Mega SF-MATEN (7.2 lbs. .308 16")

[KUSA]

Why, so you can install the non-existent DPMS after market parts into a Mega Machine rifle?

For those that aren't familiar with Mega Machine's quality and precision machining, I would place them in the same peer group as Seekins, who I have extremely high regards for.

I've worked on guns from both, using their billet sets and matching handguards, and they are superb specimens in the billet AR world from functional, aesthetic, and innovative perspective.

I can't see any reasonable situation where I would want to install a DPMS product inside the SF MATEN. That makes absolutely no sense at all when looking at the bolt carrier group and the charge handle.

It appears to already have a GII ejection port door. Additionally, it has the ambi features that Mega is known for, like ambi bolt release and ambi mag release, which the GII does not have.

There is zero reason to want back-compatibility with the GII, especially since there is no internal component support for the GII other than extractors last I checked.

Actually I was thinking the other way around.

[LRRPF52]

They're selling these as complete rifles right now, which is the right move.

There are so many people trying to jump into the .308 DIY market, who literally have no clue about how many pitfalls there are out there, even when you stick to parts from the same vendor.

The last thing Mega needs is a team of dedicated 24/7 online or call center reps to answer DIY customer questions about buffers, extension tube lengths, why mag catches won't engage the mag release button, why pivot pins aren't long enough, why charge handles are too long, why bolt catches don't work, why their new XYZ $150 nitrided barrel from Cleatus's Tactical doesn't chamber or extratc factory ammo, or why their suppressor doesn't play nice with their 18" MLGS with excessive gas port diameter and is making belted magnum brass with shorn case rims and dropped primers.

I applaud them for not offering kits actually, even though I am a DIY type.

[Tejasmtb]

I too was impressed with their small frame 308 at SHOT. I wish I had snapped a few pics of the 12.5" SBR but I did get these of the 16" version.

[Tokarev]

Hopefully they won't have the Gen3 Magpul compatibility issues that DPMS has/had.

[Find ManBearPig!]

Hopefully they won't have the Gen3 Magpul compatibility issues that DPMS has/had.

Most of the official Mega product pictures for their standard Ma-Ten feature the rifle with P-Mags, and I have not seen a single picture yet of the new Ma-Ten SF using anything but P-Mags. As this is a brand new rifle and receiver design, that means Mega really has no excuses for the rifle to not work with the latest generation of P-Mags. I know one of the goals of the original Ma-Ten was to take the best components from the various other AR-10 designs out their, and merge them into one platform, so magazine compatibility was definitely a concern with it, and I see no reason why that would not carry over to the SF version either. I mean, it's 2016. At this point, what reason does anyone have to not design a .308 AR that doesn't work 100% with P-Mags?

My personal theory is that since DPMS has their own DPMS branded metal AR-10 mags, I assume they designed the GII around, and did all their testing with said, DPMS AR-10 mags. For DPMS, the compatibility of other magazines was probably less of a concern for them. Plus, DPMS also had to make the GII design similar enough to the first gen DPMS .308 AR's that DPMS magazines for the GII are still entirely functional with the first gen guns. Mega, on the other hand, does not produce their own magazines, so logically, it would make sense for them to design the rifle around using the most common and effective magazine design out there... and that likely means P-Mags. Plus, as I said before, the Mega still isn't out yet. Since the receivers are billet aluminium, literally all Mega has to do is stick a current gen P-Mag in a prototype rifle, see how it works, and if their are any problems, they can just modify the CAD design for the lower receiver as needed and be on their way.

[1slow01Z71]

Hate to see the barrel profile is so thin. Would've liked to take the 16" and chop it down to 14.5". Since they're still testing it, it sounds like this will be an actual release for 2017 SHOT sadly.

[eaboecke]

Hate to see the barrel profile is so thin. Would've liked to take the 16" and chop it down to 14.5". Since they're still testing it, it sounds like this will be an actual release for 2017 SHOT sadly.

What barrel profile are they using? From the pictures I have seen you can't really tell, looks to me like a medium profile ish, nothing to thin.

[Find ManBearPig!]

Hate to see the barrel profile is so thin. Would've liked to take the 16" and chop it down to 14.5".

What barrel profile are they using? From the pictures I have seen you can't really tell, looks to me like a medium profile ish, nothing to thin.

I actually emailed Mega about this exact question. They told me that the barrel is medium contour, made of 416SS, and has a black nitride coating. It's also guaranteed to shoot 1 MOA or better.

Since they're still testing it, it sounds like this will be an actual release for 2017 SHOT sadly.

It's supposed to start shipping sometime around summer. That's still far away enough that I'm sure they can both still be testing it now and also be planning it for a release then. Remember, a lot of this rifle is CNC machined, and Mega is already producing the very similar regular Maten as well, so I'm going to assume that it will not take Mega very long to set up for producing this rifle once the design has been finalized.

Also, I didn't actually ask what stage of testing the rifle was in currently (which was my mistake). For all we know, it could be in the final stretch of testing before they start making the actual production rifles. All I asked was Mega was whether or not they'd been running the rifle sufficiently hard to make sure the thing can hold up to any realistic levels of abuse. They told me that the rifle already had a torture test in progress, which means they had already spent some time beating on it. How much, as I said before, I do not know, but regardless, I didn't get any indication from them that summer would be an unrealistic release date.

[briguy64]

Is this going to be set up pretty similarly to the Grey Ghost .308? I watched some of the videos and Mega is making them, but I'm curious to see what the differences will be

[Brahmzy]

^^^ Grey Ghost is just a MATEN MKM setup with a trigger guard CNC tweak and some other small cosmetic changes.
SF-MATEN is a completely different gun from the ground up.