I looked up those barrels, that's gotta be a type-o on the weight yah think? A full pound of extra material in 2".....
What did you come in at for a final weight?
Good looking rifle, looking forward to the range report!
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That is a good looking rifle. The question is how does it shoot?
Those barrels are nice but they are heavy as I have an 18" stainless and it is a beast, not something I would want to lug around all day.
This build was using a ballistic advantage barrel https://youtu.be/eDlDF0vXSes
It's possible that it was a type-o. I looked at the ballistics, and the difference between 18 inch and 16 didn't seem too much of a difference. If I get to the point where a 16" just isn't doing it for me, I can always go to a longer barrel, lighter weight bolt gun. As far as weight on the rifle, my scale isn't the best, but the rifle is weighing in as is at 7 lbs 13 oz empty. That will change obviously when I toss a scope on it, but as configured, I've had heavier AR-15s, so I'm not complaining.
I'll be shooting some time this week, and I'll give a range report. The weight difference is part of why I went with the 16". I figure if I shoot something with a 308, it's not going to know what the barrel length is, but if I need to carry the rifle in the field all day (i.e. for hunting), I'll notice the extra weight.
Definitely send over the range report, something I should probably do and we could compare notes. I am running the 18" BA barrel and the rifle shoots well, as in I can bang steel at 200 yards all day long with PMC Bronze ammo but I have only run forty rounds through the rifle so far, just function-checking it after the build.
Back to the weight though the rifle w/o optics is 9.58 pounds, she's a big girl but is pretty smooth shooting. Once I add a Vortex 4-16PST and ADM mount that jumps to 11.82 pounds. If I run it with an Aimpoint Comp M4 that weight is 10.44 pounds so better but not great.
Finally got a chance to send a couple of mags through this rifle this morning. Was able to sight it in and get 1" groups with irons at 50 yards using mil surp 147gr (not impressive for some here, but impressive for my skill level). Only had one hiccup, which was a light primer strike, not sure if it was ammo related or rifle related (as I said, it IS mil surp 7.62x51 ammo). Funny thing is, I took it out to shoot with my WASR today. The 16" barrel 308 was softer shooting than my AK.... riddle me that! Regardless, this rifle is an awesome piece of kit and (other than price of ammo), I have no complaints.
Step 2 for me is to find some decent glass and take this thing out farther.
I know this is an old thread, but was wondering what tools you used for installing the barrel and muzzle device? Seems to be only a few options for bench vise blocks. Curious what worked for you.
Sorry it took so long for me to respond. When I put the gun together, I had just moved to a new house with no garage, and therefore, no place to set up a vise. I purchased the upper complete with barrel and muzzle device. I have since put about 60 rounds through the rifle with only an issue with trigger reset. I replaced the trigger with the ALG ACT, and have had not one single issue. I currently have iron sights on it, but will throw some glass on it eventually, so I cannot speak to the barrel's long range accuracy (though I am sure the gun is more accurate than I am).