D9Firearms

LR-308B with: JP trigger/speed hammer, Hogue grip, ACE Ltd. skeleton stock, Leatherwood M600 range finding optic, 4 rail free float, fluted and threaded bull barrel with Miculek compensator. (Don’t Mess with Texas.)

This last month has been very busy with customizing DPMS rifles. Our goal has been to provide excellent customer service, quality work on any rifle we modify, at a reasonable price. After this month, we will be doing a little more scheduling up front with our clients. First, to let everyone know, we will not advertise a rifle we do not have. (There was an exception, but as you will see in the pictures, it worked out to Chris’s benefit.)

Typically, on DPMS rifles that we customize we try and stock the standard upgrades our clients are requesting and we are ordering rifles in small batches of 2 – 4 every month to keep a constant flow of rifles on hand. We do get request for options we don’t stock and look forward to bringing in new items. What we are finding during these peak times is that about a two week turn around gives us enough time to get the parts in (if we don’t have them), put them in a work flow, get the rifle built and out to you.

We also learned a few more things in the last few weeks of options that just won’t work with certain configurations. By the time, the parts arrived and we were into the assembly we uncovered that the standard length 4 rail free float hand guard would not work on the LR-308B. Although it will work with the standard round free float hand guard as with Earl’s rifle. I can only express how disappointed I was in myself for not seeing it sooner and the fact that I had to call a new client Tao and explain to him. I can only say he was very understanding, albeit disappointed, that we weren’t able to deliver. We are still working with Tao and are doing everything we can to make it right.

However, after looking back at last month we did build a couple of awesome rifles and were very pleased with the results as were their recipients.

Close up of the JP adjustable and speed hammer. The speed hammer is about half the mass of the standard hammer. You can feel, hear and see the difference with this trigger. When dry firing, you will observe a minimal shift off the target compared to the standard hammer. You will hear and feel the difference as well.

The building process. The Leatherwood is an interesting optic. This was our first experience and didn’t have much of an opportunity to get it out during day light and get the adjustments. It has built in range finding, the glass was very clean, and came on a frame ready to mount. We hope to get some feedback on this optic.

This is a little CAR that we built up originally for the KCPD for a demo model and added a few extras like a two stage trigger, Hogue grip, 4 rail free float hand guard, tac carrier release, tac mag release tac bolt release, collapsible stock, and a fabio compensator (shown below).

If you are a varmint you will not appreciate this rifle.

This is a menacing little varmint destroyer. This is a LR-260 with a JP trigger and speed hammer, Hogue grip, tac carrier release, 4 rail free float hand guard, fluted 24″ SS bull barrel, and Harris bipod. This was for a local client who will be bringing back to add a CAA 6 pos collapsible stock. (We had to order a different buffer tube and assembly.)

This kicked off our month. It was a neat little conversion of the LR-243 and included the JP trigger with speed hammer, tac carrier release, 4 rail free float hand guard, a Miculek and standard flash hider, ARMS 40 rear flip up and Yankee Hill front flip up sites. We received an email back from Mike and confirmed this is a tack driving machine. I think it makes an excellent all around small varmint to deer rifle. Mike confirmed sub MOA and several touching and overlapping holes at 100yd with factory ammunition.

This was a neat little deal we did and ended up doing on another rifle which was remove the A2 post gas block and replaced it with a picatinny rail gas block to be outfitted with a front flip up or put an optic.  This is an AP4 w/Miculek and is headed to Alaska and I’m sure some miscreant wild animal will be served for dinner.  Shown on the rifle is a new 3×25 IOR valdada QRT illuminated reticule.  I tested the optic out one night and for a 3x this is powerful.

This was another nice little project.  It is a LR-308B with fluted barrel and we added the 4 rail system, CAA collapsible stock, JP trigger and speed hammer, and the Tasco Super Sniper optic.  Another friend of ours sent his in from Ohio to let us test it and the owner of this rifle happened to be over and I can say for the money it’s rugged, the glass is very clean, mil dot reticule and target knobs.  They are priced at $300 and it is a great fit for the rifle and will serve well in the 0 - 300 range.  (It may be good beyond but that was all I was able to test it at.)  Shown with Ontario Knife and HK USP Expert.  This hard hitting, punch you in face trio would surely quell any restless natives thinking about causing mayhem, civil unrest, looting, or any other kind of violence.

If you are looking for a heavy duty rear flip up site we can recommend the ARMS. Also, on just about every rifle we add a tac carrier release shown on the left of the charging handle. This is a must for a gun with optics which eliminates trying to straddle the optic when charging your rifle.

Notice the standard hammer in the bottom lower receiver compared to the JP speed shown above.

Different upper receivers we start with.

