PDA

View Full Version : DPMS PANTHER LONG RANGE SERIES .308?????



Protector
08-21-08, 07:22
Does anyone have a DPMS Panther Long Range series .308? I am considering getting one and would like to know from your experience what they are like and what scope would be good for 300 to 600 yards. Pics of yours would be great.

HolyRoller
08-21-08, 23:27
Try a search and you should be able to find a few discussions about these rifles, which is what I did before I traded my bolt .308 for one. I have the A4 version of the LR-308, 16" fluted barrel, and it's worked perfectly for all of the 25 rounds I've fired through it. I'll take it to John Boyette's class next week and wring it out more thoroughly, but I wouldn't have gotten it if I hadn't read a lot of glowing reviews. I'll sure let you know how it does.

For a scope from 300-600 yards, there are many good choices. I have a Leupold Mk4 3.5-10x40 on mine, the same scope the Army puts on M24s and M110s except mine has an illuminated reticle, on a LaRue mount. I have a friend who's a sniper instructor at the SF school and other than wishing for a first focal plane reticle (magnifies along with the sight picture so the mil dots are usable at any magnification) pronounces this optic GTG based on years of experience with it. Money no object, I'd get a Schmidt & Bender 4-16x50 for about $3,000, but money is an object, so I paid $850 for my Leupy and LaRue used.

BTW, this thread really should be in the "Beyond .223/5.56" forum because the DPMS .308s are still ARs, but I won't tell if you won't.

MarshallDodge
08-22-08, 00:00
I really like my LR-308. It has performed to my expectations and then some. I have upgraded a few things on it but the main thing was the addition of a Rock River 2-stage trigger. It makes the stock trigger feel like garbage.

I have a great big Nightforce scope on it that was left over from a varmint rifle. If I were to spend the cash today I would get something smaller but it sure is nice having a built in spotting scope. :D

http://home.comcast.net/~fun2shoot/AR/lr308small.jpg

Here are some groups I have shot with it before upgrading the trigger, off a bipod, and no bean bag. I am certain the gun is capable of doing better because of recent groups that I have but this is all I have for pics:

100 yards:
http://home.comcast.net/~fun2shoot/lr3085shot.jpg

200 yards:
http://home.comcast.net/~bdkirk11/guns/lr308200s.jpg

Protector
08-22-08, 06:26
Thanks for sharing..those groups look great, and so does the gun. I wasn't sure where to post this thread, because I wasn't sure if the DPMS was an AR or an alternative to an AR and did not want to post in the AR section adn make anyone mad. I guess the mods can move it if it needs to be.
If anyone else has pics of theirs, I would love to see them.

marionpd
08-22-08, 20:31
If it tells you anything i just ordered my LR308B today even after fing out the long wait on the rifle. They are the cream of the crop in the AR line up as far as i have read. No experince yet will soon let you know.

Btrain
08-26-08, 10:52
I've got two of them.

One is the 16 in bbl M-4 version (AP4) with a collapsable stock, Eotech, etc etc.


This one is a GAP built SASS.

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z285/leiasparents5/monopod009.jpg


I just put in a Geiselle trigger, and still trying to get it set right. Here is a 3 shot group I shot with it at 100 yards last weekend...


.743-.308 = .435


http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z285/leiasparents5/3shotgroup2.jpg

Protector
08-27-08, 07:32
That's a great looking gun and I'm jealous about you having two of them!!!:confused:

HolyRoller
09-01-08, 20:57
I took both my 6920/Short Dot and DPMS LR-308 AP4 to John Boyette's Combat Focused Semiauto Rifle class in Caswell County, North Carolina on 30 and 31 August 2008. Let's see if this Photobucket thing works ...
http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee328/chrisatty/2008-09-01056.jpg

Nearly new Colt 6920 taking a break under the tent. The only changes from stock are a Knight's Armament Co. 7" rail with TangoDown VFG, Blue Force Gear VCAS sling, Midwest Industries folding rear BUIS, and a Schmidt & Bender Short Dot with CQB reticle.

http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee328/chrisatty/2008-09-01058.jpg

LR-308 AP4 next to a real Mk 12. Improve your rifle's reputation by putting it in good company.

