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[#2]
View Quote What's the breakdown of what we're looking at here: barrel length/ caliber / etc? |
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[#5]
View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
Quoted:
That looks awesome. Makes me even MORE impatient for my stuff!! What's the breakdown of what we're looking at here: barrel length/ caliber / etc? https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/14209/pst-363513.jpg ETA: Quote had AIDS, but I cured it. |
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[#6]
I ordered it with a 6.5C barrel. This is a TOBR barrel with PST that I had laying around.
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[#7]
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[#8]
Quoted:
22” Creedmoor w/foliage polymer https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/26644/BE3D0A79-6E4D-4914-81EC-6C9CDECAAA0D-364004.jpg 18” .308 w/OD green polymer https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/26644/7F854699-C011-4EAA-B6AD-67F23B24B608-364009.jpg Only problem is I have no time to get to the range anytime soon. View Quote |
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[#9]
Happy Black Rifle Day! (Been planning this quiet morning for a few weeks)
16” tAR 308 equals a freaking light battle rifle. Bet it’s close to SCAR 17 weight Attached File Attached File |
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[#10]
Also if you can go to the course! It’s worth the plane ticket and hotel room. LT staff even provided breakfast and lunch!
Rob spends a lot of time explaining in no BS terms how to build and maintain (including what to look for). Best part is this 55 page color instruction / reference manual. Attached File |
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[#11]
Quoted:
Quoted:
22” Creedmoor w/foliage polymer https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/26644/BE3D0A79-6E4D-4914-81EC-6C9CDECAAA0D-364004.jpg 18” .308 w/OD green polymer https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/26644/7F854699-C011-4EAA-B6AD-67F23B24B608-364009.jpg Only problem is I have no time to get to the range anytime soon. |
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[#12]
Well, my 18" .308 FDE UU kit arrived the day after I flew back to Virginia in mid to late October to be with my dad while he died of pancreatic cancer 3 years after diagnosis. He put up a hell of a fight and beat the odds big time, even if it wasn't enough in the end. Anyway, I recently returned home, and the first thing I did was throw that thing together, since late elk season is ticking away and I missed half of it on the other side of the country. There was a minor hiccup with the gas block screws, as they were on a good bit tighter than I expected, but I managed to get them loose and replaced the whole shebang with an SLR and the gas tube I bought with it. I had an extra TQ brake that came with my can last year, so that went on in place of the A2 hider. The new tool that came with the kit made it ridiculously easy to hit the barrel nut and the TQ brake with the proper torque. Threw some keymod accessories on, moved a few items from my tOBR upper (bipod, scope, brass catcher mount, and FDE Raptor SD charging handle), put a new FDE RISR from the latest sale on my FDE CTR, immediately covered the moving part up with some black adhesive-backed neoprene to get my cheek weld up in the middle of the scope (I wish I could find something close to FDE to use instead, but no dice), and threw it on the tOBR lower. Looks a bit funky on the black lower, but it'll just stay black and tan for hardly any more time before my FDE lower ships (right Mark? ).
Attached File So today I finally got a brief respite from the wind... it was only 5-15 mph just before sunset and my 100 yard target stayed upright. As a bit of background, I have to say, I've been a bit disappointed with the 16" tOBR barrel I have. I'd get lucky every once in a while with a nice tiny 3-round group, or maybe a 3/4-MOA 5-round group, and once I even got a 10-round group under an inch with a Berger handload I worked up, but the best handloads I've found will always open up to just over 2 inches if I fire enough rounds at the same spot on the paper. It usually only takes 5-10 to get there. Most expensive factory ammo (and sub-optimal handloads) ends up being 3-4 MOA. So after thousands of rounds of load development down the pipe looking for that magic combination of components that would make my barrel sing, and elk season just around the corner, I finally gave up and ordered a new barrel. Luckily, after I decided to do so, but before I placed the order for a tOBR sparrel, the UU large frames were released. For barely any more money than I would have spent on a sparrel and a parts kit (for a fresh bolt), I got an entire rifle minus a stripped lower! On to results. I shot 20 rounds of Norma TAC 150gr and 20 rounds of FGMM 175gr/308 load, which were two of the somewhat better factory loads in the old barrel, and also two of the lightest I have on hand. It took me 8 rounds of TAC to figure out where my bullets were hitting and adjust to get on paper. I could have done it in fewer, but it took me 6 rounds to realize it would be easier to see a splash in the dirt than look for a fresh hole in an already perforated target board. The 3 holes near the center target were rounds 8-10 ever fired through this barrel. While I was doing this, I was firing one round at a time and adjusting the SLR block for the minimum gas to reliably lock back on an empty mag (which was the main reason I picked those two loads to test). After those first 10 rounds, I stopped and collected all the brass, which was a bit scattered, but all at 4-4:30 with the gas properly adjusted. After 5-10 minutes, I loaded the next 5 together in the mag and shot a round every 1-2 seconds. That's group 1 on the target in the upper left. The high shot was the cold bore shot, but I don't put a whole lot of stock in it, since while TAC is great most of the time, they have a bit of a consistency issue and a flyer like that will often spoil an otherwise solid group. At this point I switched to FGMM