DSA Match anyone?

[chaps]

https://www.dsarms.com/p-16456-dsa-ar15-...arrel.aspx

Curious to see if anyone has any experience with this upper?

They're using the Odin barrel/bolt/gas. I'm not familiar with DSA as a brand, and not entirely sure what they mean by "Match" as I usually associate match as a reference to the chamber cut, but it appears they are referencing the use of a billet upper, flash hider, and Odin barrel. Appreciate any feedback from anyone who may be familiar with them, thanks!

[Ditcher]

DSA Arms is good to go. I'm not really sure how they are getting the "match series" from. Either its as you said with the combo of parts or just marketing. Everything seems to be Odin brand other then the upper receiver, charging handle and muzzle device. Looks like a good deal for what you get. Only problem you might have with the upper receiver some optics might not work with the way its cut on top.

[Lastrites]

Well I went with the 16" DSA offering, would have likely went 18" but was told it was going to be several weeks before they would be restocked. That said I was tossing around the idea of both lengths prior to going slightly shorter. "Match" is likely a marketing term, but this does seem to be a nice upper, sharp edges of the feed ramps slightly blended and everything seems to be straight and true. Tips the scales at 7lbs with mag and scope.

Was waiting on another barrel but the wait then became twice as long as I was originally just going to build an upper. Saw the Odin offering and it had most of the features I wanted so I forked out and went plug and play.

Ask me anything,lol.

[ah1whiskey]

i bought a lot of DSA parts over the years , and have got some very good stuff for very good pricing. at one time DSA had a 'relationship" with a well known upper end DOD contractor. i think those days are over but DSA still turns very decent parts for reasonable $$$.

my bet would be that "match" has a match chamber--

i think that has the odin GW barrel too.

[LR1955]

https://www.dsarms.com/p-16456-dsa-ar15-...arrel.aspx

Curious to see if anyone has any experience with this upper?

They're using the Odin barrel/bolt/gas. I'm not familiar with DSA as a brand, and not entirely sure what they mean by "Match" as I usually associate match as a reference to the chamber cut, but it appears they are referencing the use of a billet upper, flash hider, and Odin barrel. Appreciate any feedback from anyone who may be familiar with them, thanks!

Chaps:

I read the link.

They say the chamber is a "6.5 Grendel chamber and bore". If so, the chamber is not considered 'match' because the real Grendel chamber is designed for combat purposes so is not as tight as what most consider as being 'match'. If the bore is also 6.5 Grendel, the throat is 'stepped' for lack of a better term. The notion for this type of throat is so that most ogives work very well so a person doesn't need to do a lot of testing with different overall cartridge lengths. Kind of a 'one size fits all' approach. It does work very well but is not considered a 'match' type of throat.

I doubt the barrel is a top end barrel but that doesn't necessarily mean it won't perform very well. With the machinery and metallurgy of today, the 'magic' of making top end barrels is almost gone. I think what you buy with a top end barrel like a Krieger or Lilja is that you can depend on them to perform at ALL ranges. Mediocre barrels have a lesser chance of performing well at ALL ranges.

A way to find out what barrels perform is to look at the ones used by the winners in National and International level competitions.

Unfortunately, the term 'match' or 'match grade' has been rendered meaningless and unless a company can prove it via testimonials from people who have won major, recognized, National and International shooting events, I look at said company with suspicion.

LR55

[chaps]

Chaps:

I read the link.

They say the chamber is a "6.5 Grendel chamber and bore". If so, the chamber is not considered 'match' because the real Grendel chamber is designed for combat purposes so is not as tight as what most consider as being 'match'. If the bore is also 6.5 Grendel, the throat is 'stepped' for lack of a better term. The notion for this type of throat is so that most ogives work very well so a person doesn't need to do a lot of testing with different overall cartridge lengths. Kind of a 'one size fits all' approach. It does work very well but is not considered a 'match' type of throat.

