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Semiauto Rifles Gallery Post pictures of your rifles and carbines here!

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  #1  
Old 05-28-2018, 2:31 PM
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Default Lightweight AR builds

I didn’t see a recent thread about this, so I’ll start.

Here’s my lightest weight build so far; it comes in at 4 lb 10 oz without magazine.






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Old 05-28-2018, 10:05 PM
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Damm that's light!
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Old 05-28-2018, 10:09 PM
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Wow, that's impressive. How does it shoot? I built a light weight AR but i used all aluminum and titanium. Came in just shy of 6lbs but it doesn't flex when I shoot it. I've shot friends lite weight 3gun ARs and they flex... Wierd feeling to me.

Beautiful gun
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Old 05-30-2018, 7:06 PM
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Well, each time you pull the trigger a bullet comes out of the muzzle, I can say that much.

The Faxon pencil barrel is only 14.5” (plus pinned break to make it legal) and gets hot real quick. So I’m gonna guess it’s not the most accurate gun on earth, which is why I put an 8 MOA red dot on it.

Next time I get to the range I’ll try shooting at targets off sandbags and see how the groups are. But mostly I just built it for fun.



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Old 06-20-2018, 8:52 AM
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I have since found a lighter grip and the current weight is 3lbs 15.5oz.

No polymer minus the grip and stock. No carbon fiber looks and feels like any AR, just a lot lighter.. and it’s a flat shooter

I’m currently in the process of building a 3lb ar that has no limitation and will be using a polymer lower with polymer lpk and carbon fiber wherever I can.. biggest obstacle is the barrel.


Last edited by caliguy93; 06-20-2018 at 8:57 AM..
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Old 06-20-2018, 6:06 PM
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That’s a work of art!

Wondering how yours came in 10 oz lighter... Titanium BCG and/or upper?


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Old 06-20-2018, 8:53 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kelton View Post
That’s a work of art!

Wondering how yours came in 10 oz lighter... Titanium BCG and/or upper?


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magnesium alloy upper, lower and hand guard, titanium barrel nut, bcg, gas block, and muzzle brake. Numerous variations in the lpk to reduce weight (aluminum mag catch, titanium grip screw, push button safety instead of lever, aluminum takedown pins, elfmann lightweight drop in trigger etc).. the taccom buffer is also substantially lighter than standard. out it all together and you got one pretty nice rifle...

the next one I'm working on has the complete lower with no stock or buffer assembly at 7 oz and is projected with current available and known parts to be 3lbs .2oz without optics...

I'm not in a hurry so I'll wait for lighter parts to come out to try and get the rifle under 3lbs with an optic.. my best chance of saving weight will be at the barrel.
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Old 06-21-2018, 9:37 AM
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Very nice!

Like you I have the magnesium alloy lower.

My build is LH which limited my options for upper and BCG, so they are just standard aluminum and steel, respectively.

I did spring for a Ti gas block, but other than that and the carbon fiber tube handguard there’s nothing too exotic.

When I did the math on the LPK it didn’t seem like I could shave enough off to be worth it given I’m stuck with 20oz of weight in the upper & BCG.




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Old 06-21-2018, 9:43 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kelton View Post
Very nice!

Like you I have the magnesium alloy lower.

My build is LH which limited my options for upper and BCG, so they are just standard aluminum and steel, respectively.

I did spring for a Ti gas block, but other than that and the carbon fiber tube handguard there’s nothing too exotic.

When I did the math on the LPK it didn’t seem like I could shave enough off to be worth it given I’m stuck with 20oz of weight in the upper & BCG.




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Yea once I started calculating, I started to realize that every ounce and even fraction of an ounce Added up quickly..

I probably save about an ounce on the barrel, 3 ounces on the bcg, probably another 3-4 ounces on the buffer and maybe an ounce or two In the lpk and/or grip and the weight savings started adding up quickly
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Old 06-21-2018, 9:59 AM
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Curious about recoil on these featherweights?
Is it an OMG this is different or.. meh this is little different?
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  #11  
Old 06-21-2018, 10:25 AM
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Originally Posted by CessnaDriver View Post
Curious about recoil on these featherweights?
Is it an OMG this is different or.. meh this is little different?
here is a video of a first time shooter shooting one of my lightweight builds... the first shot is bad because she anticipated recoil but after the first shot, the gun doesn't even move..

https://youtu.be/k5_Ojr2w8X8



https://youtu.be/feEy7lg4CTA


Last edited by caliguy93; 06-21-2018 at 10:27 AM..
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Old 06-21-2018, 3:01 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by caliguy93 View Post
I have since found a lighter grip and the current weight is 3lbs 15.5oz.

No polymer minus the grip and stock. No carbon fiber looks and feels like any AR, just a lot lighter.. and it’s a flat shooter

I’m currently in the process of building a 3lb ar that has no limitation and will be using a polymer lower with polymer lpk and carbon fiber wherever I can.. biggest obstacle is the barrel.

