I've been thinking about this for some time. I gots a HEAVY DPMS 308. I bought it about 6 years ago and it is HEAVY. It is so heavy I hate it.

Brownells has an 18" barrel in stock, for right around $300. Mid length gas.

I'm gonna ask them to flute it and then mail it to me, if they will.

What else can I do? I oughta wait and save my money, bide my time and get the new DPMS they are braggin up but I am impatient and "frugal"

I appreciate all advice; polite, intelligent or rude and ignorant! Don't bother me. LOL...

Seriously, I sure appreciate the feedback.

McGowen has 'em @ $245, in stainless, 18", mid-length. You can flute it too.

http://www.mcgowenbarrel.com/ar15.htm

JSE has good prices of parts too, some of the best I have seeen on Carbon Fiber, if that is your bag:

http://www.jsesurplus.com/ar308.aspx

Something to consider. I personally want to build an upper in 338 FED

Thanks!

I suggest a 20" rifle length gas barrel and have it cut back to 18". A straight .750 barrel is a good profile and light weight. You can also save weight in the hand guard area by going with carbon fiber or one of the lighter weight aluminums. Stocks can also add excess weight also, I ditched my PRS and went with the MOE rifle and like it better.

I highly highly recommend the Lilja 20" .750 barrel. It's an awesome barrel.

My rifle is 11.5lbs as shown.
9ish lbs without optic or bipod.


MA-10 .308AR by wareagle700, on Flickr

If you are going to rebuild, I'd second the McGowen barrel or a Black Hole barrel. Both have good reputations, and should be better on weight than the factory DPMS. I have a DPMS 18 heavy barrel in .308, and yeah, it's a pig for weight.

I've used one JSE barrel in 6.8, it was an over-gassed mess. That has turned me off on their house brand.

@ AH64, I agree on the barrel, but thier prices for the DPMS type Carbon Fiber HG are the best you will find

True, but that one uses epoxy as the main method of securing it to the barrel nut, IIRC?

Don't get wrong, I like the prices and shop on the JSE website, I just don't buy their barrels anymore.

Hey y'all... thanks for the feedback. The rule of thumb seems to be the longer the gas system the better; but why not go mid length and get an adjustable gas block? I assume they make em for the 308's.

16" barrels seem real common these days but for 308 it seems like it would be intolerable. A lot of folks must not agree.

Hey... nice picture. What is the brand of free float tube hand-guard? Is that 12" long? How much does it weigh?

RW, if you are smart, you'll act on your first impulse. SELL that heavy dinosaur NOW, while you can get your money out of it and buy a new DPMS G2 SASS or Recon.

You might be right. Thing is, I am not much of a horse trader. But I am still scratching my haid collecting facts. I would imagine that the G2 would eventually come out in 18" but for now it seems they are only talking about 16 inchers. If they made a decent scope mount for the FAL... That would get me off my arse to figure out how to sell my "dinosaur" LOL

Get down in the prone and fire an FAL Para and then fire a SCAR, it'll make you throw rocks at the FAL

They do make a great FAL scope mount. The rifle itself is the dinosaur. I have a SCAR 17S I'm about to sell. The DPMS G2 is it's equal at a FAR lower price.

I haven't had my hands on the G2 yet but a friend has and he was MOST impressed. The SASS weighed a bit over 10# and was every bit the tackdriver as the original.

I'd love to fire one prone. I ain't got no friends that own one. Is it that punishing?

The thing that sticks in my head is an article years ago by that Fortier fellow in the Shotgun News. The got a huge donation of bulk 308 and fired it till the throat and rifling died. They kept going in a relay team without giving it a rest. Twas a real impressive thing. I'll try to find the article.

found this excerpt on M4.com:

Nine hour 10,000 round DSA torture test
Guns Magazine , August, 2002
DSA
Inc. puts their rifle, and reputation, on the line.

David M. Fortier

Talk is cheap. It's as simple as that. In the firearms community you hear a lot of talk, and wildly diverse opinions abound. Most of it comes from well meaning people who honestly believe in what they're espousing. However, all too often when put to the test there's little more than words to back up what they're saying. Recently though one company, DSA Inc. of Barrington, Ill., backed up their words by putting one of their rifles, and their reputation, on the line.
DSA Inc. claims to make the finest FAL rifles available. They also feel the FAL is tougher and more reliable than other, direct gas impingement designs. So after listening to them for a bit I challenged them to a 5,000 round endurance test to prove it. They responded by offering to not only supply a rifle and 250 magazines, but to go 10,000 rounds instead. We had us a horse race.
( I cannot seem to find the full article; here is a thread that discusses it:http://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=6&f=2&t=124452 )

Free float tube pictured above is a JP. Its 15.5" long over a 20" Lilja barrel. It weighs 18oz with the barrel nut (which honestly is a little hefty) but its a very sturdy handguard and allows most gas blocks to mount underneath it.

Shed some weight in the barrel, hand guard, and stock. Unless you plan on lots of high volume shooting, find a quality lighter weight barrel. JP and Lilja make some awesome barrels.

Bristoe is quite a machinist and he swears by the FAL. I'm not a fellow believer, but I respect his technical abilities and opinions.

I ordered a DSA Para. It shot 7MOA. Firing that rifle prone was like getting whacked with a tire billy in the shoulder. I took it back to the dealer to return to DSA and they told the dealer to just keep it and sell it to someone "less discriminating". You can have your DSA's, no thanks.

I did have an Enterprise Arms reciever/Stg 58 that was a no-schidt MOA rifle. I should have cut that barrel and spent the bucks for a Para kit. I couldn't abide that rediculous LOP. Lesson? Don't trade of rifles that shoot.

http://forum.308ar.com/topic/8106-pic-of-my-super-sass/

Can anybody indentify the gas block on this fellows rifle? You gotta scroll down a little to see the picture.

It looks like it has a fairly large adjustment knob on it.

Who makes that free-float-forearm rail?

I believe that is a factory Armalite AR-10 Super SASS.