I doubt the barrel is a top end barrel but that doesn't necessarily mean it won't perform very well. With the machinery and metallurgy of today, the 'magic' of making top end barrels is almost gone. I think what you buy with a top end barrel like a Krieger or Lilja is that you can depend on them to perform at ALL ranges. Mediocre barrels have a lesser chance of performing well at ALL ranges.

A way to find out what barrels perform is to look at the ones used by the winners in National and International level competitions.

Unfortunately, the term 'match' or 'match grade' has been rendered meaningless and unless a company can prove it via testimonials from people who have won major, recognized, National and International shooting events, I look at said company with suspicion.

LR55

That's along the lines of what I was thinking, thank you. I've used NM M14s and WOA ARs in competitions where folks will do a barrel swap more frequently than an oil change. These would be "service rifle" ... which 6.5 Grendel seems designed for ... and yet a Krieger with a consistently cut 223 wylde does make a difference at a match.

As an aside, I'd like to see 6.5G get picked up by DOD for lots of reasons, but then I think CMP would find a new raft of interested service rifle competitors. I just left a unit with a very competitive team, that still retained match rifles and pistols in the armory specifically for service competition. New shooters (combat vets most often) would light up at the chance to train with an M14, but would drop it after a few practice sessions and default to the WOA ARs ... recoil primarily, familiarity after that. That's with range jackets, gloves, etc. And while the 5.56 is winning leg points, I can only imagine the 6.5G would do it better, more consistently, at all ranges.

It sounds then to me that the 6.5G is designed to wring the most out of a lightweight, shoulder fired, combat weapon at combat ranges. It was not designed as a match competition caliber ... but that's not to say someone couldn't do very well with it if they wanted to.

[LR1955]

That's along the lines of what I was thinking, thank you. I've used NM M14s and WOA ARs in competitions where folks will do a barrel swap more frequently than an oil change. These would be "service rifle" ... which 6.5 Grendel seems designed for ... and yet a Krieger with a consistently cut 223 wylde does make a difference at a match.

As an aside, I'd like to see 6.5G get picked up by DOD for lots of reasons, but then I think CMP would find a new raft of interested service rifle competitors. I just left a unit with a very competitive team, that still retained match rifles and pistols in the armory specifically for service competition. New shooters (combat vets most often) would light up at the chance to train with an M14, but would drop it after a few practice sessions and default to the WOA ARs ... recoil primarily, familiarity after that. That's with range jackets, gloves, etc. And while the 5.56 is winning leg points, I can only imagine the 6.5G would do it better, more consistently, at all ranges.

It sounds then to me that the 6.5G is designed to wring the most out of a lightweight, shoulder fired, combat weapon at combat ranges. It was not designed as a match competition caliber ... but that's not to say someone couldn't do very well with it if they wanted to.

Chaps:

I shot a 6.5 Grendel Match Rifle Over the Course. You will have problems at 600 yards with the wind. So I went to a 6 AR and that is a good choice for shooting Over the Course. Less recoil, way better exterior ballistics with a 95 or 107 grain 6 mm match bullet. No comparison.

I think the Grendel is a fine choice for some of the field fire types of competitions that are put on these days.

I shot a M-14 for many years in competition. When the M-16A2 was issued, the armorers finally had a base to make a competitive AR-15 that met the regulations for a 'Service Rifle'. Plus, bullet makers started making longer and heavier bullets which performed at 600 yards. The M-14's and M-1A's disappeared from the firing line within two years. You can have a very poor position and still shoot very high scores with a rifle that has almost no recoil.

LR55

[chaps]

You can have a very poor position and still shoot very high scores with a rifle that has almost no recoil.

And thank the Lord for it!

I've lost appetite for rifle competition, but not for accurate firearms, which is why the DSA Match caught my eye. But it sounds like its probably not any more inherently accurate than a lot of other builds, and comes with an FH and CH I'd want to throw away ... perhaps I'll keep looking.