I sold my Remington 700 PSS .308 a couple of years ago when I began to get heavier into AR’s. I have recently been desiring to pick up another .308 precision type rifle, but am leaning more towards an AR pattern.
I have been looking at the LMT MWS, Noveske N6, and Larue OBR all in the 18" versions and wondered how these compared to each other. All three manufacturers all have great reputations and all are pretty similarly priced. I’ve been leaning toward the Noveske or MWS and most heavily toward the LMT with it’s military service.
Having no time on any of these three rifles nor really any experience with precision type auto loaders, I was hoping to glean some insight into these three rifles and anything I should consider when making a decision from those of you with more experience with these rifles.
Are there any other makes/models I should consider along with these?
DPMS .308’s have a good reputation for their accuracy. You’re talking about a precision rifle and not a fighting rifle, but I’m sure I’ll get flamed for my recommendation. I have 2 of them and they are accurate.
OP, I don’t own any of the rifles that you mention, but the one thing I would suggest it that you should decide which pattern of magazines you want to use, and that will narrow down the options somewhat.
If you want KAC pattern magazines (one of my criteria for the .308 AR that I want to buy) that narrows it down to the LMT or the Larue. If you want Armalite pattern magazines, the Noveske would be the way to go.
SHOT is in January. Who knows what kinds of new goodies will come out from the companies you have mentioned? Maybe others will get in the 308 AR game as well.
Wait for the Colt 901 to come out. Right now it just has a 16" barrel (and from what I have read a proprietary barrel nut) which probably isn’t what you want, but I am sure third parties will figure out how to put a nice long stainless barrel in them. Then you’d have a monolithic .308 AR made by a known, quality manufacturer for likely less than you’d spend on a LMT MWS or a Noveske N6
[QUOTE=DeltaSierra;1167294]DPMS is junk, and the OP didn’t ask about DPMS…
OP, I don’t own any of the rifles that you mention, but the one thing I would suggest it that you should decide which pattern of magazines you want to use, and that will narrow down the options somewhat.
If you want KAC pattern magazines (one of my criteria for the .308 AR that I want to buy) that narrows it down to the LMT or the Larue. If you want Armalite pattern magazines, the Noveske would be the way to go.[/QUOTE]
The original poster said
Are there any other makes/models I should consider along with these?
You said
I don’t own any of the rifles that you mention,
Let’s try to stay on an even keel here. He wants advice and not innuendo.
I don’t own any of the rifles he mentioned (and I didn’t want him to think that I did,) but I did have a constructive tidbit for him to think about, unlike the DPMS recommendation.
DPMS rifles are known to have serious issues (in one case, a friend of mine, and a fellow marksmanship instructor at the time, had a shooter with a brand new DPMS on the range. The rifle began having serious issues with the trigger not resetting after about 500 rounds. After taking the rifle down, he noticed aluminum chips in the fire control group, and located the source of the problem in the upper receiver. The bolt carrier was biting into the upper receiver an taking pretty huge chunks out of it, which were falling into the lower, and jamming things up) and aren’t really known for being all that accurate in the grand scheme of things…
I would throw in a vote for the LMT (proud owner) but the Colt is going to be worth waiting for. I am not sure if my LMT could be called precision, possibly. KAC, Larue, I would love to have one or both but it is out of my price league right now.
Actually the magazine issue is a good point and I didn’t realize the Noveske was not compatible with the 7.62 PMag. I’d prefer the KAC pattern mags.
If I decide to go with the MWS it would be with the 18" 5R SS Barrel. The 5R barrel is pretty pricey. Would you consider it’s performance on par with that of the Noveske or Larue?
The Colt is interesting for sure. I hadn’t really heard much about it. I will not be purchasing immediately (it’ll definitely be after the first of the year if not closer to after tax time), so I’ll have some time to watch the options with the Colt develop.
Any other insights, suggestions, etc. you can share are certainly appreciated.
