bikedoctor

Mine was stock but a very early model when the release went out. I know in the bicycle industry depending on part availability there are substitutions but as a form of class I have always seen things upgraded. Sorry to hear about the downgrade.

I bought my rifle through Nelson Tact. and am very pleased with their service. They even threw in a free shirt. I have run about 450 rds. of steel case in mine and everything went great. The only thing to watch is the wear on the extractor and extractor spring. I'll replace mine around the 4K mark of steel. I did have a failure to eject but only after I put 1500 rds of .22 through it. The shot looked like a black power rifle. So I attribut this to dirty little .22 ammo.

I just got this survey request from Wilson Combat. I choose 3 gun naturally. Please give them your input. http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/jsfallback/405659/dbd1fdbb822f

Jeremy, Did you buy the 3G1?

Anyone use these iron sights? http://www.dlsports.com/cqb.html

I also shoot irons and went with the national match front sight. Slightly thinner than the stock DPMS front sight post. I find this helpful at the longer distances.

New4John, My fit is good but I'm glad to hear DPMS taking care of you. I have found very good MOA at 50 and 100 yards. My only complaint is the heavy barrel. I may have to send it to have flutes milled into it. Anyone have to do that to a barrel?

I was under the impression that steel cases accerlerated wear on the extractor. For 3 gun gaming and some pmcs on the extractor with new parts it doesn't sound like steel should be much of a problem. Is that correct or does steel also damage the barrel chamber?

Oh yeah, before anyone gives me crap about shooting cheap ammo in a nice gun, this is for hoser practice and close range matches... You said hoser

Im partial to lucky gunner. http://www.luckygunner.com/rifle/223-remington-ammo Or for the lazy reloader I use sized and primed .223 cases http://www.scharch.com/products.php?cat=8 Kevin

Any update Scott? Kev

Hey guys, Sorry about falling off the map. I had two business trips. Please email me if you guys would like to get together over some coffee or hot brass. kevinrivet "at" gmail.com I'm shooting this Friday 9/24/10 rain or shine in the evening about 6PM to 8PM. Kev

I'm looking for like minded 3 gunners to get together on Saturday mornings. Just a feeler post to see who's our there. Kevin

My dry fire stuff just came in monday so I'm spending about 20 min. a day dry firing. I agree about the trigger squeeze being off. Do I understand correctly that the "pad" of my finger should engage not the joint? I also notice the back of my palm on the grip does not have good contact once I pull the stock into my shoulder. Should the placement pressure of the stock come from the support arm/hand and less pressure on the grip? K

At 50 yards unsupported all my shots are left three to four inches and high 2 to 3 inches. When I go to the bench rest I'm spot on but unsupported I'm off. I'm thinking its my trigger pull but I do get some incosistent movements on the front sight (iron). Besides technique should I replace my Ergo grip? Or is it not trigger pull? Kevin

Good call 26120. Room for a silencer but not optics. Classic.

Meet me at Clark's today after work or this weekend and we'll work on it. Remember, Jerry has a red dot indexed at 1 0'clock and probably has a lot to do with how he times his comp. Otherwise, without knowing if the shooter is righty or lefty would explain why the comp is set "neutral". Let's keep this thread focused on the 3G1 as a resource for others but I would definitely encourage you to start a new thread as I also have some questions. Kevin

A6, You sound like you live in the Pelican state. Both this forum and m4carbine.net have great recommendations for barrel break in but all the seasoned 3 gunners I talk to say it is a waste of time. I on the other hand like the machine and find it helps me bond with my guns and I'm proud to know that I did everything on my part to make them as accurate as possible. The downside is that when I miss I have no excuse. But I'm a little weird. I once had a putter that was giving my fits, so I made it sleep in the toilet one night to "teach it a lesson". Ironically the putter started putting better. If you like me have the need to dot every "I" and cross every "T" for mental happiness than barrel break in is critical. Life and death. Cats and dogs living together if you don't. But scientifically I doubt barrel breakin is critical for sub 400 meter shooting. K

Sako, I'm not familiar with the grip either. Tango Down? Not sure. Kevin

Sorry for not knowing how to put this in one post. Final random shots New Panther 3G1 owners please feel free to add complaints and improvements to the model as a resource for the rest of us. Verteran 3 gunners, please expound on what you see good and bad and improve us. Kevin Prepare for Glory.

