I customized one of my M&P Sports

I just finished doing this to one of my M&P Sport lowers.

It's basically a Sabre Defense, Heavy Bench, that 'was' advertised (Sabre is no more) good out to 1000 yrds with the proper loads.
It's mounted on one of my M&P lowers with:

S&W M&P BCG (will probably replace this with a BCM or Spikes BCG)
Sabre Defense Heavy Bench, 24", .223, 1:8 twist barrel
Rainier Arms Low Profile gas block
Yankee Hill Machine free float, rifle length, Diamond Forearm
DPMS upper receiver (will replace with an LAR or Noveske)
UTG SWAT Bipod
UTG 30mm quick disconnect, high profile, scope mounts
Leapers Accushot, 30mm tube, 8-32X56, AO, Mil-dot, RGB EZ-TAP Scope
Magpul PRS Buttstock
Mako Israeli Defense Forces, Pistol Grip
A2 lower receiver extension, with a rifle buffer and spring
Giessele SSA-E Trigger








Here it is on my rear deck:









This is the LAR OPS-4 Ambidextrous receiver I'm considering.
I think it will be easier to load custom OAL rounds one at a time with this type of charging handle.
They also come in left or right side as well.

.....

Damn nice piece there. What type of groupings are you getting with it? How far out are you going and what type of ammo are you using?

What kind of groups are you seeing at 600 yds and more? Interested in how it is doing @ 1000 yds.

Thanks for the positive comments guys.

I just got it together today, and can only get out to 50 yards here on my property until I take my loader and cut/smooth out a pad for a bench at 100 yards.

I hope to get out to the local range as soon as it stops being 105 degrees-plus up here.
But when I do, I will start working up a load using 69 grn Sierra Matchkings.

The rifle is 1:8 so I might be able to go to a little heavier bullet ......... and to get to 1000 yards I will 'certainly' need to go heavier.
600 should be doable with the 69 grn and 1:8 twist, especially if I make them custom length and hand chamber them one at a time.

But I suspect the advertising for 1000 yards will be at the limit (if even doable) because the 1:8 twist is a bit slow for the weight of a .224 dia bullet needed to get to that range, and IMHO the lighter bullet's spin will decay too much and the 69 grn bullet will start to tumble before getting there.

Also, the people I see/read about consistently getting to 1000 yards on a man sized target with a .224 bullet (be it a .223 or 5.56 round in any of the popular chambers for them) are using both heavier bullets 'and' in longer barrels with a 1:7 twist.
But .... I have time and am willing to give it a try!!

I'll post some results when I have them.

Well it definately passes the eye test!

Yeah my true 1000 yard gun is a .308 Palma Match Rifle with a 32" Palma taper (really no taper) super heavy barrel. I have never weighed the barrel but it is around 10lbs on its own. Right now it is at the gunsmiths getting some action work done to it. I have been building it for over 2 years. and have shot it a total of 25 times. So I understand about the barrel length. I really like your rifle it is really cool.

Grover, that should definately be a lot more reliable at 1K than a .223.

I have a 14x40 gear head, varable speed, gap bed PM1440 BV lathe, and a Grizzly gear head, power table mill, both with Sino digital readouts, and have been toying with buying a custom barrel and Rem 700 based short action, then chambering it myself in 30 cal ( probably .308) and build a 1K gun.

It's on my bucket list ........ along with resto-moding an old 1975 Toyota FJ40 Landcruiser.

I swear ...... I had more time to do these things before I retired!!

flyer....I do understand I had a heck of a lot more time before I retired. I wish I had access to your tools, I have two rifles at the gunsmiths that would be done already and I would be having fun. I always wanted a 1k yard rifle. I did a lot of research and about an hour and a half away from me they have competitions at 800 and 1000 yards so I went and checked out what they had for rifles. They were basically all .308's and then I found out about Palma Matches where they are all .308's shooting 600, 800 and 1000 yards, these are not benchrest rifles, you actually have to hold and shoot them, some matches require Iron sights and some allow any sights, depending on whether they are sanctioned or not. It is something I am wanting to do. The barrel was a gift, the action work was pricey, the stock was pricey, the feeling when grouping at 1k Priceless!!!
LOL

I wasn't too sure what Palma was (actually ...... I had no friggen idea at all) so I did some looking about the net.
It reminds me of my early days of metallic silhouette shooting.

I'm too old, fat and feeble to get into all the positions for that type of shooting anymore.
My idea of an outstanding afternoon of shooting includes intermissions with snacks and some non-alcohol beverages, if not a floor show!!
But ...... I do admire anyone that can do it ..... especially in some of the environments/temps that they evidently hold Palma competition in (Camp Perry in Aug!! ).

Here's something I found on a Palma site that you might like .........



