So......what's up with 7.62x51mm ar's?

[kal]

After reading some posts in cagemonkey's thread, I'm eager to understand what is wrong with the 7.62mm AR rifle? Why does seem to be more problematic that the 5.56mm AR?

I'm hearing about mag problems, short stroking, extraction issues, etc.
What could the 7.62mm possibly do to make this bigger version of the ar15 less reliable?

[TOrrock]

My two pfennigs worth......

The original AR-10 as designed by Armalite and built by the Dutch worked well, but it was made by a large firearms and heavy equipment manufacturer who had decades of experience manufacturing military hardware, Artillerie Inrichtingen.

The Portuguese bought them and used them along side the FAL and G3 in their wars in Angola and Mozambique, where they were apparently very well liked and highly regarded. The Sudanese and Nicuraguans also bought them and were apparently satisified. Neither country was known for having highly trained troops or having forgiving conditions.

The current crop of AR-10 type rifles are almost boutique pieces.

You can have durable and reliable, or you can have hyper accurate, and usually those two features won't come together.

[Cagemonkey]

My two pfennigs worth......

The original AR-10 as designed by Armalite and built by the Dutch worked well, but it was made by a large firearms and heavy equipment manufacturer who had decades of experience manufacturing military hardware, Artillerie Inrichtingen.

The Portuguese bought them and used them along side the FAL and G3 in their wars in Angola and Mozambique, where they were apparently very well liked and highly regarded. The Sudanese and Nicuraguans also bought them and were apparently satisified. Neither country was known for having highly trained troops or having forgiving conditions.

The current crop of AR-10 type rifles are almost boutique pieces.

You can have durable and reliable, or you can have hyper accurate, and usually those two features won't come together.

I agree. My AR10 is shooting good at the moment. Still, I believe Armalite did too much reengineering with their product. The barrels on their early guns were too heavy. They've lighten them up and upgraded the magazines. Still, the bolt carrier assy. is awful heavy. The originals were lighter. I would like to have the AR10 more like the originals. I wonder if any of the gunsmiths out there have toyed with a lighter bolt carrier and smaller gas port size? For all its problems, I like the AR10 due to its similarities to the AR15.

[taliv]

i sure like mine (http://m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=16551) but then, it gets babied where all my ARs are abused.

what I find interesting is the differences in opinions from different service organizations on the platform, and then hearing how differently they're used by those orgs.

[SethB]

I think that a large part of the problem was the emphasis placed on parts compatibility, as well as quality of manufacture.

There is no point to compromise the integrity of the design so you can use the same parts as the small guns.

[ThirdWatcher]

My ArmaLite AR-10A2 (Infantry Model) is a good rifle that has never given me any problems (over the two years I've owned it). I use Generation 2 mags exclusively, though.

I like it so much that I bought a matching M15A2 (Service Model) and it is just as reliable.

I don't deny that others here have had issues with their rifles but the platform can be made to work reliably.

[Dave L.]

IMHO, if you have to have an AR-10/7.62 Battle Rifle:
Buy an AR-10 lower from Armalite or DPMS that would "hopefully" be grandfathered by legislation.
Then, save your money for the SCAR Heavy. If they Ban "Assault Rifles" you can always build up your lower (providing it's still legal).
Just my $.02