Lessons From Recent Build! Mega Maten .308

[MAXEF]

My new build is a Mega Maten .308, and I just wanted to throw in some of mistakes that I made.

-Mega Maten reciever set.- Something is odd about the reciever set,the finish chips very easily. I don't know why this is, but i have a generic cheap mil-spec ar-15 receiver set that is twice a durable as the finish on the Mega.The " anodized finish" even came off on the brass deflector with less than 300 rounds!. If anyone else has had this experience I'd be interested to hear. Will prob end up just having to get it cerakoted. How ever this also makes me question the quality of the aluminum it was built from itself.=/

-Troy Industries TRX .308 Battle Rail - The problem with this rail is that it was provided with very basic and ambiguous directions. Which led to me not being certain as to exactly how the rail was to be installed. When I contacted troy, they essentially repeated what the directions said. So I went a further step to send pictures about what I thought may have been an incorrect way to mount the rail and they simply never got back to me. I ended installing the rail and found that it was not at all rigid. I will never be able to mount a sight on it as for the fact that it will move simply from be roughly handled. I simply should have waited and payed extra for the MKM from mega or found a solid alternative. Pretty disappointed with how fallible of a product troy was willing to sell and market.

-JP muzzle brake - as for the JP muzzle brake, I couldn't believe that it fell so short of my expectations in respect towards what I had read online. I have a PWS FCS-30 that allows for significantly more recoil reduction and muzzle control. It really surprises me that JP would put such a small amount of engineering into a product that could have so much potential. IF any one has tried the PWS Precision rifle compensator, let me know how you think it compares, I think i may end up replacing it with one of those.

- IOR Valdada 2.5-10x42 This scope has a great reticule and amazing glass, but after that it falls short quite fast. When I first got the scope, I was shooting it in the desert while it was raining. And yes... water got inside the scope.. and made it impossible to focus my eyesight on the target with any clarity. It has taken at least a month for Valdada (IOR) to get back to me. Turns out they fired someone and my scope sat on their desk this entire time and has had no improvements made on it!!! But it doesnt end there, I dont have the scope back yet. How ever when I did, this scope is not even a remotely adequate 2.5 power optic. Anything under the magnification of 4x is tunnel visioned.

I've quite obviously done a horrible job at choosing parts for this rifle so far, however I just wanted to get the info out so no one else would make the same mistakes. I'll be posting in-depth reviews on each product that I have purchased an used in the near future. just wanted to prevent a few bad purchases for anyone else if I could.

Feel free to ask anything about everything listed!

 

[502Chevelle]

I hate that the JP brake didn't work out. I was looking at one for my 6.5 CM. I may have to keep looking. I hear good things about the JEC.

 

[LWS]

If the chipped finish bothers you I could refinish it in cerakote for you

ive installed a few trx rails and one thing ive noticed is sometimes they need to "seat". For good measure I pre loctite the screws, install per their instructions, then grab a rubber mallet and lightly tap around the base where the set screws and barrel nut are. That usually allows all the components to seat up and then I re-tighten. There is some flex at the muzzle end though, especially on the longer models.

Ive ran the jp .308 muzzle brake on a 24" stainless lr-308 build and got some pretty nasty muzzle rise out of it. May have been the harris but there wasnt very much recoil to be had.

 

[Blinks711]

Agree with you 100% on the Troy. I had a bitch of a time getting it to lock up tight. Even after locktite it backed out a bit after a long range session. I will need to try tapping it in as suggested to seat it.

 

[wareagle700]

Check out the Badger Ordnance Micro FTE brake. I have one on my MEGA .308 and it is very effective.

 

[PullMyTrigger]

880 rounds on my Maten build and the finish has been great. Deflector has brass residue on it but no chipping. I also have a Ar-15 with 1200 rounds on it built on Mega recievers with no finish problems. Both builds are about 2 years old. Are you running an adjustable gas block? Perhaps your over gassed and the brass is slamming into the deflector hard enough to induce damage? Just a thought. Are far as the quality of aluminum which is 7075 T6 should be gtg.

Im also running a JP standard comp on both rifles with adjustable blocks. Both recoil lightly with little muzzle rise. I can spot my own shots easily, with quick follow ups. My friends and family that have shot these rifles have commented the same. What I like the most about them is the ability to keep people away from me when I shoot at the public range. I actually a had a guy shooting next to me with a .22lr bolt action bitch to a range officer about the muzzle blast. He told the range officer "cannons" like mine have no place on a public range. We both chuckled about it as the guy packed his shit and went home in a huff.

 

[NET65]

Mine has one or two little spots that the anodizing chipped off, I'm going to ship it off for the cerakote GB.

