Why is the AR-10 not more popular?

F

Falcon642

New member
Last weekend I was able to see and shoot my first AR-10, a .243 version by DPMS. Have to say I'm in love, an awesome, awesome rifle.

Now I'm 31 and have been shooting for 20 years now, the fact that it took me 20 years to finally meet someone who owns an AR-10 says something about its popularity.

Went online and could only find a couple of manufacturers who make AR-10s.

So, why the lack of popularity? From my limited experience the AR-10 is an amazing rifle. Is it the price? Did the Clinton AWB kill the AR-10 and it never recovered? Whats the deal?

Thanks for helping a guy who's new to the AR-10 scene.
 
You're just on the wrong websites. Check out snipershide and ar15.com. the LMT MWS is an AR10 design and is the current crem de la creme of AR10s. Also look at KAC SR25 rifles. Expect to spend about $3k for an AR10 worth its weight. DPMS is ok for boring range shooters but they're poorly made and represent the bottom rung. Tons of known issues with them concerning things being out of spec or of crap quality. Now if you want an AR-10 in something like 6.5 Grendel or. 260 Remington you must build one from a custom barrel. That can be done for a bit over $1k conservatively.
 
I cannot identify my source,as he is still working at what he does.It could cause him problems.He was an SF "A" team commander for a long time before moving on up in SOCOM.He bought his own AR-15 about 1964,sn 3xxx.He has been one of the developers of the whole platform of the advances with that weapon to what it is today.
He is beyond retirement age,still competes 3 gun at Ft Benning match,and places middle of the pack.
He has devoted his career to upgrading the effectiveness and survivability of our troops,particularly our SOCOM troops.
Three of us were having a conversation.Long ago,he recommended a brand "x" handgun to us.It worked superbly right out of the box,and is a fine handgun.The question was asked"Why is brand "x" trashed on the internet?"
The answer:Think about how much advertising costs.If someone makes a good product for a reasonable price,they get market share.The cheapest,easiest way to reclaim some market is to trash them on forums like this.Or sniperhide or AR-15 ,com.It gets repeated over and over by people who actually don't know much,but they can parrot what they read someplace else.
Think about"A DPMS is OK if you are just a boring range shooter" and vague negative statements with no data,while another brand is recommended,and wonder.
His AR-10 is an Armalite.Mine is a DPMS.We are both happy.
 
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The AR10 series of rifles wasn't adopted by many nations, and the basic caliber it was designed for fell out of favor just years after it came out. The AR15 was it's downsized little brother that made it big - adopted by the militaries of 80+ nations, produced for 45 years, 20 million trained in it's use and upkeep, and now, a seriously growing industry as those 20 million prior service and many others buy copies of what was their battle rifle. They can't get them from the CMP.

AR15's use common basic parts, and the variations are low in number. AR10's can be proprietary, with little to no interchange between makers, especially pinning one upper onto another. That makes the AR10 game harder to play, and the source of parts specific for it is always makes many fewer of them. There's no discount for volume - and won't ever be. The tooling to make over 9 million over the last 45 years doesn't exist in depth the way it does for the AR15. It exists because those making AR15's can use it to make AR10's to a degree.

As a .308 battle rifle, it's an obscure side note in the shortlived history of the early NATO specs. Very few were ever on the market at the price and availability of the FNFAL, HK91, or others - and at the time, there was still a lot of lingering controversy about the design.
 
Fixin to get a armalite ar-10 off layaway in bout a month I hope. The question your askin is one of the reasons I wanted one. Cause you hardly ever run across anybody that has one. Everyboday and there brother has an ar-15 so I decided to go with a 308. Plus Its a good round for hogs and a all out cool gun. Dont think I answerd your question but I put my 2 cents in:cool:
 
ar 10

Picked up my 4th Armalite a few months ago. Zero experience with other makes of .308 semi-autos but the Armalites are great performers.
 
The AR15's are much more popular being a clone of our current military issued M16's.The AR10 and AR10"style"rifles are a bit larger than the 15's ammo costs more with a bit more recoil.
I purchased a DPMS LR308 AP4 Carbine 6-7 years ago I looked at the Armalite's very nice rifles,at that time they cost twice as much as the DPMS Panthers.I have been very happy with my purchase it will shoot 1"-11/4" at 100 yards,it's been 100% reliable also fit and finish is very good.I bought the DPMS for a short barreled fast handling whitetail brush gun to stalk whitetail in thick brushy creek bottoms"not a boring range rifle",it replaced my Rem 7400 06' for this hunting situation.

DPMS is ok for boring range shooters but they're poorly made and represent the bottom rung../QUOTE]

I disagree with your statement from my experience with the DPMS LR308 AP4 for the past 6-7 years

The question was asked"Why is brand "x" trashed on the internet?"
The answer:Think about how much advertising costs.If someone makes a good product for a reasonable price,they get market share.The cheapest,easiest way to reclaim some market is to trash them on forums like this.Or sniperhide or AR-15 ,com.It gets repeated over and over by people who actually don't know much,but they can parrot what they read someplace else.
Think about"A DPMS is OK if you are just a boring range shooter" and vague negative statements with no data,while another brand is recommended,and wonder./QUOTE]

I agree with your statement

I have been very happy with my DPMS it's reliably and accuracy has taken many whitetail
I only use the bayonet when those whitetail are really close!! :) LOL Jkg.

