Lightweight 14.5” AR15 build help

[Saluki2003]

Good afternoon,

It’s been a long time since I “built” my other AR (RECCE style 18” somewhat precision build). For this new rifle I’d like to build a lightweight battle rifle. One of my main reasons for building another rifle is for my wife to have something she’d enjoy shooting...she’s pretty petite and HATES shooting my AR because it’s too heavy for her.

Even though it’s going to be a battle rifle with iron sights or a red dot on it is like to start with a good bang for my buck barrel that will be fairly accurate.

I’d like to get your opinions on some good barrels or complete uppers focusing on being fairly accurate while keeping the weight down.

Thanks in advance

 

[Jigstick]

Budget? JSYK parts are pretty much non existent at the moment. If they do come in stock they are gone in minutes.

 

[ShootnFool8]

BCM enhanced light weight barrels. Did I mention accurate. Can't go wrong with one.

 

[Saluki2003]

Yeah, I’ve noticed parts are hard to come by. I’m not in a big rush right now. Just gonna start piecing parts together as I can find them.

 

[Saluki2003]

BCM enhanced light weight barrels. Did I mention accurate. Can't go wrong with one.

I saw this one available. https://bravocompanyusa.com/bcm-mk2...ted-upper-receiver-group-w-kmr-a13-handguard/

 

[PBWalsh]

My BCM ELW 16” combined with their MCMR handguard is a dream to use. Can’t comment on top end accuracy as I haven’t been able to get my hands on any match grade stuff.

 

[Ape_Factory]

Just built a sub-5 pound AR. I went with a Faxon gunner profile, match grade stainless, nitrided with 5R rifling, and it's turning out to be a hell of a barrel for the money (under $200) through Optics Planet. It's not as thin overall as a pencil barrel and it doesn't move around when it gets hot but I'm not doing mag dumps. They also make a heavy fluted which is a few ounces heavier and probably a better choice ultimately.

Anyway...you'll drop a lot of weight with the barrel and a lightweight bolt carrier group. Other than that, VSeven makes nice lightweight upper and lower receivers if ambidextrous isn't a must. Even their lower-priced receivers are nice and light and you're not spending an arm and a leg. The Faxon barrel and VSeven upper had an incredibly tight fit. Everything's mil-spec so they work fine together.

The BCG is a titanium Rubber City Armory with the POF roller pin and is really the most expensive bit of the rifle. It's not their ultra lightweight version but it does come with their proprietary coating which pretty much negates the use of lube. It's a good deal lighter than a mil spec BCG and you can run a lighter buffer, further saving weight. You'll have to make sure to check the headspace. I do run an adjustable gas block, Superlative Arms.

I did use some carbon stuff, notably a Smoke Composites buffer tube and a Coda carbon hand guard. The Coda has a lightweight barrel nut/trunion system which makes the whole affair very rigid. I topped the barrel off with a relatively inexpensive titanium muzzle brake from Hancock Armory (until the silencer arrives) and the rifle has very little kick and stays on target.

Links to the major stuff. Look around for the barrel, I just picked up another Faxon, in stock, and it'll be here in a few days.

Faxon Match Series 14.5" Gunner, .223 Wylde, Mid-Length, 416-R Stainless QPQ Nitride, 5R, Nickel Teflon Extension AR-15 Barrel

The Gunner profile is a blend of two of the best performing profiles of all time, Gov't and Pencil. This 14.5" mid-length barrel is made 100% in house in the USA.

faxonfirearms.com

Titanium Black Ti Complete BCG w/ POF Roller Cam Pin – M16 profile – Welcome to Rubber City Armory

GI SEVEN AR15 MATCHED SET

(Item Code: VSEVEN-GISET) UPPER: MACHINED FROM 7075 T6 FORGING MIL-STD 1913 RAIL FOR MOUNTING OPTICS/ACCESSORIES M4 EXTENDED FEED RAMPS TYPEIII HARDCOAT ANODIZED WEIGHS 6.8 OZ MUST USE BARREL NUT WRENCH TO INSTALL/TIGHTEN YOUR BARREL NUT LOWER: FORGED AR-15 LOWER RECEIVER CONSTRUCTED FROM...

www.vsevenweaponsystems.com

Best Carbon Fiber Handguard of 2018

The best Carbon Fiber Handguards of 2018 with MLOK compatability. Super Light, Super Strong. Look Great.

codaevolution.com

STOCKS & BUFFER TUBES | smokecomposites

www.smokecomposites.com

YORKTOWN Titanium Muzzle Brake 5.56

YORKTOWN Titanium AR Muzzle Brake fits 5.56/.223 with 1/2X28 RH threads.

www.hancockarmory.com

 

[drewthebrave]

TL/DR: Build or buy a lightweight upper, then slap it on a standard lower, and she'll be ready to rock!