and single loaded 5 rounds again for function checking, and since I didn't know where it was going to land relative to the TAC, I shot at a spot below center on the grid with plenty of space around it (group 2). It was almost dead on anyway, hahaha. Results looked kind of like the TAC group except without a flyer. Not too bad. I loaded up 5 more and shot semi-auto this time at the lower right target (group 3). Wow! Best group of the day, .525 MOA with 5 rounds, and only one of them wasn't in the bughole. I put in 10 more rounds and shot a 10-round group at the top right (group 4). I might have rushed a bit in my excitement over the previous group, but results were more or less in line with the first 5-round group I single loaded with FGMM. If it were a bit brighter out and I was being more careful from prone instead of the picnic table, I think I could have done better. Even so, that level of 10-round performance immediately exceeds the best 10-round groups of that ammo from my 16" tOBR. I finished up with one more 5-round semi-auto group of Norma TAC at the bottom left target (group 5). This one also had a flyer, but it flew a good bit less than the first one. Another thing to note is there were occasional 15mph wind gusts, and while they wouldn't do a whole lot to point of impact at that range, the rifle would move enough to alter the point of aim by 1/2" or more. I avoided most of them, but a few caught me just as the shot broke. But I have to say, I'm highly impressed with the initial accuracy from this barrel, and I think it's gonna beat the pants off the tOBR in the long run and pay for itself in the money in reloading components it's going to save me. The first groups I shot out of the tOBR were all around 2" or more with 175 FGMM. I did manage to outshoot the shootist with a 3-round group, but it was luck and the laws of probability, as it took me about 8 3-round groups of FGMM to get sub-MOA. Attached File A few words about function and reliability. It's still too early to tell with only 40 rounds down the pipe (5 of which were expended tuning the SLR), and I have plenty of other loads to try to test it with, but once I got the SLR dialed in, it was 100% today. Flawless feeding and bolt lock on empty with both loads I tried. If anyone else is planning on putting an SLR on an 18" .308 barrel, the 9th notch from closed was the ticket for me. If some heavier loads are overgassed, I can close it down a bit if necessary, but I shouldn't need to. It's definitely subjectively softer shooting and much easier on brass than the tOBR barrel on its suppressed setting. The tOBR always throws brass from 1:30-3:00 depending on the load, the brass always has ejector swipes (unless it's a super low starting load while I'm doing a workup), and the buffer slams back with authority, making recoil a bit more than I'd like. It's just a .308, but I still get bruises on the shoulder after 50-100 rounds. I can't reliably shoot reasonably powered loads with 200gr bullets in the tOBR because the extra dwell time (and hence gas port pressure) of the heavy bullet gets the bolt moving so fast that I get bolt-over-base malfunctions more than 50% of the time. I think I won't have to worry about any of that now. I think from now on, the 16" barrel will be relegated to short-range bear defense carbine duty with the hottest load I can cram under a 185gr Juggernaut without popping primers. Doesn't matter if it's 3-4 MOA at 25 yards or less! TL;DR: I love my $1200 18" .308 UU so far, and it is better than my 16" PredatOBR that cost $2170 more. Buy with confidence. |
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[#13]
Quoted:
Well, my 18" .308 FDE UU kit arrived the day after I flew back to Virginia in mid to late October to be with my dad while he died of pancreatic cancer 3 years after diagnosis. He put up a hell of a fight and beat the odds big time, even if it wasn't enough in the end. Anyway, I recently returned home, and the first thing I did was throw that thing together, since late elk season is ticking away and I missed half of it on the other side of the country. There was a minor hiccup with the gas block screws, as they were on a good bit tighter than I expected, but I managed to get them loose and replaced the whole shebang with an SLR and the gas tube I bought with it. I had an extra TQ brake that came with my can last year, so that went on in place of the A2 hider. The new tool that came with the kit made it ridiculously easy to hit the barrel nut and the TQ brake with the proper torque. Threw some keymod accessories on, moved a few items from my tOBR upper (bipod, scope, brass catcher mount, and FDE Raptor SD charging handle), put a new FDE RISR from the latest sale on my FDE CTR, immediately covered the moving part up with some black adhesive-backed neoprene to get my cheek weld up in the middle of the scope (I wish I could find something close to FDE to use instead, but no dice), and threw it on the tOBR lower. Looks a bit funky on the black lower, but it'll just stay black and tan for hardly any more time before my FDE lower ships (right Mark? ). https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/188723/DSC_2040-378439.JPG So today I finally got a brief respite from the wind... it was only 5-15 mph just before sunset and my 100 yard target stayed upright. As a bit of background, I have to say, I've been a bit disappointed with the 16" tOBR barrel I have. I'd get lucky every once in a while with a nice tiny 3-round group, or maybe a 3/4-MOA 5-round group, and once I even got a 10-round group under an inch with a Berger handload I worked up, but the best handloads I've found will always open up to just over 2 inches if I fire enough rounds at the same spot on the paper. It usually only takes 5-10 to get there. Most expensive factory ammo (and sub-optimal handloads) ends up being 3-4 MOA. So after thousands of rounds of load development down the pipe looking for that magic combination of components that would make my barrel sing, and elk season just around the corner, I finally gave up and ordered a new barrel. Luckily, after I decided to do so, but before I placed the order for a tOBR sparrel, the UU large frames were released. For