Dpms Rflr-243 Panther Lr 243 Rifle 243 Win Review

This review of Remington Outdoors' DPMS GII AR-308 riflesappeared originally as a feature in the January 2015consequence of American Rifleman. To subscribe to the magazine, visit the NRA membership folio here and selectAmerican Rifleman as your member magazine.

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Virtually gun guys requite credit to Gene Stoner for the AR-15 rifle, just students of gun history know that Stoner developed the larger, .308 Win.-based AR-10 long before anyone had ever heard of an AR-15 (read the story of the AR-x hither). What a lot of people don't know is that if the AR-10 submitted to the regime for testing in 1956 had remained true to the Stoner design, things might have turned out differently.

The company president, George Sullivan, insisted, over Stoner'southward protests, that the gun submitted for testing be fitted with an unproven aluminum/steel composite barrel. The barrel burst during the test, and the government rejected the AR-10 in favor of the M14 rifle.

The proper name AR-15 is endemic by Colt, but has come up to be used as a generic term for the blazon of firearm, often shortened to AR. The name AR-ten, on the other hand, is trademarked past ArmaLite, and that company prefers it be used to describe only its guns. Equally a result, other firms making .308 Win. ARs take their own proprietary names, which tin be confusing. For simplicity, I refer to them as AR-Ls, with the "L" standing for "large."

Ane of the most popular AR-L rifles is the DPMS LR series. It was introduced back when DPMS founder Randy Luth still owned the visitor, and it became an manufacture leader of sorts. It is accurate, dependable and, most importantly, affordable. The magazines used are a scrap differently than those used by the ArmaLite, but have emerged to become what is, arguably, at present the industry standard.

The AR-Fifty has some serious attributes as a defensive rifle, with the larger, more than powerful cartridge at the top of the list. There have been complaints from our fighting forces about the stopping power of the 5.56x45 mm NATO, only nobody ever complains about the 7.62x51 mm NATO (.308 Win.) declining to go the chore done. The AR-L is likewise the darling of 3-gun competition with the heavy class shooters.

But probably the strongest statement for this rifle is for hunting. The smaller AR-15 is limited to cartridges with marginal power levels for big game, or cartridges with express range. The AR-L is based on the .308 Win. cartridge and tin can exist chambered for any of its offspring from .243 Win. through .338 Federal.

DPMS didn't claw its way to the top of the AR heap by resting on its honor and now, as a function of Remington Outdoors, it has lots of resources for developing new concepts, which is how the new DPMS GII, LR rifles came to be offered. "The LR line was great," said Adam Ballard, the Modern Sporting Rifle Production Manager for Remington Outdoors (formerly the Freedom Group), "but similar anything in life, there was ever room for improvement.

"Nosotros looked at the areas that we thought we could brand better and prepare out to change them. What we idea would be only a few changes to an existing product line took on a life of its own and became an entirely new line of guns. We found that some of the changes could not easily be made to the existing gun and rather than not exercise them, we created the new rifle, a rifle that is the next evolution of this course of firearms."

The DPMS GII Recon has Magpul front and rear sights, besides as ample rails infinite for mounting optics.

The GII is smaller and lighter, almost as small and as light equally the AR-xv rifle. Electric current models start at 6 lbs., 14 ozs. Ballard said, "Depending on the model, the GII can weigh from one to several pounds less than its older LR counterpart." To accomplish that weight reduction, the engineers had to create new upper and lower receivers, every bit well as a new bolt carrier.

The forged 7075-T6 receivers are anodized and Teflon-coated. The upper receiver includes a fully functional forrad assist. The forward assist in the older guns but worked for the last 1/8" of travel, which acquired complaints from hunters who wanted to ease the commodities down slowly and use the forward assist to make certain the gun was in battery. With the new gun, they can do that with confidence.

There is a larger ejection port and an improved shell deflector, then it won't shell upwardly the brass as much. As a handloader, I am thankful for that. It'south a tragic thing to have to throw contumely into the trash because the rim is bent and distorted.

The forged, monolithic bolt carrier in the GII is another redesign from the old style. It eliminates the larger forward section and is the same size for its entire length. The new bolt carrier measures 0.930" at its largest point every bit opposed to the previous blueprint at 1.135". The new bolt carrier is also 0.half-dozen" shorter than its predecessor. The GII commodities carrier group weighs 6 ozs. less than the old style. The gas primal on the new bolt carrier is lower and integral to the bolt, once more saving space. It is fitted with a gas key extension that is pinned into place. Past using an integral gas central rather than one held on with screws, another potential failure area is eliminated.

The GII bolt uses new geometry for the locking lugs where every edge has a radius to enhance reliability. At that place are two ejectors rather than the standard single. Ballard said that is to help reduce spring fatigue. Of class, information technology besides introduces redundancy every bit the gun will operate with one ejector.

The extractor is fabricated of a metal whose composition DPMS volition non reveal, but that has been shown in extensive testing to be almost failure-proof. The only exception was one that failed because it was machined incorrectly.

The DPMS GII feed ramp is a steel insert that is pinned into the aluminum upper receiver.

Rather than a wound wire extractor spring, the GII uses an elastic, polymer button it refers to as a "tactical Skittle." Again, all-encompassing testing has shown it to be just nearly failure-proof and far less decumbent to problems than a conventional spring. The extractor and "elastomer extractor spring" volition retro-fit to older DPMS LR rifles.

