Holy smokes, DPMS G2 rifles
Hi,
New Guy here. I joined the forum just so I could post in this thread. I am relatively new to guns. I have only been consistently shooting for the past 6-7 years or so. I decided to get into reloading and I kinda got sucked in. I am by no means a long ranger shooter, I am a 500 yard and under guy, typically 100-200 yards. I just don't put the time in at the bench to become more. I am really just a weekend warrior kind of guy. I don't have time for shooting competitions or any thing like that. But I do recognize a fun gun when I see one. I have wanted to buy a semi-auto 308 for about the last five years. Things finally lined up so I could make this purchase.
After looking at several of the rifles on the market I settled on the G2 Recon. Price was right and the options were good. And besides somebody has to buy a first year model so the rest of you can find out if they are worth it.
Like I said, not really a professional here so take my review of this rifle for what it is. I only have one other semi auto and it is a Smith and Wesson Sport 223 that I bought the Monday after you know who was re-elected. I figured something was going to happen that would threaten our right to buy and own "these scary black rifles". I just had no Ideal it was going to be something so horrible as some twisted individual mass murdering a bunch of kids. So any way, I have very limited experience with AR's.
I bought my rifle on line sight unseen, first time buying a gun of any kind on line. So leaps of faith of two fronts here. No one near me had one let alone new that a new version was out, so it was purchased site un seen.
I was pretty excited about it and could not wait to get it, and so far I am very happy with my purchase. I was/am a little leery about all the new design changes but like I said, someone has to be the first so I gambled.
When I pulled it out of the box to do the pre-transfer inspection I was quite please with the fit and finish. The lines were good, no gaps, every thing fit nice and tight like I would expect. The finish was flawless, basically it looked like I would expect a 1,400 dollar rifle to look.
After paying my $20.00 transfer fee I took it home and proceeded to put three rounds through it because the sun was setting and I just could not help my self, I was so excited about having it finally. Then I went inside and did a field strip and clean. Again nothing that I would not expect. Every thing seemed to look good, fit good and function good.
The only issue that has been noticed is how the Nikon M-223 mount fits, either the mount is a little out of spec or my top rail is, as its on as far as my gun smith could get it without putting some real effort into it. As it turns out, its location is about where it needs to be.
I have yet to shoot it with the factory mag, I purchased a few P-mags before the rifle showed up, and got them loaded up and ready to go. And so far they have performed perfectly no flaws at all.
This last Saturday i had about 45-min to an hour to go sight in so I took it out at last light and sighted in. Before I new it I had put a total of 50 rounds through this thing and they all functioned perfectly, no malfunctions of any kind.
All shots were made from a bi-pod under the front and a sand bag under the grip or magazine.
I was shooting hand loads that I developed for my 308 bolt rifle I use for hunting. The round is a 165 grain Speer BTSP over 43 grains of IMR 4064. In my bolt gun this combo gives me clover leafs at a 100 yards with a fully supported rifle. In the G2 we were close, but my shooting position is horrible, I am really hunched over the table. And that position really messes with how a short fat guy breaths. but it was good enough that I think I could come real close to duplicating those clover leafs if I could get a good shooting bench set up. I seated the bullet to magazine length. I had zero feed issues, ever thing functioned perfectly.
After I got the scope sited I started plinking. I was having so much fun I did not realize that I had burned through all the ammo I had, I have never shot more than a box of 308 in one sitting so to go through 47 was a lot. but it was incredible fun.
The Recoil was very pleasant and easy to handle which is good since one of the roles I hope this rifle will be able to fill is a hunting rifle for my son when he is old enough to hunt. The trigger is good, at for me any way. I do not anticipate upgrading it.
On another forum many people suggested that I skip the 16" barreled guns and go no less than 18" due to noise and muzzle flash. So I was kinda worried about the noise and flash when I was shooting the other evening. But to be honest, I think my M&P Sport has more noise and flash than this does. I did not start shooting till the sun was behind the closest mountain making it optimal conditions for seeing muzzle flash. Maybe it the flash hider, or the powder I don't know.
I would like to have been able to have a picture of a target to post, but after sighting in there were so many holes and so much masking tape that I don't think any one could really tell any thing from it. It was my last target. So instead of continuing to murder a piece of paper I went to murdering rocks. I was surrounded by black volcanic rocks with lots of white stuff on them (no idea what the white stuff is) which made them perfect targets for the conditions. Lets just say that if they had been Deer or Elk I would have had a lot of explaining to do if Fish and Game would have caught me. There is just something cool about the sound of a bullet smacking a rock at 200-300 yards. Plus for a guy like me it feels good to have the audible feed back letting me know I really did hit is.
I will post some groups when i do my load development for this rifle. I have 500 pulled bullets I got for 130.00 bucks. They are 175 grain SMKS. I plan on using the 2lbs of BLC-2 that I have as well as the 8lbs of surplus H335 that I have. I hope I can find something that works good with those components. Besides powder being scarce, my wife is ready for me to stop spending money on the little adventure.
Since some have asked about the brass, it actually looks really good, it all fell in about a 1 1/2 - 2 foot circle just a few feet behind and to the right of me, making recovery very easy. The rim looks good, the mouth looks good, so I say they are good to load again. The Primer strike looks pretty good as well.
I will try loading some pics of rifle and my worst piece of brass in the morning. The only internet I have is from my phone, its 4G unless its in my house and then its -4G