It's from this site: The Rifleman's Journal: History: A History of the Palma Match (2011)
I haven't read it all yet, but it looks pretty interesting .......... thanks for bringing it up!

I havent seen that before but "I dont care who you are, that's funny"...I am going out back to sight in my eotech this evening on my homebuilt Sport, its the one made out of all the leftover Sport pieces after I built my "CyberSport", I also have to take some new pics cause I have changed actually both of them since the last pics. But thanks so far it looks like a great read....also I cant get into all the positions either, I just wanted a rifle that would let me shoot 1k yards.
Flyer...that was an exceptional read....The matches held here at Sand and Sage Gun Club, Garden City, Kansas are a lot less formal, but it is a blast to try to shoot the lines. Here you basically "run what you brung" But there are a couple of the Tubb Rifles and they are works of art. But load you up some 80 gr bullets and see what you can do, it should prove interesting.

I did some more reading and I see they don't shoot from positions like the Creedmore these days, and all is done from prone.
Heck ........ if I wore a harness and had winch powered jib crane I just might be able to deal with that! LOL!

But yeah ....... although I really think my 24" barrel is a bit short, but more importantly the 1:8 twist too slow for much heavier than the 69 gn matchkings out that far, it certainly won't hurt to give the heavier bullets a try.

I do read of some claiming to be able to consistently hit man sized silhouette at 1K with 20" 1:8 using the 75 grn Hornadays .......... so although sceptical ...... I'm willing.

Very nice! Im going to have to build myself a long range tack driving upper like yours one day.

That massive wheel on your scope makes me laugh every time I open this thread. Sorry but I'm an AR purist. 223/5.56 ARs are not good 1000 yard guns. Even if you were going to attempt to build one, you would want an incredible barrel and little else. No rails, no UTG plastic all over the gun, and a far better brand for your scope. I hope you can take some criticism, and good luck with your gun. Let us know when you get past 50 yards...

Nice job flyer91! Now that is a reach out and touch someone rifle.

Dragon88 said:

That massive wheel on your scope makes me laugh every time I open this thread. Sorry but I'm an AR purist. 223/5.56 ARs are not good 1000 yard guns. Even if you were going to attempt to build one, you would want an incredible barrel and little else. No rails, no UTG plastic all over the gun, and a far better brand for your scope. I hope you can take some criticism, and good luck with your gun. Let us know when you get past 50 yards...

Click to expand...

Read post #5 and you will see I agree that the advertised 1K is suspect with an 8:1 and 24" factory barrel.

There 'are' .223 AR's getting out to that range with hand load single chambered rounds, but with longer custom barrels, and a faster twist.

But ........ 600 yards will be doable with this rifle as configured.

I took the scope off my Rem .243 700 Varminter and it worked well enough for 'easy' aggregate sub 1/4 MOA at 600, so it's built well enough to take the .223 recoil in this heavy a gun, and is proven to be good enough to meet the expected accuracy of it.
The wheel is just an easy way to adjust the parallax/focus for different ranges. At the ~$250 that this scope cost, it is a small price to pay for optics that need this type of adjustment because they have a narrower hyperfocal range than higher priced optics.
And .....it works much better than having to grab the small knob ...... especially when using gloves in cold weather.

The rails are what came on this upper from the seller ....... but it's also what Sabre used for their long range Marksman version Heavy Barrel in .223, 5.56 and 6.5 G.
See: http://www.sabredefenceindustries.com/2010catalog.pdf
But yeah ... I would much prefer a tubular handguard .... especially in carbon fiber to get rid of some carry 'back and forth' weight ('I' won't be shooting it off anything other than a bench).

I'm not sure what you meant by "UTG plastic all over it"?
The only plastic other than the scope's flip-ups, is the Magpul PRS and Mako grip.
The Bipod feet are rubber, but all else is metal.

Although I do have some "plastic" Magpul mag's, I won't be using any mags other than a stock 10 round S&W with a tall follower I'll machine out just to provide a floor to make hand chambering the single rounds easier, as once they're tailored OAL to the Sabre's chamber, I suspect they won't fit into the mag.
Besides ...... I wouldn't want to feed them that way if they did.

As I stated before .... it's still a work in progress, and I'll let the forum know how it goes, but my predictions are .... sub MOA (probably as good as 1/2 MOA) at 600-doable ....... but 1K? (for the reasons I posted earlier) not so much.

On Edit ........ I'm in California and we just (at least temporarily) escaped a new law that woud have made AR's really combersome to use ... if even being abe to have them at all!
So ....... nope, your criticism ..... nor nuthin else is going to spoil my day!!

Amazing build

Beautiful rifle, you have every right to be proud of it and I'm sure it'll give you years of happiness. Enjoy!