I wonder if your issues aren't chamber related. It just sounds like a short throat or carbon ring. I've got a 280ai that I run a bit over max and when it starts popping primers, I run a bore snake through it half a dozen times and it goes back to normal. Usually see that kinda stuff in new barrels. I think EC said that your throat wears the most in the first 200 rounds. Maybe after that your issues will go away.
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Ruger SFAR small frame 308, 6.8 pounds
- Thread starter Ape_Factory
- Start date
Possible but beyond my skill to determine. I do see some darkness around the freebore area, not sure how to measure the throat.
Ruger sent back, probably after minimal effort
Only if you do real shit with your guns. I carried a large frame for two years of Sniper Adventure Challenge - never again.
$90 of gas block solves most of the rare functional problems people report.
$90 of gas block solves most of the rare functional problems people report.
Ouch.
Without the brake there is noticeably more recoil (obviously) than my heavier LR-308, a suppressor helps but also adds weight.
I hope it's worth it once I have all the problems wrung out. I put a cheap thermal on my LR-308 that helped push it into the 12lb range. Makes it nice and smooth for shooting off a bench at the range but hefting it in and out of the mule or carrying it any meaningful distance ain't for pu**ies like me.
I could have spent $5+k to lighten the optic but I'm cheap.
Absolutely! Even with all the ammo used, the lapping bullets, mbt trigger, and the gas block. I got rid of an old dpms ap4 that I'd tried to make fill this role that has been sitting in the safe for years. That was a good, accurate rifle. At this point, I think the sfar is just as accurate if not more and after deer season I'm going to re shim the barrel. It's moa or less now and I think it can do even better.
All the shooting was great practice and I enjoy a puzzle but we'll see what I think after dragging it around all week during deer season.
Took 3 of my .308’s out today to do an ammo comparison, and see what each rifle favors. Today - my unmodified 20” SFAR favored LC M118 ammo the most. I had zero malfunctions of any kind today - other than a freakin’ bee getting between my face and my glasses as I attempted to squeeze off a round.
Attached is the comparison 5-shot samples.
Lake City M80 Ball 147gr
Hornady ELD Match 168gr
Lake City M118LR 175gr BTHP
Malaysian M80 Ball 147gr
Attached is the comparison 5-shot samples.
Lake City M80 Ball 147gr
Hornady ELD Match 168gr
Lake City M118LR 175gr BTHP
Malaysian M80 Ball 147gr
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That M118 looks good. Down and left 0.1 mil each and you’re golden.
I hate the scope I have on it.
It’s got a Sig 1-10 LPVO that has an eye box that‘s ridiculously small.
I left it alone and just shot it for groups.
Not sure what’s going on it next, but it’s leaving.
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A nice 3-15x or similar. A bunch of good options in the $1000+/- region.
Man that's disappointing. I thought it would be the scope for this gun.
Re re checked my zero this weekend. Managed 3 rounds touching. Carried the rifle around on a sling for a while. Smiled the whole time.
Has anyone picked up a 20” and cut it back a few inches to gain the longer gas system? If someone did, did the gas port need to be opened a bit? I know this was mentioned by more than a few early on.
That's my plan. I do not believe I will have to open the port since it's already bigger than ANY 308 port I've ever seen in print.
Need to address the lack of shoulder when cutting it back.
I’m figuring the muzzle is flared at the end to have enough thickness for a shoulder behind the muzzle threads. I didn’t know that and didn’t notice in the photos I’ve seen. Cutting one back wouldn’t be as simple knowing that.
Yes, flared out to 0.750" IIRC and the barrel behind it is closer to 0.65" or 0.68" ... I'd have to put calipers on it again not to lie to you.
But it can be done, just got to find the right guy.
Nice, congrats! I'm interested in the details when you get done with all the work that follows the shot, how far, what bullet did you use, and how did it perform?
I tagged a 6 point Saturday morning Nothing special but I did manage to get 48 meal's bagged and in the freezer for me and the wife . I still have an antler less only tag maybe I will fill that one . I dropped it with one shot high shoulder shot , the bullet penetrated the first shoulder , hit the spine and penetrated the right side shoulder , I found the bullet under the skin . 150 grain Remington core-lock . 60 yards .