barely any more money than I would have spent on a sparrel and a parts kit (for a fresh bolt), I got an entire rifle minus a stripped lower! On to results. I shot 20 rounds of Norma TAC 150gr and 20 rounds of FGMM 175gr/308 load, which were two of the somewhat better factory loads in the old barrel, and also two of the lightest I have on hand. It took me 8 rounds of TAC to figure out where my bullets were hitting and adjust to get on paper. I could have done it in fewer, but it took me 6 rounds to realize it would be easier to see a splash in the dirt than look for a fresh hole in an already perforated target board. The 3 holes near the center target were rounds 8-10 ever fired through this barrel. While I was doing this, I was firing one round at a time and adjusting the SLR block for the minimum gas to reliably lock back on an empty mag (which was the main reason I picked those two loads to test). After those first 10 rounds, I stopped and collected all the brass, which was a bit scattered, but all at 4-4:30 with the gas properly adjusted. After 5-10 minutes, I loaded the next 5 together in the mag and shot a round every 1-2 seconds. That's group 1 on the target in the upper left. The high shot was the cold bore shot, but I don't put a whole lot of stock in it, since while TAC is great most of the time, they have a bit of a consistency issue and a flyer like that will often spoil an otherwise solid group. At this point I switched to FGMM and single loaded 5 rounds again for function checking, and since I didn't know where it was going to land relative to the TAC, I shot at a spot below center on the grid with plenty of space around it (group 2). It was almost dead on anyway, hahaha. Results looked kind of like the TAC group except without a flyer. Not too bad. I loaded up 5 more and shot semi-auto this time at the lower right target (group 3). Wow! Best group of the day, .525 MOA with 5 rounds, and only one of them wasn't in the bughole. I put in 10 more rounds and shot a 10-round group at the top right (group 4). I might have rushed a bit in my excitement over the previous group, but results were more or less in line with the first 5-round group I single loaded with FGMM. If it were a bit brighter out and I was being more careful from prone instead of the picnic table, I think I could have done better. Even so, that level of 10-round performance immediately exceeds the best 10-round groups of that ammo from my 16" tOBR. I finished up with one more 5-round semi-auto group of Norma TAC at the bottom left target (group 5). This one also had a flyer, but it flew a good bit less than the first one. Another thing to note is there were occasional 15mph wind gusts, and while they wouldn't do a whole lot to point of impact at that range, the rifle would move enough to alter the point of aim by 1/2" or more. I avoided most of them, but a few caught me just as the shot broke. But I have to say, I'm highly impressed with the initial accuracy from this barrel, and I think it's gonna beat the pants off the tOBR in the long run and pay for itself in the money in reloading components it's going to save me. The first groups I shot out of the tOBR were all around 2" or more with 175 FGMM. I did manage to outshoot the shootist with a 3-round group, but it was luck and the laws of probability, as it took me about 8 3-round groups of FGMM to get sub-MOA. https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/188723/First_shots_18-378489.JPG A few words about function and reliability. It's still too early to tell with only 40 rounds down the pipe (5 of which were expended tuning the SLR), and I have plenty of other loads to try to test it with, but once I got the SLR dialed in, it was 100% today. Flawless feeding and bolt lock on empty with both loads I tried. If anyone else is planning on putting an SLR on an 18" .308 barrel, the 9th notch from closed was the ticket for me. If some heavier loads are overgassed, I can close it down a bit if necessary, but I shouldn't need to. It's definitely subjectively softer shooting and much easier on brass than the tOBR barrel on its suppressed setting. The tOBR always throws brass from 1:30-3:00 depending on the load, the brass always has ejector swipes (unless it's a super low starting load while I'm doing a workup), and the buffer slams back with authority, making recoil a bit more than I'd like. It's just a .308, but I still get bruises on the shoulder after 50-100 rounds. I can't reliably shoot reasonably powered loads with 200gr bullets in the tOBR because the extra dwell time (and hence gas port pressure) of the heavy bullet gets the bolt moving so fast that I get bolt-over-base malfunctions more than 50% of the time. I think I won't have to worry about any of that now. I think from now on, the 16" barrel will be relegated to short-range bear defense carbine duty with the hottest load I can cram under a 185gr Juggernaut without popping primers. Doesn't matter if it's 3-4 MOA at 25 yards or less! TL;DR: I love my $1200 18" .308 UU so far, and it is better than my 16" PredatOBR that cost $2170 more. Buy with confidence. View Quote |
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[#14]
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[#15]
Quoted:
Sorry to hear about your father. Cancer took my father in February I know it all too well. Nice rig and looks like a beautiful place to shoot. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
Quoted:
