Armalite AR-30's, accurate? Any good?

[Cesiumsponge]

I had a hankerin' for an 6.8SPC upper as an addition for quite some time but I had a heart attack when I saw the price for ammo and how little of it was available. Add to the fact I don't reload or have any related equipment and it'll really hurt the pocket book just to get started. One place only sold ammo with the purchase of an upper, and even then it was limited to two boxes

With the recent debunking of the AR50 thread I was taking a look at Armalite's smaller offering: the AR-30.

Anyone have experience with this firearm? The CDNN catalog printout on page 36 lists them at $1099.99 ea for the .308 minus muzzle brake but I noticed they are also available in .300win and .338 lapua outside of CDNN. Getting a rifle in .338 lapua or .300win for about $1500 going price doesn't seem like a bad deal at all in my mind. The ammo is also more readily available.

They might be ugly, but does anyone know the accuracy of these? I'm going to need a precision rifle eventually and these don't appear to break the bank like the fancier offerings I've seen going for thousands more. They look like a no frills rifle that mean business but that doesn't mean much without real world results. It also looks like they use the stock M16 grip and it might be possible to swap it out for something more ergo with a palm swell. I haven't been able to find many (useful) reviews through scouring the Internet. I checked this forum but there were a couple WTS threads on them only. Armalite also says their online catalog is closed for maintenence.

Anyone happen to fire one at the range or own one wish to chime in?

 

[RRTX]

I don't think the grip is easily changeable, I remember a thread on another forum where a guy installed a PSG1 style grip and it took some machining. They are very well built, and from all the reports I've read they seem to be very accurate. I think the lack of aftermarket accessories kind of keeps it from being more popular with the precision shooting crowd. If you aren't already a pretty good precision shooter you are best off sticking with .308, at ~$35 per 20 for .300WM match grade and $60+ for 20 rounds of .338LM they can get kind of expensive to shoot much.

 

[50 Shooter]

Here's a thread from Biggerhammer, one of the guys I shoot with. He's getting really good results with his.

http://www.biggerhammer.net/barrett/wwwboard/index.cgi?read=173416

 

[Cesiumsponge]

If you aren't already a pretty good precision shooter you are best off sticking with .308, at ~$35 per 20 for .300WM match grade and $60+ for 20 rounds of .338LM they can get kind of expensive to shoot much.

Ahh well I mainly brought it up since I didn't know the AR-30 was available in calibers other than .308 and my eyes got big before I scoped out the price on ammo. Granted, the .300WM and .338LM is spendy, but the .300WM is carried locally at least and isn't totally unreasonable. The 6.8SPC stuff I can't find anywhere in person, and only very small quantities online. Either way, even with the .308 offering, it should be plenty for what I want to do, which is nothing fancy to begin with. I just might have to go that route and use surplus ammo for practice and match stuff to test myself.

I'm not too worried about aftermarket accessories and hopefully thats one of the main reasons it's not very popular. The only thing I'd need is an optics up top and a bipod to steady it. I don't think I'm enough of a precision junky to need tons of aftermarket whizbangs and gunsmithing work. That rifle is undoubtedly more accurate than I could shoot.

Thanks for the link 50 Shooter, I'll check it out!