I have owned this since '09. Never really put her through her paces other than zero and an occasional long range shot at a few 'Yotes. Missed some, hit some. That has now changed The rife consist of a stock DPMS 1st Gen LR308 with a 24" SS bull barrel(Yep, it is a heavy one) with the addition of a Geissele target trigger with a two stage pull with the last stage breaking at 8oz. The scope is a Leupold Vari-X III 6.5x20 scope. Just your run of the mill economic target rig. As is, this is the hardest rifle I have ever shot. It is not the recoil that is bothersome, but is wants to bounce all over place during it's recoil stage. Next time, I will place a scrap piece of carpet on the bench to see if that will help. With the addition of the 8oz. trigger pull you have to really concentrate on not pulling the trigger prematurely. I fired five rounds each string using a 20 rd Pmag. With the light trigger, there was no unintended double fire. Nothing to be proud of, but as I have stated, it took some time to get familiar and comfortable shooting this one. Once I settled in with this rifle, this was the results, Definitely will shoot sub MOA. with factory match ammo. Will load tune to see how smaller the groups can shrink, but by the time I shot this last group, I was seriously emotionally exhausted. So, I police up a 55 rounds of once fired M118 brass to take home and throw in the case tumbler. As with my Saint thread, so will this thread also evolve as I really get settled in with her and do some extreme range shooting later on.
That's nothing to sneeze at! Battle Rifle an all, that's more then serviceable! Might try more brands of ammo and see if she really like one more then the rest! My FAL really loves the 150 Gr Winchester Silver tips but also loves the 165 gr Fed blue box Ballistic tips, Both are 1/4 Moa Supprisingly, it also does really awesome with the Fed 168 gr Serra Match Kings!
Kind of partial to the DPMS rigs myself. Shot 1 1/4 inch ish using Federal target loads 168 gr Sierra intended for the M1A, or so said the markings on the box. That was from a 16" barrel flavor. Haven't had a chance to work up any decent handloads.
Give the new Swift Scirocco 165Gr. a try, all my .30 Cal rifles really love them, my 1903A4 especially loves them and also really loves the 180Gr.
That's good. I seem to favor weights over 150 grains in Cal .30 for some reason. Old friend called the other day. Doctor told him he can't fire any more high power rifles because his shoulder is so bad. Asked if I wanted to buy back a 7mm Mag Ruger bolt gun for $250 that I had sold him over 30 years ago. He had just put a new scope on it. Hit the savings account on the way over to his place.
Recorded muzzle velocities for military M118 LR. 1st-2758 FPS 2nd-2672 FPS 3rd-2698 FPS 4th-2666 FPS 5th-2756 FPS Average velocity of 2712 FPS This is from a 24” barrel, which is quit high given the barrel length. I am posting some data from,.308 Velocity Comparison 16" M110 Carbine Average Muzzle Velocity (of 10 Rounds) in Feet per Second (FPS) in 16” Barrel M110 Carbine: Ammunition Un-Suppressed M118 LR U.S. Army 2475 Lapua 167 gr. 2465 Lapua 170 gr. 2478 Lapua 185 gr. 2265 Subsonic Lapua 200 gr. 1021 Average Muzzle Velocity (of 10 Rounds) in Feet per Second (FPS) in 16” Barrel M110 Carbine: Suppressed M118 LR U.S. Army 2476 Lapua 167 gr. 2485 Lapua 170 gr. 2485 Lapua 185 gr. 2282 Subsonic Lapua 200 gr. 1019 Average Muzzle Velocity (of 10 Rounds) in Feet per Second (FPS) in 20" M110 SASS M118LR 2556 Lapua 167gr 2624 Lapua 170gr 2637 Lapua 185gr 2410 Subsonic Lapua 200gr 1028 Suppressed M118LR 2561 Lapua 167gr 2545 Lapua 170gr 2610 Lapua 185gr 2390 Subsonic Lapua 200gr 1025 Mk 17 13" 2369 15 yds (2345 fps) / 2151 ft/lbs Mk 17 13" Suppressor Attached 2369 15 yds (2345 fps) / 2151 ft/lbs Mk 17 16" 2475 85 yds (2351 fps) / 2148 ft/lbs Mk 17 16" Suppressor Attached 2481 90 yds (2342 fps) / 2131 ft/lbs Mk 17 20" 2559 140 yds (2341 fps) / 2129 ft/lbs Mk 17 20" Suppressor Attached 2570 140 yds (2351 fps) / 2148 ft/lbs
