Building an AR10 rifle but not sure where to start?
What I’ve Learned About the AR10 Platform
While I have been dealing with the AR platform for some time now, my exposure to the AR10
side has been limited. I decided to build one, but heard all the horror stories of parts not fitting,
not working properly, and mismatched lines and flows on parts.
So I decided I better do some research and educate myself before I spend close to a grand and
hopefully not set myself up for failure. I was hearing about Armalite platform and DPMS platform
and the Rock River platform with 4 different kinds of barrel nuts…plus Gen 1 and Gen 2 and high profile and
low profile, and it was all making my head buzz. So I dove in and started reading and investigating what
all that meant.
While I am still not well versed on this platform I have learned a few things.
4 Things to Know About AR10s
- Although they are not the only options out there, this AR10 market is dominated by Armalite and DPMS platform receivers.
- Some parts are interchangeable between the two, but some are not. Without taking a huge
amount of space to explain it all, here is an article that tells you pretty much what you need to
know about the difference between the two platforms. - DPMS has recently (couple/few years ago now) come out with the Gen 2 LR-308 receivers that
are smaller and more compact. Comparable to the AR15 platform. Here is a link to a posting
with good visual references to see the differences, and a parts compatibility guide. - High profile vs. low profile upper receivers and handguards. This is the centerline of the barrel to
the top of the picatinny measurement (high 1.318 ) (low 1.260), or sometimes called low tang
and high tang. How do you know what you have?
Be prepared to do some research and be on your game when ordering parts from multiple
sources. Or, just take the easy way out and order a gen1 DPMS kit and a gen 1 DPMS lower
like I did and take the guesswork out of it.
We are going to start building this thing in a couple weeks and were going to learn a lot. Stay
tuned for another blog to wrap the process up. If I have misstated anything above please
correct me so I can learn as we go along!
Want to see what other people are choosing for their AR10 build? Join our online AR community!
