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Posted: 3/27/2020 2:39:56 AM EDT
I have a DPMS 308, I believe it's the 1st Gen, and good Lord, I put it on the scale and it is nearly 9.5 lbs... The darn think even has a faux 203 cut on the barrel, but it does nothing... The thing is way too front heavy.
Should I look at getting the barrel turned down and try to find some lighter weight handguards? Is there anything else that can be done about it, or am I SOL? |
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[#2]
Start lifting weights.
You probably would miss the weight if you do a lot of shooting, light hunting rifles in larger calibers are great for carrying, they suck for lots of shooting. Is your complaint more ''they are too heavy'' or ''they are unbalanced and too heavy in the front?" |
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[#4]
Mine weighs about as much as my Garand, andt I've been shooting the M1 for years. I'm not hoofing it for miles through the bush though.
Mine has the 16" HBAR barrel I think a lot of the weight is from that. It's very accurate and doesn't feel unbalanced so not an issue for me. |
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[#5]
More that it's unbalanced... The lower and stock weigh about the same as an AR, if a pound was moved back behind the Upper, it would be much more handleable... Might be worth it to put an A1 style stock on it, just to balance it a bit. I just checked; it actually weighs a hair less than my Garand, but I don't have a problem with that!
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[#6]
You could design a completely new rifle w/ a shorter receiver and bolt carrier, only to have Remington brand it as theirs and close your company entirely.
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[#7]
Quoted: You could design a completely new rifle w/ a shorter receiver and bolt carrier, only to have Remington brand it as theirs and close your company entirely. View Quote Almost, Remington bough DPMS in 2007, Remington designed the GII and marketed under the DPMS brand releasing it in early 2014 IIRC. Then they killed it, and the rest of DPMS, in early 2020. |
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[#8]
Weight is a good thing for a gun whose primary purpose is accurscy.
There is something called a mass moment of inertia. Basically, what that means is that the heavier an object is, the more force is required to make it move. Your body is moving constantly. Your blood pressure pulse, your breathing, and your nervous system all apply extraneous forces to your rifle while you are aiming it and contribute to the rifle moving around. A heavier rifle will resist these external forces more so than a lighter one, so it will easier to shoot accurately. There are ways to make the rifle easier to carry by keeping it closer to your spine, like the Eberlestock backpacks or a biathlon type sling. I have hunted elk and deer many times with an AR-10 with a 24-inch bull barrel. The first few days are tough humping a heavy rifle, but after 3-4 days, I definetely strengthen in my arms and shoulders and don't notice it as much. But I do use an Eberlestock backpack, a biathlon sling from TAB Gear, and a Turner Saddlery biothane sling. |
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[#9]
Which barrel do you have? Is it a heavy barrel?
308s are not light. I have a 20" Lite Hunter model. It is still heavy, once you add optics and mount. But the good news is that the LR308 is a fairly common standard so you have options. As stated above, you can rebarrel it with a pencil barrel. Minimalist stock. lighter optic and mount. You can shave a couple pounds if you are looking to carry it hunting. My light hunter weighs about as much as my heavy barrel 20" varmint 556. They are manageable. |
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[#10]
Understand your concerns. Same boat myself with a mostly wasted right/dominant arm that's struggling with 5lbs!
Go to the gym until that 9.5lb. feels lighter? Start a home workout using the rifle for over head press, arm curls? Remember to put a weighted mag in. |
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[#11]
Quoted: Almost, Remington bough DPMS in 2007, Remington designed the GII and marketed under the DPMS brand releasing it in early 2014 IIRC. Then they killed it, and the rest of DPMS, in early 2020. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: You could design a completely new rifle w/ a shorter receiver and bolt carrier, only to have Remington brand it as theirs and close your company entirely. Almost, Remington bough DPMS in 2007, Remington designed the GII and marketed under the DPMS brand releasing it in early 2014 IIRC. Then they killed it, and the rest of DPMS, in early 2020. Think Remington is still selling the G2. DPMS is gone, but the Gen 1 specs as DPMS-compatible lives on. |
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[#12]
All DPMS AR-10 type guns with barrels longer than 16" are going to be very front-heavy.
