I've been working on my "Ultimate Long Range AR" project for a while now. It is a "no holds barred", "no expenses spared" attempt
at building, at least for me, the ultimate, "holy grail" semi-auto, long range, tactical match rifle.
This is not a combat rifle, this is a match gun, I have lots of "combat rifles", long, medium and short range.
Here are some of the goals I'm hoping to achieve with this rifle:
100% reliability
Overall, well balanced weight under 13 pounds
Recoils like a .223 AR15 (NOT a .308 AR10)
Trajectory that shoots with a .338 Lapua to 1200+ yards
At least 10 round mag capacity
1/2 MOA (or better) accuracy
Barrel life of at least 2500 rounds (a year of matches, with practice)
Perfect, 3 pound trigger
Best optics available
Ambidextrious operation
No problems, you say? Right; it's tough, time consuming, and expensive!
Here's the basic build....
IRA matched upper and lower, DPMS LR style, 20 MOA pic. rail
Krieger 24" SS barrel, 7.5" twist, turned to .850" dia. to gas block and .750" to muzzle, 2" forward gas port
APA "Lil Bastard" muzzle brake, full dia., tapered to fit barrel and end recontoured
PRI carbon fiber 15" long forend with rails to my spec and 4 flush cup locations
Custom, lightweight bolt carrier
Tubb CS spring (cut for function)
Lightened buffer
JP adjustable gas block (with added safety set screw)
C-Products black SS mags (allows 2.845" OAL)
Giessele Match trigger
Premier Reticles 34mm alloy rings, 1.27" high
S&B PMII 5-25x56 w/P4F, MIL, CCW, FFP, and some other ABC's I can't remember
Anti-cant and Angle Cosine Indicator
BCM Gunfighter Charging handle
A1 stock with added flush cup and fully adjustable butt pad, Troy flush cup sling mount
Ambi-safety
Everything I know to slick it up and make it trick!
Keeping the weight down was a real challenge, but all the LR guns I see and use handle like a 4 foot long lead pipe, I wanted
this one balanced well for shooting off obstacles and positional shooting. The balance point is at the front of the mag well, it really handles nice and quick!
It's a few ounces under 13 pounds, empty.
The caliber is a wildcat, 6mm Super LR, it's just a .243 Win with a sharper (30 deg.) shoulder and long neck that allows seating
the 115 DTAC to mag length without getting into the powder space. The sharper shoulder and long neck should also
increase barrel life over the .243 by moving the "turbulent point" of the gasses back into the case neck and out
of the barrel throat (sounds good anyway, we'll see).
My goal was to push a 115 DTAC to 2900+ fps (or a 107 SMK to 3050 fps) while keeping pressures under 58K psi at 100 deg. F (according to Quickload).
I also wanted a no fireforming, no neck turn cartridge, and this one is as simple as running a case into
the die and it's ready to load.
The reduced recoil goal entailed a lot of things, both large and small; the gas port (location, size and adjustability),
powder burning rate, bolt carrier mods, buffer mods, recoil spring type and mods, muzzle brake, recoil pad, and rifle fit.
I am doing all the work on this rifle except the barrel was built by Sabreco, to my specs.
Anyway, I've documented some of the extra tricks and slick up stuff I'm doing to this rifle in the "Gunsmithing section"
if you all want to check it out. Here's the links...
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthre...980#Post1943980
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthre...013#Post1944013
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthre...031#Post1944031
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2101928#Post2101928
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthre...577#Post1946577
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthre...519#Post1951519
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthre...547#Post1951547
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthre...599#Post1951599
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthre...633#Post1951633
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthre...625#Post1953625
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthre...200#Post1986200
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthre...342#Post1986342
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthre...724#Post1813724
Here's some pics of the rifle, finished except for Cerakoting. I'm gonna shoot it a little to make sure all the bugs are worked
out before Cerakoting it.
I thought this was kinda neat, I made a permanent "Skid Plate" attached to the forend, 1/4" thick medium
density foam under a very tough layer of rubberized non-skid material.
I hate the look of this thing, but the high pad fits perfectly into my shoulder pocket in the prone position, unlike everything
else which hits low on my collar bone. It also really straightens out the recoil pulse.
I also added a nice, thick, soft LimbSaver pad!
I'm long armed also and like the length adjustability, I used a short A1 stock and can lengthen it another 3" if I grow anymore.
I also added a flush cup as high as possible. It'll look a little better after some black Cerakote hits it!
