Tell me about your AR 10

[Raoul]

So I've been toying with the idea of buying an AR 10 for a while. Ya'll need to school me on the weapon. What do you have, how do you like it, etc. And a pic would be nice to see.

[Mark A]

First was an M & P 10. Fun rifle, shoots well, good balance. Swapped a  VTAC trigger and a Troy/VTAC hand guard on it and it feels just like my AR 15

Second I built a precision AR-10 with CMT parts. It is a bit heavy but very sweet. Someday I'm going to put it in the hands of a talented shooter to see how well it shoots..

3rd was an attempt to build a 308 pistol using aero precision parts. Not such a great build but it works and will be an awesome HD gun.

[1gewehr]

The original AR10 was designed and built by the Armalite division of Fairchild Aircraft in the late '50's.  production was moved to Artillerie Inrichtingen in Holland,  About 8000 rifles were built in several configurations.  The last and largest purchase was by Portugal to arm their paratroopers.  These rifles were used to great effect in the wars in Angola and Mozambique until they ran out of spare parts and had to re-arm with the G3. 

Later Mark Westrom bought the Armalite name and the rights to manufacture .308 rifles.  these rifles have no interchangeable parts with the original AR10s and use the AR15 fire control and modified M-14 magazines.   This company still owns the rights to the name 'Armalite' and also 'AR-10'.

Eventually, other companies started to produce .308 rifles using the Stoner system and features.  While many shooters generically call these 'AR10's', they cannot have that name due to the Armalite copyright.

The original Dutch-made AR10's are the only rifles that can claim non-Spec-Ops combat use as they were issued and used by soldiers in Central America, Africa, and a few even showed up in Vietnam,  Typically the countries that had them quit using them when they wore out from use.

MY AR10?  It's a Portuguese model built on a semi-only receiver.  Then only reason it doesn't go to the range with me every trip is the afore-mentioned shortage of spare parts.  It's an amazing rifle!!!!

http://www.ar10.nl/Portuguese.html

What else do you want to know?

Edited August 23, 2016 by 1gewehr
forgot to add MY rifle!

[Raoul]

Thanks. Nice piece of history.

[abusfullofnuns]

Don't buy it piece by piece if you do a PSA.  It took 8 months to get all of the needed parts.  Funds were not the issue.  However, I was able to build an 18" PA10 with magpul furniture with a 13" keymod rail for $816 including shipping.  Not too shabby. Paired with 1000 rounds of $7.00 a box perfecta ammo and it was a cheaper investment than my first ar15 and 1000 rounds of ammo  

[musicman]

I have an M&P10 and love it.  Only mod I made was to drop a CMC 3.5lb single stage flat trigger in it.  It's right at an MOA gun with off the shelf ammo in my hands, probably much better with a better shooter and tailored ammo.  I will eventually change out the stupid round handguards and go free float, though. 

As others have said, building an ar10 is NOT as easy as an ar15.  Too many variances to assure everything fits.  You will have a VERY hard time saving any money while also trying to build a .308 that works.  As much as I don't like DPMS, the G2 is a really good design and worth a look as well.

[NotYetGecko45]

The only "AR10" I had was a for-real KAC Mk11 that I suppose was sold as a run-off for far too much money than I care to admit to, it was an excellent platform and a lot of damn fun, but for the money it better have damn well been.

Now - for straight off the shelf AR10s, I have not owned, but I have fired, is the Armalite AR-10 VSR, it was about 1700 if I remember correctly and felt very good, .308 I suppose you can say is a bit of a stouter cartridge for perceived (notice, Perceived, it is different for all) recoil impulse versus .223/5.56 - but it felt very nice. Good balance, good tight fit between the lower and upper, the trigger was crisp and using ZQI M80 Ball copy was very capable at 200m.

Building an AR10 you will be hard pressed to be able to keep prices as low as just buying a complete unit - I say that because sourcing in stock parts is a major PITA - if you are patient, and can catch sales from CTD, PSA, and other websites you can piece one together but the overall cost to include shipping will add up to be more. 

Musicman, and others mentioned, it is not as easy as throwing together a Frankenstein AR-15 - where you can literally jump into a trash bin of mixed manufactured parts, and assemble a working rifle - the AR-10 has compatibility issues for fitment among other things, and a lot of manufacturers don't really sell components.

For instance, your PSA or 80% Lower might not work with a LaRue upper, or whomever else you choose - being conscience of what you choose, and who you source the part from is just as important as safely building the weapon. Hence my point in the 3rd paragraph; try to find a distributor with a part in stock at a good bargain you are liable to drive yourself crazy.

Like with any other weapon system, there are also ammo sensitivity issues and the general 'spunk' of your AR-10 that need to be overcome. My Mk 11 as amazing as it was would have trouble with FTEs any surplus ammo, not sure if it was soft brass, but as tight as the gun was it would choke on spam can South African ammo. I would pierce primers of American Eagle 308s and in general it would only fire 'premium' grade offerings where as ZQI was the only notable objection to that rule.

The AR-10 platform hasn't been widely adopted for a reason but do NOT let that detract you from partaking in one, and enjoying it. Once you understand the niches, and what it likes/hates, there are plenty of great rifles from DPMS, SW, Armalite, LaRue, etc

[up2snuff]

A couple years ago I saw a Knights Armament M110 sniper rifle and thought that style of rifle would make an awesome deer hunting rifle. I started researching and was heading down the path of doing a ground up build. As others have already mentioned parts are not standardized among manufacturers so you have to buy the upper and lower receivers and associated internals from one manufacturer. For the most part you can buy every thing else from whoever. Since I am a budget minded enthusiast, I learned that I could buy a complete rifle for about $300-$400 less without sacrificing my goals.
I ended up buying a PSA PA-10, 20" SS free float barrel, 15" Midwest key-mod handguard, and a NIB BCG. I purchased the complete upper and lower separately when they went on sale.
The rifle has functioned flawlessly, but I expected that from PSA. For me the gamble was the barrel, but as it has turned out I can consistently shoot sub-moa groupings with it.
I really enjoy shooting the rifle and love the ergonomics for hunting. Good luck and I hope this helps.

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[Mark A]

I should have mentioned that for me at least my AR10's are a lot more fun to shoot than my AR 15's. I was shooting steel at 150 yards with a buddy a few weeks back. He was shooting his 223, I shot a couple different AR 10's.

Him: ting ting ting

Me: CLANG GONG CLANG

Me: : - )

[Spiffy]

I got a PSA AR10 that I set up as a heavy carbine. I had to change the bolt and get a heavier buffer spring to fix some of the feed issues and it's ran like a champ since then.

[JohnC]

If you buy used and its a early generation Sig 716 Patrol, try to get then to let you test fire it before you buy.

A lot of them had FTF FTE issues. Even Police Mag I think it was tested one and had to send it back for repair. I had to send mine back for warranty repair.

One way to tell if it's an updated rifle or got the fix is it will have dual extractors in the bolt.




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