Libercontrarian

Crushed between the wheels of capitalism and big government.

The search for Dave's gun

I am commiting to go to "Phase Two-Alpha"  in the search for for Dave's AR-10-type hunting/personal defense rifle.

It seems that DPMS makes a rifle that weighs in at just under 8 lbs., and they sell a four-round mag for the weapon - in its other role, you can always pop a FAL 20-rounder in there for good measure. Add a nice Leupold VXIII scope and that takes the weight to right around 10 lbs with sling; perhaps a little heavy in the field, but a damn sight lighter than the comparable Armalite product at 10.4 lbs without scope or mag. Cradling a long gun in the brush for three hours, or hauling the dog-gone thing up a hill after a long walk can flat wear a man down. Every ounce counts after around 10 lbs.

But Dave's a big man. He can make the effort, and for a MOLDD dude (Middle-Aged Old Dude) he's in good condition. I have faith that this guy will go into the field and come back on his boots, not on a gurney.

My only concern is that the DPMS product uses FAL magazines. Sure, they're cheap, but so are Hyundais - and you wouldn't drive the Pope around in a Hyundai, would you? I have read that some manufacturers that will go nameless (like Bushmaster, for one) ;-) had serious trouble with their rifles as they could never solve their feeding problems - with FAL magazines.

DPMS has been making these guns a couple of years at least - and their model lineup in the .30-cal range has done nothing but expand. I can't imagine they'd have market success if the rifles weren't going bang every time the trigger gets pulled, although I will research this more before I give my "thumbs up" to a gunbuddy on a product or service. It sounds arrogant, I know, but I can't recall the last piece of gear I recommended that wasn't heartily loved by one of my pals - and I'd hate to change that trend.

posted by: underwhelmed at March 12, 2008 21:00 | link | comments |

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