My first black rifle...

[Mike]

I took the plunge and snagged my first black rifle. It's a Rock River AR-15 set up for varmint hunting, with a 24" stainless bull barrel and two-stage match trigger. While that's nice, I posted this in the .204 section for a reason. I'm going to convert this rifle to .204 and use it primarily for prairie dog shooting in the future.

I'd love to hear input from those of you who have built AR's in .204 for varmint hunting. For my purposes, I do not care about weight at all. This gun will ride sand bags all the time, so accuracy is my primary concern. I'm leaning toward a 24" Shilen barrel and am looking at various stocks so that I can find something more suitable for riding the bags. Nothing is set in stone at this point, so I'd love to hear about your rigs.

[acloco]

Just use a round free float tube that is vented. They ride the bags just right.

[Orion2see]

I acquired a Whiteoak Armament upper a few weeks back (was 6 months on order) but it is sweet. It has a 20" fluted barrel. It shoots very well.

[Mike]

Just use a round free float tube that is vented. They ride the bags just right.

Sorry, I don't think that I was clear the first time around. The rear stock is what I want to swap out for something better suited to riding bags.

[long range dogr]

Try a Mag pul PRS. Mine rides the bags decent.

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[BabaOriley]

I was researching the EGW Bag Rider setup, and am still thinking it would be really nice but I went another route. If you're going for free recoil like you see the benchrest guys doing, a round forearm tube isn't going to be very stable (letting it tip side to side). The EGW Bag Rider system solves that by attaching a 3" wide flat surface to your front bipod stud, rear piece creates a surface parallel to your forearm tube, attaching to a rear sling stud.

I've already attached a picatinny rail to the bottom of my front tube, and would like to make my own 3" wide plate to attach to it, but may just get the EGW system. The rear piece anyway.

I tried to build my AR (Dtech) to be an all-around rifle, but after walking a few miles through deep snow with it this winter, I'll probably dedicate this upper to prairie dogs and bench shooting once a lighter upper, or bolt action is acquired. Until then I'll just have to deal with the weight. For a dedicate prairie dog rifle, I'm thinking 1:11 twist may be the way to go. My 23" 1:10 Shilen is shooting everything from 32-50gr bullets ok, but I think the 1:10 twist, and it being an AR, may be robbing up to 300fps as compared to what I've seen from many bolt guns. Jury is still out on that though.

I'll get some pics of the rails I added up soon, but here's the first post on mine with pics.

[Mike]

I was researching the EGW Bag Rider setup, and am still thinking it would be really nice but I went another route.

I've considered the same system, after seeing it on one of Robert Whitley's AR projects in 20 Practical.

http://www.6mmbr.com/gunweek090.html

My biggest problem with the setup is aesthetics. I know that black rifles are not "pretty" by any stretch of the imagination, but EGW's setup looks like a tacked-on after thought instead of an integrated design. With that said, I'm not really sure how they could have designed it differently.

Thank you for the input! I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of your rig.