Cliff R

I picked up a case of these and got a great deal on them. They retail at $45, on Amazon for $25, selling them for $20 with free shipping. Very high quality, super bright, submersible, shock proof and full 2 year warranty. They are Constellation Scorpius SC-Z1. Best part is that they have a rechargeable battery and it lasts a LOT longer than the other lights I have with 3 "AA" batteries in them. Walmart has 4 batteries and a charger for $12, the same deal is on Ebay for $8. I carry mine daily and very happy with it.....

"Even PSA managed not to screw up the 7.62x39!!!" I picked up a PSA AR-47 upper a couple of years ago. It wouldn't run. The firing pin was only hitting about 20 percent of the primers hard enough. I removed the pin and ended up machining it slightly in the lathe for more protrusion and it ran fine. I called PSA and told them the deal and they sent me the correct one. Some of the cheap steel case ammo will give you fits. Twice I've had to take a drive rod and hammer to clear it due to cases stuck so hard in the chamber you couldn't pull the bolt back with a truck and log chain! Other than a couple of those deals and the too-short firing pin I've been very pleased with it. Not sure what Mag's I'm using, bought 6 of them from another source back when I got the upper as PSA was out of stock on them........Cliff

Thanks for the tip. My 308 dies are RCBS and you absolutely must make sure that the crimping operation doesn't happen just an instant before the bullet seating deal or they can/will bulge the case some, with disastrous results. I purchased most of my reloading equipment in the late 70's and early 1980's, plus inherited some from my dad. It's a combination of Lyman, RCBS and Lee, plus a few items from Herter's dad back WAY back when. I have a pretty good learning curve with reloading, and learned early on to stick with slower burning powders and start a ways off of maximum loads listed for any particular caliber. Hoping the solution here is simply changing ammunition.........Cliff

You might also try pulling a bullet on your current ammo, dumping out the powder and running the case thru a full length resizing die. Put the power back in (new primer if you drove the old one out), seat the bullet to the same depth, and see if it feeds/cycles any better. I am assuming here that you have reloading equipment.........Cliff

I don't have issues with most of my AR platforms except for the AR-47. The inconsistency of 7.62 x 39 ammo, steel cases, etc will cause issues once in a while. It was so bad once that we literally had to take a metal rod and drive the case and bolt back with a decent size hammer. Had troubles once with my first 308-AR build because I didn't have the reloading dies set correctly. Had been away from this sort of thing for a few years while I adjusted to civilian life and got a couple of businesses up and running (about 10 years). I put together some hand loads using Lake City Match brass and some older Sierra 150 grain soft point bullets, backed them with some IMR 4320 I had left over from the 1980's. Like a dummy I didn't test cycle any of the ammo, just went to our range and on the third round the bolt didn't seat home and I couldn't get it pulled back. Finally got it cleared, then about half a dozen rounds later it did it again. The ammo looked fine at a glance, but I had inadvertently set the bullets to crimp slightly before they were seated to depth. This compressed the cases and put a very small bulge on them making them tight in the chambers. A beginners mistake and easily corrected with the next batch of ammo. Changing ammo will be the first move to correcting the issues. I've never had any issues with Winchester or Federal hunting ammo and it's available just about everyplace that sells sporting goods........Cliff

Did you try different ammo and get the same result? Did you inspect the spent cases to see if there were any unusual marks on them not cased by contact with the feed ramps? Next step would be to inspect the chamber and an unfired round cycled thru it and look for any witness marks to see where it may be hanging up.......Cliff

No reason that I know of why the platform would effect case life unless the barrels chamber was out at max specs and your reloading dies at minimum. That would cause maximum expansion, stretching, thinning and lengthening the cases with each use.. You will loose one here and there unless you put a big sheet or blanket out on range days as they throw the brass out there a bit. Over the years I've found the hardest thing on brass is pressure. High pressures knock out the primer pockets to a point where they don't have a tight enough fit for the primers but the rest of the brass is sound. Really excessive pressures can cause case separations. I've been reloading since the mid 1970's and tend to avoid really fast powders and pushing things up near the limits. I've only ran into pressure issues and short case life a couple of times, and that was with 22/250 and 6MM Remington. Federal brass back in those days was pretty much garbage, at least in 22/250. You'd be lucky to get more than 3 reloads out of it if you were pushing things pretty hard. For bolt guns you can back the dies off some if always using the same rifle. This helps to improve case life and accuracy. For autoloaders that deal doesn't work as well so the cases will get resized then re-expand with each use, and require trimming in between as they will grow slightly from being worked. I've never tried annealing cases although I do know about it. Seems like a lot of extra work but might be worth it at $1.25 each to replace them.......Cliff

Cripe, I can hit Zanesville with my 308 if I get the right elevation on it! I'm East of Mount Vernon off Route 36. I've wanted to move out West for quite some time, but my wife doesn't want to leave the grand kids......so I told her to take them with us!........Cliff

PS: ignore the time, date, etc on the pic, it's been frozen since 2008, the pic was from October 2017.....

