Dpms 308 ar?

Ive owned 2 1/2 DPMS lr308's. First had a stainless 24" barrel. Found a Tac-20 upper and sold my upper for the Tac-20. Sold that rifle (kicked myself afterward). Bought an AP4 in 308 (personally didnt like the 308 with an 16" barrel) so I sold it and bought a RRA (sweet rifle different story!)

MY rifles were good to me. Never any hickups, ftf's, fte's etc. Had a couple hundred rounds through the first 1 1/2 and about 50 through the 2nd. Accurate guns. Like around an inch or so at 100 yds. The AP4 shot around 1 1/2-2" for me BUT that was probably me and I won't blame that on the gun.

My guns shot well. Idk what DPMS' qc is like these days. I've often wondered becaose I too have thought about getting another Tac-20.

Ymmv. I know there are better guns out there but I think DPMS is a decent entry gun into the 308 AR market. At least my guns were and I think they served me well. If I could go back I'd still have the Tac-20.

I have DPMS with a 24" barrel like the earlier poster and have had no problems over 1000 - 2000 rounds. Good friend has the same with a 16" barrel and has had a few problems. Seems they are related to the bolt (cases had issues ejecting) so I don't know if barrel length was a factor or not. He's put 2 or 3 times as much down his barrel as I have mine.

I've not shot his enough to compare accuracy.

As pertains to the 16" barrel in a .308..................

Posted with the permission of Mr. Stewart Wilson, given this morning. This was written in 1999 if I remember correctly.
I own one of his rifles.









Photos with the permission of Mr. Wilson.

This shot was taken in his machine shop in Arizona. These are the first samples produced for the EDM line a few years back. Mr. Wilson is the Father of the Windrummer series and is the R&D man for this line of rifles. Mine was the prototype.



This is Mr. Wilson making a 1 mile shot at the USMC High Angle Range in Hawthorne with one of his prototypes.



NOTE: Though the posted load data it still works very well in the AR10, the load data has changed since this publication.

This one is mine.



And this is the breakdown.
She has a custom, internally re-machined Armalite AR10 receiver/magazine well cut to accept a slightly longer AR10 custom magazine, this because of the required OAL.
All internal receiver areas are coated with a Tungsten Disulfide Matrix derivative. The chamber and throat are cut to accept one projectile profile only. The Sierra 175 MK, and no other. Because of these cuts the TTL, seat depth and OAL are specific and critical, thus the need and reason for a custom machined Mag-well.
Walther 17-4 S/S barrel, internally tapered .006 electro-polished bore and a 1-10 ROT.
SWS foregrip and a prototype trigger from his inventory that later evolved into the Chip McCormick trigger.
The bore is hBN burnished as are all of the projectiles. (Impact coated)

The scope is a Premier Heritage.

DPMS is a good. 308 platform. Keep in mind that the 308's are sprung at a much higher rate than the 223's, so the action feels stiffer and prob a bit "grittier" too.

The triggers are not good, but that is almost all AR's. I splurged and got a Gisselle ssa-e. Expensive, but very nice.

They come with decent box mags, which are steel, but you can get the latest generation PMAGs now for the 308's for a reasonable cost.

There should be a few DPMS rifles out there for a decent price because they just released a G2 model, which is lighter. I paid a lot less and got the old version.

Are they still making the gen 1 stuff or are they phasing it out for the new gen 2? I kinda like the extra size for the 308.

I've had 3 DPMS .308 AR's. All had problems. The 2 LR-308T's both had the same problem: Failure to feed.

A friend of mine has a DPMS Compact Hunter in .308 that we worked up some loads for and it shoots MOA pretty consistently. No real problems out of other than it really abuses his brass even with fairly mild loads(168's at about 2550-2650). Loose pockets show up on load #3 and about 15% are culled right then and there.

Another thing worth mentioning is that it is heavy with a scope on it. I think naked it is close to what my M1A weighs, but it may be where the weight is balanced or carried. It just feels kind of cumbersome to me personally, but you handled it so that may not be an issue for you.

I will begin building one this winter or spring. Aero Precision is making receivers and BCG's(DPMS pattern) now and I like their other products. I would also like to see how the DPMS G2 pattern pans out. Their current pattern seems the most popular and this G2 may follow suit.

Also, Brownell's has plans to release mags for DPMS pattern rifles soon I believe.

Some of this info may not mean squat to you but, that's my view of it!

