Light weight build input

[steviesterno]

Hey all, 

 

I've been wandering the web and happened to find the Ultra light weight pic thread on AR15.com I know these aren't truly all hard use competition guns, but I like the idea. I had never considered weight in a build because at a 3 gun match I would be shooting/holding the rifle maybe 10 minutes all day. Recently though I had reason to hang on to my HD rifle for a good half hour, and man it got to be too heavy to hold! Since then I have been thinking about building up a lighter weight (but not militant) rifle that I could play with for close bay matches and take new shooters out as it sits or with a 22 conversion kit.

So I guess what I'm wondering is if anybody has built a lighter weight rifle and would recommend it for what I'm thinking. I don't want to go crazy expensive and titanium everything, but I'm hoping I could get in the sub 6 pound range. Didn't weight my SBR, but it has a 1 pound rail, a 2 pound stock, and a 1.5 pound 11" barrel. I'm seeing who rifles come in for a little over twice the old stock weight! This is still better than my 18" bull barrel JP with Lancer lower, full mass BCG, and magpul UBR. That's a monster!

I looked through some of the threads here but was hoping for some suggestions. 

[TonytheTiger]

My oldest son and I built a 5.5ish pound rifle for him last winter, and we stayed under the 4 digit price mark (no titanium!) The biggest weight saver is easily the barrel, we went with a Faxon Gunner 14.5, it's something like 1.1lbs if I remember correctly. MFT Minimalist stock and an AIM Light BCG and everything else is pretty standard. We could save more weight without a 15" HG and a big muzzle brake, but the brake function has more value on a rifle that recoils harder than saving a little weight without it would be worth. He loves shooting irons right now, once he can handle more weight he says he wants a magnified optic and that's at least an additional 1.5lbs so it will no longer be a light rifle. 

[Nathanb]

Yes. I've got a four pounder. It's got a boatload of titanium and specialized parts

 

v7 systems and 2a armament parts all over and a faxon barrel

i did it for my wife and it's the most expensive ar I've built

 

 

[Darqusoull13]

You don't have to spend an arm and a leg. The vast majority of weight can be trimmed out of a barrel and hand guard. These two pieces also happen to reduce the forward weight of the rifle making the rifle feel lighter by moving the balance closer to the shooter. I put together a 6 lb, 14.5" pinned comp rifle with a 1-6 optic mounted and the rifle itself was ~$1300. That was with nice parts, Voodoo unicorn barrel and Odin hand guard but no titanium. The titanium parts can get you below 5 lbs but the cost per ounce saved isn't always within the budget. You can do fine with standard forged upper and lower receivers, a MFT or other light stock and a light weight carrier / buffer. 

The rifle I built has had 3 shooters all run it in a local 3-gun match, ~500 rounds in a day. Nothing super hard, but it runs and runs and runs. Got me through Fallen Brethren just fine in any case, and I certainly appreciated the weight savings in slung rifle stages. I like that rifle so much that the next two rifles have been pretty close to that spec (18" 223 and a 9mm PCC). I can send you a parts list if you would like a starting place. 

[Nathanb]

I do agree with the not needing to cost a fortune. I did mine as a let's see how light I can get it. Since I don't really worry about cost often I just did it in pieces. You'll be surprised to find that most of the weight in the little things doesn't matter. Barrel rail bolt and stock etc. the big pieces. 

[steviesterno]

well good news, I bought my wife a lower a while ago that we can build up. I asked what she wanted to build it into and she said whatever it is I want light weight. so looks like I have a reason to expand the budget a bit... 

[UFO]

Mine came in at 6lb 4oz. I did use some titanium parts, and a side charging handle set up.

[eddiegunks]

light guns are fun to build.  you can go pretty light without breaking the bank.....BUT at some point it will require stupid money to drop a few oz.  for comparison:

i built a regular M4 with a pencil barrel and plastic handguards with a FSB and troy flip ups sights.  6.33 lbs 

i have another with a 14.5 pencil voodoo innovations barrel,  cheap 12 inch CF hand guard, light BCG, light buffer, DGW light lower, F1 light upper with a holosun dot  that come is right at 5.05 lbs.

another at 6.10 lbs.  16 inch pencil.  12 inch aero quantum HG, holosun dot, shockwave brace and tube.  regualr CAR buffer.  ergo grip.  i bet i could get her under 6 if i changed the stock and/or the grip.  (if i went lightweight BCG and buffer i could eaily cut off another 2-5 oz or better.  if i went with a carbon fiber HG i could cut another 7-10 oz)

built an M16A1 with triangle HG at 6.9 (with round HG and the light luth ar stock it was 6.7 but not as cool looking)

i have found that the regular m4 stocks are awfully light....and cheap.

eddie

 

[Nathanb]

The lightest I found for a stock was the saber tube or the mission first tactical minimalist. 

I really like the f1 receivers. But went with 2a armament for mine along with the rail

 

it wears an Mro. One thing I like about it is that it still looks like a tradition gun and not as gnarly as some of the lightweight builds I've seen. No plastics in important areas. It truly handles like it's a toy but still runs like a scalded dog and comes in in the low fours

Edited November 13, 2016 by Nathanb

[mksm2016]

F! receivers are nice but they are heavy compared to 2A or Battle Arms or MAG tactical. Daniel Horner uses MAG tactical lower, I wonder how many rounds has it endured and if he ever run into any issues at all.

[StealthyBlagga]

On 11/10/2016 at 5:02 PM, TonytheTiger said:

My oldest son and I built a 5.5ish pound rifle for him last winter, and we stayed under the 4 digit price mark (no titanium!) The biggest weight saver is easily the barrel, we went with a Faxon Gunner 14.5, it's something like 1.1lbs if I remember correctly. MFT Minimalist stock and an AIM Light BCG and everything else is pretty standard. We could save more weight without a 15" HG and a big muzzle brake, but the brake function has more value on a rifle that recoils harder than saving a little weight without it would be worth. He loves shooting irons right now, once he can handle more weight he says he wants a magnified optic and that's at least an additional 1.5lbs so it will no longer be a light rifle. 

This is the approach I took with my son's rifle - we went with a 16" Faxon Gunner barrel and a carbon fiber handguard. Everything else is plain vanilla AR15. The rifle is plenty light enough (he is 6ft/200lbs, so not a weakling by any means).

One major weight saving most folks ignore is indeed the optic. My son stuck with a Weaver V3 1-3x, which is very light and compact for a variable scope. He does not find the lower power range to be a handicap.

Edited November 17, 2016 by StealthyBlagga

[barebones1]

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[adamge]

barebones, I'm confused by the ejection port.  I've seen uppers with no FA and no dustcover door, but this seems to have a really small hole for brass to get out.

[cjim]

4 hours ago, adamge said:

barebones, I'm confused by the ejection port.  I've seen uppers with no FA and no dustcover door, but this seems to have a really small hole for brass to get out.

It's normal sized, the chamber indicator is throwing it off.

The faxon 14.5 is nice,  running the 16" faxon .625 is this close to the 14" when you factor in a 2" pinned hider or brake.  Ran a CF hand guard on the spouses SBR, just swapped it for a longer ALG EMR, with again minimal difference in weight.

[NoKimberDave]

On 11/12/2016 at 10:53 PM, UFO said:

Mine came in at 6lb 4oz. I did use some titanium parts, and a side charging handle set up...

Wow, that is super racy looking. Very cool!

[Garmil]

This was 4lb 10oz without the optic. Under 5lbs as shown and was reasonably inexpensive.