Ideas For My First Varmint Upper

AR/M4 Custom Build Forum
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Upper Receiver:
I’ve been reading on receiver flex testing and it’s leading me more towards a VLTOR upper which I don’t really mind cuz they are kinda sexy anyway:D

Bolt carrier:
After all the positive things i’ve experienced while shooting with my Young Manufacturing BCG i’m really thinking something chromed. I saw Mr. Alexander’s new carrier and it’s intriguing. However now that B.C.M. is getting their own carrier out I don’t know which way to look. For a bolt i’ll just take whatever I can get matched with the barrel.

Handguards:
I’ve been thinking about this and this mainly varmint upper might see occasional use as some sort of tacti-cool sniper-style knock-off for punching paper on off days. For that reason i’m considering YHM’s customizeable floater in rifle length. Lets me have my wee smudge of rail for bipod and leaves the rest untouched in case I feel like going all raily.

Gas Block:
I was just gonna slap a larue low-profile on this as it’ll be under the handguards.

Barrel accessory:
I’m thinkin vortex flashhider.

Barrel: I saved the hardest for last because i’m up in the air on the barrel. I’m seriously seriously seriously considering having Randall turn me a 18" middy with midweight profile from a Rock Creek 5R blank in stainless then KG coat that puppy.

Optic: I’m dying trying crying praying wishing and cursing fancy names in vain to get an TA01(for my carbine) but I have yet to find 1,000 bucks underneath the sofa cushions.:smiley:
So i’m not sure what to get. Ideally this would be a medium to long range rifle so something with some power on a LaRue base. But then the whole budget thing kicks in and the whole head-banging on the wall feeling comes back so it’s a big conundrum. I want good optics and I want it to be very sturdy. Ideally i’d like to be able to sight it in once then use it for numerous hunts without having to re sight-in.

I hate funding BRD on a highschool budget.:mad: Too bad I enjoy my BRD too much to let it go.

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If you want a Varmint upper, you’ll be hard pressed to build anything that will shoot better than a $550 Factory RRA Varmint upper…

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I have owned a Varmint AR (RRA to be exact) and quickly sold it. The simple reason is that they are HEAVY. The other issue I have with Varmint AR’s is that they are really only good for one thing. I prefer to get an AR that is an all around good weapon (like an 18" SPR). I can take and SPR to a training class. I cannot take a Varmint AR. Something to think about.

C4

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I looked at the profile measurements and it looks to me like the SPR contour would be a smidge heavier than the medium contour which leads me to ask: Is the YHM forearm heavy enough that it goes over the extra weight of the .09" of steel around the SPR contour barrel and the rails of the PRI tube?

I wouldn’t ever buy any barrel so fat as the ‘varmint’ barrels that most manufacturers sell. The one from DPMS makes me think ‘12GA meets AR.’ I looked at the RRA offerings and they all look pretty heavy except maybe the coyote rifle. I was looking for something more midweight. Heavier than .mil profiling (excepting SPR and heavier stuff like that) but lighter than bull or hbar. One hunting area you can see for miles around, the other is a narrowish canyon that flattens out at the top where you can see for miles around.

On the SPR suggestion, would the WOA SPR barrel be relatively close accuracy-wise to a profiled 5R? It would be a hundred or two cheaper, that’s for sure. :smiley:

As for tubes, the PRI is nice and I kinda like the design but it’s a smidgen price prohibitive unless I drop the VLTOR upper and get a CMT or similar.

The more I think the more confused I get. Maybe I should just send Grant $1500 and tell him to suprise me.:stuck_out_tongue:

ETA: I’m liking the twins he built but the rails look kinda heavy and I think I want something a bit tighter grouping than a Noveske. And definitely no chrome lining. Yuck! I like to moly treat my bores with MolyFusion and chrome prevents that.

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I built a nice shooter from an RRA DCM Stainless barrel (sans FSB). It’s a subMOA upper. The weight isn’t too bad compared to the heavier varmint profiles.

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:smiley:

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alright your fancy peer pressure has won me over :D. I needa start building me an SPR clone! But first, I need an AR hammer and I’ll need to assess my funds! It really sucks being on a high-school budget. The only consoling factor is the knowledge that in the years to come, my budget will multiply!

Alright so trigger aside, what components do y’all think i’ll want? I dunno about the barrel and I want to keep this upper kinda cheap so I need lotsa help. Here’s my starting point:

-> CMT A3 upper with ramps
-> Young MFG NM carrier
-> KAC 12.25/ PRI Gen 3 tube? I want the lightest of the two
-> PRI muzzle brake
-> BUIS?
-> notably Accurate SPR barrel that won’t cost me an arm and a leg, has 1:8" twist. This barrel needs to be able to hit critters like squirrels at 300 yards+ and have a hybrid .223/5.56 chamber (wylde?)
-> PRI Gas block
-> PRI gas buster

Thanks so much for your help and patience.

