayUSA (who measures just about every scope they carry), the actual diameter of the objective bell for your scope is 2.24". So, (2.24 - 1) / 2 = 0.62" of height required from rail to tube. This is the minimum height if you measure for a Warne ring. The closest they have is an Extra High (.650"), but that leaves you with .030" (less than 1/32") clearance. I'd suggest, if you go with Warne, to jump on the Ultra High (.935"), leaving you with .285" of clearance. For all other brands, your minimum height would be 1.12". As far as a 20 MOA base, if you intend to do any long range shooting (i.e., 600 yards and beyond), it might not be a bad idea. The extra angle of the base will keep your reticle closer to center and leave you plenty of elevation adjustment for taking those long shots. I'm like blue109 with my scope mounting. I want my scopes mounted as low as possible, keeping about 1/8" (.125") clearance so I have room for some Butler Creek scope caps.

Good point. I've been using Warnes for so long, I forget just about everyone else measures to the center of the tube. If that's the case, you just add 1/2 of the tube diameter back on after using the formula I posted above.

I've always been partial to Warne Maxima rings. They guarantee their QD rings will maintain zero (within a certain MOA, can't remember now what it is) after detaching and reattaching. I've never bought one of their "AR Mounts," but have their rings on all of my rifles. If you go with Warne rings, you can skip the riser. Just pick up some Extra High rings (.650" from top of rail to bottom of scope) or Ultra High rings (.935"). The Extra High rings will just get your objective bell above the handguard (.030", to be exact...). Ultras will get you 5/16" of space between objective bell and handguard. For the sake of posterity, the formula for figuring ring heights: (Objective diameter (or Ocular, if larger) - tube diameter) / 2. That is the minimum height required by the scope to clear the receiver (or handguard, if receiver-height). If you have BUIS to clear, add their height above the rail to that number. Most ring manufacturers will list their suggestions for ring heights based on objective diameter, but those are sometimes off.

It gets deeper: http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2016-06-17/story/firearms-dealer-pleads-guilty-illegally-making-machine-guns-and-selling I am a bit miffed about this paragraph, though: "The ATF conducted an uncover operation in which Gould sold two fully automatic .223 caliber AR-15 rifles, the indictment says. One of the weapons used in the massacre at an Orlando nightclub Sunday morning was a semi-automtic AR-15, police said." Exactly what the hell difference does the Orlando shooter's weapon have to do with this case? And, BTW, Mateen's rifle wasn't actually an AR-15...

How interesting would it be if the Bundeswehr replaced their G36s with TAR-21s?