Colt MARC 901 intial impressions and range review

[ExplorinInTheWoods]

So back in the spring I bought a Colt 901, I fell in love with the design back when they first came out a few years ago. I had never owned a 308 AR until this and my experience with semi auto 308's had been M1A's and a few remington hunting carbines. I wanted the Colt for a few reasons: 1. I got tired of shooting hogs with 5.56 and them running off and not having a follow up shot on other hogs when I used my deer rifle. 2. I've never had a 308 AR 3. The ability to have one lower and use multiple uppers. 4. the monolithic upper, hunting hogs with night vision is popular and having a monolithic rail for attaching a clip on night vision seems like the best route. 5. It seemed like a capable gun if I ever decide practical is boring me in 3 gun and I want to run heavy. So I finally pulled the trigger (pun intended) on a colt 901.

When I finally got it I was ecstatic, I finally had a gun that I had wanted for a little over 3 years. The gun has a nice balance due to the shaved down rail, weighing in at 8.4 pounds it's a well balanced rifle and only .1 pounds heavier than the DD 5V1. The rifle comes with a Smith Vortex flash hider but that has been since swapped for a surefire socom 762 brake, the trigger is a standard mil-spec but now sports a Geissele SSA-E. The butt stock is a nice VLTOR SOPMOD style with a solid cheekweld. The grip is the standard A2. The nice thing about this rifle is although some of the furniture is ho-hum and bland you can swap it out without feeling bad about trashing a grip or adding another spare mil-spec trigger to your parts bin. The rifle also comes with a 20 round PMAG as well as a Troy rear sight. All controls besides the safety are ambi however you can reverse the safety for those that are wrong handed.

[ExplorinInTheWoods]

I got to shoot the rifle a little bit before I swapped the vortex and mil-spec out and it was not a bad shooting gun for a 308. Now with the brake it recoils like a standard carbine length AR, so it is very controllable now. I ran my VCOG on the 901 for a while seeing if I would like the VCOG while I finished a build and also if the VCOG is something I would want to slap on top with the appropriate 308 reticle. I played around with it in a battle rifle roll shooting at target in kneeling and prone at 75-200 yds and doing ready ups at 50 yds. The rifle proved controllable despite its weight and caliber, I eventually took off the VCOG and put my 3-9 accupower on for accuracy testing. In an ideal world I would have a 4-16 for accuracy but the 3-9 suffices. From a folding plastic table and only having a front bag I shot 1 group with ZQI 147 fmj and the group was probaly 2.5 inches for 3 shots. I moved onto hornady american gunner 155 hp and shot 2 groups 1 of which was 2 inches and the other was three shots in two holes. With 168 federal gold medal match both 3 shot groups were a little over and inch. I conducted this test back in august and on new years eve I took my rifle out again and with federal it was again around an inch but with 168 hornady Z max it was shooting 1 ragged hole for both 3 shot groups, however I did not take a picture of it. Overall I feel this gun can come close to being 1MOA with quality ammo and a solid rest, each time I just use a shooting bag, no bipod nor rear bag. I definitely feel it is a great battle rifle choice, I have had zero problems with it. I plan on getting the new 1-8 accupower and making that the permanent optic for this gun.



Ratings
Ergonomics 4/5 Add whatever grip and stock you want, it is a little heavy but hey it's a 308.
Accuracy 4/5 Do your part and it will shoot straight, but this is not a precision rig in my opinion
Utility 5/5 This thing can fill many roles: Hog gun, 3gun heavy, battle rifle, CSASS potentially, plus you can whatevr mil spec 5.56 300 blk 6.8 receiver you have
Controllability 3-4/5 Without a brake it's not bad and can be handled but with a brake it's a heavier AR that puts .30 inch holes in things

Overall I like my rifle a lot and I was able to get it for $1900 so I feel like I got a good deal and now that the 1-8 accupower is coming out I now have that battle rifle scope that can be used up close and allow me to stretch out to 500 yds and utilize that 308 round.

[mgrs]

Any use with a suppressor? Would like to see how it is gassed for that use, but looks really good otherwise. Thanks for the write up.

[ExplorinInTheWoods]

I'm still saving up for a Surefire 300 SPS, I know some guys have run it with cans but I have not seen anyone with a surefire can. But on a positive note Brownells now sells BCG's for this gun so it's good to be able to get another if yours goes down. I'll do an additional write up and video for whenever I get a can on it. But I'm definitely pleased with this rifle.

[Rowland_P]

Nice rifle. The problem with swapping out the grip is that the part of the receiver directly behind the grip is lower than on standard ARs. On some AR-10-type rifles it is higher. So a grip with a high swept backstrap that will fit any other AR won't fit the 901 without heavy modification. I used the MIAD on mine with the flat backstrap. I tried modifying both of the spare back straps that came with it, and another that was given to me, and ruined all three because I have to carve so much material out of them to make them fit. However, the rubber ERGO grip with high backstrap fits well, because the swept up part is soft rubber and just lays back to accomodate the curve in the receiver.

[ExplorinInTheWoods]

Yup I put the Houge grip on mine, I think some guys have had luck with the bcm grips too.

[MRBShooter]

Handsome. Making me rethink a .308 AR. Esp since I want to shoot hogs.

[Vegasshooter]

I've become such a huge fan of the .308 AR. I've got the Daniel Defense. Slap a 1-8 on there and what a great gun. I really, truly think it is a do it all rifle. Short, quick handling, not super heavy, very familiar feel, .308 to handle anything you'd hunt in the lower 48.

Quickly becoming my favorite rifle!

[ExplorinInTheWoods]

Yeah for 16 inch 308's I think a 1-6/1-8 is great. I like my 3-9 on it but with the 1-8 accupower coming out I'm going to eventually get one of those.