Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles The Ultimate AR...

Isaac - to answer your question, when folks talk about "flat-top" they're usually talking about the upper configuration of the rifle in general but specifically the upper receiver. As Bend mentioned, when you have a complete lower assembly, you can swap "uppers" to suit a specific purpose.

Here's another example.

This is an AR "pistol" which means it has a bare buffer-tube instead of a regular buttstock and an "upper" that's usually between 7" to 12" inches (can be more or less). To have an AR with a barrel or barrel w/ fixed brake or suppressor that's shorter than 16", it either needs to be "pistol-only" or an "SBR" (short barreled rifle), the later of which requires some extra paperwork.



This next AR has the same basic lower with a regular stock and upper. It's a varmint contour barrel which is nice for the range/prairie dogs but WAY to heavy to be considered an all-around rifle IMO.




IIRC, MacKay has one similar to this with a standard contour SS barrel and low-mag scope. That would be about perfect for a 1-gun solution if you ask me.