Rock River 308 Varmint?

TEAMSENDIT

Gunny Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
  • Sep 22, 2008
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    whidbey island
    Well for once i didn't do a ton of research before i bought a rifle so hopefully i didn't make a mistake. i just bought a Rock River Arms lar 8 in 308 Varmint. It uses FAL magazines and is guarenteed to shoot 1moa so hopefully.

    I am open to any experiences you have had shooting or reloading for them. anything that will make it function or shoot better would be great. I don't expect it to shoot as well as my bolt guns, i just want moa accuracy, reliable and repeatable.

    if you are wondering i am a handloader, just not currently for any semi-autos.

    Here is a link to the one i bought. it is the 26" barrel model which i plan on cutting to 22" and threading the barrel 5/8x24 for r&d brake and my suppresor. if this is a mistake let me know.

    http://www.rockriverarms.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_id=257

    thanks scott
     
    Re: Rock River 308 Varmint?

    Well, here's what mine will do, this is 10 shots and includes the first clean/cold bore shot:

    a4c40ae18eb6a8f893c5a294.jpg


    This was shot with my own reloads. And I've done this on more than one occasion. I use 180 gr Nosler partitions, 42.5gr RL15 in Winchester cases, with Federal 210 match primer.
     
    Re: Rock River 308 Varmint?

    TSI,

    fire that rifle NOW, fire it alot and fire it OFTEN!

    It took me <span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-style: italic">several magazines</span></span> for the over-gassing problems on my DPMS LR-260 to become apparent. Up until that time, I thought I was good to go and ready for a match.

    Once the over-gassing problem manifested itself, it took a custom "tune-able" gas block to square it away. Getting a custom gas block made (or ordered in and installed) takes a lot more time than I ever anticipated.

    I also had to replace 2 weak springs in the bolt (both extractor and ejector springs) and have new gas rings put on. And still you saw me at that first match practice trying to figure out the radical shift in shot groups from one string to the next.

    All in all, a gunsmith can do this work in a day if he knows what he's looking for, but you have to have him get on the work as fast as possible so you can ring ALL the rifle's problems out at the range. This is definately NOT something you want to be working on the night before the match.

    But Lordy, Lordy! If you have problems with stove-piping, double feeding, failure to extract/eject can I ever give you an ear full!

    R
     
    Re: Rock River 308 Varmint?

    wow 2 drastically different opinions, hopefully my experience will be more like steelheads.

    speaking of which that group is so good with a semi it make want to shoot partitions in a match even though they are spendy and ballistically horrible.
     
    Re: Rock River 308 Varmint?

    OOPS, I meant to say Ballistic Tips, not partitions. Sorry about that. The Ballistid Tips are much better!!

    I've done this on several occations and this load is showing good results out further too. I'm hoping to get some results of shooting out to a 1000 yards by next weekend.

    Here's another target that was shot with that gun:
    DSC_0106.jpg


    I shot a similar group yesterday, except I had one flyer, due to gusty winds.
     
    Re: Rock River 308 Varmint?

    <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: ranger1183</div><div class="ubbcode-body">TSI,

    fire that rifle NOW, fire it alot and fire it OFTEN!

    It took me <span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-style: italic">several magazines</span></span> for the over-gassing problems on my DPMS LR-260 to become apparent. Up until that time, I thought I was good to go and ready for a match.

    Once the over-gassing problem manifested itself, it took a custom "tune-able" gas block to square it away. Getting a custom gas block made (or ordered in and installed) takes a lot more time than I ever anticipated.

    I also had to replace 2 weak springs in the bolt (both extractor and ejector springs) and have new gas rings put on. And still you saw me at that first match practice trying to figure out the radical shift in shot groups from one string to the next.

    All in all, a gunsmith can do this work in a day if he knows what he's looking for, but you have to have him get on the work as fast as possible so you can ring ALL the rifle's problems out at the range. This is definately NOT something you want to be working on the night before the match.

    But Lordy, Lordy! If you have problems with stove-piping, double feeding, failure to extract/eject can I ever give you an ear full!

    R</div></div>

    Uh Sir. He is talking about the RRA .308 Seriously one of the best AR-10 style rifles you can get for 1500 bucks. DPMS is a different animal all together. For the OP you did good. Load some 175s with 43.5grs of Varget and Win Brass and you will be good to go.
     
    Re: Rock River 308 Varmint?

    Fn a bob the lar-8 is a shooter. hornady a-max 168grn, 53grn 4064. Check out my posts. Anything over 53 grain over pressures the gun and youll throw primers and leave ejector marks on the case!
     
    Re: Rock River 308 Varmint?

    I have the LAR-8A4 with the standard barrel and the half quad free float tube. After running a Tubbs polishing bullet kit through it it holds better than 1/2 moa. Its a shooter and a fine out of the box kit.
     
    Re: Rock River 308 Varmint?

    I have a RRA 16" .308 and with cheap surplus military ammo it shoots about 2.5"-3" at 200 yards,with almost any factory load it shoots 1 1/2" or better at 200 yards. I haven't had a chance to shoot any farther than that.I just ordered a 20" varmint barrel to play with hope it shoots better
     
    Re: Rock River 308 Varmint?

    <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Steelhead</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Well, here's what mine will do, this is 10 shots and includes the first clean/cold bore shot:

    a4c40ae18eb6a8f893c5a294.jpg


    This was shot with my own reloads. And I've done this on more than one occasion. I use 180 gr Nosler partitions, 42.5gr RL15 in Winchester cases, with Federal 210 match primer.</div></div>

    Steelhead, that is some great shooting. Incredible. I recently bought a RR LAR 8 20" barrel. The best group I shot was 3 round 1/4 inch which surprised me - I was amazed. I was expecting and would have been happy with 1 MOA. I can't shoot like you. If I shot 10 rounds there would be a couple fliers. Hopefully one day I get there. Great job.

    For some reason no one commented on the video, but here's a video of my results:

    http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2396195#Post2396195

    To team-send-it, I think you made a great choice by picking the RR. Have fun and enjoy the new toy.
     
    Re: Rock River 308 Varmint?

    <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Team-Send-It</div><div class="ubbcode-body">anybody have any magic loads for the nosler 155's i have a couple hundred and this 308 is for predominantly 600yds and under. </div></div>

    45grns varget FGMM primer, LC brass

    John