The class started Saturday morning with CQB at no more that 12 yards. The 6920 had no problem scoring hits in full and on time. There's always more to learn of course, and in the afternoon was a chance to take it out to 100 and 250 from kneeling behind a barricade. Uh oh--one hit at 100 followed by a fistful of screamin' misses, even with Black Hills red box 77 match and the Short Dot on 4x. That's a skillset I need a lot of work on, but didn't have a chance to do, at least with the 6920, before class. John took over and managed to get it zeroed, but he and I agreed the stock Colt service trigger wasn't helping a bit. While others took their turn (and a lot of us were having a lot of trouble hitting anything 100 and over), I broke out the LR-308.

It came to me with free-float railed short handguard, 16" medium weight fluted barrel, detachable irons, and one each 19-round and 10-round mag. The irons went in the parts drawer in favor of a lightly used Leupold Mk 4 LRT 3.5-10x with illuminated mildots in a LaRue SPR-E mount. The handguard rails aren't in spec and are too thick to slide accessories on, but those with thumbscrews or levers will do, so at 9:00 forward is a Midwest Industries QD sling swivel, and at 6:00 forward is a TangoDown bipod. I put in my own Geissele service-weight trigger without any trouble thanks to the complete instructions that Bill G. sends along with it. The only Bubba-smithing necessary was a Dremel cutoff wheel (don't laugh, that's what the instructions said to use) to enlarge the selector shaft notch until the trigger afterbody passed through cleanly. Also included in the Geissele Automatics ziploc were the teeny hex wrenches for adjusting the trigger. Do not get in a hurry, take your time and tweak it little by little, until the trigger breaks like the instructions say it should. Compared to the standard service trigger, Geissele is in another world and is more than worth the money. It's a trigger that helps you instead of aggravates you. The whole rig hangs by a VCAS--tried the Other Good Sling and couldn't warm to it. Before the class, I had only fired 35 rounds for function check and zeroing.

I showed John my stick and asked "think this will help?" After half a second's thought, he said "yeah." I squirted in plenty of Break-Free, deployed the bipod, set 100 yards on the Leupy, and loaded a 10-round mag of factory match Remington RM308W7 168SMK. It's not Federal Gold Medal Match but it was also only $1 a round when I found it. I borrowed a Red Tac rear bag (I'm getting one!) and due to the rather tall TD bipod (designed to get 30-round 5.56mm mags off the ground) had to stand the rear bag on end. Thus reasonably steady, I fired three rounds at the 8" 100-yard plate for three hits. Three minutes of dial-a-dope and three more rounds produced three more hits at 250. Cool! Recoil was agreeable, much more so than a lightweight bolt gun, and the pod didn't hop at all. That's not to say the reticle stayed exactly in one place, so I see a lot of followup practice in my future.

The other four Remington match rounds went through a chrono for an average 2465fps. I tried four of my handloads, Lapua Scenar 155 over 46gr IMR4895, and got 2742fps average. According to the free ballistic calculator at http://www.eskimo.com/~jbm/cgi-bin/jbmtraj.cgi , this will still be over Mach 1.1 at a thousand, so I also see some F-class coming up. On the fourth round, I got the only stoppage of the day when it wouldn't autoload into battery and didn't engage the extractor. Well, whaddya expect of neck-sized cases meant for my former bolt gun--no prob, a couple of all-the-way-back cycles of that huge heavy BCG seated the round for a safe discharge. Yes, I have full-length dies now. Last, I loaded 10 more rounds of Remington match and shot them all at the 500-yard steel while a very good shooter spotted through my Kowa TSN-822. I shoot highpower up to 600 yards now and then with iron sights, but I'd never shot with a scope at 500. I believe I hit it 7 of 10 times, which means my weapon system was really helping me. Never mind if we all know DPMS stands for Didn't Pass Military Spec--I was beginning to think very, very highly of my LR-308.

