Meet the New Thumper

No, I haven't given up on the SOCOM-16, despite my miserable performance at the ID4 Rifle Match, but there's now a competitor for my Major Caliber Gunly Affections. The New Thumper is a DPMS LR-308 "Sportical" which already wears the GG&G flip-up BUIS that BoG2.1 wore before she blew up. (The replacement upper featured a continuous top rail that wouldn't let me use the front sight made for a lower gas block rail.)

I took the new beast for a sight-in this week; I definitely like the GG&G's skinnier front sight post better than the fat blade on the Springfield. The new rifle's impulse is rather sporty. The buffer tube soaks up some of the recoil, but I'm hoping to put a muzzle brake on it to tame the one o'clock muzzle climb... if it doesn't turn out that the birdcage is permanently welded on. I don't expect it to shoot as fast as a .223 AR, but I want to be able to shoot it at least as fast as Jon shoots his Big Thumper.

The New Thumper is chambered in 7.62x51 NATO, so it can handle all the mil-surp ammo I've got saved up. It came with two "19-round" DPMS magazines -- they hold 20 rounds. I immediately ordered three C Products 20-rounders from 44mag.com for barely more than the price of one DPMS mag (DPMS was out of theirs). One of the C Products mags will only fit 19 rounds (go figure). All five mags worked flawlessly their first time out.