Bigdad Posted December 10, 2018 Report Share Posted December 10, 2018 I thought I would provide an update on my quest to improve my cheapo 308 AR, it may be helpful to others. This is my first real experience with AR type rifles although I did have a pre-band AR15 H-BAR back in the early 80’s that I never really cared for. A couple of months ago I bought a new FEDARM FR-10 308 off of Gunbroker for $455, $501 with shipping and FFL fee. I bought it with the intention of setting it up for night hunting pigs in East TX. I didn't expect it to be very accurate and was pleasantly surprised when I ran various factory loads through it and accuracy ranged from 1.25” to 1.75” inches at 100 yards. Recoil was stout and the ejected brass was really beat up and the gun seemed over gassed. Based on feedback from the helpful experts on this forum, namely 98ZRV, I replaced the buffer with a KAK Heavy Buffer and spring with a Sprinco Orange spring, that really helped with recoil and the brass is no longer damaged. Ejection went from 10-12 ft at 1:00 to 6 ft at 2:00. I did not install an adjustable gas block, I may do that in the future. Next, I replaced the factory trigger group with a Larue MBT-2S, again based on feedback from this excellent forum. They advertise 2.5 lb first stage and 2 lb 2nd stage. I measured the pull and the first stage is really light, wouldn’t move my trigger gauge and 2nd stage released consistently at 4.1 lbs. Not as light as I’m use to in my bolt guns but acceptable for a hunting rifle. Next, I started load development, after trying several bullets using Varget powder, I settled on a load using Nosler 165gr BTs that would shoot 5 shot groups pretty well. 4 of the 5 shots would be under an inch but inevitably one of the 5 would open the group to 1.5” or so. See the first photo below. Next, I decided to lap the receiver face and bed the barrel. I bought a Wheeler lapping tool and lapped the receiver face. I turned the first couple of rotations of the tool by hand to see if the face was true or not. It was true but for good measure I did lap it some. I probably removed less than .0015 of material from the face. When I replaced the barrel, I glued it in (bedded) using Loctite 620. I had to torque the barrel to 80 ft lbs to get the handguard rail to line up with the receiver rail. That concerned me a little. I went to the range yesterday and no longer get fliers and groups are now in the .8 MOA range. See the 2nd and 3rd photos below. I’ll probably continue load development as that’s what I like to do. I don’t know if I can make it any better though. I bought a SIghtmark Photo RT IR night vision scope that works pretty well at night. I use QD rings so I can swap scopes as the Photon sucks for target work and daytime hunting. I’ll take 2 scopes hunting, one for daytime and I’ll switch to the Photon at night. The QD rings work well and I confirmed they hold zero after removing and replacing several times. My son liked my setup so much that he bought the same thing. Now to get started on his. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robocop1051 Posted December 10, 2018 Report Share Posted December 10, 2018 Sounds great....but where's the gun porn? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigdad Posted December 10, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2018 (edited) 19 minutes ago, Robocop1051 said: Sounds great....but where's the gun porn? Here's the only pick of the gun/scope I have, it includes a monster pig my son shot at night with it. I'll take a better pic of the gun when I get home tonight. Edited December 10, 2018 by Bigdad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98Z5V Posted December 10, 2018 Report Share Posted December 10, 2018 Right on, man! I love a success story. Great work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigdad Posted December 11, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2018 Pics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unforgiven Posted December 11, 2018 Report Share Posted December 11, 2018 Good shooting brother nice rifle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigdad Posted December 11, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2018 I made an error in my post regarding the Larue trigger. I measured it again last night and the 1st stage does move my scale and measures 1.75 lbs, not zero per my previous post. The 2nd stage breaks at 4.1 lbs. My son just put a Larue trigger on his rifle, it breaks at 3.5 lbs, I'm jealous ?. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98Z5V Posted December 12, 2018 Report Share Posted December 12, 2018 14 hours ago, Bigdad said: I made an error in my post regarding the Larue trigger. I measured it again last night and the 1st stage does move my scale and measures 1.75 lbs, not zero per my previous post. The 2nd stage breaks at 4.1 lbs. My son just put a Larue trigger on his rifle, it breaks at 3.5 lbs, I'm jealous ?. Don't be jealous, man - buy more of them! Hurry, before Christmas, too, and get 'em for $87! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPaul Posted June 19, 2019 Report Share Posted June 19, 2019 How does that scope work at 100 yrds? I have buddy that needs some night gear but doesn't want to drop a few k on a pig shoot'n thermal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shooterrex Posted June 20, 2019 Report Share Posted June 20, 2019 My bolt gun likes the 165 nosler balastic tip over 39.6 grain s of Varget. My PA10 shoots slightly larger groups with the same load still under 1 MOA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Hartig Posted June 21, 2019 Report Share Posted June 21, 2019 Not my thread but I do have one of these scopes. It is a bit grainy altho adequate for larger targets such as coyote or hogs out to 200 yards or so in the dark. I added an additional IR illuminator to the rifle I use it on to conserve battery life for the scope itself. They are somewhat difficult to sight in but once you get them on they hold zero pretty well. It is possible to sight in one of these in the daylight but the sight picture is pretty terrible. I did this with a 5.56; it may be easier with a 7.62 since you have larger holes to look at. Regards, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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