Many, many thanks guys. I purchased my land here in 2003, built my shop, then my house, and adding to it every time something comes up for sale attached to me. Although I'd rather own a couple of square miles of property in Colorado or Wyoming right on the Elk migration path I'm good with having a small chunk of property here in Ohio. I have a shooting range, food plots for deer, PLENTY of timber, and enough elbow room I can't see any other houses from mine once the leaves come out in the Spring. I also manage 200 acres directly across the road from me for a local cattle farmer. I shoot groundhogs, coyotes, and manage all the dead and fallen trees, etc. Although it's a bit "heavy" for groundhogs I've shot a few with my PA-10 and the 175 grain Barnes bullets. They never take another step. Also kind-a cool is that within 20 minutes there will be an Eagle on one if I shoot it in the cattle pasture across from my house. The report of the rifle is like a dinner-bell for them! As it relates to this thread, I never even think about barrel length and long range capabilities...FAR more important to exercise good shooting skills and know your sight dope. That little loss of velocity from the shorter barrels is more than made up for in weight and having a compact package put together. You really appreciate that deal when you are hiking in a couple of miles at 12,000' on your Elk hunt!............Cliff

"But - what gas system?..." Stock from PSA, so no telling what the gas port diameter is, although I'd say it's adequate since it runs flawlessly. PSA has only offered this configuration once that I've seen. I grabbed one up, and by the time I told a good friend and fellow enthusiast about it they were gone. He actually placed an order and they called him and substituted an 18" set-up instead telling him they were out of stock by the time his order came in. Anyhow, so I can help out here with details I'll strip it down at some point and check the diameter. My feed ramps weren't cut with a chainsaw and they got the port diameter good enough it runs flawlessly with a wide variety of ammo, so probably worth the effort to get more intimate with it next time it's down for cleaning. Will measure the tube length protrusion as well. By visual it's a tad shorter than my DPMS by about .080-.100". Something else I'll get specifics on next time I've got it stripped down. Right now I'm so busy in the shop (typical for this time of year) I don't have time to reach around and scratch my ars. https://cliffshighperformance.com/ Plus I've been scrambling for the last 4 days to nail down a purchase on some property that's backed up to mine that became available. Been waiting for the old geezer in the nursing home to finally pass or decide to sell it, and it came up for sale last Tuesday without warning. Not buying it wasn't an option as it runs across the back of my property right where have the deer stands leading to my thicket, and on the business end of my shooting range, so letting someone else get it and put a house back there was NOT part of the equation. Good news is that I nailed it down, a bit costly but I'm licking my wounds a bit but returning to business as usual today, and moving a little slow this morning as I had to have Deb make me some Old Fashion's last night after we got in contract for the land behind us........yippie!........Cliff

I have a 14.7" PSA upper with welded flash hider. It's on a matching PSA lower, with an A2 stock and DPMS buffer/spring. Runs flawlessly no matter what ammo I've ran thru it........Cliff

Wind gets you both ways, so I never get too upset about my scores when it's whipping me and the bullets around some. Hot/humid days will get you do, sweat dripping in your eyes, glasses fogging up, difficulty seeing the target at times. It's bad enough trying to take shooter error out of the equation, and adding in environmental stuff just makes things more difficult. When I shot competition the real deal breaker was standing/offhand shooting. Most shooters do reasonably well with a good rest, standing to kneeling, prone, etc. When you stand up and nothing to lean against or other support......that deal very quickly separates the men from the boys!........FWIW.......Cliff

As far as the PA-10 and accuracy, there is a local "guru" here who absolutely HATES PSA barrels, says there aren't worth two squirts of duck poop and pretty much anything else is an upgrade in the accuracy department. The guy builds long range rifles and pretty knowledgeable but I've never spoke to him directly about any of it. I have two PSA AR-15's with 16" barrels (they are the more expensive CHF in 1-7 twist, not the current "nitride" stuff they are pushing), and set-up for hunting ground hogs around these parts. They are a little finicky about ammo, but shoot acceptably with PMC X-Tac and a couple of WWC Military loads I found stashed away in the ammo safe. They aren't too fond of any M-855 loads and hate the currently available American Eagle and other Military knock-off stuff. With PMC X-Tac I've fired several 300 yard groups laying over a big round hay bail (I like to simulate actual hunting conditions) that all go under 5" or so. I haven't missed any groundhogs to that distance on calm days, so good enough for what I'm doing with them. As far as using my PA-10 for 1000 yard matches, it doesn't show anywhere near the consistency and accuracy of the M-14 I was issued back in the 1980's for High Power matches. That rifle was custom built by Navy Armorer's, with the full function removed, and it was nothing less than amazing for accuracy. I've shot 18-10/4X with it at 1000 yards with a peep sight for crying out loud. My eyes are so bad these days I doubt if I could match that deal at 500 yards with a 24 power scoped rifle!.......LOL.......Cliff

