Another AR 10 Build Brewing

[OkieStubble]

Sorry for the crappy cell pics, they always seem worse indoors. No, not monolithic... But my brain is! Took it to the range today and couldn't figure out why it would fire and not cycle, eject, etc. I thought that perhaps the gas block was not aligned properly with the gas port. But I thought that I had taken great care to align them properly. I had forgotten, in my haste to get to the range, the directions to the adjustable gas block. Of course, when I got home and READ THE DIRECTIONS, I learned that the Superlative Arms GB comes with the port in the CLOSED position. D'oh!.

Despite the single shot operation, I was able zero the Vortex LPVO. About 2 in. low at 25 yds. and 2 in. high at 100 yds. And I'm happy to report that the illuminated reticle is indeed truly bright daylight visible. The rear BUIS are unusable as long as the scope is on the gun. Eventually, I'll check the return to zero claim of the SW mount and zero the irons.

I used Winchester M80 147 gr. FMJ NATO loads to do the initial sighting in. Recoil was a bit stouter than you'd expect with the gas port closed! Still, I was able to shoot at least one, three shot 1 in. group at 100 yds., so I'm anxious to see what it will do with premium ammo after the gas block gets properly adjusted.

An inch at 100 ain’t bad for your first outing and getting it all figured out.

 

[nortac]

We have a rifle match this morning. I'm going to try and get there a bit early and see if I can get it to cycle properly, if so, I'll shoot it in the match, if not, I'll tinker with it after the match. I'll be taking my AR 9 PCC that I'll shoot either way.

 

[OkieStubble]

We have a rifle match this morning. I'm going to try and get there a bit early and see if I can get it to cycle properly, if so, I'll shoot it in the match, if not, I'll tinker with it after the match. I'll be taking my AR 9 PCC that I'll shoot either way.

Pics or it didn’t happen…

 

[nortac]

No pics, so it didn't happen. I did go early and tinkered with the AR 10 and it was in fact the gas block being closed, the gun began to cycle with the GB opened up. I discovered that I also had the wrong Bolt Catch/Release installed, so the bolt could not be locked back. I thought that I had adjusted the gas block adequately, being able to fire 5 rounds without issue, both ejecting and loading. Not much of a test, but I had a limited amount of ammo on hand. I thought that I could deal with the non-functional bolt catch. So, on my first stage in the match, after the second shot, I had a double feed jam, couldn't lock the bolt back, and needed to drop the magazine to clear it. So, it became a four handed operation. That was the end of my match with my AR 10 308. Luckily, I had my AR 9 which functioned fine. I have ordered the appropriate Bolt Catch and will suspend any attempts to further adjust the gas situation. It obviously is still under gassed. Despite the difficulties, I think it will be a fine rifle in the end. It certainly has the accuracy potential.

 

[Ad Astra]

View attachment 1410621

Essentially finished. Still needs a bit of fine tuning yet.

That'll bring the rain!


AA

 

[nortac]

Let’s hope they took the time to do it right….

Well, it looks pretty good, but there were a couple of minor issues. The holes for the pivot and take down pins had a little too much coating inside, had to take some 220-grit sandpaper wrapped on a rod to reduce the coating inside those holes to get the pins through. The fit between the receiver halves is VERY tight, hopefully that will just wear in. And the fit of the VLTOR stock and receiver extension tube was so tight that I had to put some grease on it and lap it in to get it to adjust the stock to its various positions. He didn't exactly follow my directions on what to leave black and what to paint OD on the VLTOR stock, and offered to re-do it, but I was tired of waiting and declined his offer as it looks OK as it is.

 

[OkieStubble]

Well, it looks pretty good, but there were a couple of minor issues. The holes for the pivot and take down pins had a little too much coating inside, had to take some 220-grit sandpaper wrapped on a rod to reduce the coating inside those holes to get the pins through. The fit between the receiver halves is VERY tight, hopefully that will just wear in. And the fit of the VLTOR stock and receiver extension tube was so tight that I had to put some grease on it and lap it in to get it to adjust the stock to its various positions. He didn't exactly follow my directions on what to leave black and what to paint OD on the VLTOR stock, and offered to re-do it, but I was tired of waiting and declined his offer as it looks OK as it is.

I bet that stock will never rattle though. Nothing worse then a loud rattling stock when you are moving around with the rifle.

 

[Hohn]

My experience with VLTOR products has been nothing but very impressive. They seem to be top shelf. I'm a huge fan of the MUR upper and the A5 setup. Only complaint is the company seems perpetually unable to supply the market.

 

[OkieStubble]

My experience with VLTOR products has been nothing but very impressive. They seem to be top shelf. I'm a huge fan of the MUR upper and the A5 setup. Only complaint is the company seems perpetually unable to supply the market.

VLTOR is top notch for sure. Agreed on the bolded. For the upper prices for their products, surely they can/should spend the money on upgrading their manufacturing output, unless consumer demand isn't there.

 

[nortac]

The AR 10 bolt catch arrived today. I'll get it swapped out today and get back to the range early next week, working the weekend, unfortunately.

 

[nortac]

I happened to weigh the completed rifle sans the bipod. A hefty 11.2 lbs.!! It is what it is. Where could I have saved weight? A skinny barrel would be the biggest weight saver, but at what cost to performance/accuracy? A lightweight pistol grip could save a couple of oz. but wouldn't feel as good or offer the control of the fat grip. A lightweight stock would become uncomfortable after a few rounds of rapid fire and helps balance out the front end. Same with the JP captured spring silent recoil system. I certainly could have shaved off 4 oz. with a lesser scope, but again at a significant loss of performance. I just need to start working out, or buy an exoskeleton!

