Re: DPMS LR .308
I've had a DPMS LR-308 that I put together from parts. I am a Colt armorer for my department, so I have a lot of tools readily available to me that would have been expensive to buy for a one-off project. I also happen to know a really good machinist who was able to cut the barrel down to 20" and recrown it for me at little cost (he has done a significant amount of work for us on our department Rem 700s that we have been very happy with).
I know DPMS does not make an accuracy guarantee, but this rifle has been a solid 3/4 MOA gun for me, and has done much better. Gas guns are harder to shoot well IMO, and I have to do things a little differently to get the results I want compared to our bolt guns. But I can put a cold bore shot where I want, and it shoots very decent groups. I have only shot it to 800, but I have been very happy with the rifle altogether. It is reliable (I had one malfunction in the first mag I shot through it and not one since), accurate, and it gives me the ability to launch follow-up shots faster than any bolt gun.
It is not perfect. I don't like that DPMS makes so many heights of their receivers (the top rail). Pick one and stick with it, dammit. The carrier key wasn't staked well at all, but that was easily fixed before I fired the first shot out of the thing. I bought a decent trigger and put it into the receiver when I was building it, so I didn't have to mess with a crap stock trigger.
Overall, for the money, they are very decent rifles. I cobbled it together to see if I thought a gas gun was viable for a precision rifle for me. It is.
And yeah, I know. I need to paint the scope cover. It's the wrong size, and I'll paint the right sized one when I get it.