First AR-10 build, looking for pointers

[CandG]

I ordered a little, inexpensive luggage scale from Amazon. According to that, my .308 is 12 lbs 4 oz, unloaded, but with bipod and optic.

It's probably mostly from the stock, these Magpul PRS stocks weigh a good 1.5lbs more than a typical stock. Surprisingly, it's not difficult to shoulder my rifle at all, but I can definitely imagine feeling fatigued after firing 10 rounds. I also can't imagine I'd ever want to take this thing hunting Someday I'll build a lightweight .308 for that purpose, but I gotta let my wallet recover first.

[varanidguy]

It's probably mostly from the stock, these Magpul PRS stocks weigh a good 1.5lbs more than a typical stock. Surprisingly, it's not difficult to shoulder my rifle at all, but I can definitely imagine feeling fatigued after firing 10 rounds. I also can't imagine I'd ever want to take this thing hunting Someday I'll build a lightweight .308 for that purpose, but I gotta let my wallet recover first.

Either way, your rifle looks sexy and I hope it shoots even better than it looks!

[CandG]

Took her out for her first break-in at the range today, joined by fellow CG'ers ChappedHide, Exdc, and Sharxbyte. Very happy with it, recoil was very light (probably less than my 5.56 AR's), and after a small hickup it ran flawlessly.

First 2 magazines, no problem. But on my 3rd magazine (I brought 5 Magpul Pmags), the first round got jammed going into battery. I had to have the rangemaster muscle the charging handle back because apparently I'm a wuss. Tossed that round, put the magazine back in, and the same exact thing happened on the next round. (I was able to muscle that one out myself, thank you ). CH and I theorized that maybe it was my cheap ammo (ZQI), and he let me shoot a handful of his Federal MatchKing (thanks!), which worked fine. Then I went back to shooting my ZQI ammo, and had no problems at all from that point forward. So, out of 105 rounds fired, I only had 2 jams which both happened with the same magazine, and in fact that magazine never did feed any rounds properly. So that one's gonna get a sticker and not get used anymore for the time being.

For accuracy, I was shooting about 2moa (I'm not even close to an expert) at 100 yards with the ZQI ammo. With CH's Federal ammo, my group was about the size of a quarter, with one flier about 2 inches away (probably flinched). That pretty much seals the deal that my rifle doesn't like cheap, light ammo.

ChappedHide also let me shoot his build, which was also a heck of a lot of fun, and also very accurate!

I'll post up some photos of my groups (even though they aren't that impressive) when I get around to it. All in all, very fun range day!

[CandG]

Here's my 50yd target from when I was sighting it in and adjusting the gas block. The group on the right was 10 rounds, the group on the bottom was 19 rounds. Fired my 20th shot at the red dot on the left . The fliers are from zeroing the scope on the center bullseye earlier.



Sadly my 100yd target was completely obliterated after I re-used it to test my 5.56 build, you can't tell what groups were from that build and which are from this build. Next time I hit the range I'll post a good 100yd target, and maybe a 200yd one too!

I wish I could say my groups at 100yds looked the same as my 50yd groups, but they opened up quite a bit. Probably 3 inch groups. ChappedHide's ammo he loaned me worked way better, I'll be using that (or similar) from now on.

[Chapped Hide]

It was nice getting out to shoot finally. Really liked your .308, softer shooter than mine but I'm hoping that might just be the different brake. I'll be ordering a larger one now . Not a bad day when the only issue with 3 new guns is a double feed due to what looks like a mag issue. Got 60 rounds threw my new build and had it dialed in at 25 before I left.

[CandG]

It was nice getting out to shoot finally. Really liked your .308, softer shooter than mine but I'm hoping that might just be the different brake. I'll be ordering a larger one now . Not a bad day when the only issue with 3 new guns is a double feed due to what looks like a mag issue. Got 60 rounds threw my new build and had it dialed in at 25 before I left.

Great meeting you and chatting! And shooting your build! For newbies, we ended up with some pretty killer .308 builds. Thanks for your help along the way!

[gemini1]

Did you generously oiled you BCG prior to shooting it? I applied a bead size amount of Tetra grease, and spread it on the bcg rails when I function test my build. And once I had a chance to test fire it, re-applied a mixture of 10/40 and engine treatment oil at the range. The rifle ran flawlessly with ZQI rounds. I haven't tried it with scope yet, just zeroed the buis.

[CandG]

Did you generously oiled you BCG prior to shooting it? I applied a bead size amount of Tetra grease, and spread it on the bcg rails when I function test my build. And once I had a chance to test fire it, re-applied a mixture of 10/40 and engine treatment oil at the range. The rifle ran flawlessly with ZQI rounds. I haven't tried it with scope yet, just zeroed the buis.

I did the exact same pre-treatment, a bead of tetra grease on the BCG. However, I did not do a full lube job on the rifle before shooting, other than a basic oil wipe-down. I haven't had a chance to clean it yet, once I break it down I'll give it a healthy dose of oil. Good tip, thank you!

[SnipeShot]

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[CandG]

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Give the thread a good read-over, the build is complete but there was a TON of spectacular advice along the way. ChappedHide built his .308 at the same time as me (roughly) so there was a lot of great discussion about ideal configurations. Good luck!