Upper for real long ranges for .223 lower

Status
Not open for further replies.

Orion8472

Member
Joined
May 8, 2008
Messages
3,634
I would like to eventually have a long range gun, 300 yards +, but would like to escape the extra cost of a whole new rifle, so I was thinking of getting an upper that will fit on my Oly Arms lower. I know there has been much debate between the 6.8 Rem, and the 6.5 Grendel, and I found the 6.5 Grendel to be the "victor" in the longer range shooting.

However, am I going about it the wrong way? Would I find a cheaper option that would be just as accurate (most likely in .308) in some other rifle? I would love to have an M1A, but the price just jumped up at least 50% over a new upper.

Opinions, comments, question?
 
Contact White Oak Precision. They can fix you up. Depends on how far you're going though, 223 works great to 600, which is intermediate range.
 
The NRA considers 100-300 to be short range, 500-600 to be medium range and 800-1000 to be long range.

+1 to White Oak Armament/Precision. I've got one of John Holliger's service rifle uppers on my AR15 and can easily reach out to 800 yards with iron sights, using quality ammo.

Also look into the 6.5 Creedmoor cartridge. There have been positive reviews on it.

If you really want a good long range rifle, look into a bolt gun. While a properly accurized M1A can reach out to 1k yards, it is very expensive. I think that a Supermatch goes for $3000+ nowadays.
 
Would a 6.5 Creedmore upper fit my .223 lower? Where do you find them, and is it hard to get ammo for it?

As for sticking to .223, I have an upper on my rifle already that is kinda setup for a potential medium range (free floating, scope, JP Enterprise trigger), but the barrel is 1/9 twist, and I would think that longer ranges with a .223 would be best served to use a heaver grain bullet than a 1/9 should be used with.

Would it be as simple as replacing the barrel with a bull 1/8 twist from DPMS or another barrel maker? Which barrel maker would be the best to use then?
 
If I was replacing the 223 barrel for longer distances, I'd go with a 1-7. Another, cheaper option besides the 6.5 Creedmore is the 260 Rem. Identical ballistically, just not as hyped.
 
I believe the 260 runs on an AR10 platform (.308 usually), so it would not be merely swapping an upper, unless you have an AR10 already. I don't know what the 6.5 Creedmore uses.
 
I would go with the 6.5 Grendel with a 24" or longer barrel, or a .223 with a 24-28" barrel would work fine using a 1:8 minimum twist for long bullets.
As mentioned the 6.5 Creedmore will not work on an AR15.
 
if you're only going to 300 yrds, or even only to 600 yrds, then forget all that other stuff and stick with 223rem.
 
The 6mmBR is a very good cartridge for mid and long range shooting. It can be shot from an AR15 platform. 105 and 107 grain bullets can be magazine fed with the 6mmBR.

A couple of shooters have started a company building them, BR Armament Technologies.
 
Last edited:
6br is hella cool. the downside is you pretty much have to handload. i.e. great ammo, but low volume. when you consider how easy it is to slap an acog on an AR15 and buy PRVI match 77g ammo from wideners, you can pretty much spend your time nearly effortlessly spanking steel plates out to 600 yrds instead of slaving over neck-turning tools and sorting brass etc. :)
 
If I switched out my 1/9 twist Oly Arms heavy barrel (19". . . .it's a long story) with a 24" flutted bull barrel (with gas tubes changed, of course), with a 1/8 twist, what should I expect to see in accuracy differences?

Will the 1/8 barrel to alright with lighter weight bullets, like 52gr.? I have several boxes of Black Hills.

I have some 55 gr. and 62 gr. FMJ bullets as well.

For Long range, however, would I want to use the 77gr. then (with the 1/8 twist)?

The Grendel is very fascinating, and would have a LOT more power from barrel to long ranges over even the 77 gr. .223's, but it seems like it would be hard to find and keep good ammo for it. .223 ammo can be purchased at my local Bass Pro, and for a lot cheaper. But I have to admit to liking the posibilities of the Grendel.
 
Would a 6.5 Creedmore upper fit my .223 lower? Where do you find them, and is it hard to get ammo for it?

DPMS sells now 6.5 creemdor in .308 AR platform (not the .223 lower)

buy the whole DPMS
in this caliber I think will be close if not cheaper than adding the
6.5 grendel upper to your .223

(and then with that DPMS lower you will have option of a few other uppers for the larger calibers
.243 Winchester
.260 Remington
.308 Winchester
.300 Remington SAUM
.338 Federal
6.5 Creedmoor
)
 
The PRVI ammo is very accurate. It's also very slow, 2600 fps. It's loaded with Milan Blagojevic powder and Ginex primers.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top