I get it, just wasn't in the "recipe" WAY back when I built my Alexandria Arms 308 and the PA-10. I just ran around gathering up parts, and very quickly found out (by trial and error) that although a good many parts are interchangeable between different platforms, there are parts that are specific to each rifle depending on whether it's Armalite, PA, Alexandria Arms, DPMS, etc. I've got a decent size box of leftovers as a result of my learning curve. Far as length of the gas tube, for sure longer engagement into the bolt carrier is going to provide additional time for the gas pressure to apply rearward force to the BC group. I'm sure that the size of the hole in the gas block becomes a player in that deal as well. Considering the operating pressure(s), powder burn rates, bullet weight, time the bullet spends in the barrel, etc, it's remarkable to me that the 4 rifles I've built all run flawlessly no matter what loads we've ran thru them. I took a gander at the DPMS and noticed the gas tube extends thru a bit further than the PA-10, but didn't take any exact measurements. For now I'm going to leave them alone unless we start running into function issues........Cliff

The older I get the more I'm tempted to use it as my primary rifle for the trips to Colorado, at 10,000-12,000' every ounce is like a pound when you are hiking in a couple of miles!.......Cliff

We take one to Colorado as a back-up rifle. We also bench it before each trip with 175 grain Barnes LRX bullets over 41 grains of Varget. It shoots as good as or better than the guy holding it. Easily holds 5 rounds to about an inch or a little less. We have a 2-7 Leupold on ours, compact, simple and light set-up and ample power for big game. It whops you a little bit at the bench with those heavy bullets but nothing you'd notice much in a hunting situation with heavy clothing on. Overall a really nice rifle, I'm sure you'll be very pleased with it........Cliff

You mentioned taking it to Alaska and it's going to "take a beating". For sure I'd install a free float rail system to you can install accessories, including a front sight. I take my 308-AR Elk hunting and although it's outfitted with a good scope and mount, I take along an A2 carry handle and matching front sight, just in case I accidentally amputate the scope on a rock during a hard fall. This actually happened to a member of our hunting party a few years ago. We were at a "drop camp" for a week and early in the hunt he fell and destroyed his scope. His rifle wasn't equipped with back-up iron sights so it pretty much ruined a very expensive hunt for him. Back then I carried a Marlin model 1895 in 45/70 with a 1-4 Leupold scope but left the iron sights on it. These days I use my 308-AR and can remove the scope and install the sights in seconds. You will also loose your sling swivel with most replacement set-ups, but with a rail system it's pretty easy to put one on it. Below are pics of my 450 Bushmaster, with the ugly factory free float tube, then the replacement USA made free float hand guard I replaced it with. There are a LOT of offerings out there, and most came with a new matching barrel nut.......Cliff

My PA-10 only has a 14.7" barrel and shows good potential for accuracy. It doesn't like PMC ball ammo but did fine with everything else I've ran thru it. To date the best groups were with some 150 grain Fushion factory loads and my 175 grain Barnes hand loads. Both will go under an 1" at 100 yards. Now if I could only get it to shoot like my 450 Bushmaster........Cliff

