DPMS LR-308 Customized
Thursday, August 16th, 2007
About 2 months ago we received a call from a fellow interested in a modified LR-308 AP4. This turned out to be a very interesting client and awesome rifle request. First the call came in from Sierra Leon and knowing a little about the region I was thinking he probably needs a dozen LR-308s, some rocket launchers, and machine guns. However, Don is a US citizen working for our government doing great work for the peoples of Africa on behalf of all of us. (I got to know Don quite well over the next six weeks and he really believes in and loves what he does. You would have to do this work in that environment and be away from your family. We appreciate Don’s service.)
Don was looking for the AP4 with a 4 rail hand guard, picatinny gas block, and Miculek compensator to start with. We had the standard AP4 on hand and since time line was short to have it ready for him when he came home we decided to have DPMS rework the upper for us by replacing the free float hand guards and A2 gas block. He also wanted a flip up front (to mount on the picatinny gas block) and rear flip up sites, along with optics with quick release capability.
Speaking with Don I recommend several upgrades like the Hogue grip, tactical carrier release, tactical bolt release, and a trigger upgrade. Don already had a DPMS .223 with a two stage trigger and it just made sense to put the same in this one. (My personal opinion is I like the two-stage better on the action or tactical style rifles and JP with speed hammer on the target/hunter rifles.) So we outfitted the lower while we were waiting on the upper.
The next challenge was the optics, which invariably seems to be case. Don was looking for something that would work for tactical and deer hunting and I naturally recommend my favorite optic the IOR Valdada 2×12x32 w/MP-8 illuminated reticule in a 35mm tube. The low zoom gives a reasonable field of view for faster shooting close in tactical shooting, but the quality of optic at 12x makes it excellent for mid to long range shooting. (I use mine interchangeably between 3 different rifles.)
Since a decision wasn’t required immediately, Don did a little research, and even made a call to our friends down at USAOptics.com. Don jumped off the proverbial cliff and decided to go with the optic along with a quick release see through rings. Don was already spending a few dollars on the rifle and to couple it with this optic was a total winner. I have to say Don went on a lot of faith on several fronts with this project, and the optics was just one of them and we were the other.
As the parts started to arrive, I kept Don updated via email and he would occasionally give us a buzz from the African continent to check on progress as well. Unfortunately not all the parts arrived together and I incurred some minor glitches in the design. First, the rings we ordered turned out not to be available, and so a temporary substitute was supplied. However, this was not what Don was paying for, he wanted a rifle that when it arrived it was out of the box ready to meet his expectations.
We continued to work with USA to try and get the quick release see through rings. Typically this would be easy, but when dealing with 35mm tube, there very few manufacturers. We kept Don up to date and did some searching ourselves and kept coming up with an inferior option of having to use a riser. It’s never a good idea to mount optics on a secondary platform because of reliability.
We ordered in a riser from IOR and mounted the riser, optic, and flip up rear site. Even with the riser the optic sat to low and the flip up couldn’t be used until we got the quick release high see through rings. Although a higher riser would have worked the scope elevation would have been impractical. I let Don know that we would have to go with this option until the see through rings came in and to use the flip up’s he could remove the riser. Don was not pleased and I was struggling to get something to work out but it just wasn’t happening and he reluctantly agreed to go with the operation until I could get the see through rings in.
So the day before Don is to arrive we got it put together and ready for shipment. It looked totally impressive and would strike fear in the heart of any insurgent or deer. As part of the project Don had ordered several hundred of our hand loaded .308 rounds for shooting and hunting. The deal wasn’t over just yet, at the UPS center they informed me we couldn’t air freight ammunition, and we had to ship the ammo by ground. Since I packed all the accessories with the ammo some quick repackaging was done.
I have to admit once the rifle went out I was relieved because things just hadn’t quite worked out to perfection, but the rifle was delivered on time only for Don’s plane to be delayed by a day.
Prior to shipping Don’s rifle, with his approval, we put 10 rounds of the game load we loaded down range. (I temporarily put my IOR on it without the flip up site.) That day I also brought my DPMS M4 .223 to test out the new EOTech and 2 stage I installed in it. Naturally I tested Don’s out first and wow talk about a concussion it was almost like shooting my Barrett 50. However, the recoil was reduced to less than that of the .223, it was unbelievable. After 10 rounds though I think my teeth seemed to be coming loose. (After speaking with a couple of others they bought replacement flash hiders for the Miculek to change it out when they were shooting out at the range. After Don was able to shoot he did the same as well.)
Don called back a few days later to give me an update on how it shot. The results were both good and bad. He was stunned with the first shot as well from the concussion. The second shot, the riser was jarred loose. I had torqued the riser down solidly with a nut driver but didn’t loctite it so it could be removed to access the flip up rear site. Don couldn’t tell if the nuts had worked loose or if the riser popped off because of the breaking action of the muzzle break. Don told me when he tried to put the riser back on that it wouldn’t fit back in until he had loosened the screws. I also remembered the riser did not fully clamp under the rail for example like a Burris Zee ring or even the IOR rings themselves. No damage was done, but it is critical if you are going to use a riser get one that clamps solidly around the picatinnay rail.
We understand here at D9 the review of how this project unfolded was not an exemplary model of perfection we strive for but I thought it more important to share with you some of the problems we encountered and hopefully prevent it from happening to anyone else. Although some of the circumstances were out of our control we offered Don a discount on our services because I felt it did not meet my expectations.
The rifle was shipped in a Winchester aluminum double rifle case.
(Thanks for working with us Don.)
