Sabre Defence .204 upper - Good/ Bad/ ?

chz

chz

New member
I'm looking into getting a .204 upper but having some trouble finding manufacturers. I'm not much interested in DPMS, and would honestly like to get something from WOA but the lead time is insane (18-22 weeks). I recently found that Sabre Defense makes a .204 upper but to be honest I know almost nothing about the company or the quality/ performance of their products. Does anyone have anything good or bad to say about Sabre Defence uppers?? (specifically .204's if possible) I'm planning on using it primarily as a prairie dog rifle so accuracy is very important to me. If it can't shoot .5 MOA I'm not interested.. Thanks for any input..
 
I recently built a .204 upper using a Sabre Defense bbl. It was the 24" fluted,ss, bull (don't know if they offer any others?). Thus far I've been very pleased. FWIW, when I took it out to function test, it printed a 3/8", 3 shot group at 50yds, in horrible conditions (35mph winds).

Since then I've ran about 30rds through it and cleaned it a couple times. I would compare the ease of cleaning to my Lilja bbl. VERY minimal copper fouling. I'm not claiming this bbl is equal to a Lilja.

I had it on a prairie dog colony last week and killed one @ 222yds confirmed w/ rangefinder. This was shooting off the tailgate using a backpack for a rest. I did have a tendency of shooting high as I'm used to my .223 holdovers.

Is it capably of .5MOA? I won't be able to tell you until I get into load development, but I'll be surprised if it isn't.
 
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Not to side track but why do you not like the DPMS? I have a 204 from them and it is my favorite out of all of them. Shoots the 40gr vmax awsome and it doesn't mind the 32gr. With the 40gr vmax, win case, rem 7 1/2, 26.8 gr H335 it shoots a clover leaf 5 shot group at 100. I have just over 2500 rounds through mine and talked my brother into buying one here about a week ago.
 
I don't dislike DPMS but I'm looking for an upper with a higher quality barrel. I've have read both good and bad things about DPMS but have never had a chance to shoot one as of yet. My biggest concern is the availability of their uppers/rifles. Why do they seem to be so readily available even when nobody else can seem to keep up? My concern is that they are shooting for quantity instead of quality. This is all merely my opinions and I assure you I've been wrong before.
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DPMS custom grade barrels are very good, 204, 243, 260, even their bull barrels for .223. Their production barrels people talk about are just the tactical/combat type barrels.
Good luck to you.
 
I agree that there rifles are starting to stock pile at the larger retail stores. This I feel is only because of the large orders placed to hopefully recieve some rifles. That being said I have not seen a 204 on the shelf to date yet. I ordered mine about 3 years ago and waited almost 1 to finally recieve it. My brother actually ordered his about 4 or 5 months ago and it just came in a week ago. Out of my 5 ar style rifles only 2 are DPMS. One being a 243 and the other the 204. So I feel that I am not to partial toward the brand. I also own a Stag, Bushmaster, and a Rasmussen Arms in 223. Like what has been said before I am sure that there are some GREAT and some POOR barrels that come from all manufactures but feel that the DPMS is a quality rifle.
 
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