Ruger SFAR small frame 308, 6.8 pounds

In my sample size of 1, The PA-10 shot the same as the sfar accuracy wise. Ran the PA-10 through the whole accurizing process and accuracy didn't react at all. It cycled better and felt better to shoot but accuracy didn't change until I changed the barrel.

Ran another 40 rounds through the sfar. This time with the h3 and suppressor. Feeding and ejection were great. Brass looked really good. After the first 10 rounds the gas regulator was bound up again. I'll try to get pics of all the copper flakes that come out this time. Just ordered a SA clamp on adjustable gas block to replace. This gas block isn't worth messing with if it's not going to be easily adjustable and makes it a pain to make sure it isn't touching the handgaurd.

The accuracy went to crap this time. First round of a cold barrel would hit point of aim and then the rest would group 2" to the right. Either I over adjusted the gas tube or the barrel extension doesn't like being tight to the receiver.
 
  • Like
Reactions: doubloon
Yes, insanely minimal clearance for no perceptible purpose whatsoever. I replaced mine, we'll see if I have to "customize" the hand guard to prevent contact.
I changed the handgaurd to have a bit more clearance and it's still difficult to center the gap. I'll put the factory 15" back on with the new gas block. As many as I have on other rifles I think there should be plenty of room for the SA. Went with the clamping version (which may bite me clearance wise) for the theory the clamping ones don't affect accuracy as much as the set screw ones.
 
I ran some Hornady Black 168gr Amax and some more Win 150gr Deer Season XP through my 16" last time I had it out. The XP group was almost twice the size of the earlier group out of that box, could be the 300 WSM load work I was doing was starting to get to me, kind of looks like trigger control issue. Either one would be fine for plunking a deer, brass got roughed up, but is reloadable. As someone else mentioned in the thread, service rifle level loads and LC brass have been working best for me, current go to is 40.5gr AR-Comp under 165gr TGK.
PXL_20230906_021234023.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: doubloon
True.
That was in reference to AR15s.
I'll say the same thing for AR10s also.
We're both in AZ..... Let's go shooting!

Ok, deal. I'll go buy an SR-25, you buy a PA-10, and we'll compare them!

But sure, I get the SFAR back tomorrow. I've got an Aero on the way. I have the PA-10. I'm assuming none of them will shoot, but the Aero will look cool and the SFAR will be terrifying.
 
Ok, deal. I'll go buy an SR-25, you buy a PA-10, and we'll compare them!

But sure, I get the SFAR back tomorrow. I've got an Aero on the way. I have the PA-10. I'm assuming none of them will shoot, but the Aero will look cool and the SFAR will be terrifying.
Well, I can bring the SFAR, and couple of PA-10's, a BCA and an Aero...
We can shoot them all at 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600 yds to compare groups... then trot a gong out to 1000 and hope the DA is high enough to allow some hits too. Maybe.

When do we meet up and go shooting?
 
  • Like
Reactions: doubloon and lash
AR 10, 6 lbs 3 oz built for $1150 and it does Not have a pencil barrel...but a 16" Wilson Combat fluted Recon barrel, 5 oz heavier than a pencil barrel. AR 10s can be built in the 5.5 lb area with light components. And no issues to feed and function when set up properly.
And it shoots...I started with maximum bolt loads to see what it would do, and if any would group. 16" 308 AR 10... The best was 168 gr Berger .6", 5 shot group average velocity 2721 fps, 150 gr Gold Dot 2813 ave 9.4 S/D, and 208 ELDM 2437 fps Ave 13.3 S/D 5 shots under 1" and consistent.
Fastest load from a 16" 308 AR was 155 Lapua average 2900 fps average, 2922 highest velocity.
155 Palma 2867 fps ave. 155 tipped SMK 2850 fps ave. Plus a host of others tried.
You can fuss with the Ruger if ya want but the AR 10 is a proven platform, and tons of aftermarket accessories and parts to build it your way.
 

Attachments

  • 20230906_134908.jpg
    20230906_134908.jpg
    409.7 KB · Views: 57
AR 10 ...16" SS fluted barrel, 7 lbs 12 oz field ready, sighted in for 100 with Leupold Mark 4 M3, note 30-06 elevation turrent on scope, 20 moa scope base. Good for 1200 yds. 208 ELDM at 2437 Ave fps, or 168 Berger at 2721 fps, and various 155 gr match 2850 to 2900 fps. Using Lake City brass.
 

Attachments

  • 20230906_120445.jpg
    20230906_120445.jpg
    434.7 KB · Views: 50
AR 10 ...16" SS fluted barrel, 7 lbs 12 oz field ready, sighted in for 100 with Leupold Mark 4 M3, note 30-06 elevation turrent on scope, 20 moa scope base. Good for 1200 yds. 208 ELDM at 2437 Ave fps, or 168 Berger at 2721 fps, and various 155 gr match 2850 to 2900 fps. Using Lake City brass.

