AR-10 .308 - Which brands are best?

FYI EuroOptic has the DD for $2049 when you add to cart.
https://www.eurooptic.com/Daniel-De...neItemId=e0a29f96-446e-411d-8447-675c176e011e

Backordered at the moment but you can still order it.

I have been very impressed with my Barrett Rec 10. Paid $2300ish. I spec'd it out, and could not build a rifle to those specs for that price.

AR10? DPMS .308. I have one and and I flat enjoy it. Function is flawless. Compared with an AR15 the DPMS AR10 is much heavier for good reason. It's a .308 and not a .223.

Aero Precision M5/308
DiamondBack DB10

Palmetto PS10

AR-10s in general you are asking for a headache.
They're notoriously unreliable and finicky on ammo and jam like strawberries and grapes.

I've gotten rid of most of mine and stuck with an Adams Arms piston version but even that is not jam free.
Evelyn LaRue and Daniel defense are no guarantee of not having jams without a ridiculous amount of maintenance.

What you should be looking for is a Galil Ace 308 or something like that

I bought an Armalite AR10 years ago for about $1000. The only complaint I have is that generic AR10 magazines don't fit it. The Armalite magazine has a rectangular window in the side which locks it in place. I have found it to function as well as my M1A which has never given me a hiccup.

I love my POF P308-



It uses PMAGs and will put a hole wherever you want it out to 600yd (the longest range Ive shot it at). It does prefer heavier bullets, thats for sure- Im loading up some fire-formed brass 174 gr. Sierra Matchkings now.

That said, its very heavy. Even without the scope and bipod, I wouldnt want to hump it over much terrain. I would look at the Revolution line for more of a Designated Marksman type rifle. POFs quality is top notch.

Oh, and you have to be careful with stock selection on a .308- the longer charging handle pull can interfere with a cheek riser, which I found out the hard way!

There are a lot of AR type 308 rifles but the ones most interesting to me are those weighing in at 7.75 lbs or less out of the box. And then secondly if it can come in that light with an 18" barrel that is a plus.
No reason to tote around a pig if I don't have to.
To me 10-12lb semi auto 308's are for the bench, in which case I am looking for a 20" heavy barrel or something like that, big scope.

You can build a Larue for $1200 plus stripped lower.
https://www.larue.com/products/larue-ultimate-7-62-260-6-5cm-upper-kit/

It really only lacks the QR barrel release and billet lower that the $3500 OBR has.

If you want "best" I don't think the LMT upper can be beat. Barrels are a point of debate but the Rock Creek barrel they sell is plenty good. A Larue or Geissele DMR trigger is good stuff. I like adjustable fixed stocks on .308s.

View attachment 915767 When I hear AR10 this is what I think of. I've put 300 rounds through it so far without a single hiccup. Accuracy is good but I'm sure this gun is more capable than me.

I own a Falkor Defense Omega and have owned several other 308 ARs from Armalite, Adams Arms, DPMS and have shot 308 ARs from Larue, Wilson Combat, LWRC, Sig Sauver, and I’m sure there are some others I am leaving out. I’ll be honest, if I were going to spend DD money, I’d buy an FN SCAR-17 instead. My SCAR does everything better than any of the 16-18” 308 ARs that I have owned.

The SCAR is lighter, more accurate and more reliable than any of the shorter barreled 308 ARs that I have shot. It is no match for the Falkor in terms of accuracy, but neither are most bolt guns. I’d actually suggest Falkor for something other than a “battle rifle”. It’s much too heavy to fill that role. I think a SCAR is your best bet unless P-Mags are an absolute deal breaker.

can we turn this into a picture thread, and please, please lists weights? I like 10's but they are very heavy in many cases. To contribute, I have a PA10 G3, and its very reliable. Zero malfunctions other than reloading experiments, cant blame the rifle when you pushing on the lands, and a bullet gets stuck, and the bolt wont close. Single hole at 50 yards, and I don't have a scope that takes it to 100, but cant be too bad if its a .40 inch at 50. Weight is 8.5 empty, but if feels like 11. Has about 300-400 round through it, including a lot of Tulammo 150 grain, which it likes just fine. FYI the Tulammo comes in at 2,500 FPS from the 18" barrel.