Sunday morning, we all shot several reps of a very interesting course. Five paper silhouettes from 5 to 75 yards, three 8" plates at 100-150-175, paper and metal silhouette at 200 (shoot one), and paper and metal silhouette at 250 (shoot one). Failure drill on the 5-yard target, controlled pairs to center mass of the next four, and one each on the last five, any way you wanted to do them. I set the scope on 3.5x and didn't have trouble finding the first five targets, but then they were fixed in known locations, and I wouldn't try serious CQB with my LR-308 until I can swing an extra Aimpoint Micro. I never did score all the required hits up to the 75-yard target, with special trouble on the head shot at 5, because I was in an unnecessary hurry. Well, sure you CAN win the gunfight if only you miss fast enough. WAHhahahaha.

For 100 and up, it seemed to me that taking a little time to unsling, plant the bipod, and zoom the scope to 10x was worthwhile. As I recall, on the first run-through I didn't look carefully for all the targets and consequently didn't shoot one. On another shot on the 200-yard paper, the bullet hit the 3-zone low and left, not what I was wishing for. Other than that, for all four runs for all attempted shots on steel, 100% hits! Not all center mass, mind you, but when my silly self without much practice can ring steel out to 250 without a rear bag, you have a stick you can believe in. The Geissele made trigger control eee-zee, breaking shots without the "arrrrrgh come ON" of a service trigger. Oh, did I mention this was all done with ridiculous Georgia Arms ball, straight from the Fayetteville gun show?

So, no malfunctions yet with good ammo, and a lot of accuracy potential. That's what I've seen from my LR-308. Many more rounds are necessary to come to a firm conclusion, but DPMS could be worth a look for those in search of a big bore AR that actually works and actually hits things.

MarshallDodge
09-01-08, 22:13
On the fourth round, I got the only stoppage of the day when it wouldn't autoload into battery and didn't engage the extractor. Well, whaddya expect of neck-sized cases meant for my former bolt gun--no prob, a couple of all-the-way-back cycles of that huge heavy BCG seated the round for a safe discharge. Yes, I have full-length dies now.

Great review.

The LR-308 does have a tight chamber and you need to size the brass accordingly. I learned that lesson after the first batch of 50 that I made for it when about ten of them wouldn't run. You really need a case gauge to make sure your reloads will chamber.

I have had no issues with mil-surplus and Federal Match.

armakraut
09-03-08, 01:29
http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/mm448/armakraut/new%20firearms/it_begins.jpg

Littlelebowski
09-03-08, 07:13
We had a couple at LRI's (http://longrangeinternational.com) first course. Both shot sub MOA. Very good rifles.

longshot
10-15-08, 10:24
I had 1 with the 24" bull and the only ammo that would make MOA was Rem. Premium 168gr. Everything else sprayed out at 2-3" at 100. Replaced the barrel with a Krieger Match barrel and now everything it's fed goes in sub MOA. Most at .5 MOA.

Cesiumsponge
10-26-08, 02:22
I'm novice as far as precision rifles go. I only have about 500 rounds under my belt (and some of that was barrel break-in) in the 308 platform.

I have the 24" bull barrel, non-fluted. I purchased it with an upgraded 2-stage trigger and purchased/installed a host of low-speed, high-drag parts :p It's definitely no featherweight but the "tripod" formed by the bipod and a rear monopod really makes it stable. I like it much better and it's more realistic than using sandbags.

It's treated me with sub-1 MOA results and I know I can get it tighter as I improve my skills. My best to date is something a few ten-thou above .500". I also have a no-frills 10x fixed scope. Sharper glass will conceivably give me tighter groups, but only after my skill level reaches that particular bottleneck.

The following collage of targets are 3-5 round groups, all 100 yards except for the top right, which was at 200 yards.

http://www.impulselabs.org/Personal/Eric/Gun/762/LR-308%20Net2.jpg
http://www.impulselabs.org/Personal/Eric/Gun/762/Grouping.jpg