Well, my 18" .308 FDE UU kit arrived the day after I flew back to Virginia in mid to late October to be with my dad while he died of pancreatic cancer 3 years after diagnosis. He put up a hell of a fight and beat the odds big time, even if it wasn't enough in the end. Anyway, I recently returned home, and the first thing I did was throw that thing together, since late elk season is ticking away and I missed half of it on the other side of the country. There was a minor hiccup with the gas block screws, as they were on a good bit tighter than I expected, but I managed to get them loose and replaced the whole shebang with an SLR and the gas tube I bought with it. I had an extra TQ brake that came with my can last year, so that went on in place of the A2 hider. The new tool that came with the kit made it ridiculously easy to hit the barrel nut and the TQ brake with the proper torque. Threw some keymod accessories on, moved a few items from my tOBR upper (bipod, scope, brass catcher mount, and FDE Raptor SD charging handle), put a new FDE RISR from the latest sale on my FDE CTR, immediately covered the moving part up with some black adhesive-backed neoprene to get my cheek weld up in the middle of the scope (I wish I could find something close to FDE to use instead, but no dice), and threw it on the tOBR lower. Looks a bit funky on the black lower, but it'll just stay black and tan for hardly any more time before my FDE lower ships (right Mark? ). https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/188723/DSC_2040-378439.JPG So today I finally got a brief respite from the wind... it was only 5-15 mph just before sunset and my 100 yard target stayed upright. As a bit of background, I have to say, I've been a bit disappointed with the 16" tOBR barrel I have. I'd get lucky every once in a while with a nice tiny 3-round group, or maybe a 3/4-MOA 5-round group, and once I even got a 10-round group under an inch with a Berger handload I worked up, but the best handloads I've found will always open up to just over 2 inches if I fire enough rounds at the same spot on the paper. It usually only takes 5-10 to get there. Most expensive factory ammo (and sub-optimal handloads) ends up being 3-4 MOA. So after thousands of rounds of load development down the pipe looking for that magic combination of components that would make my barrel sing, and elk season just around the corner, I finally gave up and ordered a new barrel. Luckily, after I decided to do so, but before I placed the order for a tOBR sparrel, the UU large frames were released. For barely any more money than I would have spent on a sparrel and a parts kit (for a fresh bolt), I got an entire rifle minus a stripped lower! On to results. I shot 20 rounds of Norma TAC 150gr and 20 rounds of FGMM 175gr/308 load, which were two of the somewhat better factory loads in the old barrel, and also two of the lightest I have on hand. It took me 8 rounds of TAC to figure out where my bullets were hitting and adjust to get on paper. I could have done it in fewer, but it took me 6 rounds to realize it would be easier to see a splash in the dirt than look for a fresh hole in an already perforated target board. The 3 holes near the center target were rounds 8-10 ever fired through this barrel. While I was doing this, I was firing one round at a time and adjusting the SLR block for the minimum gas to reliably lock back on an empty mag (which was the main reason I picked those two loads to test). After those first 10 rounds, I stopped and collected all the brass, which was a bit scattered, but all at 4-4:30 with the gas properly adjusted. After 5-10 minutes, I loaded the next 5 together in the mag and shot a round every 1-2 seconds. That's group 1 on the target in the upper left. The high shot was the cold bore shot, but I don't put a whole lot of stock in it, since while TAC is great most of the time, they have a bit of a consistency issue and a flyer like that will often spoil an otherwise solid group. At this point I switched to FGMM and single loaded 5 rounds again for function checking, and since I didn't know where it was going to land relative to the TAC, I shot at a spot below center on the grid with plenty of space around it (group 2). It was almost dead on anyway, hahaha. Results looked kind of like the TAC group except without a flyer. Not too bad. I loaded up 5 more and shot semi-auto this time at the lower right target (group 3). Wow! Best group of the day, .525 MOA with 5 rounds, and only one of them wasn't in the bughole. I put in 10 more rounds and shot a 10-round group at the top right (group 4). I might have rushed a bit in my excitement over the previous group, but results were more or less in line with the first 5-round group I single loaded with FGMM. If it were a bit brighter out and I was being more careful from prone instead of the picnic table, I think I could have done better. Even so, that level of 10-round performance immediately exceeds the best 10-round groups of that ammo from my 16" tOBR. I finished up with one more 5-round semi-auto group of Norma TAC at the bottom left target (group 5). This one also had a flyer, but it flew a good bit less than the first one. Another thing to note is there were occasional 15mph wind gusts, and while they wouldn't do a whole lot to point of impact at that range, the rifle would move enough to alter the point of aim by 1/2" or more. I avoided most of them, but a few caught me just as the shot broke. But I have to say, I'm highly impressed with the initial accuracy from this barrel, and I think it's gonna beat the pants off the tOBR in the long run and pay for itself in the money in reloading components it's going to save me. The first groups I shot out of the tOBR were all around 2" or more with 175 FGMM. I did manage to outshoot the shootist with a 3-round group, but it was luck and the laws of probability, as it took me about 8 3-round groups of FGMM to get sub-MOA. https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/188723/First_shots_18-378489.JPG A few words about function and reliability. It's still too early to tell with only 40 rounds down the pipe (5 of which were expended tuning the SLR), and I have plenty of other loads to try to test it with, but once I got the SLR dialed in, it was 100% today. Flawless feeding and bolt lock on empty with both loads I tried. If anyone else is planning on putting an SLR on an 18" .308 barrel, the 9th notch from closed was the ticket for me. If some heavier loads are overgassed, I can close it down a bit if necessary, but I shouldn't need to. It's definitely subjectively softer shooting and much easier on brass than the tOBR barrel on its suppressed setting. The tOBR always throws brass from 1:30-3:00 depending on the load, the brass always has ejector swipes (unless it's a super low starting load while I'm doing a workup), and the buffer slams back with authority, making recoil a bit more than I'd like. It's just a .308, but