I like Aero M5 and their build kits, but used Criterion barrel for the uppers , Gieselle SSA trigger , JP adj gas block and buffer system , Tool Craft Nitrided standard type BCG , and BCM Gunfighter Charge handle, Mag Pul UBR stock and a custom G10 laminate pistol grip that was pricey but feels great and I think its great looking. I like the AERO Monolithic nut upper / barrel shroud system and of course it fits their M5 lower perfectly . Very happy with the Criterion 19" Hybrid barrel with a VG Brake , its light weight with a beefy chamber atea to the gas block .. Weighs under 9 pounds empty no sling and bipod but scoped as pictured with a 2-7 Leupold VX-R Pig plex + a doctor micro red dot on a GG&G ring .



Guns shoots just under MOA = sighted in at 200 yards zero it keeps about 1 3/4" groups with federal Gold Match after careful break in . I also have another same Aero upper set up with a 22" Criterion medium heavy barrel with a 6-24 x Vortex Viper PST in GG&G QD Cantlevered mount . It shoots 1.5" at 200 yards with White Tail factory ammo !

mjsdwash said:

can we turn this into a picture thread, and please, please lists weights?

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Here's my POF P308 that I've had for 10+ years. It has the excellent Geissele DMR 2-stage trigger and it's the only AR308 type rifle I've owned so I don't have much in the way to offer in terms of "best" but this has been a very good rifle for me. The weight is kind of staggering set up as shown and unloaded. Can you guess how much it weighs with the Premier Reticles 3-15x56mm optic (34mm main tube), Dead Air SANDMAN-S suppressor, Harris bipod and sling? It's a staggering 16.6 lb as shown but it sure shoots well with the Rock Creek 1:10 twist barrel. I've used it once for hunting and shot (propped up against the A-pillar of a truck) a mule deer last November at 205 yards and it was a DRT result. One of the things I learned on that hunt is that there's no way to slowly let the bolt go forward into battery to "quietly" chamber a round. Nope, that doesn't work well at all. It's not a big deal though since I won't be using the P308 for deer/elk hunting in the future since I have better options, and I'm quite happy with the idea of having a round in the chamber and safety on. For some reason I didn't have a round chambered on that mule deer hunt while driving around looking for a shooter.

For the record, I have no intention of parting with this rifle. At one time I had an FAL and M1A along with the POF but decided that this was by far the best of the three (for me) so sold the other two.

Seeing all this talk about replacing bolts from different companies reminds me that there is no standard spec on the AR 10 style guns ... I used to have a KAC SR25, DPMS 308, SiG 716 DMR and was building a 6.5 Creedmoor on a Sharps receiver with a JP Enterprise Barrel when I ordered the parts from JP they said "because there is no standard I'd either have to send them my bolt or buy one of theirs"; so I just bought their complete Bolt carrier group.

(DPMS Pattern is a misnomer since KAC was using this pattern long before DPMS even started building AR10 styled weapons ... and to take it back a step further, this was Armalite's original pattern.
When Armalite reorganized and started building AR10's again (circa 1995-96), under new laws and ownership is when the Armalite pattern was changed because it was during the 1994 domestic Assault Weapons Ban, and the M14 mag was the most common US made 20 round 308 magazine. )

Also, even though all were considered DPMS Patteren not one upper would interchange with another lower, nor would any bolt fit any other barrel, and all 4 are DPMS patterned rifles.

Likewise, when I ordered a new 6.5 Creedmoor barrel for my SiG SSG, again, I had to either send them my bolt head or buy one from them.

Anyway, before you start spending money for upgrade/replacement parts, be sure to ask questions about compatibility ...

It was just over 2 years ago I built my 6.5 Creedmoor
Edit to add, without suppressor its 14.2 pounds, suppressed with YHM Phantom 308Ti its 15.85 pounds

Huntolive said:

AR-10s in general you are asking for a headache.
They're notoriously unreliable and finicky on ammo and jam like strawberries and grapes.

