SHOT SHOW in Las Vegas during the shows range day. Joe
was kind enough to walk me through the wide range of their
AR platform rifles before letting me get behind one of their
signature .308 rifles to engage gong style targets set out into
the desert at 800 and 900 yards. After missing low on my
first two shots to see where the scope was doped in at, the
following 8 shots from the MagPul magazine struck steel at
each distance.
Once I was done shooting, I spoke again with Joe and the
rest of his crew more in depth in regards to the .308 series.
I was impressed with how crisp the trigger felt breaking
the shot and the extreme lack of upper / lower movement
between the two parts which is usually a thorn in the side
of most AR10 platform rifle’s as far as accuracy. According to
Joe, the key is the design being based more on the SR-25
specs rather than AR10 / LR308 versions. The big difference
between the SR-25 and the Devil Dog Arms (DDA) is Joe’s
company has built theirs in a rock solid billet configuration. As
I discovered, DDA not only sells complete rifle packages but
all the components to build your own rifle as well.
BUILDING A SOLID FOUNDATION
In the passing weeks after SHOT SHOW, I could not get over
how impressive the DDA rifle was and how with a few minor
personal preference tweaks based on my shooting style,
their rifle would be the perfect .308 semi-auto rifle. I finally
decided to reach out to Joe and explain what I had in mind
for a custom build project. Joe and the Devil Dog Arms staff
went out of their way to make sure this project was off to a
great start by providing a rock solid foundation by means of a
matched billet set of DDA upper and lower parts.
A week after the arrival of my receiver parts at my local
gun shop, Second Amendment Gun and Range, a beautiful
hexagonal shaped 15 inch free float rail Joe and I discussed at
great length back in Las Vegas arrived at my home. This rail
not only locked onto the upper so secure you would swear
it was one solid piece but it also allows for a bipod to be
mounted far enough forward to give the rifle a great balance
when shooting prone or supported. Exclusively produced by
UniqueARs for Devil Dog Arms, this meaty handguard has
a smooth finish with pre-drilled holes on all sides down its
entire length to add supplied accessory rails wherever you
wish. This design is perhaps my favoUrite of any I have seen
by far on the AR platform.
RealiSing the bolt carrier group needs to be smooth and
mated well with the upper, I decided to also choose DDA for
this set up as well. I had originally looked at several other
manufacturers in order to offer more diversity in the build but
none of the other products I found matched the precision and
craftsmanship of the DDA carrier and bolt. Combined with a
BCM Gunfighter charging handle, the action was smooth and
easy to manipulate.
BARREL CHOICE
Having a great start to the project rifle in hand, it was time to
seek out the heart to this shooting beast. With this decision,
I chose to take a cue from Knight’s Armament and contacted
Krieger barrels. This company is the driving force behind
not only the SR-25 platform’s success but several other rifle
designs that have taken top honours in the amateur and
professional competitions. I spoke with the marketing director
at Krieger and explained what I had in mind.
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After our discussion, I was instructed to decide on what
muzzle break I wanted to go with and send it and the stripped
rifle bolt to Krieger. As my goal is to shoot the project rifle
suppressed and unsuppressed equally, I had my friends
at Surefire send over a suppressor ready flash hider. Once
it arrived, the bolt and muzzle device were in the mail to
Krieger less than 24 hours later. Upon receiving my package,
the engineers at Krieger took their standard M110 20 inch
stainless steel barrel blank, chambered it in .308 and cut it to
match the supplied bolt facing. Each barrel Krieger builds is
single point cut, hand lapped and thoroughly inspected before
sending to its new home. When the barrel arrived back to my
shop, the muzzle device I had originally included was installed
and tuned to the proper position. Without even shooting the
finished rifle, I was already immediately impressed!
FINDING THE RIGHT TRIGGER
As I had learned during my time at SHOT SHOW, Devil Dog
Arms and I both share a fondness for a series of triggers
made by a company called Hiperfire. This company offers
a new dynamic to the AR based platform through a totally
redesigned trigger group with their HiperTouch line. Instead
of the amount of force the hammer has striking the firing pin
being directly inverse to the weight of the trigger pull, the
two parts are independent of each other’s actions now other
than to fire. With the assistance of two overhead mounted
power springs, the hammer actually has 30% MORE power
while giving the trigger LESS felt pull and over travel. I chose
a HiperTouch model 24E for our build project which ended
up giving each shot a true “glass rod breaking” feeling. Set
at just over 2lbs, I could not feel any slop what so ever and
extremely little creep in this scalpel-like trigger.
STOCK, GRIP AND MAGAZINES
Once the main components of the build were secured, I
needed to decide on several other key factors of the basic
structure, such as which stock, grip and magazines I would
run on this project. I turned to the most popular choice on
the current market, MagPul of course. With their line of PRS
stocks, it seems no precision AR platform rifle these days can
bear to go without its counter-balancing heft and wide range
of adjustability. Having run these stocks in the past with other
ARs I own, this combined with my personal favorite MagPul
MIAD pistol grip with customizable front and rear straps,
would aid in getting a jump start on the rifle’s initial comfort.
The 10 and 20- round magazines were also supplied by
MagPul to offer the best feeding option on the market for the
.308 platform. These magazines are tough, easy to clean and
light weight enough to help offset the extra heft once fully
loaded. For general purpose shooting, these magazines would
be a perfect choice in rounding out the rifle’s ground work.