I still get bruises on the shoulder after 50-100 rounds. I can't reliably shoot reasonably powered loads with 200gr bullets in the tOBR because the extra dwell time (and hence gas port pressure) of the heavy bullet gets the bolt moving so fast that I get bolt-over-base malfunctions more than 50% of the time. I think I won't have to worry about any of that now. I think from now on, the 16" barrel will be relegated to short-range bear defense carbine duty with the hottest load I can cram under a 185gr Juggernaut without popping primers. Doesn't matter if it's 3-4 MOA at 25 yards or less! TL;DR: I love my $1200 18" .308 UU so far, and it is better than my 16" PredatOBR that cost $2170 more. Buy with confidence. As for the range, it's my yard, and it's spectacular! I'm set up for several distances up to 425 yards right now with a permanent target stand 100 yards from my deck. It's even more spectacular now that I've finished the build with a lower and a PRS! Attached File |
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[#16]
Quoted:
Thank you, and I'm sorry for your loss as well. As for the range, it's my yard, and it's spectacular! I'm set up for several distances up to 425 yards right now with a permanent target stand 100 yards from my deck. It's even more spectacular now that I've finished the build with a lower and a PRS! https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/188723/DSC_2118-3-385094.JPG View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Well, my 18" .308 FDE UU kit arrived the day after I flew back to Virginia in mid to late October to be with my dad while he died of pancreatic cancer 3 years after diagnosis. He put up a hell of a fight and beat the odds big time, even if it wasn't enough in the end. Anyway, I recently returned home, and the first thing I did was throw that thing together, since late elk season is ticking away and I missed half of it on the other side of the country. There was a minor hiccup with the gas block screws, as they were on a good bit tighter than I expected, but I managed to get them loose and replaced the whole shebang with an SLR and the gas tube I bought with it. I had an extra TQ brake that came with my can last year, so that went on in place of the A2 hider. The new tool that came with the kit made it ridiculously easy to hit the barrel nut and the TQ brake with the proper torque. Threw some keymod accessories on, moved a few items from my tOBR upper (bipod, scope, brass catcher mount, and FDE Raptor SD charging handle), put a new FDE RISR from the latest sale on my FDE CTR, immediately covered the moving part up with some black adhesive-backed neoprene to get my cheek weld up in the middle of the scope (I wish I could find something close to FDE to use instead, but no dice), and threw it on the tOBR lower. Looks a bit funky on the black lower, but it'll just stay black and tan for hardly any more time before my FDE lower ships (right Mark? ). https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/188723/DSC_2040-378439.JPG So today I finally got a brief respite from the wind... it was only 5-15 mph just before sunset and my 100 yard target stayed upright. As a bit of background, I have to say, I've been a bit disappointed with the 16" tOBR barrel I have. I'd get lucky every once in a while with a nice tiny 3-round group, or maybe a 3/4-MOA 5-round group, and once I even got a 10-round group under an inch with a Berger handload I worked up, but the best handloads I've found will always open up to just over 2 inches if I fire enough rounds at the same spot on the paper. It usually only takes 5-10 to get there. Most expensive factory ammo (and sub-optimal handloads) ends up being 3-4 MOA. So after thousands of rounds of load development down the pipe looking for that magic combination of components that would make my barrel sing, and elk season just around the corner, I finally gave up and ordered a new barrel. Luckily, after I decided to do so, but before I placed the order for a tOBR sparrel, the UU large frames were released. For barely any more money than I would have spent on a sparrel and a parts kit (for a fresh bolt), I got an entire rifle minus a stripped lower! On to results. I shot 20 rounds of Norma TAC 150gr and 20 rounds of FGMM 175gr/308 load, which were two of the somewhat better factory loads in the old barrel, and also two of the lightest I have on hand. It took me 8 rounds of TAC to figure out where my bullets were hitting and adjust to get on paper. I could have done it in fewer, but it took me 6 rounds to realize it would be easier to see a splash in the dirt than look for a fresh hole in an already perforated target board. The 3 holes near the center target were rounds 8-10 ever fired through this barrel. While I was doing this, I was firing one round at a time and adjusting the SLR block for the minimum gas to reliably lock back on an empty mag (which was the main reason I picked those two loads to test). After those first 10 rounds, I stopped and collected all the brass, which was a bit scattered, but all at 4-4:30 with the gas properly adjusted. After 5-10 minutes, I loaded the next 5 together in the mag and shot a round every 1-2 seconds. That's group 1 on the target in the upper left. The high shot was the cold bore shot, but I don't put a whole lot of stock in it, since while TAC is great most of the time, they have a bit of a consistency issue and a flyer like that will often spoil an otherwise solid group. At this point I switched to FGMM and single loaded 5 rounds again for function checking, and since I didn't know where it was going to land relative to the TAC, I shot at a spot below center on the grid with plenty of space around it (group 2). It was almost dead on anyway, hahaha. Results looked kind of like the TAC group except without a flyer. Not too bad. I loaded up 5 more and shot semi-auto this time at the lower right target (group 3). Wow! Best group of the day, .525 MOA with 5 rounds, and only one of them wasn't in the bughole. I put in 10 more rounds and shot a 10-round group at the top right (group 4). I might have rushed a bit in my excitement over the previous group, but results were more or less in line with the