What's your parts list for that rig, aside from the WC barrel?
 
Just finished installing a Superlative gas block on my 16".
There's plenty of room around it in the factory handguard, even with the clamping setup. I went with the clamp style in case the dimples were misaligned, as some people's have been, as well as to attempt to get a better seal. Not sure if the gas journal is slightly undersized from the nominal .750 (forgot to measure while I had it off) or if the factory block is just poorly designed/machined, as I had a bunch of escaped residue showing it was not making a good seal. Either way, hopefully the SA will help. I'm looking forward to getting back out to the range this weekend to see how much being able to dial in the gas more finely and not having the GB touch the handguard helps.
 
Meeting some randos you “know” from a gun forum in the desert- knowing full well that it has been infiltrated by the alphabeti? The worst thing that could happen is NOT that you make a few IRL shooting friends. That’s a plausible outcome, but not the worst possible outcome.
 
What's your parts list for that rig, aside from the WC barrel?
Roam magnesium upper reciever, titanium bolt carrier, Jacob Grey carbon fiber handguard, SA adjustable gas block, 1 oz titanium muzzle brake machined by me for free.
Attached to an already acquired, standard Areo lower, with aftermarket 2.5 lb trigger, mission first stock minimalist stock. Leupold Mark 4 M3 3.5-10 X mil dot, with 20 MOA Warne 30 mm ultralight rings & mount. For 7 lbs 12 oz ready to hunt with Leupold calibrated elevation turrent.
You can build AR 10 even lighter in the 5 lb area with more expense on the lower and a pencil barrel. But 6 lbs 3 oz is light enough for me with a decent barrel that holds under moa for 5 shots, some close to 5 shot .5 moa. I only went for top velocity to find if any bulllets will preform there, and found 3 excellent choices, out a bunch tried, and more bullets on the way to test. All tests were with cheap military LC brass, not Lapua, thats for more serious bolt action work. This light 308 AR 10 has taken hundreds of heavy loads and performing great. No barrel breakin, no case prep, 1000 LC primed brass resized without the decapping pin. This brass will shot .3" and .4" 5 shot groups in my heavy Proof Barreled 18" AR 10. On a small 308 Win test in a bolt action target rifle, the difference between lapua and LC brass was about .1" in group size. Not important for this work.
 
Weird. Never seen 55gr 308. You must know a lot more than me.
I shoot a copper 50 gr bullet in 358 win AR 10 16" barrel at almost 3800 fps. A short range affair, with velocity like a 22-250, out of the 358 Win and accurate at 50 yds for varmints...don't know about hogs, with respect to penetration but copper stays together better than lead.
 
Just finished installing a Superlative gas block on my 16".
There's plenty of room around it in the factory handguard, even with the clamping setup. I went with the clamp style in case the dimples were misaligned, as some people's have been, as well as to attempt to get a better seal. Not sure if the gas journal is slightly undersized from the nominal .750 (forgot to measure while I had it off) or if the factory block is just poorly designed/machined, as I had a bunch of escaped residue showing it was not making a good seal. Either way, hopefully the SA will help. I'm looking forward to getting back out to the range this weekend to see how much being able to dial in the gas more finely and not having the GB touch the handguard helps.
Looking forward to hearing how this works for you, I like the SA gas blocks I have on various AR-15s. I put one on my POF Rogue briefly and it didn't seem like it bled off enough to get that rifle optimized suppressed. Did you reuse the gas tube from the SFAR, or did a mid length tube fit? I reached out to BRT about getting a restricted mid-length to use with the SFAR gas block, and they responded that the SFAR gas tube was proprietary... Pretty sure it's just a mid length tube though.
 
  • Like
Reactions: doubloon
What is your load data.
It's in the Speer manual, under 150 gr..take out half gr for the 155 gr. bullets. Ran 155 Palma, 155 tipped MK, & 155 Lapua as part of the days test, of 125 gr to 208 grs. Have some 169 and 177 SMK on the way, along with 168 & 178 eldm, for better BC.
 
Meeting some randos you “know” from a gun forum in the desert- knowing full well that it has been infiltrated by the alphabeti? The worst thing that could happen is NOT that you make a few IRL shooting friends. That’s a plausible outcome, but not the worst possible outcome.
Ok.
I see your point.
But I’ve already met some Alphabeti in person. They were nice guys. They asked dumb questions.
They sniffed around, shot up some government issued ammo, then moved on because an old Fudd wandering around in the desert shooting at steel plates doesn’t pique their interests.