Dpms ar-10 lr

I have been shooting one on & off for the past couple of months.....I have about 1000 rds thru the gun with zero FF's with ball ammo and the Federal 168 GR BTHP's.....I have an old Leupold target scope on the rifle which has the heavy 16" bl......the trigger is a challenge and I am going to replace it with an after market trigger.....on good days I can group five shot sub MOA with it @ 100yds....and have shot Moa-ish groups with the gun out to 600 yds.....did I mention the trigger is a challenge? The rifle has potential and I am going to invest in a good trigger for the rifle, and then see what we can do with tailored handloads.

I have that rifle. Yep, $1000 at Wally world two years ago. The trigger is a 'challenge' and yes it is also 'heavy'. Mine wouldn't feed from the start. Sent it back to DPMS. They repaired it and had it back to me in less than month. Great job and customer service on their part. But, no one likes to buy a new gun and pay to ship it back so they can do it right the second time. Customer service is high on my list though. The barrel break in procedure was tedious. Suggest you download owners manual and read it. The weight and trigger issues have made this gun sink slowly to the back of the safe. Trigger is not a problem to fix but that weight is there to stay I like it but don't see myself humping it through the deer woods.

It appears that nobody is surprised that a 16" can perform out to 1,000 yards? I hear this all the time and have to wonder what basis there is for that assumption. When I post these results with Wilson's rifles, it's always the same thing. Silence.
He's not the only mfg. that has proven this 16" barrel disparaging as false ands unwarranted.

My DPMS TAC20 is a good shooter (< 1 MOA). I have about 600 rounds of perfect feeding through the rifle. I did a home trigger job, mounted a 6.5-18X40 Nikon scope, tripod, and went shooting. My personal opinion, I would not own a less than 18" barrel on a 308.

FN Scar 17...16" barrel.

Mine is accurate and a blast to shoot, but most of the blast can be contributed directly with the PWS brake, so don't let the shorter barrel deter you that much.

I have a DPMS LR 308 with a 16" barrel that is easy shooting and accurate. I did change the carbine buffer and receiver extension to a rifle length and am using a Vltor compensator with a fixed Magpul rifle stock. Eats anything I feed it.

zfk55 said:

It appears that nobody is surprised that a 16" can perform out to 1,000 yards? I hear this all the time and have to wonder what basis there is for that assumption. When I post these results with Wilson's rifles, it's always the same thing. Silence.
He's not the only mfg. that has proven this 16" barrel disparaging as false ands unwarranted.

Click to expand...

What's next a 308 AR with a 12" barrel?

Much exaggeration about the 16 inch barrels. The 308 round looses less with the shorter barrels than many will tell you. I have a rra 308, 16 inch barrel. Very accurate and not that heavy. So much of the wt on modern ar's is because of all the furniture that shooters put on the rifle. Blast is not a problem either.

Accuracy has more to do with quality of the barrel and less with barrel length.
Now long range capabilities with shorter barrels, I cannot agree or disagree with because I have no experience with long range shooting.

Have one. Good shooter. Accuracy is better then I can shoot it. Trigger is crappy out of the box, but it takes standard AR-15 FCGs, so putting a better trigger into the gun is a snap. It is on the heavier side, but its also chambered in a full power rifle cartridge, so the weight makes the gun very comfortable to shoot.

Loaded with 180gr pills the 16" barrel will reach out to right around 1,000 yards.

That said, I'd really say the 16" is best to about 500-650 yard distance. If you're shooting 1,000 yards, pick up something designed to shoot 1,000 yards.

Mine only had reliability trouble when going from steel to brass without cleaning - which is an issue in any gun, and with some of my own handloads. With factory/Surplus ammo it's been 100%.

I'm converting mine to a dissipator setup. Not mine, but my goal:

There are 16" barrels...... and there are 16" barrels. Nothing is cast in stone.
I have a lot of years of load data research archived on my own forums, and "years of research" does not mean it's gospel as pertains to Swiss Rifles. I only know of one Man whose word is Gospel. The rest of us develop a myriad of paths to arrive at the same successful conclusion, and that's as it should be.

There are such a wide variety of barrel makers that only trial and error, or a very long term track record of success will provide you the right barrel for a specific build, as it did with Mr. Wilson's long range 16" rifles. There are a lot of pat answers on the internet, and few are accurate.

I enjoyed my DPMS until it fired out of battery (before the bolt closed). Fortunately, it blew straight down, through the magazine -- instant disassembly -- so my face and hands didn't suffer. After that I had trust issues.