RRA LAR-8

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15 years 3 months ago #1975 by Edge
Replied by Edge on topic Re:RRA LAR-8
Updated picture. Yea, I know, I need to improve my picture skills. Someday.....maybe....

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15 years 3 months ago #1977 by weshowe
Replied by weshowe on topic Re:RRA LAR-8
Gents,

To me it's a matter of what is currently in production and has been in production...no on again/off again production or moving from one company to another. The latter indicates issues that, while not insurmountable, lead one to believe there may be problems with the design, etc.

I'd stick with Armalite, in spite of RRA's sterling reputation with AR-15's

Wes

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15 years 3 months ago #1984 by Edge
Replied by Edge on topic Re:RRA LAR-8
weshowe wrote:

Gents,

To me it's a matter of what is currently in production and has been in production...no on again/off again production or moving from one company to another. The latter indicates issues that, while not insurmountable, lead one to believe there may be problems with the design, etc.

I'd stick with Armalite, in spite of RRA's sterling reputation with AR-15's

Wes




I can tell you that I'm more impressed with this RRA .308 than I have been with the 2 Armalite AR-10's and the DPMS that I've owned in the past. I've gotten much better accuracy and reliability out of this RRA. I did break a bolt hold open rod on the Mid-length LAR-8, but I've broken them on my AR-15's and one of the AR10's too. I tend to run my AR's hard and this didn't really surprise me much when it broke.

If one looks into the history of the LAR-8, one will find that RRA came up with the original design. However, not being "tooled up" for production, they sold the rights to Bushmaster, who then proceeded to mess with it and not get it right. (Sort of like they are doing with the Magpul Massada right now.)

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15 years 3 months ago #1986 by weshowe
Replied by weshowe on topic Re:RRA LAR-8
Exactly my point! RRA builds good stuff, but not this rifle any longer. The folks at Bushie screwed the pooch.

Your rifle may be excellent as you noted, but were made by RRA. It's to bad they got out of the .308 game.

Armalite has been a player all along. Are thier rifles as good/better than your RRA's? I don't know, but they do have a record of consistent production and quality which says a lot.

My post was not a shot at RRA, but the fact that the design/production has been "shuffled around" and mucked with...

Wes

P.S. Enjoy your rifles

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15 years 3 months ago #2012 by Edge
Replied by Edge on topic Re:RRA LAR-8
weshowe wrote:

Exactly my point! RRA builds good stuff, but not this rifle any longer. The folks at Bushie screwed the pooch.

Your rifle may be excellent as you noted, but were made by RRA. It's to bad they got out of the .308 game.


What do you mean "but were made by RRA. It's to bad they got out of the .308 game"? RRA was never in the .308 game until now. (at least not that I remember in the past 10 years). This is their first attempt, and from what I've seen so far, they did it right. They announced the LAR-8 way back in like 2006. It took them 2 years to bring the LAR-8 to market, which made a lot of people mad, but from what I'm hearing and experiencing myself, they aren't having the same issues as Bushmaster did. So "being made by RRA" is a great thing in my opinion!

As for Armalite, I had two that just wouldn't function. Am I just lucky enough to get the two "bad apples" from the factory? Maybe! A good friend of mine has an AR-10 that is an excellent shooter and functions perfectly. (at least he's never complained about it to me.) This doesn't mean I don't like Armalite, because I do. I have had or have some M-15's that have been excellent!

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15 years 3 months ago #2016 by a Guest
Replied by a Guest on topic Re:RRA LAR-8
I'm not on much any more but if you will go back some ways I stated the DPMS and the Remington were better engineered than Armalite. Better frame designs are the key here, they have more bulk. They are owned by the same group. One of the areas that breakes most often is the bolt catch. The standard A-15 catch will work fine in the Rem and DPMS, but it takes a different and larger one for the Armalite. Look at the difference in the frame design in this area. The fix I give students is to load the buffer tube with 15/16 dia washers to reduce the forward rebound of the buffer to 1/16 inch. Do this with out the buffer spring to set the forward travel. This reduces the pounding the frame gets when firing and stops the frame and bolt stops from breaking as often. The Armalite has lots of trouble in this area. If you have a lathe you can cut a one piece unit from aluminum or nylon. This works on all of these rifles, A15 included. I find that usualy .200 to .230 thickness is most often used. This was the beef that I had with Armalite. They knew this was going on but wouldn't fix it. I shoot the DPMS Rem frames in competition now because of less breakage. MSH

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15 years 3 months ago #2017 by Edge
Replied by Edge on topic Re:RRA LAR-8
MSH,

I'm unclear on what you are doing with the washers. Can you show a picture or explain with more detail. (I can be a bit dense :-))

How about an adjustable gas block for use with a suppressor? I've only seen these on Armalites and some custom builds. I've been meaning to look into an aftermarket one for the Rock River.

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15 years 3 months ago - 15 years 3 months ago #2018 by BUILDING MY SASS
Replied by BUILDING MY SASS on topic Re:RRA LAR-8
Edge my friend, if I am not mistaken, check JP enterprise, they make some adjustable gas blocks.
www.jprifles.com/1.4.6_gs.php

Hope this is some help. Not sure as to which one will fit your rifle but it is worth a look, another one is PRI
www.pri-mounts.com/

BMS
Last edit: 15 years 3 months ago by BUILDING MY SASS.

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15 years 3 months ago #2019 by Edge
Replied by Edge on topic Re:RRA LAR-8
BMS,

Thanks for the links. Have you seen one similar to what Armalite uses on their SASS? I think I've seen one on a web site (like AR10sass or something like that), but I need to find out if it will work on the RRA. I'd like something that I can just switch on and off for suppressor use.

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15 years 3 months ago #2021 by BUILDING MY SASS
Replied by BUILDING MY SASS on topic Re:RRA LAR-8
Yeah I have seen it to, can't remember what company. I will have to look around and in some of my back issues and see what I come up with.
Get back to you when I find it.
BMS

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