I’m willing to take a chance on a couple of randos for an afternoon of shooting. I won’t try to talk them into building IEDs, and they won’t try and talk me into cutting a barrel down to create illegal firearm. None of us will conspire to overthrow the government or invade Mexico. No kidnapping plots will be hatched. And I doubt anybody would set me up publicly to try and steal my PSA or Ruger either. LOL

Let’s go shooting!
 
  • Like
Reactions: lash
Looking forward to hearing how this works for you, I like the SA gas blocks I have on various AR-15s. I put one on my POF Rogue briefly and it didn't seem like it bled off enough to get that rifle optimized suppressed. Did you reuse the gas tube from the SFAR, or did a mid length tube fit? I reached out to BRT about getting a restricted mid-length to use with the SFAR gas block, and they responded that the SFAR gas tube was proprietary... Pretty sure it's just a mid length tube though.
I already had an aero melonited mid-length, so I didn't bother trying to re-use the original. I believe another user has stated that the Ruger tube is just slightly shorter, though
 
I already had an aero melonited mid-length, so I didn't bother trying to re-use the original. I believe another user has stated that the Ruger tube is just slightly shorter, though

Interesting, are you seeing any kind of unusual contact or binding with the slightly longer mid-length gas when you hand cycle the bolt?

I have a mid-length tube laying around too, if it seems to fit, I'll just use that l with an SA block on the SFAR and if I don't see much difference it will be easy enough to swap the 4 position back in, and the SA over to a new 12.5" mid length that's in need anyway.
 
It's in the Speer manual, under 150 gr..take out half gr for the 155 gr. bullets. Ran 155 Palma, 155 tipped MK, & 155 Lapua as part of the days test, of 125 gr to 208 grs. Have some 169 and 177 SMK on the way, along with 168 & 178 eldm, for better BC.

My 28" douglas 308 was 2950 with 47grains of varget and a sierra 2156, I wanna see how you are getting almost the same velocity with a barrel that is a foot shorter.
 
What part of Arizona? Up in the north part its windy as fuck and in the south part I think it's still hot as fuck.
The last time I was shooting to 1000 in Northern AZ - it was 30 mph and gusting.
It was a good exercise for attempting to read conditions.... that I failed at.
"One shot - one kill" was nowhere close to reality for me that day.

Last weekend it was still hot in central AZ - but rumor has it that it might maybe possibly begin to start to commence to cool down supposedly.

I'll have to experience it to believe it.
 
The last time I was shooting to 1000 in Northern AZ - it was 30 mph and gusting.
It was a good exercise for attempting to read conditions.... that I failed at.
"One shot - one kill" was nowhere close to reality for me that day.

Last weekend it was still hot in central AZ - but rumor has it that it might maybe possibly begin to start to commence to cool down supposedly.

I'll have to experience it to believe it.

I'm in prescott valley it's always windy, hot, rainy, muddy, dusty, snowing, hailing, freezing, something.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MadDuner
Meeting some randos you “know” from a gun forum in the desert- knowing full well that it has been infiltrated by the alphabeti? The worst thing that could happen is NOT that you make a few IRL shooting friends. That’s a plausible outcome, but not the worst possible outcome.
Do you normally go around implying members are part of the ATF or FBI without any justification? Fk you.
 
My 28" douglas 308 was 2950 with 47grains of varget and a sierra 2156, I wanna see how you are getting almost the same velocity with a barrel that is a foot shorter.
Go read the Speer manual for 150 gr bullets they are over 3000 fps in a 24"...I run 155 gr Lapua 3100 fps on a 22" Bartlein 9 twist, with that load and 3200 fps in a 30" 308 8 twist and 2900 fps ave in a 16" AR 10 with softer LC brass. I was not using Varget...but it depends on the lot number and the barrel, I ran 3033 fps with Varget and in a 26" barrel for 8000 rds and a new 27" Shilen barrel which was 2980 fps in bolt guns with Lapua brass. Do some research there are powders other than Varget for the 308, and see how it's done...or not.
 
  • Like
Reactions: W54/XM-388
Got a 20" SFAR back from Ruger yesterday. The chamber is rough all around. They said in the notes they test fired it 20 times.

I just shot it with the gas off. Pressure signs on 4 kinds of ammo. They all stuck in the chamber and two stuck to the bolt and had to be snapped off it with the bolt back. LC stuck in the chamber pretty good, required me to pogo it, then snap it off the bolt face.

Turned the gas on for giggles. Fired 4, found 3, all rims bent.

I didn't bother putting a silencer on it because it's obvious none of these SFARs work. I'm also not interested in a 20" rifle. Good luck waiting for Ruger to redesign this one.

I'm gonna zip another email to Ruger to let them know they're garbage, then pawn this rifle off on some guy that read online these rifles are capable of functioning. He'll never shoot it anyway.
 
