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So I live far out there in the mountains on a couple hundred acres with mixtures of heavy forests and brush, steep and rocky hills, with some open ranges that span 400-2000 yards. On top of the very rough terrain there's the microclimate where it can go from sunny and calm to windy and rain at anytime. Cold with heavy rain and snow in the winter, 100+ and dry in the summer. Moving around can get pretty intense and requires a lot of energy.
My current AR setup is a Colt milspec upper with a 16" 1/7 chrome lined barrel on a Franklin Armory HSC 15 lower. LaRue 7.0 free floating handguard, hefty Command Arms Acessories stock with buttpad, Hogue grip and Mag forward grip, standard Harris bipod and standard flash hider. I shoot Lake City 62gr M855 and Hornady TAP 75gr OTM and currently am using the tritium powered 4x ACOG with red chevron 5.56 BDC. Really I've found that even though it's great for lightweight I just don't find it effective outside 300 yards. I think the ACOG was a waste to put on it and would probably be better off using my EOtech EXPS3-0 and get the G33 3x magnifier for it. Now, I could throw my Leupold Mark 4 LRT 4.5-14x Duplex reticle scope on there and have it zero'd to reach out but the effectiveness of the 5.56 comes into question just as it did for the military up in the mountains of Afghanistan making them bring out the M14s. I have a friend who was going to get an $8000 5.56 SPR setup and the builder says I don't need 7.62 that the 5.56 will go 800m and effectively put down a bad guy and he supposedly knows cause he trains snipers and has X confirmed kills, but I don't trust the guy.
I've had my AR for about 4 years now, but 2 years ago I purchased my M1A Scout. It came with match parts, Ultimak M8 top rail, ARMS M21 mount (no forward mount), SEI USCG muzzle break and the standard stock. I then put a JAE G2 stock on it with the thumbwheel adjust. cheekpiece, lower and side rails, barrel tensioner, etc. Got a pivoting bipod and angled forward grip. For optics I use a Leupold Mark 4 LRT 8.5-25x with the illuminated TMR. I shoot the Federal Gold 175gr SMK. She's heavy but the recoil is actually comparable to the AR so I can use it effectively at close ranges.
My strategy is that my AR is all I need for general hunting and defense up to 300 yards or so. The M1A serves as a more DMR/precision role obviously. I've lugged them both around and while the AR is more comfortable to move with, the M1A is more comfortable to shoot and it is more effective at all ranges due to the 7.62, it can cut through the brush and handle the winds. I even bought my EOtech EXPS3-0 just for the M1A as an alternate to the Leupold so that I could use it for CQB. For this it may have been better to get an EBR style setup with a pistol grip and stock, but at the time I didn't want to use a BB. So I really am leaning towards getting one of the modernized high end AR10s cause it's much easier to use and clean, with no limits on what you can add to it.
Before I found out about the ban I was actually thinking about selling both my AR and M1A to fund an AR10 build. When I found out about the ban I was going to keep them and just buy one. Now that there won't be a ban, I still want to keep them and still want to buy one.
For the passed few weeks I've been set on the LMT MWSE. Specifically because of the monolithic upper and straight gas tube, as well as being selected by the Brits for a DMR over the SCAR, HK, etc (DI > Piston eh?). Also it appeals to me that it has the potential to utilize multiple calibers through changing the barrel. Besides 260 and 308 I see custom barrels for the MWS that allow it to utilize 243, 300, 338 and 6.5 that might be available from LMT in the future.
However now I'm really wondering if I should go with another heavy DMR when I already have the M1A, when there's the slightly lighter LaRue OBR and much lighter PredaTAR types. I feel either one (LMT and LaRue) will outdo both my AR and M1A, but the LMT might prove to be more advantageous than the LaRue if I can utilize all those calibers with one system. The LMT will run me around $3500 NIB and there's a PredaTAR on here for $6800 that's also NIB. The PredaTAR might be the best of both worlds being lighter than M1A/OBR/MWS yet packing the same punch, but that's a huge difference in price. I will be hiking with it and also carrying it in the G4 Operator's scabbard, but I'm already used to the heavy JAE M1A.
I would just continue with my current setup having two separate rifles, but I really want to be able to train on one sysem for all conditions. Yeah I can take my AR and M1A through both practical and precision courses at Front Sight but my intuition is providing this vision of one ultimate system and have the other two to fall back on.