Nature of the beast. |
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[#14]
**begin rambling**
I wonder sometimes...do we complain about the weight of large-caliber ARs because of their visual similarity to their 5.56 brothers? In other words, is the "AR-10" comparably weighted to its classmates? If not, then I suspect we're just spoiled by the 5.56 rifle, which really is an engineering marvel, and expect the bigger rifle to weigh the same. I say this after years of looking for the "perfect" lightweight 308 AR. **end rambling** |
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[#16]
Quoted: Think Remington is still selling the G2. DPMS is gone, but the Gen 1 specs as DPMS-compatible lives on. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: You could design a completely new rifle w/ a shorter receiver and bolt carrier, only to have Remington brand it as theirs and close your company entirely. Almost, Remington bough DPMS in 2007, Remington designed the GII and marketed under the DPMS brand releasing it in early 2014 IIRC. Then they killed it, and the rest of DPMS, in early 2020. Think Remington is still selling the G2. DPMS is gone, but the Gen 1 specs as DPMS-compatible lives on. |
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[#17]
Get a good sling.
I started out with a sportical with that idiotic railed gas block with no sling loop. Magpuls MOE sling loop was a God Send. And MS3 sling... And PMag LR.. And Mag Limiters to bring 10rounders down to 5 for hunting season. |
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[#18]
Quoted: Remington sold the GII as the Camo painted R25 GII for a year or two (has a sweet carbon fiber handguard) but they have since stop selling that at least two years ago. Remington also sold the LR-308 as the R25 (camo again) for a while too. Currently Remington et all is making very few if any ARs at the moment. Any AR's you see on the shelves from Remington, Bushmaster, DPMS are simply them selling out what was left in the supply chain since they shut down DPMS and Bushmaster. View Quote From their website: https://www.remington.com/rifles/modern-sporting/model-r-25-gii/model-r-25-gii |
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[#19]
Quoted: From their website: https://www.remington.com/rifles/modern-sporting/model-r-25-gii/model-r-25-gii View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Remington sold the GII as the Camo painted R25 GII for a year or two (has a sweet carbon fiber handguard) but they have since stop selling that at least two years ago. Remington also sold the LR-308 as the R25 (camo again) for a while too. Currently Remington et all is making very few if any ARs at the moment. Any AR's you see on the shelves from Remington, Bushmaster, DPMS are simply them selling out what was left in the supply chain since they shut down DPMS and Bushmaster. From their website: https://www.remington.com/rifles/modern-sporting/model-r-25-gii/model-r-25-gii Interestingly I can't get that page to load, but I can't get Remington's home page to load either. Doesn't matter though they quite making that gun at least two years ago. They are not the best at keeping a website up to date. If you are lucky enough to find one in stock somewhere it will be old-new stock. https://308ar.com/remington-removes-r15-and-r25-g2-from-product-lineup-2018/ It is my guess that Remington is getting out of the AR business completely. They killed all AR-15/LR-308/GII guns from the Remington line up in 2018 and they killed DPMS and bushmaster just a few months ago. The banks that own Remington may or may not be playing a role in that... |
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[#20]
Quoted: Interestingly I can't get that page to load, but I can't get Remington's home page to load either. Doesn't matter though they quite making that gun at least two years ago. They are not the best at keeping a website up to date. If you are lucky enough to find one in stock somewhere it will be old-new stock. https://308ar.com/remington-removes-r15-and-r25-g2-from-product-lineup-2018/ It is my guess that Remington is getting out of the AR business completely. They killed all AR-15/LR-308/GII guns from the Remington line up in 2018 and they killed DPMS and bushmaster just a few months ago. The banks that own Remington may or may not be playing a role in that... View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Remington sold the GII as the Camo painted R25 GII for a year or two (has a sweet carbon fiber handguard) but they have since stop selling that at least two years ago. Remington also sold the LR-308 as the R25 (camo again) for a while too. Currently Remington et all is making very few if any ARs at the moment. Any AR's you see on the shelves from Remington, Bushmaster, DPMS are simply them selling out what was left in the supply chain since they shut down DPMS and Bushmaster. From their website: https://www.remington.com/rifles/modern-sporting/model-r-25-gii/model-r-25-gii Interestingly I can't get that page to load, but I can't get Remington's home page to load either. Doesn't matter though they quite making that gun at least two years ago. They are not the best at keeping a website up to date. If you are lucky enough to find one in stock somewhere it will be old-new stock. https://308ar.com/remington-removes-r15-and-r25-g2-from-product-lineup-2018/ It is my guess that Remington is getting out of the AR business completely. They killed all AR-15/LR-308/GII guns from the Remington line up in 2018 and they killed DPMS and bushmaster just a few months ago. The banks that own Remington may or may not be playing a role in that... The Remington website looks to be completely down this evening. Of course, that's what happened to Bushmaster, Tapco, & DPMS what, a month ago? Hmm. Most folks who call looking for a specific pump shotgun seem to ask for a Mossberg 500, a few ask for an 870... |