 

[MAXEF]

I'll have it cerakoted when I have more money to put into it. As for it being over gassed, I just opened the gas the last time I took it out because it wasn't locking back on the mag ( pmag ) every time ( both 20 rd and 5 rd). It is also chipping where the lug for the upper is inserted into the lower ( you could also say that I let it slam, which would be a valid concern but I would never be that rough, I am cautious every time I handle the rifle). I understand that the brake will provide recoil reduction; but in comparison to other brakes for the money I feel it is a poor choice.
I gave up on the Troy rail and decided to just accept that it will only serve as a hand guard and bipod mount.

 

[LongArm]

apex rails are nice i went to them after having the troy, might look at griffin armament brakes as well.

 

[-Nick-]

I have a mega with 1K rounds on it and the only chipping is where I've banged it into something. I even just sold my old upper receiver and it had there weren't even any marks from the brass on the deflector. I would contact Mega and see if maybe something went wrong with your set. If you don't mind can you put of some pics so we can see where the chipping is?

 

[atomic41]

My MATEN has the JP buffer and Lantac Dragon brake. It's a great combination, that brake makes a huge difference and the rifle is very smooth to shoot. I recommend both for this rifle.

(as usual, the brake is brutal for anyone next to the rifle but it works so dang well)

 

[Callidus98]

I went with a Daniel Defense 7.62 Lite Rail on my MATEN. I am just wrapping up the build so I can't give a full review but I am very pleased with the rigidity and the fit.

 

[Birddog6424]

The SJC Titan is the best .308 brake/compensator that I'm aware of. I have this on my AR15 competition rifle. Getting one for my .308.

Type in "Titan Rifle Compensator" into YouTube. It's pretty amazing.

A bunch of engineers ran computer studies using a bunch of top brands. The SJC showed the best recoil mitigation. Those videos can be found on YouTube as well.

Lund/SJC .308 Titan Compensator - SJ Customs

 

[ZombieMonkey]

Sounds like Mega may have had a bad batch of anodizing. I'd contact them as that's not typical for their finishes. Pictures would be very helpful.

 

[Trochlea]

As for rails, i have two of the Midwest industries rails and they are solid. It took a little bit of trial and error to get the gas block to line up perfectly but once on, they have been super solid and super low profile. I am super happy I went with them. in fact there are so many solid hand guards in the same price range, can't imagine going with a troy.

As for the muzzle brake, the JEC is amazing and installed super quick. I wish that he would have included rockset with his brake but otherwise it really kills recoil. Standing next to it isn't pleasant, but the lack of the holes on the bottom really kills the amount of dust it kicks up. I would suggest ross schuler, but I can't anymore. I order one for my recent build and it came and it would not install. He did refund my money but still contends that it was threaded correctly. Great guy, solid customer service just unsure about the threading. I have seen lantac's dragon in person but haven't shot it. It does look similar in design however to the JP with large side ports and four smaller top holes. For the money i would suggest the JEC, although the gen 2 APA brakes that have the indexing nut for easy install really intrigue me.

 

[elephantrider]

I don't see anything on their website about what anodizing spec they use, just that they exceed "mil-spec" in general terms. I would suspect they either use low grade anodizing, or had a bad batch.

Re: Troy .308 rail. They discontinued that type of mounting in their 5.56 type rails. It wasn't very robust at all. I had one come loose on me and it never sat straight on the barrel nut. I don't know why they never updated the 308 rails, but it doesn't inspire confidence IMO.

 

[MAXEF]

This is a picture of where I had mounted a scope on both the receiver and the rail, yet only the receiver was marred, not the rail.



This picture is of the brass deflector. I can see how you might think this is from letting it rub on something, but before I wiped off the brass residue, this is exactly the spot that it was coming in contact with ejected cases.

Here is where the lower receiver set had been chipped by the upper lug.

. Here you can see more marks from mounting optics.




General overall picture.

 

[MAXEF]

I forgot to update that I called Valdada once more after posting originally and was able to get ahold of someone at customer service who acted while I was on the phone as opposed to postponing my request to a future "call me back in 4 days" date. A few days later I received a brand new scope from Valdada . I hear great things about their other scopes however the 2.5-10 has too much tunnel vision for my preference.

 

[-Nick-]

View attachment 46042

This is a picture of where I had mounted a scope on both the receiver and the rail, yet only the receiver was marred, not the rail.

View attachment 46043

This picture is of the brass deflector. I can see how you might think this is from letting it rub on something, but before I wiped off the brass residue, this is exactly the spot that it was coming in contact with ejected cases. View attachment 46044

Here is where the lower receiver set had been chipped by the upper lug.

View attachment 46045. Here you can see more marks from mounting optics.


View attachment 46046

General overall picture.

I would contact Mega and try to get some better photos. The one's you have are hard to see any real detail. I haven't heard of others having the same issue but it doesn't mean it isn't happening and people are just writing it off as hard use. The brass deflector chipping shouldn't be happening and if you hadn't told me it wasn't from letting it rub against something would have been my first inclination. Get a hold of Mega though because if there is a problem they'll want to fix it and quickly.