Alamo Posted September 3, 2017 Report Share Posted September 3, 2017 Had a smooth sided upper just laying around which came off my very 1st .308 AR (a $900 DPMS Sportical bought at Wally World back when they still sold semi autos)... so, of course something had to be done... 24" Criterion stainless steel match barrel from Fulton Armory (they have them on sale now for $280... not too shabby) Fulton Armory high pressure firing pin/ bolt and NiB BCG Fulton Armory 12" float tube Fulton Armory gas block... bought one of their tubes (since supposedly the hole is drilled at the Armalite length) but it was a bit too long and bottomed out on the gas key when hand cycling during function testing... switched out for a Spike's Tactical from my local shop and it's working fine. Charging handle is the one that came from DPMS with the upper. Here's a pic of the rounds shot during barrel break in/ scope adjustment. Target at 100 yds. Didn't drill down as to my form and accuracy until I got the scope dialed in for the last three shots (set it 3" high at 100 so that I can hit a softball from 1-300 yds by aiming straight at it)... didn't take much effort at all to put them into almost the same hole just on top and to the left of the bullseye. Bottom two and rightmost holes made by my friend during his trial run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtallen83 Posted September 3, 2017 Report Share Posted September 3, 2017 Very nice, been looking at that same barrel/BCG combo for my next build. Just put a Fulton build together for my Brother-in-Law, 18 inch rifle gas Criterion barrel, noticed the gas tube they sold goes deep but this one didn't bottom out. Everything from Fulton was a nice tight fit, how snug was your extension/receiver fit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unforgiven Posted September 3, 2017 Report Share Posted September 3, 2017 Very nice. Fulton has great product's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alamo Posted September 4, 2017 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2017 Barrel extension fit nice and snug in the receiver, didn't require too much force to fit in or remove again... just the right amount of tension. I'm liking it pretty good so far. Only gripe I got is it's a heavy beast, but that's to be expected. Will put up a report with more rounds from a bit farther out next time. This last range session was kind of a bust. We got out to the desert where we shoot (a good hour and a half from where I live) and I realized I brought the canopy, the tables and chairs, the ear protection, paper targets and frames and the steel gopher and some flourescent orange paint in case he gets too dinged up and the chronograph and the shooting bag and gallons of water in jugs... I brought it all... and I left the ammo boxes sitting on the floor of the Armory at home. Not to be deterred, we set up the canopy and targets and I make a run to the nearest Wally World to grab a box of commercial. It stung a bit to pay $18 plus tax for a box of 20 generic Federal soft points when I left hundreds of hand crafted bullets in 5 different flavors sitting at home :( ... but I sure didn't get all the way out there not to shoot the dang thing, so I reluctantly shell out a $20 and off I go back to the spot. About 3/4 of the way back down the badly rutted dirt road for the 2nd time that day, in a bit of a hurry... something breaks loose next to the left front wheel... I hit the brakes and there's a horrible juddering vibration... no bueno... I pull over to the side of the road, trying to baby the brakes on the way over, it's stopping but something is terribly wrong... along with the juddering when the brakes are applied, there's a clanging going over the ruts like something's loose... metal on metal... there's a final bang from somewhere underneath as I come to a complete stop. I get out to look, but can't really see anything from the outside, underneath or with the hood open. The wheel looks like it's on straight, can't see anything hanging off... fuggit... no way I'm stopping now (gun blue balls are the worst kind)... I start her back up and limp on back down the road... Turns out one of the bolts on the brake calipers had worked itself loose and dropped out somewhere on the road. Actually quite lucky if you think about it, that I was on that dirt road going 25 rather than on the highway going 75... and that, boys and girls, is how guns save lives :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
survivalshop Posted September 4, 2017 Report Share Posted September 4, 2017 Damn , thats a long Barrel , I thought my 20" HB was heavy looking & it was purchased from FA , many years ago , a Kreiger Criterion Barrel . Its a tack driver if I do my part . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alamo Posted September 4, 2017 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2017 Hey there SS, thought about getting the 20" like yours... but then I figured I'd eventually want to get the 24" anyway and decided to just go whole hog. I'm not overcompensating or anything... honest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGTRUCKNUT Posted September 29, 2017 Report Share Posted September 29, 2017 Sweat build. I've got a 24" barrel and another 2 1/2" of compensator on my LR243, and I wouldn't change it for nothing. Unfortunately, I can't shoot to this rifle's potential, currently grouping less than one MOA with factory Hornaday SST ammo. What trigger are you running? I've got a Geiselle SSA-E on the LR243 and am thoroughly impressed with the trigger weight and break. Look forward to hearing how this ends up for you. I'm thinking about building another upper for my LR308 (currently w/ 18" barrel). Either longer barreled .308 or a bigger bore .338 or .358. Semper Fi, Ty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alamo Posted October 2, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2017 On 9/29/2017 at 7:46 AM, BIGTRUCKNUT said: Sweat build. I've got a 24" barrel and another 2 1/2" of compensator on my LR243, and I wouldn't change it for nothing. Unfortunately, I can't shoot to this rifle's potential, currently grouping less than one MOA with factory Hornaday SST ammo. What trigger are you running? I've got a Geiselle SSA-E on the LR243 and am thoroughly impressed with the trigger weight and break. Look forward to hearing how this ends up for you. I'm thinking about building another upper for my LR308 (currently w/ 18" barrel). Either longer barreled .308 or a bigger bore .338 or .358. Semper Fi, Ty I have the JP fire control system in it... I haven’t owned any real expensive big name trigger systems, so I don’t have a lot to compare it to, but I like it a lot. Crisp break, real short reset, their “speed” hammer doesn’t shift the gun much at all when you pull the trigger, no problems so far with light strikes. I only have 1 lower for both my tactical and long range uppers... but if I were to build one strictly for precision work, I’d probably put one of the Geiselle 2 stage jobs on it... or Elftmann, I hear they’re also pretty good... ever hear anything good/ bad/ indifferent about them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alamo Posted October 2, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2017 Shot today at about 200 yards (giant steps, I gotta get me a real range finder one of these days) ... 5 shot groups around a single POA. Not too shabby... a few so-so groups... a couple I’m real pleased with. One group I looked through the scope and got real excited about... so of course I ended up pulling the last shot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alamo Posted October 2, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2017 One thing I notice is that it sure likes to put bullets through the same hole... and when it doesn’t, I get the feeling it’s probably (definitely) because of something I did. I’m thinking that, if you strapped it to a concrete sled, it would make one ragged hole at 300 yards... at 400 yards you might start to see a little space between the holes ... it definitely shoots much better than I can . Once I catch up to it though, then we shall see what we shall see. Also working on bettering my reloads, there’s probably some vertical dispersion there that I can tighten up. Shot both 168 gr Hornady Amax and HPBT Match this session. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
survivalshop Posted October 13, 2017 Report Share Posted October 13, 2017 Both my Kreiger/Criterions Barrels like to shoot in the same hole ( 20"HB & 16HB ), of course I screw it up every chance I get Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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