To find the balance of the rifle I had to move my hand about 2 inches forward of the barrel ring. this may help you see the weight bias to the barrel. Of course, if one was to flute it and change to a lighter free float tube I'm sure this bias could be mitagated. I need to consider that much of this hardware will follow me later to Afghanistan, so for now I happy to get use to the feel. I did like that the bolts on the bolt were staked. MAGPUL stock. Nice looking chamber while learning muscle memory at the 7 yard line doing the grueling 50 round "Dot Drill" I thought the CCMG .22 convertion would help save ammo money. I'm having trouble getting the conversion kit to enter the chamber without resistance. I wonder if this is due to the .223 chamber? Okay you iron sight zealots. Heres your chance to pile on. I did swap the stock front sight post for a thinner national match fron sight post. Both Todd and Jeremy prefer this set up so I'll give it a try. Ummm. JP match trigger. Nice.

The Conflict: I have spent three months wrestling with the classic "To buy competition ready" vs "Buy a base rifle and build up" conumdrum. Coming from the hi performance bicycle industry I remember that OEM's typically have the ability to use their buying power to build equally matched performace at a much cheaper price than the average Joe can piece together. And although there may be more competatively built rifles on the market I had a budget of $1,200.00. Some guys on the forum heard my dilehma and steered me to the newly release Panther 3G1. For me to have built this rifle from a base model AR-15 I would have spent $1,500.00 and has a box of goodies I would likely never use again. The Order: The Panther 3G1 (RFA3-3G1) was purchased online for $1,050.00 through Nelson Tactical in Greenbay, WI, (http://www.nelsontactical.com/products/) as that is the only place in the country I could find it. I gave the guys at DPMS some friendly grieff as I prefer to buy from my local dealer in Shreveport, LA at Cash in a Flash Pawn as both Jeremy and Todd are three gunners and have spent at least two hours helping me with this decision. Yet the rifle was never available and the sku didn't exist with many distributors. So DPMS tech support hooked me up with Tom and Chris at Nelson Tactical. I hate that I couldn't support my brick and motor but all props to Chirs and Tom for top notch service, ease of order and above all constant communitcation with me as to the invoice and tracking number. First Impressions: I was surprised how nice the plastic case was for a low priced rifle: The inside of the case provide a place for a sling, cleaning kit, two magazines and notice the space for a surpressor Neat low ride gas block with piccy top. The freefloat guard will clear this upon removal. You also receive a red chamber flag and a nice "ergo grip". Jury is still out on this but it is comfortable on the strong hand middle finger and does not pinch. No ear plug needed to wedge between the trigger gaurd and grip to prevent the pinch. The ambi safety was causing some discomfort so to avoide engaging the safey accidentally I rotated the slector 180 degrees so it is out of the way but on the rifle so I dont loose it. The sling swivel is well made if you plan on usning the included mil spec sling. The Miculek compensator is not timed and rightly so as DPMS would be making an assumption as to the shooter being a rightly or south paw. Mag pull adjustable stock. Not my choice but no complaints so far. No slop once you engage the pins. The cleaning kit is classic mil spec but DPMS includes a trigger housing rug for those who choose the extra insurace aagainst loose primers. The rifle is a bit barrel heavy and weighed in at 8.5lbs. with detachable iron sights and no mag. Lets see if the photos loaded, besides I need to go deposit this coffee at headquarters. (pee break)

Guilty. I didn't see it come up in any posts specifically but I did notice a lot of pages. So I went lazy and fired a post. I figured at worst I just bumped my post count. C'mon 50.

Guys, I'm taking ownership of a new rifle Thurs and have never had to break in a barrel. Is this crucial for an 18" DPMS for 3 gun purposes? I ask because I have never had to go beyond 250 yards as of yet. What do you do for a new barrel? Kevin