Some optics we have and that go nicely with these rifles. Top to bottom: Springfield Armory 2nd Gen 4×14x56 very cool, Sightron 4×16x44 excellent optics very crisp, and our favorite IOR Valdada 10×42 SF with MP-8 it’s hard to use anything else after using these.

After is was all done we took a day to go camping down near where we plan to do a little hunting this fall and winter.

If you are interested in a DPMS and would like us to provide customized upgrades please contact us here at D9. Thanks

I just received a couple of rifles from DPMS the other day with the full intent of selling them. Unfortunately the first box I opened contained the new LR-260L. And since this was the first one I have received I took it out to give it the once over and that’s about the time I knew this one was going to be a keeper and would be going to the range for some personal testing. (The next issue will be dealing with moving it over to my personal storage without my wife asking too many questions.)

The rifle has a totally different look and feel from what I am used to getting in the AR-10 platform. It’s reasonably lightweight and has a stream lined, lean, sleek, look and feel to it. Even coming factory standard with the carbon fiber hand guard and G27 grip just added to it’s coolness. (Cool isn’t everything but since I trust DPMS, I know it will deliver.)

Several things caught my attention as I was simulating suppressing a jihadist prairie dog attack. First, the upper receiver is an A3 style, has a lightweight round carbon fiber hand guard, a heavy non-contoured barrel with a mini gas-block and capped off with a customized Miculek Compensator which is the same diameter as the barrel. (The compensator gives it an edge to add that slightly menacing look.)

The lower receiver adds to the coolness with the skeletonized stock which also reduces the overall weight. It comes outfitted with a G27 tactical grip and JP Adjustable trigger installed. (The only thing I would change here would be to add the speed hammer to give it an ultimate fire control system.)

Since I don’t have any loads or ammo I decided to see what was out there. The 260 was a wildcat cartridge up until about 1997 when Remington decided to make it a factory round. It’s based on the 308 case necked down to the .264 or 6.5mm. The barrel has a 1×7.5” twist rate so I will probably start with a heavier bullet in the 120 – 140grn either Hornaday V-max or Sierra Matchking HPBT. I found some information on the ballistics and it has about the same trajectory as the 300Win.

.260Rem case with 140grn Sierra Matchking HPBT

Once I found that it based on the 308 case I new this has to be a shooter. The bullet weights range from the 90grn – 140grn making it a good large varmint and deer round with just a little more horsepower than the 243Win. I’ll probably start with Alliant R15 powder since it works exceptionally well on the 308Win hand loads. As a side note I just ordered some Vita Vourhi powders and plan to test some loads with this. But the R15 is still a go to powder for the 308.

.308Win. case shown with 168grn Sierra Matchking HPBT shown above and below.

Below I have shown the .308Win with 168grn SMK HPBt with the .260Rem with 140grn SMK HPBT. Notice the two cases are almost identical except for the neck. Also observe the bullets themselves. The 168grn is shorter and larger body whereas the 140grn is much longer and narrower. This will be an interesting load to work on. I suspect it will be a flat shooting, accurate, and take care of most midwest game.

The .308Win is on the left and the 168grn is in the back. The .260Rem is on the right and 140grn in the front. (above and below)

I plan to have some results on the accuracy (which I don’t question about the gun) on the loads and how the rifle handles in general in the next few weeks. But so far the only negative thing I have found is the ammo prices, which if we develop a good load, hope to provide in the coming months. The only other issue I found negative was I only got one of these, but I have a couple more on order.

If you are interested in a .260Rem please contact D9Firearms. We expect to have some available before Thanksgiving and more by Christmas. Thanks

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.

The AR-10 chassis is quickly becoming a very dynamic platform. DPMS has multiple upper receivers in various calibers for the AR-10 lower. We just received a couple of these rifles chambered in .243Win. The upper receiver is configured in what I would call a hunter style upper that has a heavy 18” barrel with flash hider. This configuration seems well suited to this caliber since it would be an excellent varmint rifle especially for coyote hunting and wouldn’t weight you down having to carry it. Just from handling it for a free hand shot or sitting behind it with a bipod I think it’s going to be a fantastic performer.

Optic is Author’s favorite. IOR Valdada 2×12x32 with MP-8 Illuminated Reticule.

We added a few options to the lower, some of which you can see in the pictures, which included; Hogue rubberized grip, and JP Adjustable trigger. Of course in just about all of our DPMS hunting or target rifles we invariably install a JP Adjustable, which transforms the way the rifle shoots. The Hogue grip always adds another level of comfort and gives you a more firm feel. We are offering the G27 grips which are slightly different and will offer the same benefits as the Hogue.

