DPMS .308 Questions

[Zoff12]

I plan on getting a .308 AR type rifle and have pretty much narrowed it down to the DPMS PANTHER™ LONG RANGE 308 C 16” AP4 CARBINE (RFA2-308AP4).
http://www.dpmsinc.com/images/RFA2-308AP4.jpg
My concern is the cost of magazines. I know the Bushmaster uses the FAL mags and that was a plus when looking at the BM but I just don't like the look of theirs. The Knights SR-25 can use modified M14 mags and I have been told the DPMS can use the same mags as th SR-25. Is this true? What modifications need to be made in order to make the mags work? Any reliability issues with properly converted mags?

[Zoff12]

Nobody knows? C'mon...a little help here!

[blobman]

somebody was saying on here yesterday that bm was having problems with their 308(bigtime bolt lug probs) dont know if its true but a couple people chimed in about it..................shotgun news had a report on the dpms and it performed weell and it like 950 bucks which is cheap

[Zoff12]

Yeah....DPMS reliability is tops and it looks the best of all the .308 AR's. I see where BM is discontinuing their .308 AR. Can't say as I blame them as everyone I know who have had any contact with that particular AR wa not happy with it at all. I like the idea of using unmodified FAL mags...great idea...but need to know the mag situation on the DPMS before I buy it. If there is no alternative, then I may just go with the DSA Para Congo instead.

[blobman]

the sgn article said the sr25 magazines are the best for this rifle 20 rders

[Zoff12]

That's what I needed to verify. Thanks.

[uzimon]

25 mags are over a hundred

[Zoff12]

Well...at that price...unless I can do a conversion of something like M14 mags pretty easy...I just got the DPMS ruled out. Guess it's back to the DSA Para Congo.

[uzimon]

yea its too bad dpms cant make a good mag to go with an otherwise very accurate gun.
read in shotgun news the mage that come with it are fuckin PLASTIC! the tester predicted and then had problems with em.
maybe dp will smarten up?

[Zoff12]

Would be nice if DPMS took a hint from Bushmaster and produced an AR that'll use FAL mags without modification...or minimal modification.

[JE3146]

The design of the FAL mag does not work with the AR pattern bolt. Bushmaster fixed this problem by removing bolt lugs. What happened was this put more pressure and tension on the other remaining bolt lugs eventually causing them to shear.

I don't see FAL mags being a reliable alternative, no matter how cheap they are.

[jaydee1445]

found this thread searching for info on DPMS mags. they now come with steel ones.
a Goggle search found DPMS mag for $35 about what good m-14 mags go for

[toeball]

I've got one of the DPMS and it didn't reliably strip the first 2 rounds if you loaded to 20 on the factory mag. A little lip trimming fixed that though. I'm told that it is designed to run on Stoner SR-25 mags, which is what Knight's Armament uses. I don't know that you can use a modified M14 mag in it, but I may need to try sticking one in the mag well to compare. I've heard that the Bushmaster 308 rifles had issues, and I know they're out of production. Actually it's Rock River's design and they're going to be building and selling the FAL mag based AR-10's (called the LAR-10 by RRA). Might be worth waiting for. I can tell you that my DPMS shoots about 1" at 300 yards with 175 grain Sierra Match Kings and weighs about a ton, but I bought it as a bench rifle I really don't mind. Not bad for such an inexpensive rifle.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b288/toe_ball/IMG_1948a.jpg

[jaydee1445]

I can't wait for some range time. Going with some friends to thr Ocala forest range this week.
Alot of guys are reporting .30 MOA.