Okay, so long story short, I bought an LMT MWS quad rail in 2017. Sold it a year later to help fund my wife’s engagement ring. (I don’t regret that decision, I got her the ring of her dreams and she is the kind of wife every man dreams of. She asks for very little and I’m glad she got the ring she wanted.)
Anyway, life got busy, work got crazy, kids, all the stuff. I have been out of the shooting world pretty well since about 2020. I have off and on always said I wanted another large frame AR, with the LMT being the top of my want list.
With current political stuff I decided if I was ever gonna get one, I better do it now. So I ordered a MARS-H 16” 308 from Titan Defense and am excited to get an LMT back in my hands.
So my question is, I’m wanting to set it up as a DMR rifle, as I already have a nice long range bolt gun. A DMR type setup, capable of 300-500ish yards would be perfect for coyotes in the fall while farming.
Since I have been out so long, my head is spinning as to what my best options are for scopes and suppressors.
For optics I’m looking at scopes in the 3-18ish power range. Two stand outs to me seem to be the Leupold MK4 or Eotech Vudu.
Suppressors is where I really get lost. I am kind of looking at the Q Thunder Chicken or Trash Panda, but I don’t really have a solid reason why other than one YouTube video I watched that was the can he had on his LMT. I’m wanting something that I can also put on my 5.56 ARs as well, so preferably not overly long or bulky. Just something to make it a reasonable amount quieter, and hopefully not make me eat too much gas.
When I first got into long range shooting at 17 years old, this site helped me out a lot. Now many years later I am once again feeling like a beginner asking for suggestions. So fire away!
So admittedly a lot of the recommendations you’ll receive will be subjective due to personal experience.
For scopes Leupold is a great choice. I have MK5 3.6-18 on my Mk12 and went with a NX8 2.5-20 for the Mars H. I think the new mark 4 4.5-18 would work swimmingly provided you don’t need illumination, and it will likely outperform its more expensive bigger brother just based on scope design alone. I went with the NF because as just mentioned the baby mk5 leaves a little to be desired, and that’s no surprise it’s a tiny ultrashort, so while keeping that form factor relative and having been behind a couple NX8s this year i went with the 2.5-20.
Another consideration and one that i had very much intended to put on the LMT when i owned it is the new Steiner T6Xi 3-18. I ended up selling it but very good glass, excellent reticle, massive FOV, forgiving eyebox, and decent form factor. Turrets are a little meh and the it’s heavy but i don’t think many will be disappointed with it.
For cans anything with low back pressure will work. FWIW I’ve never used the flow through stuff. People say they’re slightly louder. And while they do seem to be a perfect solution for leaving a gassy DI gun alone, they’re also weighty comparable to their competitors in similar form factors. Depending on how you feel about griffin their eco flow stuff seems to work really well. And i would look at their dual lok stuff. It’s relatively light weight, a good mounting system, and low back pressure. However the flow through design seems to have come a long way and i wouldn’t hesitate to get one just knowing that it’ll be slightly louder.
The other two methods for gas control on the LMT are like i did, grabbing an AGB and letting Dwilson do his thang. Or trying out a BRT gas tube, which i added on my mk12 to run suppressed 100% of the time.
I’m currently running an old surefire FA762SS on mine cause im kinda stuck in the early 2000s with all the cloning stuff and going back to OTB designs. But I’ll be moving the LMT to the griffin PSR 7 in FDE when i can so that i can keep the surefire on the XM3.
Pic for illustration