125ssts. Shot her twice cause she just didnt act right. First shot felt perfect but was a perfectly horrible gut shot at 150. Second shot was lungs at 225. Bullets were brutal and had two 50 cal sized exits. She walked 20 yards after the second and fell over.
Think I had the bipod loaded too hard on the hay bale I was shooting off of. Checked the zero 4 times so far and it's always perfect.
Yeah, shit happens sometimes when you're hunting, it's good to have a quick follow-up on tap to seal the deal if needed. That's very interesting performance from the 125gr SSTs, I would have expected them to be soft at those velocities, but it sounds like they behaved excellently.
Never had a problem with the ssts. The 308s tend to shed the jacket on the close shots. She had jacket stuck in the off side ribcage. Probably got some jacket in her liver on the first shot. She walked off like "fuucck". Anytime they walk off from a shot they need another.
Took a coyote this morning at 300ish.
Took a coyote this morning at 300ish.
I'm using a yhm 7.62 phantom stainless steel I bought 13 years ago . As far as the sfar goes I am running the gas block on one setting suppressed , No issues with beat up brass or flat primers . since I have the rifles broken in I run everything else from 149 grain ball up through 168 grain on setting 2 . It get's no more dirtier than any other can I own .
We finally might be about to find out ... finally got another day off coming up next week.
Just before the second shoulder, where the case mouth should end (not the freebore), it was pretty much completely black ... like burnt shellack. But, being the uneducated twit that I am, I didn't give any thought to the idea of a carbon ring. Never even thought about carbon rings before coming back here after decade or so hiatus.
I don't have any 'before' pictures and I'm trying to get a clean, no glare pic of the throat after I been scrubbing the hell out of it. I have the $50 Teslong which takes some decent pictures down the lands and grooves but seems to struggle with lighting in the chamber/throat areas.
There's still some black patches in the neck portion before the freebore but it's hella better than it was so I'm hoping it will make a difference.
I reshimmed the barrel this week and got it out to check accuracy. This is a 4 round group since I used the first round to make sure it was on paper. Also after tearing the rifle apart to shim the barrel and removing the scope, poa was off 1 inch to the right and half inch high.
Also sent this pic to my larue slut buddy captioned "My SFAR thinks your OBR is a fat bitch".
Also sent this pic to my larue slut buddy captioned "My SFAR thinks your OBR is a fat bitch".
Attachments
The first time I had two .002" half pieces. This time i could only get one .002 half in there. I think there was some residual loctite green in there. You cant wrap the entire extension because of the vent ports. Put more loctite green in.
ETA tried to thermal fit a top .001 piece in but it was too tight.
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I forgot about those but that's a good reminder for if/when I'm happy enough with it to start accurizing. But if it continues to shoot at least as good as it has been but less violently I'll be happy.
You can put one on the top but you have to get creative since there's also a large port at 12 oclock along with the extension pin.
I prefer to shim a barrel to get it as close to the center of the receiver as possible. The shims guarantee it wont wiggle but some green loctite keeps it all in place. This rifle doesn't seem to mind being set to the top.
Agreed, not based on any empirical evidence just the idea that feeding might be smoother.
Do you think blocking the ports with shim material might affect normal function or, with thin enough material, do you think it would blow out if it needed to?
Saw that on another forum.
I consider it validation for what @Bendigo78 has done to make his rifle reliable and accurate, the same path I'm on just slower. I especially appreciated Hop's comments on overgassing and filming the stuck cases was a nice touch.
Never heard of Hop before this video, don't know anything about his credibility.
Something worth pointing out is he is still experiencing harsh secondary recoil. If he tried lowering the buffer weight while reducing the gas setting he'd probably have less recoil. My 7lb LFAR doesn't recoil hard despite having less buffer and BCG weight. He changed the handguard and gas block, may as well raid the parts bin and change the buffer and recoil spring.
Hop. I haven't been following the changes everyone else have made to their guns.
The buffer in my factory SFAR clocks in at 2.9oz, standard carbine. I'm actually thinking about going heavier since the LR-308 buffer is somewhere around 3.8oz.
