gunzblazin
New member
Well, it finally arrived. I have been waiting for about 3 months and finally I get to hold my new baby. I just recieved my new DPMS SASS .308 rifle and it is sweet. Here are my first impressions and pics.
When you first see the rifle you know it is meant for business. From the chrome plated bolt carrier to the molded palm rest grip, the rifle just looks handsome right off the bat.
Upon picking up the rifle I was a bit surprised. To me the mass of the rifle was greater than expected due to me being more familiar with the .223 carbine versions of AR style rifles. What makes the rifle so hefty is the thickness of the stainless steel barrell under the handgaurd. I can't measure but it has to be nearly one inch thick. The barrell tapers a bit after the gas block but is still pretty thick all the way out to the flash hider. The barrell is also fluted under the handgaurd which you can see in the attached picture.
The VLTOR clubfoot stock is pretty sturdy, but I don't like it on a rifle made for accuracy. It is much better than the GI version collapseable stock but to me fixed stock with adjustable LOP should have been used. Nevertheless, the VLTOR has a good cheek rest and is mostly comfortable.
DPMS's own Mangonel fold-up sights are pretty cool, thought useless to me on this rifle. As you can see in the pictures, I had to move the rear sight up to the front because of the height of my scope. On a rifle with an Aimpoint or some other electronic sight that could fail these sights would be an awesome addition. They are spring loaded and very solid.
The build quality of the rifle is very good to excellent. The upper to lower fit is excellent with very minimal lateral play. The pushpins were extremely hard to disengage due to these tight tolerances, but after some grinding teeth and elbow grease I got them pushed apart. They are much easier when squeezing the upper and lower together lightly. Upon inspecting the internals of the rifle, all operational parts are very similar to it's AR-15 cousin. The bolt is chrome plated and much more massive than a .223 bolt but looks similar. It is much more difficult to remove the firing pin retaining pin than a .223 because there is a different type of pin than a cotter pin. The bolt itself is exactly the same as a .223 though bigger. There are some tooling marks inside the upper reciever, but nothing to really worry about. Racking the charge handle is very slightly rough due to these tooling marks, but i think the action will be like butter once I fire the rifle for the first time.
Once I put the rifle back together I finally tried to the best part of the rifle. The trigger. It is a JP adjustable unit that was perfectly adjusted at the factory. Almost no let up and absolutely no over travel. If I had to guess I would say it is about 4 to 5 lbs of pull. The nicest I have felt to date, thought I have very little experience with precision rifles.
Well, I don't think I will have the chance to fire my new toy this weekend. Rainy weather here in Eastern PA is screwing me once again. As soon as I do I will update here my shooting impressions.
Here are some pics:
When you first see the rifle you know it is meant for business. From the chrome plated bolt carrier to the molded palm rest grip, the rifle just looks handsome right off the bat.
Upon picking up the rifle I was a bit surprised. To me the mass of the rifle was greater than expected due to me being more familiar with the .223 carbine versions of AR style rifles. What makes the rifle so hefty is the thickness of the stainless steel barrell under the handgaurd. I can't measure but it has to be nearly one inch thick. The barrell tapers a bit after the gas block but is still pretty thick all the way out to the flash hider. The barrell is also fluted under the handgaurd which you can see in the attached picture.
The VLTOR clubfoot stock is pretty sturdy, but I don't like it on a rifle made for accuracy. It is much better than the GI version collapseable stock but to me fixed stock with adjustable LOP should have been used. Nevertheless, the VLTOR has a good cheek rest and is mostly comfortable.
DPMS's own Mangonel fold-up sights are pretty cool, thought useless to me on this rifle. As you can see in the pictures, I had to move the rear sight up to the front because of the height of my scope. On a rifle with an Aimpoint or some other electronic sight that could fail these sights would be an awesome addition. They are spring loaded and very solid.
The build quality of the rifle is very good to excellent. The upper to lower fit is excellent with very minimal lateral play. The pushpins were extremely hard to disengage due to these tight tolerances, but after some grinding teeth and elbow grease I got them pushed apart. They are much easier when squeezing the upper and lower together lightly. Upon inspecting the internals of the rifle, all operational parts are very similar to it's AR-15 cousin. The bolt is chrome plated and much more massive than a .223 bolt but looks similar. It is much more difficult to remove the firing pin retaining pin than a .223 because there is a different type of pin than a cotter pin. The bolt itself is exactly the same as a .223 though bigger. There are some tooling marks inside the upper reciever, but nothing to really worry about. Racking the charge handle is very slightly rough due to these tooling marks, but i think the action will be like butter once I fire the rifle for the first time.
Once I put the rifle back together I finally tried to the best part of the rifle. The trigger. It is a JP adjustable unit that was perfectly adjusted at the factory. Almost no let up and absolutely no over travel. If I had to guess I would say it is about 4 to 5 lbs of pull. The nicest I have felt to date, thought I have very little experience with precision rifles.
Well, I don't think I will have the chance to fire my new toy this weekend. Rainy weather here in Eastern PA is screwing me once again. As soon as I do I will update here my shooting impressions.
Here are some pics:
