The Science Behind the all new RD15-LPR with Dr. Rudy - Episode 1

Ridgeline Defense is excited to release a multi part series behind the science of our new RD-15 LPR series of rifles. Covering all the questions and technical details of our barrels, gas system, receivers, hand guards, bolt, buffer and all supporting gear that gives this rifle its "LPR" name.
Dr. Rudy (not a doctor) breaks down our barrels and gas systems for episode one, Again, not a doctor....but is a Rudy.
With the recent release of the LPR, we are excited to be sharing more videos about the LPR, the "why" behind it, and more insight about the training conducted up on the mountain in the near future!
Learn more about the LPR here:
ridgelinedefense.com/rifles/
Get signed up for training here:
ridgelinedefense.com/training/
Follow along with us on the gram:
/ ridgeline_defense

[@Nightmare3two]

No1 on my to-buy list.

[@EzekielsVisionOfAbominations]

Saw a video covering the mounting of your semi-monolithic rail to the receiver and if I remember right it was only using three very small screws with some interesting mounting hard wear. As I'm sure you guys designed it for hard use I would be very interested in a video covering that lockup system and what kind of abuse you guys designed it to handle and/or how you tested it to ensure that it would hold up to serious use. Everything else I've seen on this rifle really impressed me, especially the gas system. I think more companies need to follow in knights path and figure out better ar15 gas system designs that allow for more controlled gas regulation, easier and more sturdy installation/disassembly, and that place less stress on the barrel, and I think this is a step in the right direction, so kudos on that. I don't think companies need to worry about producing proprietary stuff so long as they don't stray too far from our second lord and savior Eugene Stoner's original vision. It doesn't hurt knights to have proprietary stuff, so I would encourage you guys to continue down this road. Maybe consider taking many of these design enhancements and applying them to a line of fighting rifles as well as opposed to just precision rifles. I would love this jam nut design and hand guard design (assuming it's solid) on an 11.5. I really want other companies to try and compete with KAC and figure out how they can achieve similar design enhancements so KAC isn't the only game in town, as much as I love them I also love competition and options. I'll be waiting for the 18 inch lpr, and looking forward to more content covering the rail mounting design and seeing where you guys go with all this. Keep up the great work

[@armorers_wrench]

The KAC mod 2 gas system is basically a copy of a fitting used to seal hydraulic lines. We use these types of fittings in the tooling industry and they cost next to nothing but throw it on an SR15 and its suddenly very expensive.

[@ridgeline_defense]

The most destructive test of that hardware included an 8' pipe being placed around a hand guard on a test fixture to apply leverage over the system prior to being both static and dynamically loaded. The each time the test fixtures failed (literally stretched and tore the aluminum) before we even came close to the sheer rating of (1) of the (3) bolts. The cam plates and bolts remained locked and in position. I think there is video of me doing pull-ups on a receiver set somewhere as well haha

[@EzekielsVisionOfAbominations]

@@ridgeline_defense great to hear, definitely produce some content on that showing off what it can handle because the internet seems to he obsessed with rail flex and lockup between different manufacturers. When I first got into ar15s the two things that came to mind were "wait, why don't they just mount the handguard to the upper receiver rather than the barrel nut?" And "why do they allow gas to leak out around the gas block?" So great job addressing those obvious ways to improve the system. Like I said, consider making an entire line of rifles with these improvements, from 11.5 ar15s all the way up to 6.5 creedmoor ar10s. You don't need a lot of SKUs, just give knights a run for their money lol since you guys love precision stuff I'm sure you could do a 20 or 22 inch 6.5 creedmoor and punish knights for not making their 6.5 upper more avaliable. You could also potentially do a 14.5 creedmoor and dominate the high end battle rifle market.

