DPMS TAC-20 & Sweet 16
I never get tired of writing about the DPMS rifles. This platform is such an excellent platform regardless of the AR-15 or AR-10 and the more of these rifles I outfit the more I like them. I still like my Tikka T3 bolt, but when it comes to an AR, DPMS I feel provides the best in service, quality, price, reliability, and accuracy. Regardless of the platitudes I have for this rifle, I prefer to leave it to my customers to provide the unbiased feedback.
Recently we put together an awesome LR-308AP4 together for Don and even with some of the difficulties we encountered we had a lot of fun building it and getting to know Don. Since we made it through another learning curve, I decided to get on the phone with our friends at DPMS to increase the type of options we will provide. One of the request were are starting to see more of is that our clients are buying a lower completely outfitted with a JP Trigger & speed hammer, grip, tactical safety and mag release, then purchase a second upper. That’s what’s so great about this platform and it cuts your cost especially if you want the upgraded lower. With this flexibility you can get your lite weight AP4 for deer, bear, or javalina hunting and then a heavier upper in the 18 or 24 inch for shooting long range varmints or targets. Additionally, we are on the list to become a DPMS certified armor.
One of the questions we have received is why doesn’t DPMS offer some of these options as a base like Rock River. I’ve asked them and their response is what I would expect, to keep cost down and allow the end user to decide what options they want. I’ve transferred and sold a couple of the Rock River rifles and they seem to be a good rifle, but once again, one size doesn’t fit all and DPMS leaves it up to the end user to decide what options they want. I think it’s an excellent idea to help keep initial cost down allowing the shooter to get a rifle in hand sooner and add upgrades later or have D9Firearms install them for you.
Over the last few months, we have been ordering a variety of DPMS rifles in various calibers and configurations every month since DPMS was experiencing a large backlog early this year. (You know, the bad economy thing the bed wetting libs keep talking about.) This does two things, one it keeps our cost down in not having to carry inventory, and secondly your wait time for a standard or customized DPMS rifle is significantly reduced. (I know it never happens when you bid on an item on GB or GA and the seller than states that it’s on order.)
One of the rifles we just outfitted was the DPMS Sweet 16 Bull for a good friend of ours Ashly. We ordered the rifle in with flutes on the barrel, although this is not as critical on the bull, it adds aesthetic appeal. If you don’t get it from the factory like this, you can always strip it down and take it to someone but this is usually cost prohibitive. (Factory ordered fluting is usually $50 - $70) So we’ve been ordering our rifles with fluting so we can offer a better choice without a long lead-time. We also installed the JP Adjustable trigger with speed hammer, Hogue grip, and a tactical carrier and bolt release. (These options are almost a standard install on every rifle we sell.) On the tactical rifles, we have been predominantly installing the two-stage triggers with tactical options. We topped Ash’s rifle off with a Nikon Buckmaster 3×18 w/side focus and BDC.
Ash’s rifle shown above.
Ash was pleased and since he is a neighbor of mine he decided that he wanted to load up some quality .223 rounds for this little tack driver. We got the press converted over to .223 and started off with some Sierra Matchking 52grn HPBT and Hornaday 52grn A-max bullets using Alliant powder and once fired brass that Ash had shot. Ash was able to take it out about two weeks later and found that the Hornaday bullets worked the best and held in at about ¾”. However, we will probably tweak this load a little to see if we can pull it in a little tighter and try it out in a controlled test. (Ash had said he was out with several friends and all wanted to shoot it and he was adjusting the scope as well. We will update this one when we perform a test out at Mill Creek.)
At the same time, we were working on another special order with a DPMS TAC-20 for another client and he gave us the option to install what we thought. Since we haven’t shot this particular rifle I evaluated it from what I thought would be its most practical shooting application and how our client described his shooting intentions. Since the rifle has a 20” barrel and is slightly heavier than both the LR-308B (18”) and the standard LR-AP4 (16”) I thought free hand shooting maybe secondary to shooting off of a bipod. (As a note, the 4-rail hand guard is heavier than the standard round aluminum. This is much more pronounced on the LR-AP4)
Another interesting part of this order was, several months ago when Dan was in town, he stopped by with his brothers to pick up Tim, his brother’s rifle (displayed in an earlier write up), and I showed him my Tikka T3 Varmint. So along with this order Dan decided to get the Tikka T3 Tactical to complement the TAC-20. The TAC-20 pretty much went off as expected and we added all the tactical options; Badger Ordnance tactical carrier release, G27 tactical grip, DPMS tactical bolt release, Arodondo tactical magazine release, DPMS tactical safety selector.
The DPMS turned out as we expected “smokin” and was proven about 2 weeks later when Dan’s brothers came by to take it out to the range for Dan before he got back to town. They also picked up the Tikka Tactical to test it out. (Dan had given his brothers approval to test it out since he lives in Florida and wouldn’t be able to come up until November.) I let them borrow my IOR Valdada 2×12x35 scope for the day. This was also beneficial to me because I use that optic a lot for my test.
We all went to the range and we brought along the Barrett 50BMG, nothing like a 50 to lite things up. They enjoyed that, as well as me to. Regardless, they got down to business with breaking in the Tikka Tactical and DPMS TAC-20. I can assure you by the end of their test on the 50 & 100 yd line there were several almost hole in one shot’s. Although this is a short range test for the break in period, it will deliver well beyond 100yd. (As another side note I tested my Tikka T3 Varmint 308Win out last week on the 300yd and had a 2” group (1 flyer, otherwise it would have been 1.5”) with 7 rounds.)
They were gracious enough to let me put a few rounds through the TAC-20 as well. My thoughts on the TAC-20 don’t very much from my general opinion of DPMS rifles, but the TAC-20 is a fairly heavy rifle and I would be hard pressed to make a repeatable free hand shot, but I’m a smaller guy. I shot it from a bipod and in that position out of 5 rounds I had 2 shots in basically the same hole, and the other three were surrounding it. Overall my spread was right at ½”.
I know Dan will be very pleased when he puts these two side by side. Unfortunately I failed to get some photo’s of the Tikka, but will put a request in to Tim to see if he would be interested in getting us a couple of side by side photo’s.
Dan is still in the process of trying to determine which optic to go with; my recommendation would be any one of the IOR’s.
If you’re interested in a DPMS or Tikka call D9Firearms.com. We will customize your DPMS.
