If you\u2019re anything like me, you might agree that the early GWOT era had a timeless and unique aesthetic flair that rivals any other period in our military\u2019s history. <\/p>\n
Far from being skin deep, the weapons of the era matched old-school machining with rapidly progressing technology to produce weapons and gear that are simply iconic. One has to look no further than the burgeoning cloner community, slavishly attentive to every detail, and willing to pay astronomical prices for parts. $2,000 for a KAC URXii? Yep.. all day. <\/p>\n
So, when Palmetto State Armory<\/a> released its Sabre line of firearms, the Sabre-10 being today\u2019s subject, many budget-oriented collectors were thrilled at the \u201cinspired by\u201d lineup. Note: PSA does now have these, and others, listed under a \u201cclone\u201d heading on their site.<\/p>\n Today we\u2019re looking at the Sabre-10, a near-clone of the iconic M110 rifle. While approximating the design of KAC\u2019s wunderbeast, the Sabre-10 lacks a couple key components. Let\u2019s cover what the Sabre-10 does<\/em> bring to the table, before contrasting it to the m110, and finally getting to hands-on shooting.<\/p>\n So, a couple points of note. The Sabre-10 is offered in FDE and black, .308 Winchester and 6.5 Creedmoor, and in billet and forged varieties. The billet (my version) has an SR-25 style receiver rear cut, while the forged has a more typical rounded rear cut. The Sabre-10 uses a proprietary height rail, differing from the DPMS low, DPMS high\/SR25, and the Armalite AR-10 height rails. The Sabre-10 does use a DPMS Gen 1\/LR-308 standard barrel extension.<\/p>\n The gas block, while visually similar to the authentic m110 piece, is different in two ways. First, PSA\u2019s gas block is adjustable, having a handy knob to change the 7 gas settings. Second, the true m110 gas block acts as a suppressor mount as well, in conjunction with the m110 flash hider as a second point of contact. Conversely, the Sabre-10 has a three pronged compensator, with each prong a different length to prevent the tuning fork effect.<\/p>\n A few features worth mentioning: The Sabre grip is aggressively textured, and very comfortable. The Sabre trigger is a two-stage affair, and I like it as much as any Geissele I\u2019ve owned. The takedown pins are from Battle Arms Development, and make breaking the receivers apart easier than ever. The charging handle is a PSA branded Radian Raptor-LT, an excellent ambi-lever design.<\/p>\n While lacking in full ambi-controls, the Sabre-10 does have an ambi-safety, and bolt release (but not bolt stop!).<\/p>\n The Sabre-10 comes in at over 10lbs of heft before you\u2019ve added an optic, suppressor, or a full mag. If you\u2019re expecting a lightweight gun, adjust expectations.<\/p>\n Bottom line, before I hit the range my impressions were pretty damn positive. Fit and finish looks excellent, from the choice of furniture and accessories, to the details like the OCK\u2019s fasteners securing the gas key to the bolt carrier. I have high hopes going forward, but there\u2019s work to be done before I trust a gun.<\/p>\n I figured a fitting optic for the Sabre-10 would be the 5-25x FFP (discontinued) PSA scope. With a variety of ammo and mags from three different manufacturers, I hit the range. I grabbed a quick zero at 25 yards, before getting some 5-round groups at 50 yards and 100 yards to see how the gun liked different brands of ammo.<\/p>\n Groups ranged from ~.6 MOA (Winchester 168gr Match) to 1.8 MOA. The bigger groups definitely happened when I started picking up the pace, but the gun hovered around 1 MOA all day long when I wasn\u2019t rushing things. This is pretty comparable to my Remington 700 AAC-SD (Timney match trigger). The Sabre-10 absolutely loved the Winchester Match 168gr, less so the Norma 168gr SMK.<\/p>\n The trigger is definitely impressive. This should be sold as a standalone option. <\/p>\n I really like the gas block\u2019s adjustment. When I pulled the muzzle device off and swapped in an AAC 51-tooth mount for my 762sdn-6 suppressor, it came in handy. I guessed at an additional 2 clicks of gas reduction, and the bolt kept cycling fine, and I wasn\u2019t gassed out.