Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles I have a DPMS Gen II Hunter on the way, now a couple of questions...

I do wonder what it will take to fix it.

I think DPMS designed the receivers and BCG of the GII but forgot the rest of the rifle. From what I have experienced with my .308 with standard weight carriers, lightweight carriers, buffers, etc...., .308's need a longer gas system, not just a smaller gas port. The GII uses a lighter bolt carrier group but still uses a short gas system designed for a full mass .223 bolt group. I think this is why they chew up brass so bad. The lightweight carrier starts moving while chamber pressures are still high (bullet is still in barrel) and this rips off rims, primers back out, and gives overall false pressure signs. If you move the gas port closer to the muzzle, the bolt stays put longer and won't unlock as early. If you time it right, you can find that sweet spot where reliability and undamaged brass come together.

Why DPMS would do all that R&D only to stick with a .223 gas system amazes me.

At one point when I was looking at maybe buying a G2 I contacted DPMS and asked if they were considering a mid length gas system.

"No!"

Oh well.

They are part of Remington.

I bought this Gen II Hunter a year ago, it's been back to the factory once and then on to Ahlman's. DPMS subs their repairs to them, and I got it back today. To say they gave excellent customer service, is an understatement.



I doubt anyone can read the notes, as they are difficult in the hand, but the target says most of what I want to know. 5 at 100 yard just under an inch with factory ammo. Nosler 155 gr bthp Match, factory, but I'll take it.

Interesting thing on the note said I thought it was getting excess pressure. That's what I told them I had it in to DPMS for the first time and it came back stripping rims off the case and leaving the empty in the chamber to pound out.

They polished the chamber, rebuilt the bolt, tested headspace and increased buffer weight. Then they tested 3 different loads with a 180, 165, and 155. It appears the 155 won. They mighta got it right. Hoping!

Let the gamechanging begin. Hope to get a 165 Partition or 168 TSX flying straight. I'll try Hunter first. Might be a while though.

There used to be a guy on arfcom called Slash that built heavy buffers for AR-10's. That was my main grip with the big guns, drive a 150 gr bullet over 2700 fps and they start pulling rims. Adding one of Slash's buffers cured lots of ills.