My DPMS Sportical AR chambered in 7.62X39mm Russian...yes the AK round

[Tyler Durden]

Hi everyone,

I picked this up in March:



I picked it up for right around $700.  I guess the "Sportical" part means that the upper doesn't have a forward assist, brass deflector, and a dust cover.  It came with two C-products 30 round 7.62X39mm Russian mags, which run 100% reliably.  It has a 16 inch barrel.

The scope you see on there is actually my 17 year old Nikon 3 to 9 by 40.  It is sitting in an el cheapo Model 1 Sales mount.

Other than that, it is stock.  I haven't done anything to it.  well, I did put the BUIS on it, but I haven't zero'ed those yet.

I bought it at Cabela's.  I also bought 200 rounds of American Eagle (made by Federal) brass cased ammo with a 124 grain FMJ bullet.  I made the mistake of also buying 200 rounds of this Hungarian made ammo they sell there.  It comes in these little black cardboard boxes.  It is also brass cased, but MAN!  did the gun ever puke on it.

The lower is a regular AR-15 lower, which is one of the reasons I bought it...keeping the idea I could put a .223 upper on it some time.

These additional pics were from first and only day out at the range with it:

100 yard group:


200 yard group:


and then a 50 yard group with the same 100 yard zero:


in all, I ran about 100 rounds of the American Eagle brass cased ammo through it, with NOT one single solitary hiccup.   

The Hungarian stuff puked on each round of the 5 I tried to shoot through it.  The last round I fired I had to use the pliers from my multitool to pull the brass case off the bolt face.  It stovepiped bad on every round.

I am looking forward to putting more rounds through it. 

I have an ELCAN M145 scope which has a bullet drop compensating reticle.


...actually meant for the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW).  With the 7.62X39's drop, I was thinking of using the ELCAN and making the 300 meter mark my 100 yard zero.  Then figuring out which hash mark in the reticle jives up with 200 yard...300 yards...etc.

I might actually reload for it at some point.

Since I shoot USPSA and IDPA pistol matches, I have come to rely on "power factor" to describe the uuummmphh a bullet has.  Power factor is bullet weight in grains times velocity in feet per second.  So let's say for 55 grain bullet in .223...oh at about 3,000 feet per second, it has a PF of 165,000 or 165.  This AR chambered in that danged Commie round should be pushing a 124 grain bullet at about 2,400 fps...so a PF of 297,600 or 297.6...so just about twice the uummpphh of an AR .223 bullet.

.

[Tyler Durden]

anywhooo....If you are looking for something still in an AR15 platform with a little more thump, that does not have the ammo availabilty issues as say the 6.8 SPC or 6.5 Grendel does and you're NOT quite ready to step up to a .308 Winchester (AR10) platform, this 7.62X39mm Russian AR might be right up your alley.

I plan on shooting some steel cased ammo the next time out.  I will just have to "mike" the bullets first to see if they are .308 or closer to .311.  The American Eagle brass cased stuff has a .308 bullet.

And yes, I am using day glow pink duct tape as an aiming point.  I bought a big pack of card stock paper at the office supply store.  so that's my target.  duct tape is actually 1.88 inches wide and I put the 25 cent piece in the pic just to give an idea of scale.

[tombogan03884]

With the  Elcan mounted and calibrated so you know which hash mark is what range with the 7.62 X 39 it seems like the ideal medium range fighting or medium game rifle. Double the power of the 223, light recoil, cheap ammo, and a simple Lego type action that can be modified quickly and easily for special purposes.

[fightingquaker13]

Nice rifle Tyler. I have one in .556 and have not a word of complaint about accuracy or performance. If you don't care about the stripped upper, which I don't, its hard to beat at the price. My only bitch is that there isn't a lot of real estate on the rails once you put an optic on it. What did you use for BUIS? Also, what's your plan for a sling mount?
FQ13

[billt]

DPMS builds a nice gun for the money. And you can't beat the round. Does it say anything in the manual about shooting steel cased corrosive 7.62 X 39 MM in it?   Bill T.

[Sponsor]

[Badgersmilk]

One has to wonder what Kalashnikov's response would be...  

"глупые американцы!"

[fightingquaker13]

Probably something less printable. The way I see it, is buying a 7.62x.39 upper is a waste of money when you can get a perfectly good AK at the same price or less. Still, if you know and like the AR system, why not get the platform you are familiar with if you are buying from scratch? Its a lot better than buying a boutique round like the 6.8 IMHO. STILL, the thing that would hold me back is not being able to cycle the cheap com-bloc ammo, which is half the point of choosing the caliber. I would bet you could buy after market firing pins, feed ramps etc. that would let you shoot the cheap stuff. If so, it sounds great. If not, well, the choice is accuracy vs available ammo. Your call.
FQ13

[Tyler Durden]

I kinda reckon'ed that somebody would say, "Just buy an AK already!"

well, first off, attaching a scope to an AK seems iffey at best.

second, there is this video of an AK vs. AR...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6BpI3xD6h0

pay attention to the 20 second mark

it bugs me that an AK47's barrel wiggles around so much.  I have emailed pics of my hundred yard groups to friends who are really into their AK's.  They have all replied back that those are some good groups.

third, the same manual of arms as my FrankenAR15.

fourth, I can swap out the 7.62X39mm Russian upper and put on a .223 upper.  My FrankenAR is wearing a 20 inch stainless heavy barreled upper.  It also has a fixed A2 type stock.  so if I wanted a shorter barreled and lighter .223 upper, I could just put it on the 7.62X39 Sportical AR lower.

since I reload and cast my own boolits, I was thinking of doing something like this:

http://zombiehunters.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=107&t=46874&hilit=cast

yeah, casting my own bullets and then making gas checks (which are normally expensive copper) out of aluminum cans.  not because I have to, but rather just to see for myself that it can be done.

I'm not all that interested in reloading the steel cases, but that is an interesting option.

As far as not shooting the steel cased ammo in the Sportical, I am thinking it has nothing really to do with the case but rather the bullet size.  I think the foreign bullets are sized to 0.311"

Yeah, at some point when I  need  trunk gun, a cheap AK47 underfolder would fit the bill.

[Tyler Durden]

I haven't figured anything out for a sling yet.

As far as BUIS goes, the front is probably a Yankee Hill Machine, ....the rear might be too.  I have or had a Wilson combat rear one around somewhere too. 

At one point I had been experimenting with canted AR sights.  For 3 gun matches/rifle side matches, that 3 to 9 power Nikon was too much power, so I would roll the rifle over to the side and use the canted AR sights...long before Barry Dueck of Team Surefire started making/marketing his own:


one of the flip up rear BUIS's I was using didn't have enough windage adjustment to it, so I bought the Wilson Combat.

[Badgersmilk]

I and everybody's seen the video.  Pretty sure it was filmed by, and for crack heads...  YEP, that cleaning rod flex's and jumps all over the place!  NOT the barrel in the trunion, or the reciever.

It's like arguing Chevy vs Ford.  EVERYONES opinions are so clouded with personal favoratism and SLANTED PRESS.  The whole point is moot.  Shoot what you like and be enjoy it.  

Fact is, the guns I choose will not likely never come into play saving your life.  And the guns you choose will likely never come into play saving mine!    Enjoy what you got!  

Nice rifle.