I’ve been thinking about getting a ar-10 type rifle for use as a sniper type medium to long range rifle . i am interested in the LMT 308 , even though its not released yet , and the KAC sr25 . Money really isnt the issue , as i am looking for the best rifle for this set up . I would love any opinions on the subject .thanks
KAC wins that hands down. I have seen far too many 5.56 LMTs with problems (lose carrier keys, poorly staked carrier keys, shoddy handguards, etc.) that were delivered new and showing problems with less than 3K rounds through them.
Never seen any problems like that with KAC 5.56 or 7.62 guns…and I have owned and shot a pre-ban SR25 with almost 9K rounds through it without a hiccup. I have a young SR15 Match with 5K through it and it has been flawless so far. KAC builds a nicer weapon IMHO.
I for one would like to see some sort of substantiation to that claim. There are many folks on this board who run LMTs VERY hard and have had zero issues (myself included). Furthermore LMT is a provider of small arms and weapon components to the US Military, they don’t just go to any tom dick or joe for that sort of thing.
LMT is probably going to be significantly less expensive than KAC, but I believe either will be an excellent choice.
Curious as to where all of these problems are with the LMT rifles? That being said, both would be a good choice, but I’d lean to the LMT as the MRP system is pretty sweet.
You from Fla? Care to elaborate on ALL the problems you have seen? Have you ever owned one personally? Before you shit on a brand to build up the one you like, please provide documentation to back up your nonsense.
You come off as a childish fan boy when you promote, that only the companies rifles that you own are “the best”… The YMMV and IMHO disclaimers doesn’t hold shit when you first take a dump on another company.
For the record, I think KAC builds a fantastic weapon even though I own LMT, Colt and LWRCI and I will be adding a couple SR15’s to the safe in short order…
I appreciate all the replies , i have to say that as a MRP owner i have to say that all my experiences with LMT have been excellent . Their products in my opinion are top notch , as well as my experiences with KAC products . My only hesitation is the LMT 308’s 16 inch barrel . I’m not very patient and the wait for a longer barrel to be released as well as limited barrel selection is my is my sticking point .
I am a full-time USG firearms instructor for and we use 40 LMT M4 carbines a week in training/carbine certification classes. We run approximately 39 classes a year, average student putting 1K rounds down range per week in a basic class.
We switched to LMTs a short while ago to replace a mix of Colt (primarily) and a few KAC guns. In less than three weeks of shooting we have turned five of the guns back to the armorers. We had several poorly cut/cracked heat shields in new handguards, three lose gas carrier keys, and several BCGs with almost no staking on the key. One rifle had a crooked muzzle brake (poor assembly at the factory it was cross threaded and wrenched on) two muzzle brakes were cracked the first week of shooting. These were all NIB guns with this number of problems. The guns are detailed stripped and inspected every week they are used in class. Handguards aside, that is a 10% failure rate in BCG issues in our sample of 40 guns. I would not be comfortable using my cash to buy a weapon with production stats like that. The rate would be higher if the armorers hadn’t restaked several carrier keys in the guns.
I do not own any LMT guns nor would I ever purchase one for my personal use based upon my experiences with them. While we had an occasional Colt of KAC go down, it was never in this number with so few rounds through them. Usually they ran great until the barrels were shot out of them. They still ran fine, but accuracy was lost.
You really see the build quality of a manufacturer when you see a large sample (40 in my case) of them being shot at once. I am sure that there are lots of satisfied LMT owners out there but your experience to make that is based upon exposure to a few guns - yours, your buddy, etc. How many of you are putting 1K rounds a week through your guns for almost 10 months a year and then comparing it with your 39 closest friends who are doing the same thing with their LMTs? I am willing to bet d90king that I have seen more 5.56 out of LMT guns in the past two months than you have seen in your lifetime.