<\/p>\n Recoil is very mild, owing in part to the significant weight of the gun, and also to the adjustable gas block for keeping bolt carrier velocity in check<\/p>\n Sounds like everything went great, but not quite. I had some failure-to-feed issues, but the round actually did feed. The extractor wasn\u2019t grabbing the lip of the case, requiring me to slam the bolt home a few times before it did so. After firing, the extractor wasn\u2019t doing its job well either, leaving brass in the chamber and causing a double feed.<\/p>\n I took the bolt apart for inspection. While each component looked proper and was assembled correctly, there was a brutal amount of tension on the extractor when compared to the two other LR308 bolts I had handy. I swapped in a Young National Match chrome plated bolt, and the gun ran flawlessly. I\u2019ll be returning the bolt to PSA to be fixed\/replaced.<\/p>\n Since then, I\u2019ve had the gun out a few more times. I\u2019ve burned through a couple hundred more rounds of match ammo, and some of my surplus M80 ball ammo. The gun does everything I want it to (with the new bolt). If I miss, that\u2019s my<\/em> miss and I can\u2019t blame the gun. It\u2019s a lot easier to train and to improve when you\u2019ve removed the variables from ammo, optic, and gun as much as possible.<\/p>\n But where do I go from here? Well, I bought this rifle with the intent of proving that an m110 semi-clone can be turned into an m110 mostly-clone. I have an m110 barrel from Rainier Arms on the way, with an HTX Concepts m110 gas block, as well as a Griffin Armament MGL-110 (m110 compatible) suppressor through the Griffin Armament\/Capitol Armory \u201cSilencers To Your Door<\/a>\u201d program. Along with adding an A2 grip, KAC panels, and a couple other details, this will bring the Sabre-10 to an even closer degree of authenticity. I even have a slew of optics inbound, looking to replicate the Leupold Mark 4 scope at a reduced cost. Stay tuned to see how it shoots\u2026<\/p>\n The venerable .308 Winchester has been around for a long time, and is a known quantity. The PSA Sabre-10 is a relatively newer rifle, only a couple years old at this point. I like the rifle a lot, the issue with the extractor lip the lone blot on the Sabre-10\u2019s record. If I didn\u2019t have a spare handy, I\u2019d probably be a lot more bothered by the wait to have it fixed. Palmetto State Armory is known for having teething pains after a new gun is released, and it looks like my years of dodging the few QC issues that pop up is over.<\/p>\n What I have right now though, is an effective .308 large frame rifle, capable of delivering solid accuracy out to distances I can seldom even see here in the mountains of NW Oregon. The reliability issue has been snuffed out and I\u2019m happy with what\u2019s left. The PSA Sabre-10 as pictured runs $1,249.99<\/a>, and comes with one mag. I\u2019m happy where it\u2019s at, but I still have big plans for the rifle\u2019s future modifications.<\/p>\nSabre-10 Tech Specs:<\/h2>\n
\n
Where To Buy<\/h2>\n
![\"palmetto](\"https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/palmetto-state-armory-sabre-10-1024x512.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n![\"Sabre-10\"](\"https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/8.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n![\"Sabre-10\"](\"https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/9.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n![\"Sabre-10\"](\"https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/3.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n![\"Sabre-10\"](\"https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/4-613x1024.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n![\"Sabre-10\"](\"https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/7.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nRange Days With The Sabre-10:<\/h2>\n
![\"Sabre-10\"](\"https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/14.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n![\"Sabre-10\"](\"https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/11.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n![\"Sabre-10\"](\"https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/12.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n![\"Sabre-10\"](\"https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/13.jpg\")
![\"Sabre-10\"](\"https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/15.jpg\")
Epilogue:<\/h2>\n
The End, So Far\u2026<\/h2>\n
![\"Sabre-10\"](\"https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/1-1024x363.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n