Why don't I hear much about AR style rifles in .308?

[OldSchooler]

We were also told by the "Crusty Gunny" that .308 and 7.62mm were the same thing, just like .223 and 5.56mm are close enough to be effective...
We got into this discussion because of the urban enviroments we were training for, and if we ran into 'civilian ammo' would it work? "if we were out in town, next to walmart would .308 work in the 7.62 rifle"
Old Crusty Gunny, that describes my dad! Beaucoup years in the 'Corps, MGST at retirement.

Your old practical minded Gunny was right, too. In modern rifles/auto's, the .308 would likely cause little problems, at least on an infrequent basis. The real problem comes when one tries to fire a steady diet of full house .308's in older rifles like the converted SMLE's and Spanish Mausers.

 

[NineseveN]

The real problem comes when one tries to fire a steady diet of full house .308's in older rifles like the converted SMLE's and Spanish Mausers.

Indeed.

 

['Card]

The .300 Savage would likely still be with us today...

Great post. One minor quibble. The .300 Savage is still with us in the sense that it's still a popular deer hunting cartridge in the east, due to the large number of Remington Model 81's and Model 700's, as well as Savage 99's chambered for it and still in use. It is an 'orphan' cartridge, though - since the last production rifle (that I know of, anyway) that was made for it was a limited run of 700's that Remington did a few years back.

 

[Crosshair]

I know the max pressures are different, but how hot are factory 308 loads to begin with? Factory loads are often well below the maximum. Mabee someone has Federal on speed-dial. Give them a call and see what max pressures their 308 loads are loaded to.

 

[aubie515]

Why don't you guys start your own thread...you have seriously hijacked this guys thread.

I own 2 DPMS LR rifles...18" and the 24" SS models. I bought the 18" because during the course of my research, I have heard from other owners that the 18" shoots slightly better than the 24" version. I just picked up the 24" version two weeks ago. I haven't shot it yet, so I don't know which one is more accurate. I need to get a vise, so I can put on my Badger handguard.

I hope that RRA works out the bugs on the LAR10 because Bushmaster did a terrible R&D job.

My DPMS will just as well or exceed the groupings from my bolt action rifles. I only paid $800 for the 18" and $909 for the 24", so for the money and accuracy...I would say the DPMS is hard to beat.

 

[rbernie]

Armalite continues to make is AR-10 rifles, though they take different magazines than the Knights and DPMS guns.

The Armalite AR10 uses mildly modified M14 magazines. I've not bothered to try to convert any yet - although they're not cheap, the OEM magazines are no more expensive than, say, the PRI 6.8 SPC magazines for the AR15.

 

[NineseveN]

Aubie, does the ridiculous price of magazines for the DPMS rifles bother you? It's the only thing that has kept me from wanting to seriously buy one.

 

[Diomed]

The real problem comes when one tries to fire a steady diet of full house .308's in older rifles like the converted SMLE's and Spanish Mausers.

Converted SMLEs? Sounds like a job done by the Bubba Arsenal. Shooting blanks would probably be a bad idea there...

 

[U.S.SFC_RET]

BC Hunter So now the .45 is overpowered vs the 9mm? Most servicemembers who used the .45 acp never wanted the trade off. Tons of police departments went back to the .45 acp because the 9mm just doesn't cut the mustard for them. As far as the service goes for the 9mm that particular carticular round never cut the mustard either. Remember the Military must shoot ball ammo.
The 308 cartridge would be the greatest asset to the Army if it's soldiers would excersize a little fire discipline. It's a good cartridge to keep the enemy off at a distance, don't you think?

 

[KC&97TA]

The 308 cartridge would be the greatest asset to the Army if it's soldiers would excersize a little fire discipline. It's a good cartridge to keep the enemy off at a distance, don't you think?

not to contiune the highjack of the thread... the problem with a .308 is the recovery time from the recoil, it's an adverse affect to the stopping power or the distance it will sustain. Most of the battles going on are CQB... were the M16M4 & M41 prevail in this climate. The 7.62 rifles are being used and we're getting newer versions in the Marine Corps. It will be interesting to see how the SR-25, I think it was called, basically an AR-10 will be used by the 26th MEU and if it sees battle, how the Marines on the deck with thier boots in the dirt will precieve it. I'm hearing that it's a $4500 weapon, verse the $250 the Corps pays for the M16.