Aero Precision M5 .308 Build

[IronMonster]

I started a thread some time back when I started asking questions about the variants of .308 AR's. This is my first attempt at putting together a "big brother" AR and I can say I have learned quite a bit.

Over all I am pretty happy with this. I spent a little more money than I planed on but I think it was well spent. My biggest gripe with it so far is just its weight. She is a tank. With a empty magazine and the bi-pod she clocks in at 12.5 lbs With a optic and loaded mag its gonna be 16 pounds! And this is a relatively light 16" barrel. Cant imagine what it it would weigh with a 22" bull barrel!

I am hoping this weekend I'll get a chance to see if it goes bang.

It is mostly Aero

Areo 16" 1/10 Stainless bead blasted barrel
Fortis Stainless gas bock.
Spikes nitrided gas tube
AAC comp/flash hider
Aero enhanced upper and keymod rail
Aero M5 lower
GGG folding sights
Magpul UBR stock
CMC 3.5lb flat trigger
B.A.D.-A.S.S. Ambi saftey
AXTS/Raptor ambi charging handle
Aero/Fail Zero BGC


Currently has a Atlas bipod





So know I want to build another one. I suppose that is the way it always works. You learn something and then you want to do the next thing. I think I might try and build a much lighter version of this same rifle. Find a pencil barrel and put on a Magpul ACS-L See if I can get down in the 7-8 pound range.


Anyway She is not a Si-Defense or one of the Rainer branded Mega rifles but as she sits with the used UBR stock I am into it about $1350 without sights or a magazine. Right at about half what one of those "fancy" rifles would cost. If it will put 5 rounds in a 2" circle at 100 yards I am gonna call it a win.

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[B5Ben]

Nice rig! I am waiting for my PSA order to come in next week. Its all PSA with the 18" stainless barrel and MI SSK hand guard. Will upgrade the stock & grip and go from there. I'm in it at just under $900 with a 25 round PMAG so far. Still needs sights/optic but will fix that soon enough. I am curious about what she will weigh in at though. I'm hoping it wont be much more than my 20" AR15.

 

[IronMonster]

I was honestly pretty surprised at what the scale says for this thing, It feels heavy but I would have never thought what I have would have added up to over 12 pounds. Most of my AR's are around half that, I was thinking in my head this would be 8-9 pounds (which I thought was a lot) I was not prepared at all for 12.5. Makes me want to find a different scale just to make sure the one I used is not going crazy.

 

[B5Ben]

Im sure you have something of a known weight to validate your scale.

 

[IronMonster]

yep, Im sure I do. Never even thought of that.

 

[edslhead]

Nice gun. Hell of a shop!!

 

[Steve Sloan]

Very Nice, solid build list, IMO damn near perfect do everything rifle.
2MOA groups? I bet < MOA
Please let us know.

Steve

 

[Portaledgepete]

Cool rifle. I was just looking at that same receiver set and rail, having purchased the AR15 versions for a distance build.

 

[etrain16]

Very nice

 

[IronMonster]

Well I liked the first one so much I built another.

Before




After.

 

[P7M13]

There's a gun in the first photos? Dang - I was envious looking at the lathe and mill in the background....

They're both purdy builds. I prefer the black to the stainless. Curious, why did you choose the UBR? Did you consider a PRS? I ask because I'm considering swapping out my std buttstock and installing a magpul.

 

[IronMonster]

I Picked the UBR because I was able to trade a unused ACS and $75 bucks for it. I think it looks cool but is super heavy. If I was spending real money I would buy the PRS for a bench or high precision rifle. For a run of the mill plinker though a ACS-L is hard to beat for the money. I paid around $60 shipped for the one on the second rifle.

 

[IronMonster]

And the second rifle has a stainless barrel too, it's just a black finish. Best of both worlds ;-)

 

[P7M13]

I Picked the UBR because I was able to trade a unused ACS and $75 bucks for it. I think it looks cool but is super heavy. If I was spending real money I would buy the PRS for a bench or high precision rifle. For a run of the mill plinker though a ACS-L is hard to beat for the money. I paid around $60 shipped for the one on the second rifle.

Thanks - good to know. I can always go fondle them at Cabelas too....

 

[Steve Sloan]

Ok, is it me?
Or is this thread becoming borderline cruel.
Proof of life pics required.
Pictures of gongs, targets, spent brass, and big grins, all accepted.
And the burning question, how do they (now plural) shoot?
IMO, UBR is good stuff.
Steve

 

[IronMonster]

The first one I have fired half a dozen rounds through just as a function test. They all went bang and a few even hit the steel. That was all I could do ( I took the rifle to a friends in the country but it was his sons birthday party. Not an opportune time for a range session)

The second one has only been together since Yesterday so no news yet.

 

[countryboy865]

The weight is what keeps me from building one myself.

 

[U8395279]

So is the 2nd rifle lighter in weight? It looks like it has a lighter weight barrel.

I don't understand either how your 1st rifle ended up weighing so much. According to the Aero Precision website, the barrel you used in it only weighs 2.6 lbs. So that would mean that the rest of the rifle added up to almost 10 lbs.

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[U8395279]

The weight is what keeps me from building one myself.

DPMS now has some of their Gen II AR-10's as light as 7.25 lbs with a 16 inch barrel, and even has a 20 inch model at 7.75 lbs

And there are a couple models of the S&W M&P 10 with 18 inch barrels that only weigh 7.75 lbs

Hopefully if these new 2014 models from DPMS and S&W are a success, more vendors will start to put their AR-10's on a diet too, and get rifle weights down.

So it is actually possible to get an AR-10 under 8 lbs Although building one yourself under 9 lbs might prove to be a difficult chore. I would have to believe, though, that it would be possible to build something in the 9 to 9.5 lb range. While that is still a heavy rifle, it is a lot better than 12 - 12.5 lbs.

Although when one looks back in history, with the weight of the M1 Garand being just under 10 lbs, one wonders how our ancestors were able to cope so well with such heavy rifles. Men back in the early '40's were generally smaller than your average man today.

Have modern Americans perhaps grown soft?

Perhaps that is the reason why why the 5.56mm was developed. Americans have become soft.

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[IronMonster]

The second one I built is right at 9 lbs with a 18" barrel. I was pretty happy with that.

$100K Titanium AR10, still 8.6 lbs