The upper is similar to the LR-308T version with a 18” heavy barrel and flash hider. The only modification we made on the upper was adding a tactical carry latch. If you’re going to mount a scope to the DPMS rifle these are a must. They allow quick easy access to the charging handle with out trying to grasp over and around your optic.

The overall weight of the rifle is somewhere between the lighter LR-308 AP4 and the LR-308B with 18” bull. This rifle offers a good disposition for free hand as well as off of a stand or bipod. Combine it with a couple of 20 round magazines and the coyotes and prairie dogs will be getting their 62 virgins.

If you’re interested in a DPMS rifle and would like to have us install some extra options give us a call here at D9Firearms.

Author simulating fending his humble abode from ruthless tree rats hell bent on chewing the siding off his house. (Them bastards.)

On a regular basis we call a variety of manufacturers whose products we use to get some additional information on a particular item. If you’ve been to our site before you will know that DPMS AR rifles are our favorite. DPMS has continuously supplied us with quality rifles and have 1^st rate customer service. Since we were getting ready to modify some DPMS rifles with a JP trigger upgrade, we decided to call JP Enterprises directly.

JP Enterprises is no exception when it comes to quality products and customer service. As I was placing my order for several JP triggers, they asked me if I needed any Speed Hammers. Up until now I’ve not installed one on my rifle and hadn’t had any request for them. The standard JP is premium to begin with and thought that for an after market product to an AR rifle, short of having a true professional gun smith mills it to perfection, this was all I needed. They informed to quite the contrary. (By no means am I disparaging gunsmiths.)

He proceeded to describe that the factory hammer has substantially more mass which increases lock time. (Lock time is the time from when the trigger releases the sear, the hammer travels through its arc strikes the firing pin strikes and the pin hits the primer). It’s during this time as the hammer is swinging through its arc that it is transferring part of the energy into the entire rifle causing the rifle/shooter to come off the point of aim. He explained with their low mass hammer it reduces the lock time and the amount of energy transferred into the rifle allowing the rifle to stay closer to the aim point.

He told me take my rifle and site in on a target and perform a dry fire test and see what happens. So naturally I had to investigate this, of course not that I didn’t believe him, but I grew up in Missouri (Show Me State). So I took out 3 rifles, a standard AR with no mods, my personal AR-10 with JP trigger, and then installed a JP with speed hammer into another rifle. Of course the standard is course and heavy and not really geared for high accuracy. Then I tried mine with the JP, and it was clean and crisp and you could feel the hammer and confirmed the dry fire test. During the install of the new trigger and speed hammer I have to perform several dry fire tests and so I knew the answer before I took the final test. You can hear, feel, and definitely see the difference with the Speed Hammer.

I will be placing another order with them to get additional speed hammers to retrofit my rifles and keep several on hand. This is a definite recommendation, especially if you are using the heavy barrel rifles. For the tactical rifles, it’s not imperative you have the speed hammer because pin point accuracy is not as critical.

If you’re interested in a JP Adjustable w/Speed Hammer please contact us here at D9Firearms. We would be glad to install one in your new rifle. If you like to do things yourself we will be glad to ship you one. (Both options of course for a nominal fee.) Also check out DPMS and JP Enterprises web site for more information.

http://www.jprifles.com/index.php

http://www.dpmsinc.com/

Once again thanks for checking out our site and if you would like to post your findings please sign up and we would be glad to hear from you.

Darrel

At D9 we have been working on the 308 Winchester bullet to develop a load that will deliver outstanding results. Currently, we’ve focused on the 168grn and have tested this specific load in three different manufacturer’s rifles. Additionally, since the same bullet will not always produce the same result in the same manufacturer’s rifle we have also tested it in multiple models. Currently we have tested this round in:

Tikka T3 (Tested in 3 different local client rifles, all sub MOA, best was .5 MOA)

DPMS LR-308 (This has been tested in the AP4, LR-308B, LR-308 24″, all .5 MOA or better)

Springfield Armory M1A National Match Loaded (Tested in 1 rifle with poor results 1.5+ MOA)

We are planning a test with another local client in the Remington 700 SPS Varmint in the coming weeks and will publish the results.

We are federally licensed to manufacture and sell ammunition. However, we only manufacture on a per order biases and require a minimum order of 50 rounds. If you are interested in 308 ammunition please contact us. Prior to ordering we request you acknowledge the inherent dangers of using custom loaded ammunition. (We do not load any rounds that we won’t shoot in our guns. A test sample is pulled from each batch and tested fired for accuracy and reliability prior to releasing.)

We recently outfitted Luke with a DPMS LR-308 AP4 with a JP Adjustable trigger for his bear hunt coming up. We were a bit more surprised by the results of his test he performed for us. I have included several threads of emails that we went back and forth on. I have to say I was thouroughly impressed.