  • Like
Reactions: doubloon
Got a 20" SFAR back from Ruger yesterday. The chamber is rough all around. They said in the notes they test fired it 20 times.

I just shot it with the gas off. Pressure signs on 4 kinds of ammo. They all stuck in the chamber and two stuck to the bolt and had to be snapped off it with the bolt back. LC stuck in the chamber pretty good, required me to pogo it, then snap it off the bolt face.

Turned the gas on for giggles. Fired 4, found 3, all rims bent.

I didn't bother putting a silencer on it because it's obvious none of these SFARs work. I'm also not interested in a 20" rifle. Good luck waiting for Ruger to redesign this one.

I'm gonna zip another email to Ruger to let them know they're garbage, then pawn this rifle off on some guy that read online these rifles are capable of functioning. He'll never shoot it anyway.
So, no fun shoot in the desert? I’m a dissapoint.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BCP
I'll go shooting with that dude whatever month he plans to go shooting next. I won't be bringing nor shooting an SFAR.

You know how ridiculous it is to snap a casing off a bolt face? This thing has two ejectors I can't even push back and they couldn't overcome the brass flowed into the bolt. *crick* I've never even heard of such a thing.

But that's 3 for 3 on unsafe SFARs for me in case anybody is counting. A rifle showed up to their customer service busted to hell, with a receiver broken. Their response was to send that guy another unsafe gun. When he told them that gun was unsafe, they refused an RMA, then granted one, then held the gun hostage for more money. Then they shipped him a third unsafe rifle.
 
Got a 20" SFAR back from Ruger yesterday. The chamber is rough all around. They said in the notes they test fired it 20 times.

I just shot it with the gas off. Pressure signs on 4 kinds of ammo. They all stuck in the chamber and two stuck to the bolt and had to be snapped off it with the bolt back. LC stuck in the chamber pretty good, required me to pogo it, then snap it off the bolt face.

Turned the gas on for giggles. Fired 4, found 3, all rims bent.

I didn't bother putting a silencer on it because it's obvious none of these SFARs work. I'm also not interested in a 20" rifle. Good luck waiting for Ruger to redesign this one.

I'm gonna zip another email to Ruger to let them know they're garbage, then pawn this rifle off on some guy that read online these rifles are capable of functioning. He'll never shoot it anyway.
It's really sad to see, all these former reputable gun companies not standing behind their work, and allowing quality to suffer, and poor design to continue. Accountants and bureaucrats run /own the businesses, mostly just looking for profits, and bonuses. Few are firearms enthusiasts...and of coarse it's not just the Ruger company. So many times sending the firearm in for repair and or evaluation leads to a return letter that states, "the firearm falls within factory specifications, for accuracy and functionality."
 
Go read the Speer manual for 150 gr bullets they are over 3000 fps in a 24"...I run 155 gr Lapua 3100 fps on a 22" Bartlein 9 twist, with that load and 3200 fps in a 30" 308 8 twist and 2900 fps ave in a 16" AR 10 with softer LC brass. I was not using Varget...but it depends on the lot number and the barrel, I ran 3033 fps with Varget and in a 26" barrel for 8000 rds and a new 27" Shilen barrel which was 2980 fps in bolt guns with Lapua brass. Do some research there are powders other than Varget for the 308, and see how it's done...or not.

I don't understand why we have to guess the load, but here are the 150gr .308 loads on Speer's website. One breaks 3k in a 24" barrel, 52.8gr of PP2000MR, is that what you're saying your load is?
Screenshot_20230907-201931.png


Thanks for the parts list on the AR-10, it looks like it would cost me about $1,700 to get all the pieces, but that's not too bad given the weight.
 
Agree. Easy to get to spots are a non-starter. Bangers and losers leaving trash, etc. We need to get @Twinsen out to have some fun given his situation. I've got one guy already in. Sounds like your in. We just need @MadDuner to confirm and put it all together.

I guess we can invite Lash if he agrees to pick up the bar tab afterwards.
 
  • Like
  • Haha
Reactions: lash and doubloon
It is really sad. No one should have to deal with this situation and have no recourse. I bought a new 1895 Ruger Marlin in 45-70 last year and it was perfect. Go figure.
I bought a 1985 Remlin guide gun (before Ruger) in stainless. It shoots great, it came with some dings ... the trigger had burrs on it, the barrel was scratched and the foreend was splintered under the forend tip. I wrote a note to Remington and they sent me all the parts to fix it right except a new barrel which will get dinged with use anyway so no biggie.

Class 3 in Dallas threaded it for me, I hung an Obsidian off the end of it and rolled a bunch of 400gr subs for it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gtscotty