Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles AR10 basics?

For starters, given your desire for a reasonably light weight rifle - pay close attention to weights of the receivers and handguard you buy (and barrel, but you already have that). In the large frame guns, it's easy to end up with a heavy tank of a rifle if you don't pay attention to the weights.

A couple other things to know that come to mind:

- Do some reading on DPMS vs Armalite (AR10) pattern. Most of us use the term "AR10" as a generic catch-all for the 308 ARs, but technically AR10 and the DPMS pattern 308 are two different things. DPMS pattern parts are more common and seem to be the way the 308 AR industry is going IMO. There is also "high rail" and "low rail" within the DPMS pattern, low rail is the most common.

- Receivers are best bought as matching pairs, or at least from the same manufacturer. Don't expect Brand A upper to match perfectly with Brand B lower, since they are not standardized like the AR15, as you mentioned.

- for the recoil system, you can use either one of two combinations of parts - a standard length (AR15) buffer tube and special 308 buffer, or a 308 length (extended) buffer tube and standard AR15 buffer. Personally I prefer the extended buffer tube because the AR15 buffers are more common.

- Pretty much all 308 ARs have some combination of proprietary and standard AR15 internal parts - which parts are proprietary depends on the manufacturer. Most can use standard AR15 triggers (but not all), but other parts such as takedown pins, bolt catch, etc may be proprietary to the receiver manufacturer.

- Plan to use an adjustable gas block from the start. You'll most likely need it.

Hope that helps.