It has been fashionable for many years—decades in fact—to bash Colt. I’ve indulged in it myself and, to be truthful, they deserved a lot of it. But one thing they didn’t deserve was the accusation that the company was unaware of progress. Colt was, for better or worse, lashed to the Procrustean bed of mil-spec.

For a long time now, shooters have been unhappy with the 5.56. (For the record, I am not one of them.) They pined for the good old days, when men were men, and men shot .30-caliber rifles. The first ArmaLite, the AR-10, was chambered in .308, and an awful, under-engineered mess it was. We have spent many years of late refining, perfecting and properly engineering the .308 Stoner system, and it has gotten to the point where manufacturers have been achieving success.

Compatibility in Key Areas
OK, while making it a .308, Colt worked hard to keep it as compatible as possible with existing 5.56 parts and accessories. The handguard is an integral part of the upper, all of it machined from a single forging, so you need not worry about what rail system you are going to install, because you aren’t. Also, the front sight assembly is a folding design, so you need not concern yourself about an upgrade there either. The receiver extension is a mil-spec-diameter 5.56 tube, so if the provided stock just doesn’t do it for you (and I don’t know why it wouldn’t; it’s a Vltor IMod), you can simply take off the existing one and swap it for the one of your choice. Ditto the pistol grip, but you can swap it for the one that feels good to you, if you wish.

However, the real action is in between those details. Let’s talk about the receiver. First, to fit a magazine that can hold a .308 cartridge, Colt had to make the magazine well larger. They did so without making the rear half of the receiver larger, so not only are the other 5.56 accessories things that would fit, but the trigger components will, too. You can fit your favorite match hammer/trigger combo, if you feel the need, as the pins are the mil-spec diameter, not the old (larger) Colt diameter. If you are cool with a mil-spec trigger, great. If not, you have the whole panoply of aftermarket triggers to choose from.

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Weight, Recoil, Add-Ons
Now, as self-loading .308s go, the Colt is not light or heavy. With the 5.56 on, it does make for a somewhat heavier carbine, but not so much that you’d notice. Really, the days of a 5.56 carbine being right around six pounds are long gone, and the 5.56-converted Colt is under 7½ pounds—in a word, normal. The recoil in 5.56 is unremarkable. In .308 it’s a bit brisk, but well-handled by the extra weight—the bare .308 comes in at just under nine pounds. For those who would be using a .308 in offense or defense, say a police sniper or military designated marksman, the recoil will be mitigated by the light, bipod, laser (AN/PEQ-2A or ATPIAL) and scope attached to it. I can see a rifle easily getting past 12 pounds so equipped. And at that weight, recoil is not going to be a problem.

Now, don’t get me wrong. There is recoil, and you’ll have to handle it. If you are one of those shooters who takes what I call the “bazooka hold” with a 5.56, one where only the toe of the stock is barely contacting your shoulder above the collar bone, the .308 will make you pay. You have to get the recoil pad down on your body, or your shooting session will be short, painful and fruitless. Hold it properly and you won’t have a problem.

The barrel twist on the .308 is also a matter of interest. At 1:12 it is a bit slower than is customary. However, unless you are hurling heavyweights, this isn’t a problem. As a fellow gunwriter commented, “All a rifle like that will see is 147-grain M80 and 175-grain M118LR, so 1:12 is not a problem.” Well, that and Federal 168-grain Gold Medal Match, the standard load of police marksmen. Out of the .308 case, you really aren’t going to be pushing anything much heavier than the M118LR load.