Knights Armament SR25 Precision Carbine (PC)

Get a cup of coffee or a bourbon, as this is going to be a long one.

The SR25 PC is a gun that I sit and look at in amazement. It’s such a large pile of money sitting in the corner. I am not a rich man by any means. But this gun can cast a spell.

As I mentioned in my Battle of the 308s post, It was never my intention to keep the SR25. I had ordered a LaRue PredatOBR and was just sitting around waiting. I went on the SR25 hunt for the sport of it. I was by all intentions going to shoot it, check it out, and sell it as they are such unicorns to find at MSRP. I kind of live in a world where I hunt for rare things. I am a huge fan of Strider & Microtech knives and they are difficult to find unless you know where to look. So in my mind, just another challenge.

If you were so inclined to go on a hunt, I would recommend signing up for every notification on every website that sells SR25s. You may even want to setup a generic gmail account that only gets said notifications and add it to your phone and set the notification to be something crazy annoying. Then no matter what happens, you will get the notification and can stop on a dime to buy it. Seems like sometimes my website notifications get lost if I get a lot of emails. You will need to respond very quickly. Another tip would be to look at Kelly Enterprises as he keeps a list to notify.

There are also some facebook groups that will aid in your quest – KAC owners group and Dealers of the Knight. Reddit also has a few groups that may be helpful but they are generally more concerned with the SR15 side of the house. Most of all, have patience. Its not going to drop in your lap in a week. It might take 6 months to a year unless you go the GunBroker route. Knights makes all their guns in batches so it may be 6 months before they make SR25 again. I do think the SR25 has somewhat been spared the Knights chaos caused by Garand Thumb. If you dont know what I am talking about try to find a 14.5″ SR15. Most everything Knights makes is desirable and hard to find.

So if during your wait you decide to do some research on this gun, (which may have brought you here) buckle up. This is more of a shitshow then the Larue research. The gun has such a long lineage and there are very few SR25 PC reviews out there. This gun was worked on by Eugene Stoner and has had many iterations. Your going to read about snipers that used the gun early on and it had issues. Your going to hear from a bunch of people that just shit on it because it’s an expensive rifle and think their PSA 308 is just as good. Your going to hear from folks that have opinions either way but have never touched one. Your going to have to listen to some guy tell you the way it is even though you can tell from his pictures he never shoots his guns. Then there are the LMT nut riders that think there is no other gun besides the MWS. Same for the JP nut riders. And then your going to read reviews from a small group of people that know what the rifle is, what its used for, and why it is special. Here is some LAV early SR25 history:

Let’s start with what it is. It’s a 9lb sub MOA 762 large frame AR. Its the OG of the modern AR10. All the controls are the same as an AR other than it has some ambi features such as an ambi safety, mag release, and bolt release (does not lock back the bolt). It has a 15″ URX4 M-LOK rail, so it super easy to get your arm way out in front if running and gunning and you can also get a bipod close to the muzzle for better control. Because of this, there is top rail space for days. Tons of room for night vision or thermals. It comes with Knights iron sights (best in the business)  and a Knights two stage trigger very similar to a Geissele SSA. It is properly gassed to run suppressed or unsuppressed without an adjustable gas block. If using a can with a lot of backpressure you may want to swap out the H2 buffer for an H3.

(Edited to add in 2023 – I have since swapped the recoil spring to a Tubbs SR25 spring at the recommendation of Chad @School of the American Rifle and went back to the Knights H2 Buffer. The gun has run flawlessly since then with several different suppressors. I believe the spring allows you a much wider operating environment and is a must upgrade if running a suppressor IMO.)

This gun is made for reliability and that is probably the foundational idea the gun was built around. The gun will run wet or dry. It uses a double ejector E2 bolt with a single gas ring. Along with Knights sand cutter chrome bolt carrier group that is super easy to clean. It has a 5R Cut Rifled barrel that is a 1:10 twist and uses the SR25 / Armalite slant upper reciver.

The PC is more of a DMR or precision rifle that can roll into a battle rifle. If you are looking for the opposite (accurate battle rifle but lighter) Knights makes a SR25 CC (Combat Carbine) that used to come in 16″ and 14.5″ but the 16″ has recently been discontinued. That rifle weighs in a little over 8lb in the 14.5″ config. It has a chrome lined barrel and is generally a 1.5 MOA gun with match ammo. Although some have reported far betty accuracy than that. The PC is more of a precision gun and the CC more of a run and gun.

Great SR25 video with Jack Leuba of Knights Armament and Jeremy Tye as they take a look at the SR25 of old and today:

Lets chat a bit about 308 / 762×51 as a round for a second and if you should get a large frame AR. By all accounts 308 is dead and has been replaced by 6.5 Creedmoor. Its a big bullet that the wind can have a large effect on. It also has a significant amount of recoil compared to 556. 6.5 is generally considered the easy button for both those issues. That being said, there are a ton of rounds for 308 from match ammo to bonded and all copper tactical loads. There is also cheap  surplus although that’s probably not the best diet for the SR25 PC but its an option. 308 / 762 is also fairly cheap vs 6.5 Creedmoor. Hornady MATCH 6.5 140gr ELD as of writing will run you about $45 for a box of 20. The same Hornady MATCH in 308 will run you around $35 a box. Thats a $10 difference. Unless you reload 6.5 match is expensive.