So after following this thread and reading all the potential issues I might find with my PA-10 I took it apart yesterday for a quick inspection. I expected to find the feed ramps rough cut with a chainsaw, short gas tube and minimal apply pressure on the extractor. The feed ramps aren't too bad, not rough at all and parkerized or nitride after the work was done because they are coal black. The center lug is ground to a "knife" edge and probably why I'm seeing a visible scratch on my unfired bullets when I remove them. I did this quite a bit in Colorado as I unloaded the gun at least a dozen times for the trip to and from the drop off points where I hiked in. I didn't drive the roll pin out o the extractor and remove it because the gun runs flawlessly and I didn't want to strip it down that far. I did check apply pressure and there is enough that it is extremely difficult to move it and has noticeable compression when you use a small screwdriver to pry it away from center. This got me thinking some so I went to the PA website and checked my order: PSA Gen 2 PA10 14.7" Mid-Length 7.62X51 NATO 1/10 Nitride 11" Slanted M-Lok Upper w/o BCG/CH, Pin & Weld ‒ 516445247 Hum, no BCG/CH. So I must have purchased it separately and not from them. This probably explains why my PA-10 has never had any issues. The BCG is not theirs and before firing the first round out of it I converted it to the A2 stock with DPMS parts: > DPMS LR-308 Buffer Rifle 308-BS-11 1 22.00 > DPMS LR-308 Buffer Spring 308-BS-10B 1 8.00 Not really knowing a lot about these 308 platforms (at that time) it appears that the success of my conglomeration of parts was much like a blind squirrel finding a nut. I've ran at least 500 rounds out of it with ZERO issues. This includes at least 4 different factory type 150-165 grain hunting loads (whatever was on sale at Walmart), some older loose Military rounds (pretty sure some of that was M-60 stuff), some Lake City Match, and plain old WCC 7.62 Military grade ammo, plus at least 3 different hand loads clear up to what I settled on (175 grain Barnes over Varget). My gas tube is pretty short, very much like the pics on this thread. I compared it to my DPMS and that gas tube sticks thru a LOT further. I think we can pretty much rule out the short gas tube deal, but probably not a bad idea to have a little further engagement in that area as distance would equal time as far as applying rearward movement to the heavy bolt. Anyhow, at least I'm not going to take my bolt apart and start looking for better parts for the extractor. At this point I'm not sure where it was purchased, or who made it, but I'll look a little deeper in my emails and see if I can find out where it came from?........Cliff

I purchased their 14.7" upper and matching lower at the same time but never tried it as delivered. Before every firing the rifle I replaced the 6 position stock with an A-2 stock and bought a different buffer and spring. (I'll dig around my emails some and try to find out what I purchased and post it later) At the time really didn't know if they were the correct parts for the stock conversion and was not a member of this site so just rolled the dice on it. I've ran a LOT of rounds thru it and 100 percent flawless no matter what load I've tried. No miss-fires, failures to feed, or eject. To date I've fired PMC, Federal, WWC commercial ammo, some older Lake City Match, and several Military left overs I had laying around. For reloads I've ran at least 60 rounds of Sierra 150 grain over some left over 4320 powder and at least 50 Barnes 175 grain SST bullets over Varget. The only gripe I have is that it has "rough" feed ramps and scratches the cases up some. After seeing the photo's above I can see why that's happening. As far as accuracy goes it didn't like the PMC much, did OK with all the factory Federal and WWC hunting rounds I put thru it, and at 300 yards I can easily hold the Barnes 175's under 6" firing half a dozen about as fast as I can get back on target. Maybe I got lucky or the blind-drunk bubba squirrel found a nut the day he put my upper together.........who knows but I'm pretty happy with it overall.........Cliff PS: forgot to comment on the trigger, it was horrible, lots of creep, "gritty" and heavy. Not a big deal, that's about a 10 minute fix with a roll pin punch, pair of pliers, a good stone and a little polishing......

I'd say at least 14lbs empty. Mine light weight 308 AR is 10 lbs without the magazine in it........Cliff

I absolutely HATE the 60 round Magpul drum I have on my M-4.....cost me over $20 every time I empty it!.......Cliff

Considering the effort required to drive out some of the roll pins retaining gas blocks I've ran into here, making a custom pin isn't really a bad idea. Roll pins can and will vary some in diameter when you measure them due to the air-gap. The higher quality ones are more consistent, dark in color, hardened and good memory. I shy away from the shiny chit you see for sale these days coming in from off-shore. Anyhow, let us know how it runs, hopefully you've made big improvements........Cliff

"Same malfunction in current configuration as was present before substituting a the KAK buffer for a 3.8 ounce DPMS carbine buffer and Palmetto's factory-furnished non-adjustable gas block." This is a key to the solution. Problem was present before and after the parts changes. High probability its a "fundamental" issue like the gas tube too short or something with the bolt/carrier assembly/extractor. How does it function if you operate it manually with a full magazine. If it grabs every single one and slings them out with great authority then the BCG has adequate room to move and the extractor is holding the cases well enough. Something to mention here with reloaded ammunition is to make absolutely sure that the crimping operation doesn't occur every so slightly before bullet depth is reached. Something very easy to overlook and when this happens the case can get "bulged" ever so slightly causing a tight fit in the chamber. This problem is really obvious when it woln't allow the bolt to fully close but much less obvious if they are just tighter than they should be. I know that sounds pretty "basic" and you seem to have extensive enough experience to know this, but it may help others dealing with similar issues. Next I'd do the single fire test mentioned above and it absolutely should hold the bolt open after each round, or it's short/cycling even if it ejects the spent round successfully. My bet is the gas tube being too short. The buffer tubes, springs, buffer length/weight and gas block adjustments are above my job description, but certainly part of the equation once you check/correct any fundamental issue(s)..........Cliff