Posted: 8/31/2013 1:02:13 PM EDT
|
I just purchased a NIB LAR-8 in .308 yesterday. It is the A2 style with full length barrel, regular hand guards, regular butt stock etc.. I have done some research and can't seem to find the answers to my questions, so here goes.
The rifle has a rear sling swivel, but no front swivel. The front sight base/gas block is like a standard A2 sight, but has a rail on the bottom (no bayonet lug). It is listed on the RRA web site as "Front Sight Housing w/rail". It has one hole in the bottom that may be for a screw in swivel unit, but I can't tell. I emailed RRA and so far the respondent thinks I have a rail on my hand guard and we can't seem to get past that it does not. Should the rifle have came with a front swivel? If not, is there a screw in swivel that works? If not, it seems that a rail type will be my only option. Is there one of those that is not bulky? Next question concerns the sights. I can't find any info on the RRA site and the owners manual is missing a lot of information (misprint also). On the rear sight, are the windage adjustments 1/4, 1/2 or 1 minute? There are 84 clicks of windage adjustment from side to side. The windage knob takes 10 clicks to go one full revolution. On the rear sight, are the elevation adjustments 1/4, 1/2 or 1 minute? The knob is marked from 3 to 10 and has 48 clicks of adjustment from bottom to top? I shot the rifle this morning and w/ the rear sight bottomed all the way, I had to adjust the front sight really deep to get low enough to hit a 100 yard target. The rifle has a 1-10 twist, but so far I can only get decent groups with some 150 grain reloads. Factory 150 is not good and no 165 or 168 grain load is working. I tried Hornady, Sierra and Nosler bullets. The reloads shoot very well in my other rifles with the same or similar twist rates. (M1A's) Any majig formula for these rifles? Thanks in advance. Bruce |
|
The sights are calibrated the 7.62/.308 ballistics using the M4 style sight in.
The based way to sight in the firearm is the same method to sight in an AR-15 using the 25 yard sight in target. The best video that I have found that explains the steps is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5QCGWYfHWk This will sight you in for 300 yards, then with the rear sight, you can adjust the elevation to the 100 mark and you should be set. |
|
Rail mounted swivels of many different types are available (we catalog four different versions.).
Your sights are 1/2 MOA windage by 1/2 MOA elevation. I've shot everything from 147gr to 180gr with different levels of success with different loads, even within the same weights. Mine happens to "like" 148gr NATO ball and 168gr Black Hills, but ymmv. Sighting it in is a little different than .223 as th eballistics are significantly different. The best way to sight it in for a particular distance is to actually shoot that distance, and then adjust accrdingly fo rshorter and greater distances. Thanks. Steve/RRA |
|
Steve,
Thanks for the information. I have shot the rifle on two more different occasions since my first post. It has digested over 150 rounds now. It functions perfectly and seems to be getting a little better in the accuracy department. I replaced the factory rear aperture as it was too big for my taste and that helped some. I have not had the chance to shoot past 100 yards, but I am fairly sure there is not enough screw turns left on the front sight to get much more elevation. The front post is about bottomed out. It is a correct height A2 style front post. I am familiar with the AR platform and feel the front sight tower is just too tall for this application, even tough it is a full size/length rifle. I measured and came up with 0.15 is all of the post stem that can be seen after it was sighted in at 100 yards. I really like the rifle. It feels less cumbersome than other 308 AR types that I have owned or handled. Now, please tell me that RRA has not discountinued this model. I can not find it or any other A2 style full length 308 rifle on your web site. I am going to two gun shows this coming weekend and hope to find another or at least an A2 style .223. Can a full upper like mine (A2 308) still be gotten from RRA? |
|
Steve thanks again for the help. I responded to your IM. It turns out my rifles rear sights are 1 minute elevation x 1/2 windage. I have checked and rechecked and that is fine with me. While on that thought and FYI, I think there is a slight error in the LAR-8 Operating and Safety Instruction Manual. Concerning pages 32 and 33. Zeroing adjustments start on pg. 32 with front sight post information. At the top of pg. 33 "Zeroing adjustment (continued)", "For windage knob (per click)" there is no distance provided or more correctly part of the impact information is shown under the distance - if the chart is supposed to look like the chart on pg. 32.
Thanks again. Bruce |
|
Just an update. At around 150 rounds, this rifle began to show some real promise in the accuracy department. I shot and cleaned on three occassions and each time I noticed significant improvement. I have since shot another 30 or so rounds and came away very impressed. I was getting sub 1" groups at 100 yards with iron sights shooting Sierra GK's, Hornady Interbonds, Nosler CC's and lastly the biggest surprise - Berger VLD's (hunting version). It likes 150's, 155's, 165's and 168's. The powders used were IMR 3031 and 4064 in LC cases. I have had zero function issues also.
Steve, tell someone to please put this model back into production. My M1A's may become trade material real soon. |