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Posted: 10/18/2006 8:15:27 PM EDT
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Finally took my new AP4 to the range with a selection of SA, Port and Radway .308. The rifle is 100% with the port, but is basically a single shot with the SA and Radway. Most of the rounds fail to fully extract and those that do don't drive the bolt carrier back far enough to strip a round so the rifle ends up with an empty chamber. Kind of disappointing, especially since the port is basically unavailable and the SA is readily available for now. I'll give it some more rounds for break in, but I suspect this one will have to go back to DPMS for warranty work. Accuracy with surplus ball was decent but not great. I'll have to try some of the Privi 175 grain FMJ ammo and some 168 grain FMJBT, but those are both much more expensive alternatives to good surplus ball. |
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I just received my DPMS SASS last week and it included a warning that said: After extensive testing we have found that the following types of ammunition have incurred feeding problems: South African produced surplus ammunition Steel-cased, lacquer coated ammunition |
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Longrange2, The ammunition warning that is in the case of you new DPMS says DO NOT USE SA! DPMS recommends the use of HIGH QUALITY DOMESTICALLY PRODUCED AMMUNITION. I have used Radway green and it is under pressured and will not cycle properly(short strokes) and the SA is hit or miss, mostly miss. I would bet that the rifle will run like a top if you use GOOD AMERICAN MADE AMMO! This rifle is not a shot out M14 that will eat anything and shoot +4MOA and was never designed to be. |
I prematurely bought 500 rounds of Wolf before seeing that warning....havent fired any through the rifle yet though. |
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I think the SA warning from DPMS is pure BS. My AR-10s, M1As (with match barrels and tight chambers), FALs and HKs run fine on SA, Radway and any other decent surplus .308 ammo. This AP4 is a carbine, it's not meant for long range precision shooting and should be capable of using any good .308 surplus ammo. The DPMS rifles seem to be the only rifles that won't run on SA. I think it's just a cop out for DPMS because they can't get their rifles to run right. I just get the feeling this rifle is not quite ready for prime time. On my rifle if you close the collapsing stock with the bolt carrier locked back the bolt catch drops the bolt carrier. The rear lug on the upper drags very hard on the rear take down pin (even when it's retracted as far as possible) so you need to give a good rap on the stock to separate the upper and lower. The mag catch was screwed so far into the lower that you couldn't hardly get to it to drop the mag. The front sight has to be raised too far out of the front sight housing to zero the rifle properly. Don't get me wrong, I plan on keeping the rifle and will try a bunch of other ammo and handloads to see what it is capable of, but all of these little glitches don't give me any warm and fuzzies on DPMS quality. Hopefully after a longer break in the rifle will settle down and run better. |
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I believe the DPMS doesn't like SA mostly because of the tight, 308 chamber--it's not 7.62x51, and while the difference is minimal, there IS a difference. I've had 2 different uppers on my DPMS, and initially both had problems digesting the SA. Both uppers had no difficulties with any commercial .308. After very lightly polishing the chamber with Flitz, it now feeds/fires/extracts pretty much anything without a hiccup. I've put close to 1K of SA through it over the last 3 range sessions and haven't had a single problem. |
Thats good to know, since I have 2800 rounds of the stuff sitting around |
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Quoted: On my rifle if you close the collapsing stock with the bolt carrier locked back the bolt catch drops the bolt carrier. The rear lug on the upper drags very hard on the rear take down pin (even when it's retracted as far as possible) so you need to give a good rap on the stock to separate the upper and lower. The mag catch was screwed so far into the lower that you couldn't hardly get to it to drop the mag. The front sight has to be raised too far out of the front sight housing to zero the rifle properly.quote] any ar will send the bolt forward when a sharp blow is applied to the buttstock. is the rear takedown pin sticking out, or is the upper/lower fit just tight? if the pin is sticking out, the detent hole is out of spec and needs replaced. if the mag catch screw was oversized it may bind. they use an a2 height fsb, not f marked. |
usually you have to slam them pretty hard; i know the bolt catch has a little play in mine, maybe thats it. does it lock back consistently on an empty mag? id call dpms and have them send you a new takedown pin anyhow; and ask about the bolt drop, could run into problems later. sucks you got one with issues. |
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to add another twist to this.... I wonder if a little hotter-loaded Santa Barbara would cycle better than South African... If you guys couldn't tell, I have a fetish for surplus stuff and ammo... current count is over 5k rounds of 7.62 surplus in Port, Aussie, LC, IMI, and a shitton of South African... Now I just need to wait till the damn gun gets here to try it all out. 
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| I had the same problem wirh surplus ammo in my LR-308, I sent it back to DPMS (my cost $40.00) they opened up the chamber and polished the feed ramp also replaced the extractor and it seems to cycle SA fine but only have pushed 140 thru it since the rework may sell it anyway to get a M1A |
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