Nightcrawler
Member
DPMS Panther Long-Range, .308 Winchester
It tempts me because it's so accurate. It won't be as reliable as a FAL, especially with tight, match-grade internals, but it's not a battle rifle. It's a specialty piece, not something you drag through the trenches.
(In any case, if I can keep my Bushmaster M16-wannabe running in this environment, I can keep a DPMS going at home.)
I'm not talking about the new carbine they've got. That thing won't do anything a FAL carbine won't, except, (gonna get flamed for this, ) jam. (Oddly enough, I can't find a picture of the DPMS Panther .308 M4-looking carbine on the intenet.)
DSA SA-58 Carbine, .308 Win
Hee hee. (Please don't start an AR love/hate war here...I was just cracking wise...)
ANYway, the reviews I've read about the Panther Long Range have all been good, especially with the new steel magazines.
Best of all is the price; the basic 24" model retails for $1150.00, quite a bit less than the MSRP of a box-stock M1A basic. The magazines are expensive, but I know how to maintain an M16-style weapon; all the little annoying places that crud builds up on them. I'm completely unfamilliar with the M1A, however.
I'm getting an idea for filling "niches" with my longarms. A 16" FAL carbine, with maybe a compact, low-powered optic, for general purpose use. A customized 21" DSA Medium Contour with maybe a 6x Rangefinding Scope and a quick-detach bipod as a "designated marksmans rifle"...
DSA SA-58 "Medium Contour", 21", .308 Win
(the DSA FAL, with its Badger Barrel, is capable of excellent accuracy; I read an old SOF review in which a DSA Medium Contour did 0.8MOA at 100 yards, with a scope, with the magazine removed (to avoid vertical stringing). Even with the mag in place, that's accurate enough for the role I envision.)
...and the Panther Long Range as the "sniper weapons system", with a high magnification optic, bipod, etc.
Bolt guns are good for this too, obviously, but nobody makes the bolt gun I'd like, and going custom would cost a lot more.
The .300SAUM version interests me, especially in that it still apparently has a 10 (or 9) round magazine. Usually, when you get a magnum caliber, you get seriously reduced capacity (stock Remington 700s only hold 4+1 to begin with, in .308. It's a pain at the range reloading every four shots.).
DPMS Panther Long-Range in .300 Remington Short Action Ultra Mag
Plus, I do like detachable box mags.
So, I'm tempted.
Though...DSA is supposedly coming out with a bull barrel FAL in one of the short mags...the short mags are, probably, useless in bolt guns, and are ridiculously expensive, but in autoloaders they com in handy for mating existing actions to more potent cartridges. A DSA in .300SAUM might win the dealy for me.
The short mags are overpriced if you don't reload, and I hear they're a pain even if yo do reload, but if I can afford (sort of) to shoot .41 Mag this shouldn't be a problem either.
Anybody have any experience with the .308 Long Range Panther, or the .300SAUM version?
How 'bout the Medium Contour FAL?
Just musing. Bored today.