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[#21]
Its back up this morning. The link to the R25 GII even still works but if you don't have the link direct to the R25 GII page there is no way to navigate from the Remington home page to that page. It is sort of an orphaned page on their web-server. They probably don't even realize it's still there and publicly accessible anymore. They have had a huge turn and RIF in the marketing department. I would be surprised if there is anyone left there that was involved with the R25 GII marketing when it first launched.
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[#22]
Quoted: Its back up this morning. The link to the R25 GII even still works but if you don't have the link direct to the R25 GII page there is no way to navigate from the Remington home page to that page. It is sort of an orphaned page on their web-server. They probably don't even realize it's still there and publicly accessible anymore. They have had a huge turn and RIF in the marketing department. I would be surprised if there is anyone left there that was involved with the R25 GII marketing when it first launched. View Quote Amusingly, it still shows in my "Recently Viewed" items, and then "Mitchell" offered to chat w/ me. He confirmed the R-25 & R-15 were discontinued in 2017, and the page is still up as reference for retailers w/ NOS. |
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[#23]
Quoted: Amusingly, it still shows in my "Recently Viewed" items, and then "Mitchell" offered to chat w/ me. He confirmed the R-25 & R-15 were discontinued in 2017, and the page is still up as reference for retailers w/ NOS. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Its back up this morning. The link to the R25 GII even still works but if you don't have the link direct to the R25 GII page there is no way to navigate from the Remington home page to that page. It is sort of an orphaned page on their web-server. They probably don't even realize it's still there and publicly accessible anymore. They have had a huge turn and RIF in the marketing department. I would be surprised if there is anyone left there that was involved with the R25 GII marketing when it first launched. Amusingly, it still shows in my "Recently Viewed" items, and then "Mitchell" offered to chat w/ me. He confirmed the R-25 & R-15 were discontinued in 2017, and the page is still up as reference for retailers w/ NOS. |
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[#25]
Quoted: Yep its not like Remington ARs were flying off the shelves. Going to need that info for NOS for a bit longer... Camo AR are almost as ugly as unfluted revolvers... View Quote Maybe it's just me but my issue with DPMS/Remington was always how they chose to configure the rifles. I wouldnt have minded buying a camo Remington rifle but the shaved exposed gas blocks, fixed stocks, unthreaded barrels, and free floats with no attachment points always bothered me. |
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[#26]
Quoted: Maybe it's just me but my issue with DPMS/Remington was always how they chose to configure the rifles. I wouldnt have minded buying a camo Remington rifle but the shaved exposed gas blocks, fixed stocks, unthreaded barrels, and free floats with no attachment points always bothered me. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Yep its not like Remington ARs were flying off the shelves. Going to need that info for NOS for a bit longer... Camo AR are almost as ugly as unfluted revolvers... Maybe it's just me but my issue with DPMS/Remington was always how they chose to configure the rifles. I wouldnt have minded buying a camo Remington rifle but the shaved exposed gas blocks, fixed stocks, unthreaded barrels, and free floats with no attachment points always bothered me. |
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[#27]
Quoted: Almost, Remington bough DPMS in 2007, Remington designed the GII and marketed under the DPMS brand releasing it in early 2014 IIRC. Then they killed it, and the rest of DPMS, in early 2020. View Quote That is not accurate according to Chris at Small Arms Solutions. Rem execs have their AR products on hold because of the Connecticut lawsuit from Sandy Hook. I know the decision makes zero sense but that's been Remington for quite a few years now. |
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[#28]