308 is great hunting round. So a 308 gas gun would be great for hogs or white tail. Gas gun = fast gun. So anything on the move where you would need a follow up shot its ideal. The sweet spot for an SR25 is around 600 yards. With a solid optic with a reticle like a Tremor 3 (Tremor 3 reticle simulator) you should be very quick for movers out to 600. Past that things will just get more complicated. The bullet will be in the air longer and wind will play more of a role. 308 is also a great round when you need knock down power. For police and law enforcement especially in the far south 308 does a fantastic job through hurricane glass.

All the versions of the SR25 that we are discussing here are 762 guns and they are far harder to shoot than your precision AR15. In my mind that is a good thing. I have learned a lot more about my shooting and become a better shooter from shooting 762 ARs. So you should ask yourself do you really want a 762 SR25? If the answer is yes, then at this moment in time I think it works. Knights 6.5 guns are unobtanium and I would only want the 16″ or 14.5″. So until those are even remotely available, 762 SRs are where its at. That being said its a ton of money at 3k for an upper and 5k for a rifle. If you have the patience to wait around for a 6.5 version and that’s what you want, then that’s the call. That being said, we will probably see 6.5 uppers before full guns, so if you already have a full SR25 you can just push two pins and go from cheap shooting 308 over to 6.5 in a few seconds. I would not buy this gun if you can’t stomach the prices as you may fall in love like I did.

I picked mine up from Freedom Trading out of Las Vegas. My gun came with a hard gun case, one Knights magazine, Magpul M-LOK rail covers, test target, gun lock, and user manual. I was not really in love with the trigger so I swapped it out to a Geissele Super Dynamic Combat trigger just because I like flat triggers on precision guns. Jack Leuba at Knights is a big proponent of trigger that are 4.5lbs total or more because large bore ARs can double fire due to recoil. I also didn’t like Knights charging handle. She bit me once or twice so I swapped it out to a Badger Ordnance. Same with the safety, I swapped it out to the Badger just because it’s my favorate ambi safety. SR25s come with an A2 pistol grip so that went in the garbage on day one. I tried a few different grips but have settled on the Larue A-PEG Grip which I think excels both precision shooting and running and gunning. Gun has no issue running with either Magpul SR25 mags or Larue’s 308 mags.

When I first got the gun I swapped out the muzzle device to a Q flash hider. SR25s use a 3/4″x24 thread size on their barrels. This means the muzzle device squares itself against the muzzle and not the shoulder created when threaded. This is a good thing in that there is more meat for the muzzle device and a bad thing as it makes muzzle devices for the SR25 hard to find (like everything else). I originally wanted to use my SIG 762TIQD can but SIG no longer makes a muzzle device for it as they only made a few for the military. Most of the main players in the suppressor game will make one – Surefire, Silencerco, Dead Air, Q, ect. Q makes a flash hider for the SR which is totally bizarre as its the only gun they make it for. Ever shoot a SBR with a cherry bomb? I digress. The Q flash hider mated up perfectly with Q’s plan B adapter for the Silencerco Omega. Which makes the omega as short as direct thread and bring the weight down to 13oz.

In all honesty other than I hate the Omega, it’s perfect for this application, short and light. But she has a lot of backpressure that greatly speeds up the bolt in the SR. I definitely had some issues with the SRs BCG moving so fast the magazine could not keep up and would not pick up the next round. This was easily resolved by replacing Knights H2 buffer with an H3 (see note above about Tubbs SR25 recoil Spring). The Q flash hider is excellent. Just wish they made them for all guns and not just the SR.

So lets get into accuracy. This is the test target shipped with the rifle (its cropped because I am too lazy to do a redacted version to remove the SN). Notice how its an actual test target and not a photocopy like the Larue and the fact that Knights uses 5 round group vs LaRue’s 3 shot.

Knights shooter came in with .686 5 round group prior to it leaving the factory. Can’t complain about that. So how is she running for me. I think my first group was .9 MOA. I did do a typical barrel break in using Federal Gold Medal Match (GMM). On average I would say the gun shoots between .5 MOA and 1 MOA. She will generally shoot a .75 or .8 MOA group with match ammo. I have had better groups and I have had worse. But this gun when you shoot it a lot you get a feeling where the bullets are going to go unlike any other gun I have ever shot. The times I wanted to waste the ammo, I have had two 10 shot groups that were under MOA. I can’t ask for more than that. She is probably around 1200 rounds now and Jack from Knights has publicly said they get better after around 2k. Here is a gallery of 15 typical targets. I would say most issues are because of the shooter and not the gun. Click on the image to enlarge.