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-The only affordable .308 ARs are made by companies with questionable reputations for quality. The nice ones are ridiculously expensive.

-They can be heavy, large, and clumsy (although they don't have to be).

-No standardized magazine format yet, mags can be cheap or expensive, well-made or have frequent quality control issues, be heavy or light, depending on which model you choose.

-.308 is more expensive to blast away with than .223 and the extra sauce simply isn't needed by most folks.

But I still want one of the nicer variations... :)
 
I can't speak for everyone, but for me...

I'd prefer a more typical AR15 because of ammo cost.

There are all kinds of deals on .223/5.56 ammo, but none on .243. Granted, the cheapest .243 ammo is going to be of higher quality than the cheapest .223.

.223 kicks less. Ammo is smaller, so more can be carried. Last and least is the fact that our military uses this round, so us internet commandos feel more tactical if we also carry that round. :D

If you reload or can afford to feed it factory ammo, go for the AR10. I agree it is more versatile.
 
I've had a DPMS LR308B (18" heavy barrel) for 6 years. I've put over 2000 rounds downrange in that time. The rifle has never failed. Never jammed, never broken. I have replaced NO parts due to wear. In those 6 years, it has consistently shot into less than 1" @100yds. This with my reloads and some factory ammo. It has been kept clean and fed good quality ammo. I use DPMS and C-Products 10 & 20 rd mags. What more would you want from a rifle?
DPMS makes more large bore (AR10 style) rifles than all the others combined, they must and do have a large customer base that is happy with their rifles as I am.

Roger















b
 
Blame the government.
See how easy it is.
The 308 version was the original.
The bean counters in the government nixed it.
Nothing ever changes in that regard.
Like the bean counters in the Union army, who nixed the new fangled, lever action rifles.
They would use up too much ammo.
 
First, there is only one manufacturer of AR-10 and that is Armalite, and they enforce the name with litigation. Anyway, many 308 AR's use a common magazine: DPMS, KAC, LaRue, JP, Fulton, POF, etc, and companies like Magpul and CProducts make mags for that platform.

A 308 AR is heavy. My DPMS LR308 is about 11 lbs with empty mag and iron sights, although some are as low as 8 lbs. With a scope and loaded mag, its a beast.

DPMS rifles are fine. Do they have problems? Yes, when you ship lots of iron you will have more problems. Mine has not had a problem I did bring on myself. Accuracy is not as good as a LaRue or JP, but those cost about 3x of my DPMS.

Did the Clinton AWB kill the AR-10 and it never recovered?
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One story was that Armalite was shipping the AR10 with Knight's type mags but there were not many out there when the Clinton ban hit. So they changed to a modified M14 mag, which had more in surplus so could be had "pre-ban". Ban ends, and everybody else goes to the the Knight's style. Armalite still uses its own design.

Lee
 
When I am out with a rifle I carry it from sun up to sun down and cover a lot of ground on foot. I judged the AR10 I inspected as being too heavy/bulky/clumsy for that sort of thing. Prefer the M1A.
 
It is one of those guns you do not need. First is the price of the rifle or build. Second is the cost of the ammo. And third is that there are many many better (and cheaper) bolt action rifles out there in the same caliber.

So the question is really, do you need a semi-auto in .308? If you want to put 5 rounds in the deer you are hunting, I guess you do. If you only need one or two shots?, maybe not.

To be perfectly honest, I have seen better quality 5.56 AR's at a lower cost than the AR-10. So, I guess you can say it's over priced and less quailty that keeps the numbers down.

Jim
 
I have a DPMS LR308. It runs fine and I have had no issues with it. There was a problem early on with a batch of magazines that did not function correctly.

I can and do bang the 300 yard gong with that rifle and EOTECH sight.

I did the same thing this morning with an M1A and irons.

Both rifles are a lot of fun to shoot.

Geetarman:D
 
Didn't say there was anything wrong with them, just their price.

I can get a nice LR308 for $1,499 MSRP or a really nice Panther 6.8 SPC for $1,029 MSRP. Now what makes the 308 worth the extra $460.00?

Besides the 6.8 is closer to a 270 Winchester performance that the 308.


Jim
 
Soldier prefer 5.56 over the heavy 308

Imagine trudgeing though sand with 420 rounds of 308 strapped to you, now imaging a fire fight where after ever shot you have to get your sights back in the target, I think this in why the ar 15 pervails. Personally I love the 5.56 round, it perfect for room clearing you can take down your man and no blow though the wall taking out your coverage. Then I think about it in the civilan sence if all your doing is punching paper and working on your acuracy why was all that lead, heck I shoot my 22 and pellet gun to get myself ready.
 
It seems obvious from the responses,on DPMS quality issues,ask the man that owns one.
On 308 vs 5.56,I had 2 of the 223/5.56 version.I was uncomfortable going into the 2008 elections about the future.I enjoy the rifle.The weight on mine,7.9 lbs,is comparable to many bolt hunting rifles,so is the trigger and accuracy.It is reasonable to say I do not need a bolt 308.I do agree probably 2 rounds is enough for hunting I like a backup plan.It was $1200
 
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