Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Basic, budget, light weight AR

Bud's had pallets of various ARs in the $500 price range the day I bought the rifle in the OP.

I chose it because it was the only variant he had with the pencil barrel and no front sight on the gas block.

It's just a very basic, fairly light AR and I've made it a bit lighter except for the optic, of course. I've got some fairly skeletal aluminum handguards ordered for it that will remove a couple of ounces from it and that will be the extent of my modifications.

Tennessee Arms makes a polymer lower that will take a couple more ounces off the total weight.

kwg

Yeah. But there's no end to chasing lightness with an AR. I would have left it as it came but the buttstock was looser then I liked and the polymer handguards have been known to get too hot on pencil barrel ARs. The Battlelink minimalist stock fits tight and is lighter, and the aluminum handguards are lighter and will dissipate heat quicker,..so I talked myself into those two basic modifications.

How light do you really need for a "home defense weapon"?

It ain't like yer carryin' it fer 10 miles...............................

MM

This.

Also, the Aero Precision Thunder Ranch lower has the side panels milled out of the mag well, and that saves ounces without any negative impact on strength.

True. But I've just developed a fondness for light rifles. Another of my favorites is a Kel-Tec SU-16 that weighs 5 lbs.,..and it even has a piston action.

The original AR-15/M16 weighed 6.4 lbs. and that was with a 20" barrel. I can't see any good reason to own a heavy AR platform for home defense. If you're going to use it for long distance chores you're probably better off with a 20" HB. But I'd be happy if mine weighed 5 lbs. I'm not going to spend a fortune on titanium and carbon fiber to get it there, however,

I think 6.5 lbs including the optic is a good weight for an AR to be,..and the Bushmaster QRC can be configured to be that with just a couple of minor tweaks.

Will this work?

MM

That should do it. If my eyes weren't too messed up to use a red dot I could take about a half pound off of my rifle.

MM, nice rifle! I see a lot of high end parts in critical places.

Bristoe, there's a lot to be said for keeping it light and simple, but I tend to get caught up in the "constant upgrade" thing.

I wish I could stop that.

I can see how it would be easy to do.

Thanks................not an upgrade project there, though.

Built that way from the ground up; cry once, buy once..........................

That's a Sig Romeo 5 red dot & though it's been perfect so far, & I really like it (3 of 'em around here") I was tempted to put an Eotech or a Meprolight RDS off another rifle on it...................might still.

MM

I have a 5 and a 4. The 5 was used on a .458 Socom for "pass shooting" deer in the thickets when adjoining properties had lots of activity.

I had found a spot where I could ambush them, they wouldn't stop moving for a bleat, so I adapted to them moving. Great sight for that type of thing.

MM,

I may have to do a couple of rail upgrades.

Who made the rail on your? I like the flat bottom.

AS,

That's a Geiselle MK-14 rail; you need to be careful with the upper that you put it on as the rail has anti-rotational tabs that extend back a bit on each side of the receiver. Has to be more or less mil-spec or a billet that will allow the tabs to go into place.

If you look closely in the lower pic, you can see what I mean.

Great solid, rail attachment system with a long bearing surface barrel nut.

MM

TA polys are junk... IMO. bought two last year, was pretty stoked initially but they are out of spec, pivot to takedown pin dim is off, not a huge deal as it makes for tight lock up when you slam the upper on the lower to get it to ride up on the raised portion of the lower. The pin holes are tapered and too big, when you force the TD pin out, the detent comes out with it......

Not something I want when opening up the action. These were 80's and I could have sent them back after I cut them in 1/2...., they never could or would answer my question if the FFL and the 80's come out of the same mold..... I ended up making brass bushings for the takedown pin and pressing them in, it works now. But never again will I invest this much time in a inferior part. Kaiser makes some light receiver sets that I think are quality. So far so good, but I have not put it together yet. about 1/2 the weight of AL.

Recommend a carbine for the old guy who may carry it 10 miles. The Brownells XM177 that Deflave mentioned is out of stock. And I'd prefer a 16" barrel, although that might be hard to find...

I didn't know anything about the QRC that Bristoe bought before he posted it. And I didn't realize it was anything like available recently. I had actually thought Bushmaster was a thing of the past after acquisition by FG.

What's yer max budget, old timer?

What kind of optic do you want?

MM

I see what you mean. Any lowers this would go would be milspec.

Overall, I have to say, pretty sweet looking, top shelf rig.

Who's barrel is it wearing?

I don't know that I have a budget, per se.
And I have no experience with optics on an AR

I'd kinda like Bristoe's rig with a good aperture sight to begin with.

And experiment with optics as I go.

There really wasn't too much wrong with the M16a1