My wife is a good shot, but at 4'11" tall she struggles shooting my SPR off-hand because it's too heavy for her support arm. My goal was to make her a rifle with the forend as light as possible so that she can shoot offhand without fatigue.

As pictured, this weighs just over 6 lbs.

My approach to keep the upper lightweight:
1. Faxon Pencil barrel. I settled on 16" because I didn't want to pin & weld a muzzle device. If they offered the slim brakes & flash hiders back when I built this, I probably would have gone with a 14.5" P&W to keep it a bit shorter.
2. Midwest Industries SS G2 handguard, 12". This was a pretty light rail at the time, though you can find lighter options today in a similar price range. I settled on a 12" mostly for aesthetics - a little lighter than the 15", but more real estate for the support hand than a 10". The rail covers add a couple of ounces, but protect from a hot handguard in the California desert during summer. Plus, pink makes her happy (I sprayed over the FDE covers I already had).
3. AimSurplus Lightweight BCG. It's only about 3 oz. less than a standard BCG, but paired with an adjustable gas block from Wojtek, it really lowers the recoil impulse. It's the rifle I teach new shooters on, and everyone is surprised at how mild the recoil is.
4. Primary Arms Micro Dot. At only a few ounces, this is a really useful optic. If she gets really comfortable with this rifle and wants to utilize it as an HD weapon, I'll upgrade to an Aimpoint. For recreational use, the PA sight is excellent.

I didn't go overkill on ultralight parts that cost significantly more than typical milspec components, mostly because this was a budget-oriented build. None of the lower parts are "lightweight", but since the forend is very light, it balances extremely well for her. I really wanted to put something together that would make my wife excited to practice shooting more often. It worked! She brags about this rifle to all her friends, and I've introduced a lot of new female shooters to the sport because of it.

Good luck!

 

[Molon]

. . . battle rifle. . . . . . . battle rifle . . .

. . . fairly accurate . . . . . . fairly accurate . . .

Are we talking Internet Commando accurate or actual significant sample size accurate?




...

 

[Saluki2003]

Are we talking Internet Commando accurate or actual significant sample size accurate?

Apologies for improper terminology...I just want a rifle that will be my go to if SHTF and light enough that my wife will enjoy shooting so she will be confident if she ever needed to use it.

As for the accuracy I’m just looking for the best bang for my buck....I don’t need a match barrel but was thinking a decent chrome lined or nitride barrel that will hold up well. I don’t know what would be reasonable to expect as far as accuracy from a decent non match barrel. Is sub 2MOA reasonable from a barrel like this?

 

[Molon]

Apologies for improper terminology...I just want a rifle that will be my go to if SHTF and light enough that my wife will enjoy shooting so she will be confident if she ever needed to use it.

As for the accuracy I’m just looking for the best bang for my buck....I don’t need a match barrel but was thinking a decent chrome lined or nitride barrel that will hold up well. I don’t know what would be reasonable to expect as far as accuracy from a decent non match barrel. Is sub 2MOA reasonable from a barrel like this?

In that case, you might want to check out a Hodge Defense barrel or BCM ELW barrel. While not as accurate as the first two suggestions, the Noveske "Skinny" barrel might also suit your needs.



Hodge Defense 14.5” Barrel Accuracy: A Quick Look

For decades after the AR-15 was first introduced to the “civilian” market, shooters basically had three choices for barrel contours/profiles in factory-built AR-15s: government profile, HBAR (heavy barrel) and the original “pencil” profile. (Not even John Wick slayed as many bad guys “with a pencil” as our soldiers did with the pencil profile Colt AR-15 barrel).



government profile

HBAR

John Wick profile

In the early 2000s, innovators such as John Noveske began offering alternative contours/profiles for their AR-15 barrels. These new contours were designed to offer improved weight distribution, with the attendant benefits, compared to the previously mentioned three profiles. For example, the Noveske medium-contour stainless-steel barrels offer reduced weight compared to an HBAR profile, while maintaining much of the accuracy of the HBAR profile.



Noveske 16” medium contour

Noveske’s N4 “light” contour barrels maintain the same weight as a government profile barrel of equal length, but with an improved contour. As an example, the 16” Noveske N4 light barrel has a stripped weight of 1 pound 12 ounces, the same weight as a stripped 16” Colt government profile barrel (6920).