No disrespect intended but I think I have far more data to make an educated decision than the average recreational shooter or fanboy collector who is personally wed to his choice of manufacturer. I am not saying that LMT guns are junk - it seems like they have issues with this run of weapons, or their supplier of BCGs and muzzle brakes. All manufacturers have problems - it just seems like LMTs have more than other makers I have used and seen used in the past. Their weapons are also priced less than their competition, and in this case, like almost all things, you get what you pay for.
You will never hear me bag on KAC about their gear I love their stuff and have tons of it. That said, LMT makes alot of parts for KAC an vice versa. For example have you taken a good look at the LMT 308 MRP? You might want to compare its lower with the lower of the M-110 or any of the other ambi KAC lowers.
thmpr,
Standard M4 guns with DI gas system, safe, semi, and full auto. I have no insight or experience with 7.62 LMT offerings. The only other LMT I have direct experience with is their M203 40mm grenade launcher. While 7.62 is not a vanilla M4 5.56, I think the quality control practices of a company generally carry across their entire product line. That said, their M203s have been awesome, however I only have a sample of five of them to get that info on, which is a statistically insignificant number. While any manufactured item can have a lemon come out of the production line every now and then, folks with better QC catch it and keep it from leaving the factory. Consumers generally pay more for this because it costs the maker more money to have these QC processes up and running. LMT costs less than a similar offering from other makers, so they won the gov’t bid. I am guessing they keep their price lower because they are not doing as stringent QC compared to others and they have better stock of weapons ready for delivery compared to their competitors.
In interest of full disclosure, my personal guns are Colt and KAC in AR-15 platforms. I recently picked up an Armalite SASS to compare against my SR25, but work has kept me from getting any significant trigger time on my personal guns. I was a colt user for years since I had experience with it and trusted my life to one while I was in the military for over a decade. I got turned onto KAC 7.62 guns back in the mid-1990’s and have had a SR25 in the safe and on the line off and on ever since. Great experience with the SR25 led me to get its little brother.
I am not a KAC or Colt stockholder, employee, consultant, salesman, etc. I am just someone who probably has seen more guns with more rounds through them than most average shooters.
Man, I’d love to hear your feedack on the Armalite SASS as it pertains to the KAC SR25 rifle. I’d love to get an SR, but they are banned by name KA, as is the Armalite product. I settled for a couple of Noveske N6s. I’ll probably get one of these LMTs as well. I don’t do piston ARs.
There are a lot of people who contribute to this site who are not the “average recreational shooter” or “fanboy collector” who would disagree with your generalization of LMT and their products, many have the title of SME under their name.
Please substantiate what you’re saying with verifiable proof to the general forum or at the least to a Mod who can verify your credentials so that a big shit show is avoided regarding your allegations concerning a well reputed manufacturer.
is this some kind of joke? where’s the porn/weight loss/debt consolidation link…? 'cause these comments are just a waste of bandwidth without a free trial offer for eXtenze.
Before anyone else gets their panties in a twist and wants to make themselves feel better by beginning personal attacks rather than share how extensive their LMT experience is, please take a deep breath and go over to AR-15.com and engage in all of the shenanigans over there that make it a difficult spot to get good info.
The OP asked for opinions and received them. I provided mine and when challenged gave more info onto where I drew my data from to form my opinion. I gave it for free so you can take it for what its worth and draw your own conclusions. I am not going to get into a chest-thumping contest on this site. Its the lack of these that make this such a good site compared to others out there on the net.
Again, I am not bashing LMT - the great majority of guns from them I have worked with have been great from the get go. However I am concerned by the issues I have discussed in my previous posts. I am not saying the SME you talked to is lying, full iof crap, etc. People for their opnions based upon their experience. If you asked the majority of my students they would say LMT was great because it worked very well for them the week they shot it. But they are not seeing multiple weeks of shooting on multiple guns. Other folks have different points of view and experiences to help them form their opinions. What I posted was just that - an opinion. Take it, leave it, it does not matter to me. If you want to attack me please do it via PMs in order to keep the thread clean and not waste folks time reading them.
I have no problem if the mods want to contact me for vetting or want to lock the thread because its too controversial, etc.