What did you do in your situation and what would you do in mine? Am I over-analyzing the situation? I'm going to start abusing my Front Sight diamond membership and maybe try out some other places, this is mainly for defense/SHTF/zombies and general hunting. Since I'm young I might get into competition and contemplate going through a police academy, so I really want a consolidated, all purpose setup.
My current AR setup is a Colt milspec upper with a 16" 1/7 chrome lined barrel on a Franklin Armory HSC 15 lower. LaRue 7.0 free floating handguard, hefty Command Arms Acessories stock with buttpad, Hogue grip and Mag forward grip, standard Harris bipod and standard flash hider. I shoot Lake City 62gr M855 and Hornady TAP 75gr OTM and currently am using the tritium powered 4x ACOG with red chevron 5.56 BDC. Really I've found that even though it's great for lightweight I just don't find it effective outside 300 yards. I think the ACOG was a waste to put on it and would probably be better off using my EOtech EXPS3-0 and get the G33 3x magnifier for it. Now, I could throw my Leupold Mark 4 LRT 4.5-14x Duplex reticle scope on there and have it zero'd to reach out but the effectiveness of the 5.56 comes into question just as it did for the military up in the mountains of Afghanistan making them bring out the M14s. I have a friend who was going to get an $8000 5.56 SPR setup and the builder says I don't need 7.62 that the 5.56 will go 800m and effectively put down a bad guy and he supposedly knows cause he trains snipers and has X confirmed kills, but I don't trust the guy.
I've had my AR for about 4 years now, but 2 years ago I purchased my M1A Scout. It came with match parts, Ultimak M8 top rail, ARMS M21 mount (no forward mount), SEI USCG muzzle break and the standard stock. I then put a JAE G2 stock on it with the thumbwheel adjust. cheekpiece, lower and side rails, barrel tensioner, etc. Got a pivoting bipod and angled forward grip. For optics I use a Leupold Mark 4 LRT 8.5-25x with the illuminated TMR. I shoot the Federal Gold 175gr SMK. She's heavy but the recoil is actually comparable to the AR so I can use it effectively at close ranges.
My strategy is that my AR is all I need for general hunting and defense up to 300 yards or so. The M1A serves as a more DMR/precision role obviously. I've lugged them both around and while the AR is more comfortable to move with, the M1A is more comfortable to shoot and it is more effective at all ranges due to the 7.62, it can cut through the brush and handle the winds. I even bought my EOtech EXPS3-0 just for the M1A as an alternate to the Leupold so that I could use it for CQB. For this it may have been better to get an EBR style setup with a pistol grip and stock, but at the time I didn't want to use a BB. So I really am leaning towards getting one of the modernized high end AR10s cause it's much easier to use and clean, with no limits on what you can add to it.
Before I found out about the ban I was actually thinking about selling both my AR and M1A to fund an AR10 build. When I found out about the ban I was going to keep them and just buy one. Now that there won't be a ban, I still want to keep them and still want to buy one.
For the passed few weeks I've been set on the LMT MWSE. Specifically because of the monolithic upper and straight gas tube, as well as being selected by the Brits for a DMR over the SCAR, HK, etc (DI > Piston eh?). Also it appeals to me that it has the potential to utilize multiple calibers through changing the barrel. Besides 260 and 308 I see custom barrels for the MWS that allow it to utilize 243, 300, 338 and 6.5 that might be available from LMT in the future.
However now I'm really wondering if I should go with another heavy DMR when I already have the M1A, when there's the slightly lighter LaRue OBR and much lighter PredaTAR types. I feel either one (LMT and LaRue) will outdo both my AR and M1A, but the LMT might prove to be more advantageous than the LaRue if I can utilize all those calibers with one system. The LMT will run me around $3500 NIB and there's a PredaTAR on here for $6800 that's also NIB. The PredaTAR might be the best of both worlds being lighter than M1A/OBR/MWS yet packing the same punch, but that's a huge difference in price. I will be hiking with it and also carrying it in the G4 Operator's scabbard, but I'm already used to the heavy JAE M1A.
I would just continue with my current setup having two separate rifles, but I really want to be able to train on one sysem for all conditions. Yeah I can take my AR and M1A through both practical and precision courses at Front Sight but my intuition is providing this vision of one ultimate system and have the other two to fall back on.
What did you do in your situation and what would you do in mine? Am I over-analyzing the situation? I'm going to start abusing my Front Sight diamond membership and maybe try out some other places, this is mainly for defense/SHTF/zombies and general hunting. Since I'm young I might get into competition and contemplate going through a police academy, so I really want a consolidated, all purpose setup.
WOW. 
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