Quoted: I have a DPMS 308, I believe it's the 1st Gen, and good Lord, I put it on the scale and it is nearly 9.5 lbs... The darn think even has a faux 203 cut on the barrel, but it does nothing... The thing is way too front heavy. Should I look at getting the barrel turned down and try to find some lighter weight handguards? Is there anything else that can be done about it, or am I SOL? View Quote I've got Gen1 DPMS LR-308 with a 16" barrel. It doesn't feel too heavy from the box but put any of the usual accessories in/on it and its instantly a heavy pig. Initially I thought the solid metal handguard contributed to the heaviness, but took it off and its only a few ounces. But the barrel is really thick!! In fact you could use it as spare truck axle its so ridiculous. Have ADCO trim it down to a real world size or buy a thinner barrel. That large AR receiver platform will not lose weight without a thin barrel. |
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[#30]
Quoted: That is not accurate according to Chris at Small Arms Solutions. Rem execs have their AR products on hold because of the Connecticut lawsuit from Sandy Hook. I know the decision makes zero sense but that's been Remington for quite a few years now. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Almost, Remington bough DPMS in 2007, Remington designed the GII and marketed under the DPMS brand releasing it in early 2014 IIRC. Then they killed it, and the rest of DPMS, in early 2020. That is not accurate according to Chris at Small Arms Solutions. Rem execs have their AR products on hold because of the Connecticut lawsuit from Sandy Hook. I know the decision makes zero sense but that's been Remington for quite a few years now. What's not accurate? Rem bought DPMS in 2007. Remington's R&D designed the GII. Remington shut down DPMS in 2020. If Remington was just putting AR products on hold why did they appear to sell their entire AR parts stock pile for pennies on the dollar giving the prices we are seeing on Rem/Bush/DPMS parts on the bargain market. As for the Sandy Hook case influence that makes no sense. Stopping production of the ARs and closure of the the Bushmaster brand does not stop the lawsuit (that has been reduces to a case on advertising/marketing) or mitigate its potential ramifications. Again if I was a betting man, my money would be on the new owning banks made this decision to get out of the AR market. |
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[#31]
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[#32]
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[#33]
I also have a 1st gen lr308. It’s always been a great rifle, but definitely heavier than it needed to be. The best decision I made was swapping my medium weight 18” barrel for a Faxon pencil weight barrel. That one change vastly improved the feel of the rifle.
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[#34]
Quoted: I also have a 1st gen lr308. It’s always been a great rifle, but definitely heavier than it needed to be. The best decision I made was swapping my medium weight 18” barrel for a Faxon pencil weight barrel. That one change vastly improved the feel of the rifle. View Quote What did it weigh before, and after the barrel change? I have a PSA 20” with a heavy barrel. I still haven’t shot it, and wanted it for hunting but dang son that sucker isn’t lightweight anything. I got pa 3-18 for it too, that thing weighs. Another 25oz. |
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[#35]
Quoted: Or add 3-1/2 lbs lead weight in the buttstock to help "balance" it. https://www.whiteoakarmament.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/1200x/17f82f742ffe127f42dca9de82fb58b1/3/b/3bwv2.jpg View Quote Where can I get one? The $50 of quarters I got in there make too much noise. |
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[#37]
Quoted: Should I look at getting the barrel turned down and try to find some lighter weight handguards? Is there anything else that can be done about it, or am I SOL? View Quote Your current barrel weights 3.5 - 3.9 lbs. Lightest barrel you can get with same length is Faxon Pencil profile barrel (1.97 lb for 18" or 1.78 lb for 16"), so just by turning down your existing barrel you will shave off 1 lb. Not sure what exact model of your DPMS rifle (whether you shoot from irons or optics) , but if your rifle has A-shaped front sight post, changing handguard most probably will mean changing gas block too. Also, depending on your rifle model, it may have carbine or rifle buffer tube/bufer. If you have rifle buffer tube now, budget-friendly way to move barrel mass closer to shooter would be to shorten your buttstock, might help to shoot off-hands (replace buffer tube + spring + buffer (keep same mass though) andcollapsible buttstock. Just throwing options worked for me here. As others said, it depends on how much you would like to spend on your AR weight reduction. I've built 3 kilograms light AR10 using 2A Xanthos receivers set, carbon fiber handguard and buffer tube + buttstock, still usong full mass BCF and 18" Faxon Match Series fluted barrel (not the lightest on the block) and emty buffer (disassembled and threw away weights from it). Had to use regulated gasblock though. |
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[#38]
In the OP he mentions an M4 cut, I'd bet he has an AP4 and if it's still stock it will have a round aluminum free float and standard FSB.