After my first sub MOA 10 shot group I solidified my love for this gun. Every once in a while I will shoot groups. It was something I had to learn how to do with a 762 AR. Now I primarily shoot 1 round into a 1 inch dot for 20 dots.

I apologize that I dont have any pictures of when the gun was black. I totally spaced taking some. The older SR25s have a dimpled barrel to save weight and they look sexy as hell. Once I determined I was going to keep it, I wanted to have it cerakoted in FDE. You generally have to send your gun off as their are only a few Knights armors in the country and you need special tools to take it apart (please send it off, your buba gunsmith will completely destroy your rifle as they will have no idea how to take it apart). One of the best Knights armorers around is PreSample Depot out of TX. And since the gun was going to be in pieces for cerakote, I decided to send the barrel off to Nefarious Arms to have it dimpled. On the PC you can lose about a half pound off the gun by having the barrel dimpled. Marvin Pitts the owner of Nefarious Arms was the gentleman that originally wrote the program for the golf ball dimpling at Knights. He will do the service for you for a nominal fee out of his shop in Arkansas.

PreSample will help you with this process. You send the rifle to them, they will disassemble it and ship the barrel off to Nefarious Arms for dimpling. When that gets done, Nefarious will send it back to PreSample for cerakoting. They will reassemble and ship you back your gun. Only bitch is the insurance shipping a 5k rifle around the country. The gun started its life right around 9lb and is now 8.5lb. there was no degradation in accuracy and that gets this precision rifle into SCAR 17 territory weight wise. I am totally thrilled and blown away by the work that both PreSample and Nefarious did. I could not recommend either of them enough!

For an optic I chose the Leupold Mark 5hd in 3.6-18. Its a bit of a goofy scope ring wise as it takes 35mm rings. Badger Ordnance makes a 35mm C1 mount that has been stellar. The scope is ultra compact, weighs in at only 26 oz, glass is super clear, and has a myriad of reticles to choose from. As I mentioned previously, I went with a Tremor 3 from Horus. This scope was a recommendation from Chuck Pressburg over at Presscheck Consulting and it has been fantastic. I loved it so much I grabbed the Leupold Mark 5hd in 5-25 for a 6.5 bolt gun.

So should you buy one? I think it depends on what you want it to do with it and how much you want to spend. Two hi end guns I’m still intrigued by are the V Seven harbinger and the JP enterprises LRP-07. The V Seven is a 16” 308 that only weighs 6.5lbs. That’s insane. With optics you would be where the SR comes in naked. I have a V Seven 16” barrel on a custom Recce I did years ago, and their barrels are freakin lasers.

The JP enterprises LRP-07 is also an interesting gun. Known for their accuracy, JP makes great guns. I don’t really have a lot of data except from the nut riders over at Snipers Hide. And some of them are crazy, like “it’s not possible for it to be the gun because it’s a JP” crazy. Any problem must be with you the shooter. Who says shit like that?? I am not a huge fan of the side charging handle. I have a buddy that has one on an AR15 that I used for a day at a class and I had issues with it hanging up on my plate carrier. I have no idea if that would be the same issue with the JP but I am slightly scared. They also have limited handguard selection that are more for the gamer side of the house. I would love them to come out with a M-LOK handguard. Everything I have read they are Ferraris – lightweight, smooth shooting, and super accurate.

JP LRP-07

I could see myself picking up either of those guns just to check them out. I would add though that the resale on the JP is not what I thought it would be. You can get a SR25, shoot it and sell it for what you paid for it. The JPs I see are selling for less and sometimes sit around. The V Seven harbinger is such a niche gun, it would take you a while to find a buyer and I think you would need to take a 20% loss to move it. Not that I am all about selling guns but these are all expensive toys. If you dont like them you need an off ramp.

If you just want to add a large frame to your pile and your not as picky about accuracy and dont want to spend crazy cash I think you have a lot of options. The M&P 10 SPORT is a great gun, SIG makes the Tread which by all account is a great gun. Daniel Defense DD5 is solid. Seekings makes an excellent 308 for the money. Larue makes a good gun but I dont think the new guns are worth it. Maybe a good gun to try to find used, from before 2014. LMT MWS is kind of the defacto answer if you dont care about weight and dont mind the shorter handguard as it monolithic. They have been know to shoot lights out. The 13.5″ inch MWS although serves no purpose for me is sexy as hell. Snipers Hide has a bunch of info on the MWS if you are looking.

As of now I am in love with this SR25. She has cast a spell. If you get one and are not used to 762 gas guns, give her time to settle in and you time to learn how to shoot her. The fundamentals are key. I think if you do that you be leaving the range one day and will have fallen in love and unconditionally where you dont care what other people say. I think that’s one of the reasons research on this gun is so hard. There are not a lot of people that have them and those that do generally dont want to put the time in to change someone’s mind. Life is far easier when you are not arguing with idiots. Just tell them they are right and walk away.