first 5-round group I single loaded with FGMM. If it were a bit brighter out and I was being more careful from prone instead of the picnic table, I think I could have done better. Even so, that level of 10-round performance immediately exceeds the best 10-round groups of that ammo from my 16" tOBR. I finished up with one more 5-round semi-auto group of Norma TAC at the bottom left target (group 5). This one also had a flyer, but it flew a good bit less than the first one. Another thing to note is there were occasional 15mph wind gusts, and while they wouldn't do a whole lot to point of impact at that range, the rifle would move enough to alter the point of aim by 1/2" or more. I avoided most of them, but a few caught me just as the shot broke. But I have to say, I'm highly impressed with the initial accuracy from this barrel, and I think it's gonna beat the pants off the tOBR in the long run and pay for itself in the money in reloading components it's going to save me. The first groups I shot out of the tOBR were all around 2" or more with 175 FGMM. I did manage to outshoot the shootist with a 3-round group, but it was luck and the laws of probability, as it took me about 8 3-round groups of FGMM to get sub-MOA. https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/188723/First_shots_18-378489.JPG A few words about function and reliability. It's still too early to tell with only 40 rounds down the pipe (5 of which were expended tuning the SLR), and I have plenty of other loads to try to test it with, but once I got the SLR dialed in, it was 100% today. Flawless feeding and bolt lock on empty with both loads I tried. If anyone else is planning on putting an SLR on an 18" .308 barrel, the 9th notch from closed was the ticket for me. If some heavier loads are overgassed, I can close it down a bit if necessary, but I shouldn't need to. It's definitely subjectively softer shooting and much easier on brass than the tOBR barrel on its suppressed setting. The tOBR always throws brass from 1:30-3:00 depending on the load, the brass always has ejector swipes (unless it's a super low starting load while I'm doing a workup), and the buffer slams back with authority, making recoil a bit more than I'd like. It's just a .308, but I still get bruises on the shoulder after 50-100 rounds. I can't reliably shoot reasonably powered loads with 200gr bullets in the tOBR because the extra dwell time (and hence gas port pressure) of the heavy bullet gets the bolt moving so fast that I get bolt-over-base malfunctions more than 50% of the time. I think I won't have to worry about any of that now. I think from now on, the 16" barrel will be relegated to short-range bear defense carbine duty with the hottest load I can cram under a 185gr Juggernaut without popping primers. Doesn't matter if it's 3-4 MOA at 25 yards or less! TL;DR: I love my $1200 18" .308 UU so far, and it is better than my 16" PredatOBR that cost $2170 more. Buy with confidence. As for the range, it's my yard, and it's spectacular! I'm set up for several distances up to 425 yards right now with a permanent target stand 100 yards from my deck. It's even more spectacular now that I've finished the build with a lower and a PRS! https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/188723/DSC_2118-3-385094.JPG |
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[#17]
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Well, my 18" .308 FDE UU kit arrived the day after I flew back to Virginia in mid to late October to be with my dad while he died of pancreatic cancer 3 years after diagnosis. He put up a hell of a fight and beat the odds big time, even if it wasn't enough in the end. Anyway, I recently returned home, and the first thing I did was throw that thing together, since late elk season is ticking away and I missed half of it on the other side of the country. There was a minor hiccup with the gas block screws, as they were on a good bit tighter than I expected, but I managed to get them loose and replaced the whole shebang with an SLR and the gas tube I bought with it. I had an extra TQ brake that came with my can last year, so that went on in place of the A2 hider. The new tool that came with the kit made it ridiculously easy to hit the barrel nut and the TQ brake with the proper torque. Threw some keymod accessories on, moved a few items from my tOBR upper (bipod, scope, brass catcher mount, and FDE Raptor SD charging handle), put a new FDE RISR from the latest sale on my FDE CTR, immediately covered the moving part up with some black adhesive-backed neoprene to get my cheek weld up in the middle of the scope (I wish I could find something close to FDE to use instead, but no dice), and threw it on the tOBR lower. Looks a bit funky on the black lower, but it'll just stay black and tan for hardly any more time before my FDE lower ships (right Mark? ). https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/188723/DSC_2040-378439.JPG So today I finally got a brief respite from the wind... it was only 5-15 mph just before sunset and my 100 yard target stayed upright. As a bit of background, I have to say, I've been a bit disappointed with the 16" tOBR barrel I have. I'd get lucky every once in a while with a nice tiny 3-round group, or maybe a 3/4-MOA 5-round group, and once I even got a 10-round group under an inch with a Berger handload I worked up, but the best handloads I've found will always open up to just over 2 inches if I fire enough rounds at the same spot on the paper. It usually only takes 5-10 to get there. Most expensive factory ammo (and sub-optimal handloads) ends up being 3-4 MOA. So after thousands of rounds of load development down the pipe looking for that magic combination of components that would make my barrel sing, and elk season just around the corner, I finally gave up and ordered a new barrel. Luckily, after I decided to do so, but before I placed the order for a tOBR sparrel, the UU large frames were released. For barely any more money than I would have spent on a sparrel and a parts kit (for a fresh bolt), I got an entire rifle minus a stripped lower! On to results. I shot 20 rounds of Norma TAC 150gr and 20 rounds of FGMM 175gr/308 load, which were