Thanks for the reply Renegade. I guess I'll sit on it. I might give it another go or put it on a MATEN set.
But that is a pretty set up. Wish I had an old waffle mag. But I shudder at how much they'd go for
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Finished this after a few months of gathering parts. It started out as a Quadrail Maten Monolithic with an 18" Shilen Mid-Tactical barrel, which I picked up from a fellow Snipershide member (thanks again Al).
I wanted a much lighter "5.56 replacement" battle rifle, so I tried to get it as light as I practically could.
So I sold off the Monolithic Quad, and picked up a standard Maten upper to build on.
16" Aero/Ballistic Advantage barrel
14" Fortis Switch Rail
2A Armament Ti FH/Comp
SLR Sentry 7 Ti Adj Gas Block
BCM Gunfighter Mod 3 large latch
Geissele SSA-E (came with lower)
Magpul STR
308 buffer & spring
BCM Gunfighter Mod 2 Grip
BCM KAG Handstop
BAD Ambi Selector
Optics:
Vortex PST 2.5-10x32 Mil/Mil on 20 MOA ADM Recon
Aimpoint T-1 on Larue LT-724 offset.
With the Vortex on top, it just becomes too heavy to be anything close to the maneuverability of a 5.56, and the windage knob occludes a lot of the T1. A small riser should fix that.
I now fully understand and respect the benefits and strengths of the lighter 5.56 AR platform. The rifle is light, the ammo light, it's fast, it's accurate and still very powerful.
The Shilen 18" with a Bipod may be the better setup as a DMR/Sniper platform with this build..
All in all, I think it came out looking bad as f@#& and shoots even better. The SLR adjustable gas block will let me tune it to any ammo I want.
The Shilen can shoot sub MOA, and the Aero/BA can probably shoot 1 MOA, but not from this shooter. But the Aero is on there as a long lasting battle rifle barrel with its QPQ lining.
The Fortis Switch is probably the best rail I've ever seen and used. Looks amazing, and the quick release works great.
Even though you're supposed to be able to just pull the lever out and pull it off, I find it easier to just give the allen key on the right (ejection port) side a half turn to loosen it up a bit, then pull back the lever. Putting it back on, I lock the lever down and give it a half turn back to make sure it's snug. Makes adjusting the gas really easy.
The sad part is, I'm now on the fence about selling it. I like building more than shooting sometimes. And I'm looking to fund another hobby.
It's a tough call, it's sooo much fun to shoot.
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That Mega with the BA 16" looks very slick. I am in the process of doing a build with that same barrel, albeit it on an AR-10 receiver, and the same recce-ish/battle rifle. What BCG are you using?
Thanks,
I've seen mixed reviews on that barrel, but it's been running perfect for me.
Just a standard DPMS style BCG. No branding or markings of any kind on it. Properly staked and headspace matches both barrel chambers, and haven't had one malfunction. (besides during the gas tuning, but thats all part of the process)
Good luck with your build.
No issues so far… I've only fired a couple hundred rounds through it at the square range though. No shifting of POI. I had the mounting screws back out on the 5.56 version of this handguard, so I was sure to Rocksett the ones on this one. After doing that I haven't had any trouble out of it or the 5.56 one.
This one has some design differences from the 5.56 one… It is a thicker OD, and it has small retaining tabs that go on either side of the gas block area of the upper, kind of like the retaining clip on a BCM KMR–A, instead of the wide mounting tabs like the 5.56 one. I guess they wanted it to be compatible with different uppers from various manufacturers. I'm taking it on a 20K Run 'n Gun next month, which will be a pretty good test of it... it's sure to get beat around a good bit.