308 AR Upper Advice

[M67]

I have a DPMS AP4 in a 308. It has a 16 inch pencil barrel and weighs a ton (mostly due to the quadrail). Although for such a short barrel, it's fairly accurate.

However, having a "long range" upper wouldn't be bad.

Rock River makes a 308 upper with a 26 inch barrel and DPMS makes an upper with a 24".

For this long range upper, the only thing I'd be mounting on it would be a scope (duh), a bipod, and...that's it; so I'm thinking a plain aluminum forearm is just fine.


Anyway, what's your guys' advice? Stick with DPMS? Go for the Rock River (does the 2 inch extra add that much?)? Or.... should I just build my own upper?

It would be nice if I could be able to swap the bolt assenbly and charging handels also.

And, I like dust covers, shell deflectors, and forward assists (not a fan of the smoothside)

So..?........

 

[42769vette]

I have a DPMS AP4 in a 308. It has a 16 inch pencil barrel and weighs a ton (mostly due to the quadrail). Although for such a short barrel, it's fairly accurate.

However, having a "long range" upper wouldn't be bad.

Rock River makes a 308 upper with a 26 inch barrel and DPMS makes an upper with a 24".

For this long range upper, the only thing I'd be mounting on it would be a scope (duh), a bipod, and...that's it; so I'm thinking a plain aluminum forearm is just fine.


Anyway, what's your guys' advice? Stick with DPMS? Go for the Rock River (does the 2 inch extra add that much?)? Or.... should I just build my own upper?

It would be nice if I could be able to swap the bolt assenbly and charging handels also.

And, I like dust covers, shell deflectors, and forward assists (not a fan of the smoothside)

So..?........

rule of thumb is you gain 25fps per inch. this is not a universial rule for all calibers, its always diffrent.

so 50fps could make a big diffrence at long range. if your only shooting a few hundred yards it wont make a ton of diffrence.

 

[M67]

rule of thumb is you gain 25fps per inch. this is not a universial rule for all calibers, its always diffrent.

so 50fps could make a big diffrence at long range. if your only shooting a few hundred yards it wont make a ton of diffrence.

Thanks for that little rule

 

[westfork]

somebody correct me if i'm wrong but i don't think the the rock river arms upper will mate up with your dpms lower.

i did a lot of soul searching when i built my dpms lr-308 and found the most sensible option was to go all dpms. everything fit well like it should. i went with an 18" fluted heavy barrel with a free float tube and have no particular complaints about the weight. hope this helps.

 

[GlockRock]

somebody correct me if i'm wrong but i don't the the rock river arms upper will mate up with your dpms lower.

i did a lot of soul searching when i built my dpms lr-308 and found the most sensible option was to go all dpms. everything fit well like it should. i went with an 18" fluted heavy barrel with a free float tube and have no particular complaints about the weight. hope this helps.

You're right. The RRA 308 uppers wont fit on any other lowers besides RRA.

 

[Dbusby2009]

I am getting a LR-308 this week and was wondering if the magpul sniper stock would mount up to it. ? this is my first AR so im a noob. but I would like to learn more

 

[teddy12b]

I have a DPMS 308B with an A3 upper reciever. It's an absolulte tack driver, but the chamber was a little tight at first until it was broken in. DPMS offers enough options for uppers that you should be able to get whatever you want as long as you're willing to pay for it.

The RRA doesn't use what seems to be the new "industry standard" for 308 AR mags. Like it or not the DPMS 308 set the standard for the new 308 mags and that's the pattern that magpul used when making their Pmags.

On the other hand, from what I've read there were a lot of 308 AR's introduced at the 2011 shot show, so more options are seemingly on the way.

Here's a picture of my rifle:

Here's a picture of a 5rd group shot with federal 168gr gold medal match:

I don't know if the pictures help much, but it sounded like it's what you're looking for.

Are you considering selling your upper?

 

[M67]

somebody correct me if i'm wrong but i don't the the rock river arms upper will mate up with your dpms lower.

i did a lot of soul searching when i built my dpms lr-308 and found the most sensible option was to go all dpms. everything fit well like it should. i went with an 18" fluted heavy barrel with a free float tube and have no particular complaints about the weight. hope this helps.

You're right. The RRA 308 uppers wont fit on any other lowers besides RRA.

Thanks, I didn't know that.

I might have to get a DPMS upperreciever and get a different brand barrel if I want to go for the 28".

Once again, thanks for saving my ars on that

I have a DPMS 308B with an A3 upper reciever. It's an absolulte tack driver, but the chamber was a little tight at first until it was broken in. DPMS offers enough options for uppers that you should be able to get whatever you want as long as you're willing to pay for it.

The RRA doesn't use what seems to be the new "industry standard" for 308 AR mags. Like it or not the DPMS 308 set the standard for the new 308 mags and that's the pattern that magpul used when making their Pmags.

On the other hand, from what I've read there were a lot of 308 AR's introduced at the 2011 shot show, so more options are seemingly on the way.

Here's a picture of my rifle:

Here's a picture of a 5rd group shot with federal 168gr gold medal match:

I don't know if the pictures help much, but it sounded like it's what you're looking for.

Are you considering selling your upper?

Nice rifle

Pretty accurate too

And no, I like having the short upper, great for plinking with iron sights and would be great for the zombie apocalypse

Actually, here's a picture of mine (with the scope attatched, I love QD systems ). Just a quick shot of my friend shooting it.

 

[42769vette]

learn somthing every day. i thought the only 2 variations were armalite and dmps. thanks for the tip folks

 

[westfork]

i was overwhelmed when i started building mine having never handled or seen in person the differences between the 308 ar variants. i sat down and waded through each manufacturer's catalogs until i came to the conclusion that the dpms seemed to be the easiest platform to get support on.

i suspect that the 308 ar will continue to become increasingly more popular as the shtf crowd looks to these rifles to round out their arsenals. these make sense as a 'main battle rifle' now that we have all become comfortable with the ar platform. tons of similarities, a surprising number of compatible parts, and lots of added punch.

 

[GlockRock]

I have a DPMS 308B with an A3 upper reciever. It's an absolulte tack driver, but the chamber was a little tight at first until it was broken in. DPMS offers enough options for uppers that you should be able to get whatever you want as long as you're willing to pay for it.

The RRA doesn't use what seems to be the new "industry standard" for 308 AR mags. Like it or not the DPMS 308 set the standard for the new 308 mags and that's the pattern that magpul used when making their Pmags.

On the other hand, from what I've read there were a lot of 308 AR's introduced at the 2011 shot show, so more options are seemingly on the way.


Are you considering selling your upper?

I think that the reason that RRA went with the mags that they did was because of availabily of them. They use the FAL metric mags, which are pretty easy to find. I have a LAR-8 and found the mags to be easy to find and relativly cheap.
RRA just recently released polymer mags for their 308 rifle. I dont know how they will compare to the pmags, but I have some ordered.
When I had to choose between a DPMS and RRA, I chose RRA and am extremly happy with my choice. I'd buy a second RRA if I was in the market for another 308.