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I see you are in SLC,Utah and plan on huntin’ varmints in that area?

So what kind of varmint huntin’ are you plannin’ on doin’?

You are sold on the .556 .223 caliber? (cause that .204 Ruger is a screamer)

Will all your varmint huntin be pretty much the same?..distance wise…species wise…

Will you use the rifle for self defense (cqb)…target shooting…medium distance…longer ranges?

What weights of bullets will you use…40 gr 55gr 75gr?

Lots of variables to consider barrel length, rate of twist, optics, stock,forend,grips etc…

I would put all my needs…wants…down on paper and talk to guys like Randall,Grant,Paul etc…and try to find a good compromise between all your
possible uses and which use will be biased…

You gonna shoot targets at less than 100 yds 60% of the time or coyotes inside 250 yds 50% or prairie dogs 75% at 500+ yds…you get the picture…

You gonna carry the rifle long distances up and down mountains or haul it out of the truck and plunk her down on the tailgate and sandbags…?

Your choice of LRT mounts and rings is a good one…you can always have a higher powered variable scope in a quick change SPR mount and an Aimpoint in another mount handy for your home defense…

Anyway all this will sure put a dent in that HS budget… :slight_smile:

hth

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Wow. That’s a lot of stuff. It’s exciting to build a new gun, but you’ll find quickly that a decent rifle is only part of the equation of shooting at distance with precision.

If I were building another accurate AR, then I’d go:

RRA flattop upper with one of their stainless midlength 16" barrels. They’re 1:8 and Wylde chambered, so they’ll handle .223 and 5.56. I’d only shoot .223 out of it though, like some Black Hills Match. 75 grain works best in my current 1:8 upper. The stock RRA barrel will probably shoot better than you. You could get someone like Adco to turn it down if you wanted it to be lighter profile. The stock RRA bolt carrier group and charging handle are good enough. If your optic has a big eyepiece bell, then add a Badger latch.

If you’re adding a bipod, the simple aluminum free float tube will do. If you’re adding a light, laser, optic, front BUIS, then perhaps a railed fore end like the LaRue or Daniel Defense. I have a railed foreend because I thought it was cool, but in reality, I don’t use it to its full potential.

Spend money on a good mount, and good optic. Throw levers are cool, but if this rifle will have a dedicated quality optic, and you’re not going into combat with it, I’d go with quality rings because you can space them better around your scope’s turrets and objective bell. Besides, you shouldn’t be putting on/removing your optic too much.

My vision is corrected to 20/20. I prefer optics no larger than 14x for a target gun myself…and usually limit the upper power to 10x. 10x is about the highest power I can mount on a rifle and hold steady enough without significant wobble. I also don’t have issues with mirage as much with 10x and less. Although not SPR-sexy, Leupold makes some nice scopes that don’t have “MK 4” in the name…don’t discount them outright. You need to figure out how far you want to shoot, how far you ACTUALLY can shoot, and how much of your target you want to see. 3x9x40mm usually works for most everything I’ll ever need. If you keep the objective at 44mm and under, you don’t run into ring height issues. 1" tubes usually have enough elevation to get out to 600, which is the absolute edge of what I’d be building this rifle for.

Remember to have some cash left over for quality match or similar ammo. It doesn’t make much sense to me to put together a tackdriver only to run Wolf out of it.

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I mulled all this over while playing with the ol’ .30-06 (sporterized 1903) and I can reach a bit over 300 yards with that on gophers pretty easy. Coyotes out even farther. With this new discovery (i’m running a Nikon 3-9x on it. I’ll experiment with higher powers) I’ve decided to take this upper build at a more leisurely pace. This weekend i’m going to try and beat my old group record with the .308 (1/3" @ 100yds) but it may require some research on free floating a Browning BLR:p . I’m convinced it can be done but it might require some help frome a machinist.

Anyway I was getting off subject. My only hard decisions now are what barrel (I want to stay with the 1:8 twist for 50gr NBT’s) from where. I wish WOA made their SPR barrel in 1:8 b/c that would save some dough. Maybe a Rock Creek button rifled barrel?

And of course the decision between a Mk12 mod0 or mod1.

Hmmm decisions decisions…:smiley:

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i’d be hard pressed to believe anything RRA could match up to a custom. also for the person using the cmt receiver, i’d sell it, forget it and upgrade to a mur or stealth.

if you want to use a mur, then buy a lilja 20 “super sam” or 18 heavy varmint contour. larue mid-length forend and mark’s gas block. then i’d go with a jp tactical carrier. fill in the blanks from there.