The DPMS GII uses a new style barrel extension to mate with the new bolt, which besides reduces weight. The firing pivot is titanium. The feed ramp is a steel insert pinned into the aluminum upper receiver. This adds force and immovability and eliminates the problem of the softer, more malleable, aluminum being battered out of shape.

The DPMS GII uses a re-engineered bolt-carrier group to reduce weight. The gas cardinal on the new bolt carrier is lower than that of the old style and is integral to the bolt.

The barrel, gas block and gas tube are pretty much standard. The gun volition have well-nigh AR-15 handguards, so that opens up the aftermarket options. Those models with threaded barrels use the standard 5/8-24 thread pattern, mutual to .308 Win. rifles.

The lower receiver has a beveled mag well for faster reloads and an integral trigger baby-sit. The buffer and buffer spring are standard AR-50 designed for a .308 Win. and volition accept AR-manner stocks. Any AR blazon grip will fit. The trigger is standard and can utilise any of the electric current AR-L triggers. The guns, of course, take DPMS-pattern magazines.

Compared to the quondam LR bolt, the bolt for the DPMS GII has new geometry for the lugs, dual ejectors and a new extractor with a polymer bound.

The DPMS GII was introduced to a small grouping of writers at an event at Gunsite Academy in December 2013. The AP4 and Recon models were at that place for us to shoot, and there was a scramble for the Recon-based generally, no doubt, on the "tactical" appearance of the gun. The Recon features a bead-blasted, stainless steel sixteen" barrel with low-profile gas block and a mid-length gas tube. The 3-pronged flash hider on the end is designed to take a suppressor from AAC, a sis company within Remington Outdoors.

The fore-cease on the Recon is a iv-rail, free-bladder tube, while an adjustable Magpul butt-stock and Magpul grip circular out the ensemble. The gun features a 2-stage trigger and uses the DPMS pattern magazines. The gun weighs in at a sleek 8 lbs., 8 ozs., and while leaning in the rack it simply caught the center of every writer there. Only at the end of the session, we were all gravitating to the much plainer-looking AP4 guns.

The entry level AP4 has a mil-spec trigger, a ribbed, oval, plastic handguard and the somewhat dated A2 front sight/gas block. The rifle's buttstock is a bones, black plastic adaptable model.

Still, presently enough it was the gun nosotros all wanted to shoot. The reason? Simple; the muzzle brake. The Recon has a flash hider designed to accept a suppressor which looks very cool, but does virtually aught to mitigate recoil or muzzle lift. The AP4 on the other hand, has a very constructive muzzle brake.

The brake not simply reduces recoil, it makes shooting double taps much faster. In fact, I was impressed with how well I could double tap targets and practice lateral target-to-target transitions with it. It may be i of the fastest-handling CQB, .308 rifles I have tried.

Currently DPMS offers 7 different models of the GII in .308 Win.: the AP4; MOE; Recon; Hunter; Bull 24; Compact Hunter; and SASS. The Hunter models are likewise chambered for .243 Win., .260 Rem. and .338 Federal. I have been able to piece of work pretty extensively with three of the GII models in preparation for this article, the AP4, the Recon and the Hunter. I take tested them all extensively for accurateness and measured velocity. I have too been able to run some drills, both close range and long range. And then I shot the guns, merely like virtually gun guys shoot them, just having fun pulling the trigger.

I suppose that between the outcome at Gunsite and all the testing and shooting I have been doing with these three rifles at my domicile range, I probably accept surpassed the ane,000-circular mark through various GII rifles and have not experienced a single function failure. I did have some overpressure issues with the AP4. This gun has a chrome-lined barrel and apparently the early on guns I tested had some bore-dimension issues. That is besides probably why the AP4 was not every bit accurate as the other two guns tested. DPMS was aware and was working to accept the problem corrected by press time.

The Hunter model is specifically well designed for that activity. For years AR companies have figured that if they only paint their guns camo, hunters will be happy. But hunters don't need all the "tactical" add-ons. For example, it is far improve to take a longer barrel than a useless wink hider. This gun has a 20", non-threaded barrel, which is what a hunting gun should accept. Fifty-fifty 22" would exist fine, only, we don't demand a threaded barrel, flash hider or a cage brake.

The GII Hunter I tested blew me away with its accuracy. I was primarily testing that rifle for our sister publication American Hunter and didn't even plan to include it in this commodity, but the performance is too impressive to ignore. American Hunter uses three, iii-shots groups with iii unlike loads as a examination protocol. With the Blackness Hills 168-gr. load, the first group measured 0.30". That was the best, but the average of 3 groups was 0.47". The boilerplate for all nine groups was 0.80". From an out-of-the-box AR-L shooting mill ammunition, that is very impressive accuracy.

The Recon was too impressively authentic. I tested it with the much tougher American Rifleman testing protocol of five, 5-shot groups. It is non a fussy rifle, as the GII Recon averaged only slightly over one minute-of-angle with any ammunition I fed it. The best group was with the new Fusion 150-gr. MSR, which is designed for AR rifles, five shots measured 0.65". The average for xv groups with 3 unlike ammo products was ane.07". That is outstanding accuracy, and I usually only run across it from guns costing twice equally much.

I'll stick by the statement I made at the Gunsite event; these rifles are a game-changer (I know, it's a gunwriter platitude, but I mean it). They have eliminated many of the things that shooters didn't similar about the AR-L rifles. They are lighter and much easier to operate. They are extremely accurate and flawlessly dependable. I think that this new GII design may well ready a new standard for AR-50 rifles in the years to come.

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Source: https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/review-dpms-gii-ar-308/