He may have to put more money into modifying the bbl than it would cost to buy a new one of similar quality. |
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[#39]
Originally Posted By Stryfe: In the OP he mentions an M4 cut, I'd bet he has an AP4 and if it's still stock it will have a round aluminum free float and standard FSB. He may have to put more money into modifying the bbl than it would cost to buy a new one of similar quality. View Quote At this point, I'm thinking of just selling it and getting a POF Revolution... well, at least I was before looking at the price tag... I should just go with 300 for my hunting rifle... Yikes! |
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[#40]
Quoted: **begin rambling** I wonder sometimes...do we complain about the weight of large-caliber ARs because of their visual similarity to their 5.56 brothers? In other words, is the "AR-10" comparably weighted to its classmates? If not, then I suspect we're just spoiled by the 5.56 rifle, which really is an engineering marvel, and expect the bigger rifle to weigh the same. I say this after years of looking for the "perfect" lightweight 308 AR. **end rambling** View Quote I'd say we are spoiled by the lighter AR15 and its lighter ammo. My 308 Armalite Defender-10, not a fancy model in the least, weighs 7.9lbs. That's lighter than the M1 Garand, M14, FAL. Loaded, it weighs about what the competition does empty. You add a magnified optic and you about match the weight of the other guns with irons. In its class, it's a lightweight gun. |
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[#42]
A lighter profile barrel will probably solve your problem, mostly at least. There’s a lot of weight there and it’s hanging off the front end. So a lighter barrel makes the whole rifle “feel” a lot lighter and handier.
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[#43]
I paid $1700 out the door for a Rogue pistol. The rifle has a lower msrp than the pistol. They are both lighter weight than their revolution counterparts.
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[#44]
Anything you can do to a Large frame, you can also do to a Small Frame and end up with a rifle thats lighter and more importantly handier to use.
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[#45]
Barrel and BCG. Get a lightweight for each, run adjustable gas, enjoy.
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[#46]
Quoted: 10.6 lbs with a full magazine. I'll admit I havent carried it across Europe but it doesn't seem that heavy. https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/51409/20200410_122550_resized-1360712.jpg View Quote Who makes that handguard? |
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[#47]
there's a guy on here who built the lightest ar308 he could and said recoil was soft...didn't use crazy heavy buffer etc that most default to.
largely seems ignored, dunno why; just fyi I'm still eyeing the Pof Rogue, sad to see the G2 go the way of Dodo...shoulda been licensed to anyone and everyone for mass appeal |
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[#48]
I ventured into this not too long ago. Carbon fiber barrel, titanium BCG, titanium parts (they add up to save weight), lightweight handguard. The one I built was well balanced, but the money involved didn't really make it a game changer necessarily.
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[#49]
Quoted: 10.6 lbs with a full magazine. I'll admit I havent carried it across Europe but it doesn't seem that heavy. https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/51409/20200410_122550_resized-1360712.jpg View Quote What manufacturer produces that one? Is it a homebrew rifle or a modded commercial one? Looks very good. |
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[#50]
Considering I'm just going to use this for deer hunting, I think I might just liquidate it... I've got a Garand, bolt action, and a couple Mosins to use for them next season.
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