two of the somewhat better factory loads in the old barrel, and also two of the lightest I have on hand. It took me 8 rounds of TAC to figure out where my bullets were hitting and adjust to get on paper. I could have done it in fewer, but it took me 6 rounds to realize it would be easier to see a splash in the dirt than look for a fresh hole in an already perforated target board. The 3 holes near the center target were rounds 8-10 ever fired through this barrel. While I was doing this, I was firing one round at a time and adjusting the SLR block for the minimum gas to reliably lock back on an empty mag (which was the main reason I picked those two loads to test). After those first 10 rounds, I stopped and collected all the brass, which was a bit scattered, but all at 4-4:30 with the gas properly adjusted. After 5-10 minutes, I loaded the next 5 together in the mag and shot a round every 1-2 seconds. That's group 1 on the target in the upper left. The high shot was the cold bore shot, but I don't put a whole lot of stock in it, since while TAC is great most of the time, they have a bit of a consistency issue and a flyer like that will often spoil an otherwise solid group. At this point I switched to FGMM and single loaded 5 rounds again for function checking, and since I didn't know where it was going to land relative to the TAC, I shot at a spot below center on the grid with plenty of space around it (group 2). It was almost dead on anyway, hahaha. Results looked kind of like the TAC group except without a flyer. Not too bad. I loaded up 5 more and shot semi-auto this time at the lower right target (group 3). Wow! Best group of the day, .525 MOA with 5 rounds, and only one of them wasn't in the bughole. I put in 10 more rounds and shot a 10-round group at the top right (group 4). I might have rushed a bit in my excitement over the previous group, but results were more or less in line with the first 5-round group I single loaded with FGMM. If it were a bit brighter out and I was being more careful from prone instead of the picnic table, I think I could have done better. Even so, that level of 10-round performance immediately exceeds the best 10-round groups of that ammo from my 16" tOBR. I finished up with one more 5-round semi-auto group of Norma TAC at the bottom left target (group 5). This one also had a flyer, but it flew a good bit less than the first one. Another thing to note is there were occasional 15mph wind gusts, and while they wouldn't do a whole lot to point of impact at that range, the rifle would move enough to alter the point of aim by 1/2" or more. I avoided most of them, but a few caught me just as the shot broke. But I have to say, I'm highly impressed with the initial accuracy from this barrel, and I think it's gonna beat the pants off the tOBR in the long run and pay for itself in the money in reloading components it's going to save me. The first groups I shot out of the tOBR were all around 2" or more with 175 FGMM. I did manage to outshoot the shootist with a 3-round group, but it was luck and the laws of probability, as it took me about 8 3-round groups of FGMM to get sub-MOA. https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/188723/First_shots_18-378489.JPG A few words about function and reliability. It's still too early to tell with only 40 rounds down the pipe (5 of which were expended tuning the SLR), and I have plenty of other loads to try to test it with, but once I got the SLR dialed in, it was 100% today. Flawless feeding and bolt lock on empty with both loads I tried. If anyone else is planning on putting an SLR on an 18" .308 barrel, the 9th notch from closed was the ticket for me. If some heavier loads are overgassed, I can close it down a bit if necessary, but I shouldn't need to. It's definitely subjectively softer shooting and much easier on brass than the tOBR barrel on its suppressed setting. The tOBR always throws brass from 1:30-3:00 depending on the load, the brass always has ejector swipes (unless it's a super low starting load while I'm doing a workup), and the buffer slams back with authority, making recoil a bit more than I'd like. It's just a .308, but I still get bruises on the shoulder after 50-100 rounds. I can't reliably shoot reasonably powered loads with 200gr bullets in the tOBR because the extra dwell time (and hence gas port pressure) of the heavy bullet gets the bolt moving so fast that I get bolt-over-base malfunctions more than 50% of the time. I think I won't have to worry about any of that now. I think from now on, the 16" barrel will be relegated to short-range bear defense carbine duty with the hottest load I can cram under a 185gr Juggernaut without popping primers. Doesn't matter if it's 3-4 MOA at 25 yards or less! TL;DR: I love my $1200 18" .308 UU so far, and it is better than my 16" PredatOBR that cost $2170 more. Buy with confidence. As for the range, it's my yard, and it's spectacular! I'm set up for several distances up to 425 yards right now with a permanent target stand 100 yards from my deck. It's even more spectacular now that I've finished the build with a lower and a PRS! https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/188723/DSC_2118-3-385094.JPG I guess this is the part where I'm supposed to complain about the color match with local terrain being a shade or two off, or something. Hahaha... in all seriousness, this receiver set is perfectly tight and drop dead gorgeous. It's unbelievable it was offered at the price point it was. |
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[#18]
Disconnekt, what part of WY? I'm in Cheyenne.
Awesome photo and rifle, I just recently assembled my 18" 7.62 UU kit and matching lower and couldn't be happier. |
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[#19]
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Disconnekt, what part of WY? I'm in Cheyenne. Awesome photo and rifle, I just recently assembled my 18" 7.62 UU kit and matching lower and couldn't be happier. View Quote |
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[#20]
Wow haven’t been here in a while. Can you still get a large frame lower if you buy a kit? If he answer is yes, I have to build me yet another Larue.