I've gotten rid of most of mine and stuck with an Adams Arms piston version but even that is not jam free.
Evelyn LaRue and Daniel defense are no guarantee of not having jams without a ridiculous amount of maintenance.

What you should be looking for is a Galil Ace 308 or something like that

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I don't know what type of AR10 styled rifle(s) you had but Ive owned 4 DPMS pattern and one newer production AR10 and I've never had an issue with jamming, the newer Armalite had an occasional problem which I traced back to a cheap M1A mag I'd converted but the reason I sold it was I couldn't get it to shoot 2" regardless of ammo type or load ... same with my DPMS Panther, I had high hopes for it but 1.5 was the best I could ever get out of it, my KAC SR25 Match and SiG 716 DMR would both hold .65" - .75" to the point its almost boaring and my 6.5 Creedmoor is .5 and under on a good day.

Light weight and AR10 are not synonymous

I would say that JP or Seekins precision would be high on my list, as would larue with Daniel defense in 3rd/4th position
Here’s a video of part of what makes seekins better/different than PSA

I don't know best; but for those looking, I got an email today that Stag is running a sale on AR10's that they made for Canada which cannot be shipped now; both 308 and 6.5 Creed; a clearance sale of sorts....costs ranging from $1599 to a little over 2099 depending on model...and yes, both lefty and righty versions. Go to www.stagarms.com if interested.

I should add that I have a 308 AR10 that I built from a Stag upper and lower and I love it. Fantastic fit and finish.

You don’t read much about Stag. My son though has a Stag M4orgery that was purchased in 2012. It’s been really nice.

This thread has been very useful to me, so thanks for all the great info!

I decided to make the plunge into a large frame AR style long gun. I looked at ArmaLite, DD, Sons of Liberty, Wilson Combat, SA Saint, Rock River Arms, and PSA. No interest in S&W or LaRue. If I were buying to take overseas to a war zone for a year deployment, I’d spend $3K and buy the Sons of Liberty MK10. I know them...they are very serious about their products and make hard core, battle ready gear. Second choice would be a DD, Wilson or Barrett.

But, for my purposes, I currently have over 3K rounds of mil grade 7.62*51 ball ammo. I wanted a rifle capable of handling large volumes of this cheaper and not “match grade” ammo, that was reliable and capable of engaging a torso size target out to 500 yards. I’ll probably do some experimenting and find a good match grade round for accuracy, but most of my shooting will be at torso size steel out to 400 yards. I may also eventually get into longer range shooting, and if I take that plunge, I wanted to be able to change out the upper for a 6.5 CM using the same lower.

I decided I am going with this PSA Gen 3 lower that I ordered this morning:
https://palmettostatearmory.com/psa-gen3-pa10-complete-str-2-stage-308-lower-receiver.html

I plan to pair it with an 18” upper when they become available.

I’ll give a review when I get it together...probably be a while.

I think you will be happy with it. I have a Gen 1 PSA PA10 with 20" stainless barrel that I put together myself. does quite well and I haven't had any function issues with it.

12Bravo20 said:

I think you will be happy with it. I have a Gen 1 PSA PA10 with 20" stainless barrel that I put together myself. does quite well and I haven't had any function issues with it.

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What accuracy are you getting...plinking ammo and top shelf stuff?

It does okay at 100 yards with Winchester white box 7.62x51 147Gr FMJ. I can get a group between 1 1/4" and 1 1/2". Not the greatest but not bad for the ammo. I used the Winchester stuff for break in. I haven't played with it to figure out what it likes the best. I do know what it does NOT like though. I shoot Norma TAC 150Gr FMJ in my Savage Model 12 that is capable of cloverleaf groups at 100 yards ( when I have a very good day). The PA10 absolutely hates the Norma TAC 150Gr, groups almost looked like a buckshot pattern at 100 yards. I really need to try some premium ammo in the PA10 to see what it is capable of. I have to wait until my shoulder gets better before I shoot first.