Nice! What muzzle brake is on it?
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Old 06-21-2018, 5:14 PM
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Nice! What muzzle brake is on it?
SLR titanium muzzle brake
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Old 06-22-2018, 10:41 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CessnaDriver View Post
Curious about recoil on these featherweights?
Is it an OMG this is different or.. meh this is little different?
Most of the felt recoil comes from the physics of the BCG/buffer careening back into your shoulder. Lighter BCG/buffer should actually mean less recoil.
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Old 06-22-2018, 11:55 AM
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That is very impressive looking, I like the hand guard, very futuristic looking.
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Old 06-24-2018, 4:19 PM
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I took my lightweight build (see post #1) out to the range on Friday.

At 50yd I was getting groups about 4” with Remington 55gr FMJ 223 and about 2” with Federal FC262 77gr BTHP 5.56. It has an 8 moa red dot on it, so it’s not optimized for precision. But then neither is the 14.5” Faxon pencil barrel. ;-)

Overall, it was shooting within my expectations; if it has any use beyond a range toy it would be a PDW or maybe bugout gun.

The recoil didn’t seem bad to me, but I’ve never found the AR platform to be particularly heavy recoil (maybe I’ve spent too much time spent shooting 45-70 ;-).

The one thing I did not like was the very audible clank & twang of the buffer and recoil spring, which the BAD Sabertube doesn’t muffle worth a damn (I like it otherwise). I’ve been eyeing the JP silent capture spring. It would add around 3/4 oz to the build but would be much more pleasant to shoot.











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Old 06-28-2018, 2:52 PM
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Just finished this build.

5 pounds 11 ounces.





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Last edited by davoda; 06-28-2018 at 2:57 PM..
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  #18  
Old 07-04-2018, 6:00 PM
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Whoa you got some cool finishes going on! What’s the treatment on the bolt and muzzle break?


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Old 07-04-2018, 10:03 PM
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Quote:
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Whoa you got some cool finishes going on! What’s the treatment on the bolt and muzzle break?


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The brake is the SLR titanium linear comp flame anodized. The bolt is factory from Faxon in the chameleon finish.


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Old 07-14-2018, 8:51 AM
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Not a rifle (AR Pistol) so I'm cheating, but this thing is still pretty awesome.

Proud to say this is the gun CA hates the most. Since I was going to assault weapon register this old 80%-based AR pistol (built back in the SSE days),
I figured I'd upgrade the upper and some other parts and make it bad ***. My way of giving the middle finger to CA DOJ.

Total weight as pictured/equipped: 4 lbs, 13 oz.

Specs:
- 80% Receiver
- Geissele SSA-E trigger
- AXTS Raptor charging handle
- Magpul MOE K+ grip
- Faxon lightweight BCG
- Tailhook Mod 2 pistol brace
- Trijicon RMR
- Scalarworks RMR mount
- Faxon 10.5" pencil barrel
- Superlative Arms adjustable gas block
- Brigand Arms 9" woven carbon fiber handguard
- VG6 Gamma muzzle brake (+ VG6 CAGE - concussion mitigiation device - over it to give a little courtesy to my shooting buddies)
- duracoated Gray

Attached Images
File Type: jpg AR Pistol Photo (Medium) (Custom).jpg (93.7 KB, 439 views)
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Old 07-18-2018, 4:03 PM
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Sexy! How's the handguard? I considered one of those but decided to go with the cheapo tube. I may need to drill vent holes in it, the pencil barrel gets hot quickly and I can feel the heat getting trapped in the tube.
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Old 07-25-2018, 7:48 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kelton View Post
Sexy! How's the handguard? I considered one of those but decided to go with the cheapo tube. I may need to drill vent holes in it, the pencil barrel gets hot quickly and I can feel the heat getting trapped in the tube.
it’s about as light weight of a pencil barrel as I could get, so the barrel definitely heats up quick. But the heat on your hands while holding the handguard isn’t a problem in normal strings of fire. You can definitely feel it, but there’s enough space between barrel and hands and the open design allows it to vent. That said, I’ve not done any mag dumps or anything crazy and you’d want to wear gloves if you were sending 100 rds in 5 minutes or anything like that.
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Old 07-27-2018, 5:10 PM
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My "lighter" build... Not sure the finished weight but it's pretty light.

B.A.D. receiver set
V7 Ti BCG
Faxon 14.5" barrel with V7 Ti muzzle brake
N.I.T. Ti adjustable gas block
Fortis/B.A.D. switch rail
Elftmann trigger
B.A.D. Saber tube and stock
V7 charging handle and port door
Ti pins
Trijicon MRO



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Old 07-28-2018, 5:39 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cs762 View Post
My "lighter" build... Not sure the finished weight but it's pretty light.



B.A.D. receiver set

V7 Ti BCG

Faxon 14.5" barrel with V7 Ti muzzle brake

N.I.T. Ti adjustable gas block

Fortis/B.A.D. switch rail

Elftmann trigger

B.A.D. Saber tube and stock

V7 charging handle and port door

Ti pins

Trijicon MRO









Very nice! Those V7 components look awesome. Wish they made lefty versions of their ultra lightweight upper and BCG.




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