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[#21]
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[#23]
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[#26]
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Hoping one of you can help here... I'm putting together my large frame lower. I have an issue with indexing the receiver extension with the buffer retainer. Getting the last available full turn of the receiver extension, it does not covering enough of the buffer retainer to remain secure. However, if I try getting another turn on it... it runs into the "wall" embedded on the lower. I want to say its a possible fluke in the threading. Any ideas? Pics below. Photo below shows the extension below BARELY trapping the retainer. Here the extension doesn't firmly cover the retainer as it popped out twice already. http://i.imgur.com/jF7e1np.jpg Image below shows the wall keeping my extension from getting the next full turn. https://i.imgur.com/KSGy6f3.jpg View Quote |
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[#27]
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Thanks... I'm in the Cody area. I'm keeping shooting to a minimum for the next couple of weeks to keep from scaring the elk off before the end of the late season... did you get a chance to take yours out yet? View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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Disconnekt, what part of WY? I'm in Cheyenne. Awesome photo and rifle, I just recently assembled my 18" 7.62 UU kit and matching lower and couldn't be happier. |
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[#28]
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[#29]
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[#30]
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[#31]
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[#32]
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Nothing is torqued officially or ready to shoot but I couldn’t wait to mock it up... 16” heavyweight, Griffin flash comp and sights, Trijicon 5-20x accupoint in an FDE LT104 My first .308 and I’m all Over this one https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/170073/B41E3813-DFF8-4A3E-B555-CD5E314CB5A1-392081.jpg View Quote Seriously though I wish I hadn't been a cheap bastard and gone FDE or UDE. That looks awesome especially with the 104 mount |
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[#33]
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Nice rifle! ... and nice scope Seriously though I wish I hadn't been a cheap bastard and gone FDE or UDE. That looks awesome especially with the 104 mount View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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Nothing is torqued officially or ready to shoot but I couldn’t wait to mock it up... 16” heavyweight, Griffin flash comp and sights, Trijicon 5-20x accupoint in an FDE LT104 My first .308 and I’m all Over this one https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/170073/B41E3813-DFF8-4A3E-B555-CD5E314CB5A1-392081.jpg Seriously though I wish I hadn't been a cheap bastard and gone FDE or UDE. That looks awesome especially with the 104 mount |
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[#34]
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[#35]
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Agreed! Some nice 6.5 Grendel owner was willing to part with theirs and I couldn’t resist! View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes |
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[#36]
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Wow! Good snag. I need one for my 6.5G. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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Quoted: Looking at that photo makes me wish I went with FDE for my large frame, to match my 6.5G. I went UU kit with the Grendel and not the complete rifle. That FDE 104 is smexy! |
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[#41]
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https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/345639/749B801A-4D71-4FD7-BB56-637A9AA86AA7-392984.jpg My 7.62. View Quote |
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[#44]
So I’m looking at replacing one of my FALs with a 16 or 18” built off of one of these kits, with the predetAR barrel. Is there any way I could get a reasonable estimate from one of you on the weight of that setup?
Basically, I’m hoping for a 7.5-8.5lb .308 that’s reliable and will do about 1-1.5 MOA with handloads (note, looking at that weight range for the bare rifle, not after adding a scope and such). Does that seem somewhat in the realm of these kits to you guys? Seems like everyone is really happy with the UU kit builds. |
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[#45]
Quoted:
So I’m looking at replacing one of my FALs with a 16 or 18” built off of one of these kits, with the predetAR barrel. Is there any way I could get a reasonable estimate from one of you on the weight of that setup? Basically, I’m hoping for a 7.5-8.5lb .308 that’s reliable and will do about 1-1.5 MOA with handloads (note, looking at that weight range for the bare rifle, not after adding a scope and such). Does that seem somewhat in the realm of these kits to you guys? Seems like everyone is really happy with the UU kit builds. View Quote |
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[#46]
I'm holding out to place an order for a rifle I don't need in MLok.
Any idea if they can take my money any time soon? |
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[#47]
Does anyone know what size the set screw is for securing the rear take down pin spring and detant? Did not see one in my stuff and would rather just run to the hardware store and grab one then calling Texas to have them ship one.
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[#48]
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[#49]
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Does anyone know what size the set screw is for securing the rear take down pin spring and detant? Did not see one in my stuff and would rather just run to the hardware store and grab one then calling Texas to have them ship one. View Quote If you can hold off a couple days PM me your info and I'll drop one or two in the mail to you. Future reference for others: Large frame set screw. You will have to clip a few coils off the spring. To be honest I should have just ignored it, it isn't necessary but I'd forget about it and launch stuff if I ever changed up things. |
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[#50]
Quoted:
So I’m looking at replacing one of my FALs with a 16 or 18” built off of one of these kits, with the predetAR barrel. Is there any way I could get a reasonable estimate from one of you on the weight of that setup? Basically, I’m hoping for a 7.5-8.5lb .308 that’s reliable and will do about 1-1.5 MOA with handloads (note, looking at that weight range for the bare rifle, not after adding a scope and such). Does that seem somewhat in the realm of these kits to you guys? Seems like everyone is really happy with the UU kit builds. View Quote Has magpul stock, pod device, and monopod from atlas 11.5 # On my hanging fish scale |
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