How does the balance of the rifle compare between the two setups? (UBR vs. Bravo)
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How does the balance of the rifle compare between the two setups? (UBR vs. Bravo)
Balance was better with the UBR2. But it isn’t really “off” with the Bravo. I’m not going to say the weight savings was truly noticeable, but I do like the feel of the Bravo.
I like the cheek rest of the SOPMOD stocks, I imagine the Bravo stocks are no different.Quote:
Originally Posted by JediGuy
Perhaps in concept, your rifle is more in line with what Stoner’s original AR-10 was supposed to be. A 20” battle rifle you can carry, not a bench gun. That’s pretty cool, as it goes against current trends.
That’s pretty much exactly my intent. The earlier AR-10’s weren’t really a fully developed gun, so I tried to stay around the weight of the later Portuguese contract rifles.
I've found over the years of shooting and training that there's such a thing as too light and also too heavy, but just as important is WHERE the weight is. Keeping more of the weight back at the receiver and butt stock helps absorb some recoil (absent a 3 or 4 port brake or some other comp), mass can also be an ally when in the right locations, but an enemy when in the wrong location.
The key is balancing the rifle to avoid certain situations that make it poor at a given task. Obviously a very heavy rifle is going to have less noticeable recoil, so for follow up shots or staying on target with a magnified optic that's a good thing. But target transition speeds and muscle fatigue can be consequences if it's too heavy.
I would focus on saving weight the most with the handguard and using lightweight electronics packages if you run PVS-14's (otherwise, there's plenty of white lights in the 4-5oz range). So instead of using a white light + ATPIAL-C or equivalent for an IR capable setup, run the SureFire X400V, which has similar IR performance to the ATPIAL-C (I've owned both and I couldn't tell much difference in the IR capabilities), but also has white lite.
The only thing your giving up with the X400V is you can't instantly switch from IR to white light (you need to rotate the end cap to change function) and you loose a visible laser that's on the ATPIAL-C which I never used in any training I've ever done and wasn't even useful for zeroing the IR (they are ganged) because it wasn't bright enough...
Don't get hung up on lumens either, my 350 lumen X400V is just as bright to the naked eye with similar throw as my 700 lumen Inforce WMLx IR on another upper when comparing white lite to white lite despite the 2:1 lumen difference. It's more how the light is aggregated in the reflector than just how many lumens it throws out.
I would also highly suggest with a lower weight .308 uppper a high performance hybrid comp like the Precision Armament AFAB or EFAB. You get A2 level flash suppression with around 40% recoil impulse reduction, that can off-set some of the negative effects of a lightweight .308 build in terms of recoil impulse.
Think of it like a suppressor but without the weight, cost or sound reduction.
I've found over the years of shooting and training that there's such a thing as too light and also too heavy, but just as important is WHERE the weight is. Keeping more of the weight back at the receiver and butt stock helps absorb some recoil (absent a 3 or 4 port brake or some other comp), mass can also be an ally when in the right locations, but an enemy when in the wrong location.
The key is balancing the rifle to avoid certain situations that make it poor at a given task. Obviously a very heavy rifle is going to have less noticeable recoil, so for follow up shots or staying on target with a magnified optic that's a good thing. But target transition speeds and muscle fatigue can be consequences if it's too heavy.
I would focus on saving weight the most with the handguard and using lightweight electronics packages if you run PVS-14's (otherwise, there's plenty of white lights in the 4-5oz range). So instead of using a white light + ATPIAL-C or equivalent for an IR capable setup, run the SureFire X400V, which has similar IR performance to the ATPIAL-C (I've owned both and I couldn't tell much difference in the IR capabilities), but also has white lite.
The only thing your giving up with the X400V is you can't instantly switch from IR to white light (you need to rotate the end cap to change function) and you loose a visible laser that's on the ATPIAL-C which I never used in any training I've ever done and wasn't even useful for zeroing the IR (they are ganged) because it wasn't bright enough...
Don't get hung up on lumens either, my 350 lumen X400V is just as bright to the naked eye with similar throw as my 700 lumen Inforce WMLx IR on another upper when comparing white lite to white lite despite the 2:1 lumen difference. It's more how the light is aggregated in the reflector than just how many lumens it throws out.
I would also highly suggest with a lower weight .308 upper a high performance hybrid comp like the Precision Armament AFAB or EFAB. You get A2 level flash suppression with around 40% recoil impulse reduction, that can off-set some of the negative effects of a lightweight .308 build in terms of recoil impulse.
Think of it like a suppressor but without the weight, cost or sound reduction. There's no noticeable blast to the user and very little to anyone next to you unlike 3-port brakes. It's a better solution than a short barrel + suppressor in my opinion when your application is centered more around maximizing both exterior and terminal ballistics.
Longer barrels produce higher velocities and some of the newer hybrid comps on the market provide both good flash suppression and reasonable compensation without the other issues with less total weight than a short barrel + suppressor (most of the good ones like SureFire's are in the 1lb + range, a lot of weight to add out at the end!).
In fact, good flash suppression is why suppressors have become so popular on short barreled rifles over the traditional A2's, it's not the getting down to hearing safe levels (some of them don't even manage that), it's taming the giant flame from 10~11 inch barreled 5.56 uppers or 16 inch barreled .308 uppers which also tend to have a huge flame in low light use, giving away your firing position.
Sorry for the double post.
Something else to keep in mind with weight conscious 308 gas guns is thinking about what how you are going to be using the rifle and set the rifle up keeping that in mind. Too often you will see a gun with see up to do everything from CQB to long range Prone shooting in day or night and before you know it, guns are pushing 15lbs.
These guns are modular, A bipod, flashlight and can don't have to live on your rifle 24/7, hell one can go from a PRS style stock to something like a magpul slr/ctr in a matter of seconds. Hell depending on what your realistic ranges are one could get away with a RDS and save almost 2lbs the latest gucci LPVO's