I have an 18SS barrelled MWS and have shot a Larue OBR. Both are awesome guns. I didn’t shoot the OBR for groups, but I think they come with an accuracy guarantee? I’ve shot the 18SS barrel once for groups and it was about 1MOA with 10 shot groups.
I think the OBR is a better looking gun, the machining is awesome. I don’t like the 20MOA rise on the rail. It just tweaks the rail/comb relationship enough that to me it is odd. It does allow the scope to be really low mounted, but then you can’t get BUIS under the scope, if you need BUIS. The LMT is maybe a bit heavier, but nothing that can’t be managed.
I think either needs a brake like a surefire or a Battlecomp. The OBR had a Surefire and I put a BABC on my LMT. That helped tame the recoil.
I don’t think you can go wrong with either rifle. While the LMT is not a pretty as the OBR, when you drop the bolt on the LMT it just has that sound that just exudes quality. ARs go ‘clink-ping’ when you drop the bolt. The LMT goes “Click-swooosh-thump”.
If you’re wanting a precision rig you can do your research and decide exactly what you want in a rifle and them build it yourself. Mega provides not only an amazing platform to work with but provides for the greatest use of components. You can use Armalite or DPMS pattern components but still use PMAGs.
I have a thread here about my build with my review. The monolithic upper is phenomenal. It’s a stout upper to say the least.
IF I could make a counterpoint to SGTButt. Not saying the ‘build-up’ model is the wrong way to go, but I don’t think it is as easy as doing it in AR15s.
308ARs just seem to be more finiky, and there seems to be a lot more variation in the parts used, I guess because there is no TDP or MIL-SPEC standard to reference. My guess is that 1:50 or maybe even 1:100 ARs is in the 308AR pattern? I think the overall market for parts is just not as mature as it is for AR15s.
I looked at building up a rifle, but if it doesn’t work- where do you go to get it tweaked right? The other is that if it is a build-up and you put it together yourself, what is its resale value?
From MyCold DeadHand is absolutely right. With AR15s you literaly can buy a single part from as many manufacturers as there are parts on a 15. You can throw that whole conglomeration together and have a gun that will most likely shoot. Reliability, accuracy, asthetics… Not gonna go there.
Witht the 308 build it is an extensive project and I had the privalege of doing over a year worth of research. Damn other projects taking precedence.
But it is definitely a challanging endeavour. Cold Dead Hand pointed out a very important point on the tweeking aspect, there really isn’t anyone to ask. For me I would have to call multiple different Customer Service reps and even then be stuck with no difinitive answer. Luckily it hasn’t happened. I also do read up on sh.com quite a bit. There was one guy with a Mega/JP build that was causing problems from the get go. The guys over there were able to point him in the right direction and he got the issue fixed.
Do think over the build option, but not lightly, think very serious about it if it’s an option of yours. Would I do mine again? Absolutely, 6.5 has been calling my name for a while now and within 3 years or so I hope to be good enough with my 308 to justify a 6.5CM.
If you are looking to go the semi-custom buidl-up route, that I think is the way to go. You can offer them the parts that they will put together and then you have someone to work with if the gun doesn’t preform. Plus, even if you use an unusual array of parts, it is still a GAP gun, which is well thought of.
Between the three, I would choose the LaRue PredatAR with an 18" barrel due to it’s lite weight. In my opinion, in regards to accuracy between LaRue and Noveske, it’s a win-win with either. I prefer the IonBond barrel treatment on the LaRue. If not for that, it would come down to a coin toss.
I’m still leaning toward the LMT with it’s monolithic rail and barrel options (ease of changing). I’m also considering a .260 Rem or 6.5CM barrel instead of the .308.
Last year I was in Kansas City and stopped by GAP. They pulled one of the gunsmiths out and he gave me the tour of the place and we talked 7.62 precision rifles for quite awhile. He told me he preferred to use the DPMS receivers as a base to complete the builds. I own nothing by DPMS except 1 ambi safety but as has been stated above DPMS .308’s seem to be a better option than their .556’s which isn’t an option at all. As far as accuracy I can remember years ago when DPMS S.S. barrels were well thought of from an accuracy stand point in .556.