Noveske 16” N4 light profile

Colt 16” government profile

In keeping with the approach to barrel contours of maintaining the same weight as a government profile barrel, while improving the weight distribution and in conjunction with additional improvements, Hodge Defense developed their own vision of such barrels and is now offering these barrels for sale to the general public. The stripped weight of the 14.5” Hodge Defense barrel is 1 pound, 8.5 ounces. For comparison, the stripped weight of a standard Colt 14.5” M4 barrel is 1 pound, 9 ounces.


14.5” Hodge defense

Colt M4 barrel (not stripped)

The 14.5” Hodge Defense barrel is manufactured by Fabrique Nationale, to secret-squirrel specifications, for Hodge Defense. This barrel is cold-hammer-forged and has a 1:7” twist. The barrel employs a mid-length gas system and has a 0.75“ gas block journal. The gas port on my barrel gauged at 0.075”.

This barrel does not come with the gas block journal pre-dimpled, so if you plan to use a free-float hand-guard that covers a low profile gas block, you’ll want to dimple the barrel yourself (or have a competent gunsmith do it for you.) I used the SLR Rifleworks dimpling jig for this task.

A rather unique aspect of this barrel is found in the chamber. Located in the neck section of the chamber, is a ring of six triangular shaped “flutes“. The base of the triangle faces towards the breech end of the barrel.

I assembled the Hodge Defense barrel in a Bravo Company upper receiver and BCM MCMR 13” free-float hand-guard. I rounded-out this build with a JP Enterprises bolt, a Young Manufacturing bolt carrier and a BCM charging handle.

Shooting off of sandbags at a distance of 100 yards using match-grade hand-loads and a high-magnification scope, the Hodge Defense barrel produced a 10-shot group that had an extreme spread of 1.24”.

…..


Bravo Company 14.5” ELW Accuracy: A Quick Look


ELW stands for enhanced light-weight. This barrel is from Bravo Company’s cold-hammer forged series of barrels. The barrel has a “continuous taper” design with a smooth shoulder at the gas block journal, which reportedly improves barrel harmonics. This barrel has a mid-length gas system and a 0.625” gas block journal.

According to Bravo Company, this barrel has a stripped weight of 1 pound, 5 ounces. For comparison, a Colt 14.5” M4 barrel has a stripped weight of 1 pound, 9 ounces.

BCM 14.5” ELW

Colt 14.5” M4 barrel. (not stripped)

I purchased this barrel as part of a BCM factory assembled upper receiver group with the MCMR 13” free-float hand guard. The barrel has BCM’s pinned and welded A2X flash hider.

Shooting off-the-bench at a distance of 100 yards (using a high magnification scope), this barrel produced a 10-shot group that has an extreme spread of 0.946” with a mean radius of 0.33”.

….

Noveske 14.5” “Skinny” Barrel

Noveske’s “Skinny” barrel is their version of the light-weight “pencil” profile barrel. This barrel is a cold hammer forged barrel. It has “M4” feed-ramps and a chrome-lined chamber and bore. The barrel has a 5.56mm NATO chamber and a 1:7” twist and has been high-pressure/magnetic particle tested. The barrel has traditional rifling.


The Novekse 14.5” “Skinny” barrel was tested while wearing a Centurion free-float rail. For this barrel, I fired eight 10-shot groups in a row from the bench at a distance of 100 yards using the match-grade hand-loads. The extreme spreads for those eight groups were as follows:

1.78”
1.89”
1.68”
1.71”
1.81”
2.12”
1.60”
1.84”

for an average extreme spread of 1.8” and a composite mean radius of 0.55”.




…..

 

[clcustom1911]

+3 on 16" Faxon Pencil barrel. I have a mid-length gas, so it shoots a hair softer than carbine length.

Definitely 2-3 moa accurate with everything I've put through it out to 300-400 yards. Never actually tried for accuracy because that not what I use it for. Its for torso-sized accuracy out to 300-400 yards which it does exactly as designed.

 

[Saluki2003]

In that case, you might want to check out a Hodge Defense barrel or BCM ELW barrel. While not as accurate as the first two suggestions, the Noveske "Skinny" barrel might also suit your needs.



Hodge Defense 14.5” Barrel Accuracy: A Quick Look

For decades after the AR-15 was first introduced to the “civilian” market, shooters basically had three choices for barrel contours/profiles in factory-built AR-15s: government profile, HBAR (heavy barrel) and the original “pencil” profile. (Not even John Wick slayed as many bad guys “with a pencil” as our soldiers did with the pencil profile Colt AR-15 barrel).



government profile

HBAR

John Wick profile

In the early 2000s, innovators such as John Noveske began offering alternative contours/profiles for their AR-15 barrels. These new contours were designed to offer improved weight distribution, with the attendant benefits, compared to the previously mentioned three profiles. For example, the Noveske medium-contour stainless-steel barrels offer reduced weight compared to an HBAR profile, while maintaining much of the accuracy of the HBAR profile.