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/6d/87/cf/6d87cf6f7969050e2aaff9f8cd14a37e.jpg

 

[OkieStubble]

I happened to weigh the completed rifle sans the bipod. A hefty 11.2 lbs.!! It is what it is. Where could I have saved weight? A skinny barrel would be the biggest weight saver, but at what cost to performance/accuracy? A lightweight pistol grip could save a couple of oz. but wouldn't feel as good or offer the control of the fat grip. A lightweight stock would become uncomfortable after a few rounds of rapid fire and helps balance out the front end. Same with the JP captured spring silent recoil system. I certainly could have shaved off 4 oz. with a lesser scope, but again at a significant loss of performance. I just need to start working out, or buy an exoskeleton!

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/6d/87/cf/6d87cf6f7969050e2aaff9f8cd14a37e.jpg

Is 11.2 pounds considered to be heavy for an AR-10 in .308? I might have to disagree.

A heavy barrel to support the accuracy, increased distance and bullet weight and dimensions, is quite justified.

The only way to have made that barrel lighter, would to have it been spiral fluted to reduce even more barrel weight then the typical, shallow grooved straight fluting on yours.

However, it would also increase muzzle lift upon firing and make the complete rifle feel *** heavy instead of front heavy.

There also isn’t a wide selection of lightweight scopes which will handle the abuse of .308 and useful reticles for proper doping.

I would suggest the opposite. You could go a lot heavier for an AR-10 but not much lighter.

The AR-15 I’m working on, is my idea of making every single component lightweight.

The idea is, if I shave ounces off in every single area possible, the overall weight of the rifle will be significantly reduced. I actually did ALOT of personal research looking for a rifle that had what I was looking for when my LWRC just suddenly dropped in my lap. There’s just good things that happen every once in a while that you can’t plan for.

My LWRC M6 IC DI has a match grade heavy barrel. But because of it’s extreme spiral fluting which not only decreases it’s barrel weight by 20% with the accuracy of a heavy barrel, the cold hammered forged barrel is also Nicorr treated instead of a heavier chrome lining which also saves weight.

It’s monoforged completely ambidextrous upper receiver, along with it’s modular one piece free float rail, let’s the overall weight of the rifle come in at only 6.6 pounds.

That’s a lot of rifle coming in at that weight. I looked at many iron back up sights. I wanted quality irons, that were strong, lightweight and wouldn’t break the bank.

Troy battle sights are heavy and expensive. After much research, I went with MagPul Pro’s. All steel, very low profile when in the down position and they are very user friendly when up. Both front and rear’s are skeletonized to reduce weight while keeping their strength and rigidity. 1.8 ounces for the rear and 1.5 ounces for the front at a total of only, 3.3 ounces for steel sights.

After searching endlessly for almost two years, Leupold must have heard my cries all the way from these hallowed halls of B&B and FINALLY are producing my LPVO the Patrol 6HD in 1x6. Rugged scope with quality glass and a very useful reticle with illumination. Coming in at only 16.2 ounces. Add a Scalarworks LEAP07 quick detachable mount at only 5 ounces, that’s well under the goal I set to be under 24 ounces with scope & mount.

I will add a offset red dot and mount. I have a Leupold Deltapoint Pro at 1.9 ounces and the offset mount from T-Rex Arms at 1.8 ounces.

Add all of that up and the math says the complete set up will be a lightweight total of 7 pounds and 15 ounces. I forget who, but someone posted that I wouldn’t be able to keep the complete rifle without ammo, under 8 or 9 pounds?

I had one ounce to spare. I love it when a plan comes together.

 

[nortac]

Yea, I didn't do a whole lota research, I just flew with what I knew, or thought I knew. Of course, one could go with exotic materials like mag alloy, carbon wrapped, etc. But I don't have that kind of money. I really don't know what a "light" .308 carbine should reasonably weigh. And anyway, how comfortable would a scarry lightweight .308 be to fire off several shots rapid fire and could you control it?

 

[OkieStubble]

Agree with all of this. Yeah, I don’t know about the durability of carbon. I even dropped in a Ti firing pin trying to reduce weight anyway how….

 

[GreggoryD502]

Of course, there's the LPVO to consider! I think I need to up my game over the Shepherds I've used.

How do you like the Shepherd scopes? I've only seen ads for them in magazines.

 

[nortac]

How do you like the Shepherd scopes? I've only seen ads for them in magazines.

I love the reticle design. For the money, it's hard to beat. My only criticism is that the illuminated portions intensity seems to fade pretty quickly if left on very long. If I'm shooting a match, I turn the illumination off between stages.

 

[nortac]

Five shots at 100, Federal GMM 168 gr. SMK. Not my best marksmanship. Should have been a sub 0.5 MOA group. In my defense, not using a target trigger or a target scope. Don't get me wrong, the Vortex LPVO is a fantastic scope, but the illuminated circle dot is not the best for precise alignment. After shooting this group, I did adjust the windage two inches to the right. And the target is mounted sideways. I'm still having issues properly adjusting my gas block for reliable cycling. I need to load up some reliable handloads to continue testing/adjusting. Factory ammo, particularly match ammo, is too expensive for function testing.

 

[OkieStubble]

The three touching, is that the first three?

 

[nortac]

The three touching, is that the first three?

Can't say for sure. For me, individual bullet holes are hard to see even with 10x. I should have paid more attention to calling my shots, but I was somewhat distracted by the fact that the gun was not cycling properly.

 

[OkieStubble]

Can't say for sure. For me, individual bullet holes are hard to see even with 10x. I should have paid more attention to calling my shots, but I was somewhat distracted by the fact that the gun was not cycling properly.

No spotting scope?