April 18.2007

Hi Darrel,Got the scope! Thanks so much for sending. It is sleeping safely at home in my safe. Looking forward to trying it on Saturday. You were right–that thing is SOLID. Probably could pound nails with it. Upon brief inspection, the quality does seem to be exceptional. I was thinking that I would take a Leupold VX-III with me as well to test accuracy of the AP4, but I can see that it will have nothing to offer (except perhaps so weight saving but that will be irrelevant at range). I’ll just be taking your IOR.

I’ll try to give you a call later tomorrow with the rest of the details.

Your very happy customer,

Luke

April 19, 2007 Hi Darrel,

<

Didn’t have time to get the pictures taken but I do have an additional follow up report for you. As I mentioned, I went plinking with some friends yesterday. Distances were not huge, mostly just 50-100 yards. We bought four different kinds of ammo to try–Fusion 150 grain, Remington 150 grain, Remington 180 grain, and Federal 150 grain. The rifle continued to be laser beam accurate–but without exception, ALL FOUR KINDS had the same reliability problems. Five jams with the Fusion, three with each of the remingontons, and one jam with the Federal. In all situations, the jam was caused by a failure of the spent case to eject before the next round was loaded. For the ones that did eject, most of them did not fly very far at all–they were just barely making it out. So I think that there is something wrong with the rifle. A friend of mine had similar problems with an FAL thought that maybe the gas port was not quite big enough so there isn’t enough “umph” on most shots to get the bolt to fly back hard enough to eject the round.

What do you think?

Luke

Hi Darrel

Just got off the phone with DPMS about the reliability issue. They are really nice people there. Sounds like it is something they have seen before and will be no problem for them to fix. The guy I spoke with–Shane–thought the gas system just needed to be opened up a little bit. Might have gotten shut slightly when the front sight was installed.

Your very happy customer,

Luke

Sorry for the long silence once again. I finally had a chance to take the pictures yesterdy and then was able to get them uploaded today. Here they are. The final picture (#61) shows the competition–my Springfield M1A National Match topped with a Springfield Government 4-14×56 scope pitted against the DPMS AP4 topped with your I.O.R. 2-12×35 scope. The first picture (#49) shows a closer view of the DPMS and the target. THe second picture shows the target up close. You will see three 3-shot groups, all shot at 100 yards from a cement shooting bench. Temperature was about 55 degrees. Sky was overcast with a few sprinkles every now and then, but nothing much to speak of. The upper left was shot by the DPMS with factory Winchester Supreme 168 gr ammo. It is exactly 1 MOA. The lower middle group was shot with the M1A National Match with your 168 gr special loads. It is 2.125 MOA, and I know that there was no operator error there. I had a rock solid rest, must better I thought than either of the AP4 groups. The final group–far right–was shot with the AP4 with your special 168 gr loads. That group measured 7.5mm from center to center of the two furthest shots, or exactly 0.30 MOA. The final pictures show that group up close. You will see that the group is easily covered with a dime (yep, a dime…) with room to spare. I also included a picture of the group with a ruler, both in inches, and in centemeter for scale.The JP trigger on the AP4 was without question superior to the NM trigger in the M1A. However, I do not think that this accounted for much, if any of the difference in accuracy. The AP4 is, with the right ammo, simply a superior rifle. And weighs a fraction as much, too boot. However, the ammo makes a huge difference. Winchester Fail Safes (150 gr, I think…) would not even stay on the paper out of the AP4.Anyway, I guess the bottom line is that if I had to only have one of them, I would take the AP4 hands down any day. That rifle is one of the nicest that I have ever shot. The telescoping stock makes it a bit harder to comfortably shoot from a bench, but cearly it does not negatively affect accuracy in any way. If any of your customers ever want to talk about the AP4’s performance, I would be more than happy to chat with them. You have phenomenal product, and I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone.

Good shooting,

Luke

Luke did call us back with some questions of the rifle short cycling on his 2nd trip out. We tried several immediate trouble shooting tips (adjust gas rings, verify bolt is lubed, use US ammo, and cleaning.) Unfortunately Luke did have to send the upper back in for a gas block adjustment, but needless to say DPMS stepped right up and took care of it immediately. Just a short note about the fellows at DPMS, they more than stand behind and gaurantee of their rifles. If you buy a DPMS from us and experience any problems do not hesitate to call us or DPMS directly. 1st DPMS wouldn’t put out a bad rifle, but if there is something that didn’t get set right from a gas block or a trigger install that D9 installed we will make sure it is right.

Thanks to Luke for providing us with excellent data and feedback. If you are interested in a DPMS please contact us here at D9Firearms we will be glad to outfit you with your next DPMS.

Darrel