[@EzekielsVisionOfAbominations]

@@armorers_wrench this is exactly what I mean, it's pretty common sense to do what KAC did in many ways, but no one seems to want to risk making proprietary stuff, despite the success of kac. But all they did was say, hey, gas system leaks, let's fix that. Bolt carrier cracks at the cam pin hole, let's make it smaller. Electors and extractors fail, let's add redundancy. Bolt lugs shear, let's round them to reduce that. I see all this and think, cool, I wonder how other manufacturers will follow in their footsteps, and other manufacturers seem to not do shit. KAK industries is the only place I know of to get a sand cutter chrome Bcg with duel ejectors, and they are not a high end company. Psa had an enhanced m4 project at shot show with an improved bcg along with a bunch of other expensive and questionable design choices and it didn't even make the top three of audience vote. I don't think people understand that the ar15 is the best semi auto rifle platform we have and that it needs to be modernized and improved. We need a new upper receiver that handguards mount directly to, we need a better gas tube/gas block/barrel interface, and we need improved bcgs. Until more companies get their heads out of the sand I will continue to simp for KAC, not because I want to, but because they are the only ones improving the system, and lmt of course but I also have my issues with them, like changing the Bolt to work better suppressed but also creating issues for full auto, or just not making their handguards long enough. Thankfully now I can also say Ridgeline Defense is making some moves in the right direction, which is funny, because I would have hoped geissele would have done this shit, they were the obvious choice, but they decided, nah, we aren't gunna do any of that, we are gunna drill multiple holes for the gas port and add an extra 1500 onto the asking price 🤦‍♂️

[@NoBrassLeftBehind]

Great info. Next vid go into the barrel nut and details up close on the semi monolithic rail. I also haven’t seen a ton up close around that sexy lower

[@TheMikeshannon]

I havent even shot mine yet and count me in for an 18" upper when they happen

[@tabariousberry3753]

When are the barrels going to be available?

[@mexicangator]

Is this a limited production run? Do you plan on continuing production after the first batch sells out?

[@ravioliformuoli520]

Have you thought about or tried making the gas block slightly taller and using a straight gas tube?

[@LesterRiverBushcraft]

what is the ejection pattern typically ? I am a left handed shooter , I saw a right handed shooter mention that when shooting offhand that he was getting hit in the face with brass . Would you say that is accurate overall?

[@fuzze321]

Do a run of 15.1 recce barrels with the tapered gas block setup 😅

[@mkienert]

3:08 👀

[@seancady4627]

What is your reject rate on parts?

[@ridgeline_defense]

Honestly, not as high as you’d think for a few reasons. 1. We are working with vendors that put out an extraordinarily high quality product 2. We double buy gauges. We make our vendors gauge prior to shipping so when we receive and gauge them it’s very rare that we have to reject something.

[@armorers_wrench]

I'd be shocked if it was high. It's very easy to be very precise with modern CNC machinery. Gun parts aren't super complicated to machine.

[@armorers_wrench]

@@ridgeline_defense My guess would be less than 2% reject rate. I'm assuming you're dealing with competent machine shops and not some fly by night dude in a shed.

[@armorers_wrench]

Most people probably aren't aware but you can tell what temperature steel got to by the color of the discoloration. The barrel he's holding up at 4:34 got quite hot indeed. That's definitely brown to my eye which indicates that it got up to 735 degrees Fahrenheit and based on how thoroughly discolored it is it would appear that it stayed at that temperature for quite a while. What I find interesting is that the area around the chamber has little to no discoloration at all. I would've thought it would have at least turned yellow based on the discoloration of the rest of the barrel. That may be because the steel is thicker there. I think people are really underestimating how durable stainless steel rifle barrels are because the claims online of decreased barrel life. Perhaps the barrel life is decreased. I'd think rather than a blanket statement like that though it would depend on the firing schedule, whether it was suppressed, quality of machining(stainless is easier to work with than something like 4150 cmv, significantly easier in fact), etc.

[@SpearProductions]

Please tell me you're not torquing with your wrenches 180 from the handle. That's overtorque.

[@johnl-cz2qg]

Too bad you failed when you designed a brass deflector that doesn't work properly!!!