Bushmaster MOD. BUSHMASTER .308 CAL. .308-7.62MM BAR001940

[Steven]

This was purchased in brand New condition a couple of weeks ago great looking rifle but I need new mags the mag that came with it has no stamping but looks eerily like a FN FAL 7.62 metric mag would I be correct.
(I had a FN/R1 in the army)
The Cam pin does not turn like my AR15's, I am not sure what other differences there are.
Anyone with a similar rifle and any advice would be appreciated.

[shooterrex]

Yes that is one of the Bushmaster 308's. It uses metric FAL magazines.

It might be new in the box but is probably about 30 years old.

That gun is one of the first alternatives to an Armalite AR10.

Good guns. They haven't made those in a number of years. This is before Bushmaster was bought out by Remington.

[Steven]

Thanks I appreciate the information.

The rifle was brand new and pretty gummed up the mag seems ok but has no markings at all and there are none to be had anywhere!

[shooterrex]

DSA   DS Arms sells FAL magazines and all kinds of goodies for FAL's

[Armed Eye Doc]

That Bushmaster design was sold to Rock River Arms many years ago.  The Rock River LAR-8 is their version.  It will take either metric or inch pattern FAL mags.  I have several DSA mags that Rex mentioned as well as many RRA polymer mags.  All function well in my rifle.

[98Z5V]

_{Yep, that's the Bushmaster BAR-10.} 

_{There are 3 main patterns for these rifle, that the newer manufacturers follow.  DPMS LR-308 pattern, Armalite AR-10 pattern, and (not common at all for aftermarket) the Rock River Arms LAR-8 pattern.}

_{This Bushmaster BAR-10 pattern is what Rock River bought from Bushmaster, and got them (Rock River) started.  After the design was sold to Rock River, Bushmaster started making all future guns on the DPMS LR-308 pattern.}

_{Note -don't try to buy any aftermarket charging handles for .308ARs for this - they'll all be too short.  If you want parts, about the only main parts that will work will be coming from Rock River Arms.} 

[Armed Eye Doc]

I found this post from the old AR-10T forum by none other than @mrraley

The early Bushmaster 308 rifles were originaly designed by rra.

 

Bushmaster was having to many problems with feeding and the functioning that they decided to drop the line and gave it back to rra. You will find some that they took more time with to get to work properly, but it was more work than they wanted to put into them.

[98Z5V]

Here's a good writeup as well, from NRA American Rifleman.  It goes into a little more detail (or different details):

https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/rock-river-arms-lar-8-standard-operator/

snips from the article:

Rock River Arms originally designed and patented the system back in 2005. At the time, both AR-10 and SR-25 magazines were scarce and expensive, so Rock River designed its own AR-10-style rifle around a more abundant and affordable magazine. For that purpose, it chose the 20-round box magazine used in the FN-FAL, which was readily available and priced as low as $5 each. The design was licensed to Bushmaster, and during the course of about three years, the company built and sold several thousand rifles.

In the time since it reacquired the rights to the BAR-10/LAR-8, Rock River replaced the original charging handle with a more common design and refined the extractor for better performance.

The LAR-8 will accept metric- or inch-pattern magazines as well as current-production Rock River magazines. Although it appears to be just an AR clone, few parts are interchangeable. The adjustable buttstock will interchange, as will the trigger and safety mechanisms, but that is about it. The dimensions of the barrel extension are different, and the bolt carrier and charging handle are both longer.

My findings - The bolt carriers and charging handles are 1/4" longer than DPMS LR-308 and Armalite AR-10 patterns.  The buffers are 1/4" shorter, to account for this, and still run in standard-depth extensions.

 

[Steven]

Thanks guys I appreciate all the help...just a FYI the mag brings back memories of my time spent in the SADF with the R1 a licensed copy of the FN which was an amazing rifle, super accurate and it never jammed, mine was a faithful partner in South West Africa in the early eighties 1980-81 ,  where I was fortunate to travel extensively through the Northern part of South West Africa from the Caprivi strip to the Kaokoveldt and much of Ovamboland it was a long time ago but it seems like yesterday. I served with many fine and dedicated men fighting communism and defending families God and country ( and some not so nice and very corrupt) also privileged to see the Rhodesian special forces (Selous scouts as they were known) many who were near the Caprivi helping Jonas Savimbi in Angola they had square water bottles and a mish-mash of weaponry, honest fearless and strong they were the men I most admired...sad memories indeed...

[Armed Eye Doc]

Welcome to the forum.   It sounds like you have lived an eventful life.  Where do you call home these days?

[Steven]

Illinois...

[Steven]

I was actually in Texas 2 weeks ago drove from Dallas to San Antoine then to Austin..looking for somewhere to retire in a few years where there is some open space left and not to cold...It was raining and colder that Illinois...

[Rsquared]

Welcome aboard from Maryland.

[mtrmn]

The RRA polymer mags feed a lot more smoothly in mine than the steel FAL mags, although the steel mags don't present a problem. They are made by Thermold and both the RRA and Thermold FAL mags are identical far as I can tell. They are worth the money but they may also require a bit of material removal to make them drop-free in your gun. I assume they ARE drop-free in the newer RRAs but I don't have one of those to compare.

Mine is an old Bushmaster BAR10, 20' bbl, fixed skeleton stock with the non-removeable carry handle. My bolt broke the tail off once and I had to buy a new RRA complete BCG. The new bolt had a larger diameter tail. When I bought my suppressor I also ordered Slash's heavy buffer and spring from Heavybuffers.com and it performs admirably with or without the suppressor.

This thing has very good accuracy potential and is pretty reliable function-wise.

Mine has a few drawbacks. The charging handle is held in place by a spring loaded detent ball on top of the handle. The hole in the upper for the detent to fall into was too shallow and the handle would slide back sometimes during firing. I used a drill bit through the underside of the upper to deepen that hole a bit. It hasn't done it anymore but I haven't shot it a whole lot since the repair either. There is no provision for a normal latch.

The ambi mag release is extremely hard to push from either side. The weird design makes it hard to improve the function without doing unreparable damage if I screw up, so I haven't made any real attempts to improve it.

The carry handle being non-removeable is a PITA. I'm using a carry handle scope mount which puts the scope way too high for comfort but I deal with it anyway. I also have an old handle mounted Armson OEG made by Trijicon that works extremely well and is much lighter than the scope I have on it now. Only escape from the carry handle is to put another RRA upper on it and I don't want to invest any more money in it.

Also I'm told that no handguards will fit this thing except RRA, and I'm not totally sure RRA would fit this old design gun.

Pics are SXS old and new bolts, with Armson OEG, 100 yd group with the OEG and Brown Bear ammo,

[JMJ]

Welcome from Louisiana!

[Cunuckgaucho]

Welcome from BC

I miss the FN( Canadian version was FNC1A1) which was made prohibited. There is a strong South African ex pat community up here, I do enjoy biltong 

[Magwa]

Welcome from The Rez in Idaho......

[unforgiven]

Welcome from Indiana brother