The spring in my SFAR is heavier than either the LR-308 spring or a standard AR-15 rifle spring and longer than both. I'm also thinking about swapping in the LR and AR springs with the heavier buffer.
If you don't mind sharing the details, what is your 7lb LFAR configuration?
Low Mass JP BCG.
Carbine weight buffer
SprinCo Red spring
Adjustable gas block.
I wonder what the SFAR bolt carrier cam pin angle is? If Ruger reduced the angle to shorten the stroke length there may be less dwell time as a result. That would explain the heavy recoil despite the low reciprocating mass and reduced gas. If that's the case, reducing buffer weight further would make the recoil worse.
Carbine weight buffer
SprinCo Red spring
Adjustable gas block.
I wonder what the SFAR bolt carrier cam pin angle is? If Ruger reduced the angle to shorten the stroke length there may be less dwell time as a result. That would explain the heavy recoil despite the low reciprocating mass and reduced gas. If that's the case, reducing buffer weight further would make the recoil worse.
In my experience, all small frame AR10s have "abrupt" recoil dynamics ... but there is no free lunch ... lighter weight comes at a cost ... we are trying to mitigate recoil of a full rifle round in the space designed for an intermediate round ...
The compromise is probably a shorter cam pin path and reduced dwell time. The weapon overall weight doesn't change the dwell time. I'm guessing Ruger probably under gassed it to attempt to reduce the harshness from short dwell time and lower mass operating system.
Think he's talking about Hops rifle. I like Hops videos but he sure complains about swapping some parts while voluntarily changing other parts per his preferences. Guess he had to bitch about the gas block to pitch the $200 one he decided was the best (shilled if he got it for free). Don't get me wrong it looks cool as shit but there's plenty of cheaper options. He does alot of tactical shooting with whatever ammo and I guess that's not my thing. That's probably my biggest gripe on all these SFAR reviews, people shooting from a bench with a mixed bag of surplus ammo complaining about function or accuracy.
I've changed
Gas block and tube, SA clamp style. An odd thing is I felt the new tube was a tad longer so I left the thickness of a quarter gap between the gb and shoulder. I have some superstitions on gas tube and gas key interface effects accuracy.
Buffer, 4.5oz. did it early and don't know if it changed anything but it works.
Trigger, MBT
Grip, MOE+ K2 xl
butt pad, funny enough the same one hop used and did it last week. Stock is too long as it is for me but a good pad improves the overall experience with the rifle. I use a limbsaver on my bolt guns that have magpul ar stocks and love it.
Charging handle, Radian. No reason other than I was in a gunshop and wanted to give them some money.
I've changed
Gas block and tube, SA clamp style. An odd thing is I felt the new tube was a tad longer so I left the thickness of a quarter gap between the gb and shoulder. I have some superstitions on gas tube and gas key interface effects accuracy.
Buffer, 4.5oz. did it early and don't know if it changed anything but it works.
Trigger, MBT
Grip, MOE+ K2 xl
butt pad, funny enough the same one hop used and did it last week. Stock is too long as it is for me but a good pad improves the overall experience with the rifle. I use a limbsaver on my bolt guns that have magpul ar stocks and love it.
Charging handle, Radian. No reason other than I was in a gunshop and wanted to give them some money.
If I ever get one it will have an SLR gas block with a B&T buffer: https://bt-parts.com/b-t-ar9-ar15-hydraulic-buffer/#description
B&T's hydraulic system tames blowback PCCs very well and I think in this scenario ... it would also do some good magic ...
B&T's hydraulic system tames blowback PCCs very well and I think in this scenario ... it would also do some good magic ...
Thanks for sharing some details, I was wondering what all you patched together to get to the total weight around 7lbs.
I'm not sure about the cam pin angle, I assume you're talking about how many degrees the bolt has to turn to lock/unlock?
Did you just use a regular mid length tube? I have an Aero agb to try after deer season, if possible I'd like to mount a mid length tube instead of swapping the Ruger one over, in case I decide I like it better with the Ruger block. I thought the SFAR took a regular mid tube, but when I pinged BRT about a replacement tube, they seemed to think Ruger used a length that wasn't exactly standard.
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