I've only shot it a little bit (under 50 rounds) for function testing and break in, but initial loads pushed the DTAC's to 2925 fps around 1/2 MOA at 100 yards.
at building, at least for me, the ultimate, "holy grail" semi-auto, long range, tactical match rifle.
This is not a combat rifle, this is a match gun, I have lots of "combat rifles", long, medium and short range.
Here are some of the goals I'm hoping to achieve with this rifle:
100% reliability
Overall, well balanced weight under 13 pounds
Recoils like a .223 AR15 (NOT a .308 AR10)
Trajectory that shoots with a .338 Lapua to 1200+ yards
At least 10 round mag capacity
1/2 MOA (or better) accuracy
Barrel life of at least 2500 rounds (a year of matches, with practice)
Perfect, 3 pound trigger
Best optics available
Ambidextrious operation
No problems, you say? Right; it's tough, time consuming, and expensive!
Here's the basic build....
IRA matched upper and lower, DPMS LR style, 20 MOA pic. rail
Krieger 24" SS barrel, 7.5" twist, turned to .850" dia. to gas block and .750" to muzzle, 2" forward gas port
APA "Lil Bastard" muzzle brake, full dia., tapered to fit barrel and end recontoured
PRI carbon fiber 15" long forend with rails to my spec and 4 flush cup locations
Custom, lightweight bolt carrier
Tubb CS spring (cut for function)
Lightened buffer
JP adjustable gas block (with added safety set screw)
C-Products black SS mags (allows 2.845" OAL)
Giessele Match trigger
Premier Reticles 34mm alloy rings, 1.27" high
S&B PMII 5-25x56 w/P4F, MIL, CCW, FFP, and some other ABC's I can't remember
Anti-cant and Angle Cosine Indicator
BCM Gunfighter Charging handle
A1 stock with added flush cup and fully adjustable butt pad, Troy flush cup sling mount
Ambi-safety
Everything I know to slick it up and make it trick!
Keeping the weight down was a real challenge, but all the LR guns I see and use handle like a 4 foot long lead pipe, I wanted
this one balanced well for shooting off obstacles and positional shooting. The balance point is at the front of the mag well, it really handles nice and quick!
It's a few ounces under 13 pounds, empty.
The caliber is a wildcat, 6mm Super LR, it's just a .243 Win with a sharper (30 deg.) shoulder and long neck that allows seating
the 115 DTAC to mag length without getting into the powder space. The sharper shoulder and long neck should also
increase barrel life over the .243 by moving the "turbulent point" of the gasses back into the case neck and out
of the barrel throat (sounds good anyway, we'll see).
My goal was to push a 115 DTAC to 2900+ fps (or a 107 SMK to 3050 fps) while keeping pressures under 58K psi at 100 deg. F (according to Quickload).
I also wanted a no fireforming, no neck turn cartridge, and this one is as simple as running a case into
the die and it's ready to load.
The reduced recoil goal entailed a lot of things, both large and small; the gas port (location, size and adjustability),
powder burning rate, bolt carrier mods, buffer mods, recoil spring type and mods, muzzle brake, recoil pad, and rifle fit.
I am doing all the work on this rifle except the barrel was built by Sabreco, to my specs.
Anyway, I've documented some of the extra tricks and slick up stuff I'm doing to this rifle in the "Gunsmithing section"
if you all want to check it out. Here's the links...
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthre...980#Post1943980
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthre...013#Post1944013
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthre...031#Post1944031
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2101928#Post2101928
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthre...577#Post1946577
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthre...519#Post1951519
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthre...547#Post1951547
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthre...599#Post1951599
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthre...633#Post1951633
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthre...625#Post1953625
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthre...200#Post1986200
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthre...342#Post1986342
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthre...724#Post1813724
Here's some pics of the rifle, finished except for Cerakoting. I'm gonna shoot it a little to make sure all the bugs are worked
out before Cerakoting it.
I thought this was kinda neat, I made a permanent "Skid Plate" attached to the forend, 1/4" thick medium
density foam under a very tough layer of rubberized non-skid material.
I hate the look of this thing, but the high pad fits perfectly into my shoulder pocket in the prone position, unlike everything
else which hits low on my collar bone. It also really straightens out the recoil pulse.
I also added a nice, thick, soft LimbSaver pad!
I'm long armed also and like the length adjustability, I used a short A1 stock and can lengthen it another 3" if I grow anymore.
I also added a flush cup as high as possible. It'll look a little better after some black Cerakote hits it!
I've only shot it a little bit (under 50 rounds) for function testing and break in, but initial loads pushed the DTAC's to 2925 fps around 1/2 MOA at 100 yards.
