Posted on 01/30/2012 8:24:11 PM PST by AnAmericanMother
Fast succumbing to FN-FAL envy . . . but the Belgian FNs have priced themselves out of reach since hubby bought his 30 years ago.
I'm looking for a sturdy, accurate, reliable auto loader in .308 Win. (We have never owned a rifle in .223, hubby hated the M16 not just because they took away his M14 but also because the early ones had lots of problems. I have never been bothered by recoil, my deer gun is a Ruger M77 in .308. Besides, .223 would mean another set of dies . . )
I've looked at an FNAR, also an Armalite, but I'm throwing the floor open for wide ranging discussion. If you've got something, and you love it (or hate it), speak up!
Thanks!
The BAR (M1918) was .30-06.
30-06 is more powerful than .308
If money is no object. If you are not enamored of brand envy, an AR framed .308 from DPMS, Fulton, LMT, or several other higher priced outfits will work fine, and probably have better accuracy than Springfield or FN.
The accuracy is in the barrel, and the type of platform's inherent accuracy. The M1A is a thing of beauty, but heavy and needs a high level armorer to bring it up to it's potential.
Anyone with decent hand skills can build an AR in .308 that does better than MOA, and is light with minimal recoil.
I learned USMC marksmanship with the M-14, but clearly see the alternatives these days.
Browning BAR

though it makes the M-14NM and the HK-91 jealous.
The Saiga in .308 is a nice toy, especially if you do the pistol grip conversion, and add a 25 round magazine. (make sure you stay 922 compliant, but that is easy with the kits available)
Looks like an AK, shoots a .308 out a 16 inch barrel, along with about a two foot flame. Will fire any type of .308 ammo too, so inexpensive ammo.
Good clean and cheap AK fun.
Before the boating accident I had an M1A Scout, a full size M-14 semi-auto with an Armscorp National Match receiver and all GI parts, and a .308 Galil. They could all shoot better than I can but I really love(d) that Scout with an Aimpoint on it. She was just fine with iron sights too but my eyes are getting too old for those.
Killed me a charging black bear with the Galil in my backyard when I lived in Wasilla, Alaska. Shot him 4 times - just to be sure he was anchored - and still had 16 rounds left in case any of his buddies showed up. During the necropsy I discovered that the first Nosler 150gr. JSP had hit just below his right eye (I aimed at the tip of his nose), took out the back of his skull, traveled the length of his neck and finally came to rest between the ribs and skin on the right side. Penetrated at least 18”. The base of the recovered bullet weighed 30gr. Rounds 2 and 3 were thru-and-thru the chest. Round 4 nicked a sapling before it hit bruno which caused the bullet to leave an elliptical entry wound in the skin of the left neck. It travelled under the skin of the chest and completely disrupted the right shoulder leaving a 6” exit wound. He was DRT (dead right there)!
7.62 x 51mm will do the whatever needs to be done, especially with soft points or Nosler Ballistic Tip bullets.
Too bad all those rifles are now in the deep part of Lake Pend Oreille in about 1800 ft of water. Geez I miss them... sob!
I wish I knew how to post pictures onto Freerepublic. I have a great one of a .308 Saiga.
Now there my friend is a gun.
DPMS also has sales on various models almost all the time. A rule of thumb is that they're about $300 more expensive, and 3 pounds heavier than one of their comparable AR15s.
This is what I was able to do right out of the box at 50 yards with just a spare scope, and getting used to the factory trigger. It tuned up much better now that I know what needs to be done.

Not bad for a 16 inch medium-heavy barrel, and the Magpul plastic AR10 magazines are twice as good at half the price of the metal ones.
After accuracy tweaks, customizing to my liking, but still 20 rounds of ball ammo indoors at 50 yards:

Now all I need is practice, practice, practice to keep everything inside the x-ring at 100 yards. This is my go-to rifle when 5.56mm just doesn't give me the edge I'd like.
So I have a Remington 770 and the throw on the bolt was suppose to have been improved over the 700.
I hate how jerky is pulls back and it almost seems as if it is not made for the rifle. It’s stoopid.
Any experience with that sort of thing?
I am taking it out to a friend who will let me fire it to 1,000 yrds or whatever I want to try.
It’s mated with a Luepold Mark 4 3.5-10x 40mm
Next up is a Lapua rifle with a Bender and Schmidt. Haven’t decided on the manufacturer yet.
What can an armorer do to improve my M1A? It’s stock I shoot sub 1” @100yrds, seems fine to me as I am not in a competition or trying to shoot Somalians on a bobbing boat.
But hey, if something can improve my groupings I’ll try it.
I know they are pretty expensive, but I shot a FN SCAR and that thing is pretty cool. Light, well balanced, folding stock, good rails for optics, and was pretty accurate for the type of sight on it. Way better balance than the SOCOM.
+1
Cetme’
Not trying to be critical but with that rifle you should be cutting one ragged hole at 50 yards. Mine will hold sub 2 inch groups at 200 from the bench but I had to replace the stock trigger, their junk.
Back in the day when they said “.30 caliber” it meant .30-06.
The products produced by these companies are most excellent. If they pulled out of Illinois simultaneously, the disruption to local economies would be enormous.
“Mine has the 24 inch bull barrel which I now consider a mistake, way to heavy to carry but fine for riding in the truck.”
Hey, you could fix that up pretty easily. Have a smith cut the barrel to 20-22”, recrown it (along with maybe threading it for a flash suppressor), and flute it. That should cut the weight by a pound or three, and the fluting will help keep the barrel cooler during sustained fire.
Nice rifle!
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