Noveske 16” medium contour

Noveske’s N4 “light” contour barrels maintain the same weight as a government profile barrel of equal length, but with an improved contour. As an example, the 16” Noveske N4 light barrel has a stripped weight of 1 pound 12 ounces, the same weight as a stripped 16” Colt government profile barrel (6920).



Noveske 16” N4 light profile

Colt 16” government profile

In keeping with the approach to barrel contours of maintaining the same weight as a government profile barrel, while improving the weight distribution and in conjunction with additional improvements, Hodge Defense developed their own vision of such barrels and is now offering these barrels for sale to the general public. The stripped weight of the 14.5” Hodge Defense barrel is 1 pound, 8.5 ounces. For comparison, the stripped weight of a standard Colt 14.5” M4 barrel is 1 pound, 9 ounces.


14.5” Hodge defense

Colt M4 barrel (not stripped)

The 14.5” Hodge Defense barrel is manufactured by Fabrique Nationale, to secret-squirrel specifications, for Hodge Defense. This barrel is cold-hammer-forged and has a 1:7” twist. The barrel employs a mid-length gas system and has a 0.75“ gas block journal. The gas port on my barrel gauged at 0.075”.

This barrel does not come with the gas block journal pre-dimpled, so if you plan to use a free-float hand-guard that covers a low profile gas block, you’ll want to dimple the barrel yourself (or have a competent gunsmith do it for you.) I used the SLR Rifleworks dimpling jig for this task.

A rather unique aspect of this barrel is found in the chamber. Located in the neck section of the chamber, is a ring of six triangular shaped “flutes“. The base of the triangle faces towards the breech end of the barrel.

I assembled the Hodge Defense barrel in a Bravo Company upper receiver and BCM MCMR 13” free-float hand-guard. I rounded-out this build with a JP Enterprises bolt, a Young Manufacturing bolt carrier and a BCM charging handle.

Shooting off of sandbags at a distance of 100 yards using match-grade hand-loads and a high-magnification scope, the Hodge Defense barrel produced a 10-shot group that had an extreme spread of 1.24”.

…..


Bravo Company 14.5” ELW Accuracy: A Quick Look


ELW stands for enhanced light-weight. This barrel is from Bravo Company’s cold-hammer forged series of barrels. The barrel has a “continuous taper” design with a smooth shoulder at the gas block journal, which reportedly improves barrel harmonics. This barrel has a mid-length gas system and a 0.625” gas block journal.

According to Bravo Company, this barrel has a stripped weight of 1 pound, 5 ounces. For comparison, a Colt 14.5” M4 barrel has a stripped weight of 1 pound, 9 ounces.

BCM 14.5” ELW

Colt 14.5” M4 barrel. (not stripped)

I purchased this barrel as part of a BCM factory assembled upper receiver group with the MCMR 13” free-float hand guard. The barrel has BCM’s pinned and welded A2X flash hider.

Shooting off-the-bench at a distance of 100 yards (using a high magnification scope), this barrel produced a 10-shot group that has an extreme spread of 0.946” with a mean radius of 0.33”.

….

Noveske 14.5” “Skinny” Barrel

Noveske’s “Skinny” barrel is their version of the light-weight “pencil” profile barrel. This barrel is a cold hammer forged barrel. It has “M4” feed-ramps and a chrome-lined chamber and bore. The barrel has a 5.56mm NATO chamber and a 1:7” twist and has been high-pressure/magnetic particle tested. The barrel has traditional rifling.


The Novekse 14.5” “Skinny” barrel was tested while wearing a Centurion free-float rail. For this barrel, I fired eight 10-shot groups in a row from the bench at a distance of 100 yards using the match-grade hand-loads. The extreme spreads for those eight groups were as follows:

1.78”
1.89”
1.68”
1.71”
1.81”
2.12”
1.60”
1.84”

for an average extreme spread of 1.8” and a composite mean radius of 0.55”.




…..

Thanks for the breakdown of those different barrels. I’ll start searching for what’s available.

 

[N-C]

Check it out

Nemo Arms | World leader in weapons systems integrations

8" .300 WIN MAG PISTOL

www.2a-arms.com

 

[drewthebrave]

Check it out

Nemo Arms | World leader in weapons systems integrations

8" .300 WIN MAG PISTOL

www.2a-arms.com

All things considered, that's a great price for those receivers. The 25+ week lead time is a little absurd, but I guess that's the norm now.