This build was sort of an experiment spurned by the $65 Radical Firearms barrels floating around a while back combined with all the great deals on stripped lowers. The goal was to see how cheaply I could build a rifle that functions well and looks good. Substance took a few hits from style here. I gathered the parts slowly waiting for deals. The general idea of the rifle is a lightweight, 3-gun sort of thing. It weighs 6.4 pounds without magazines or sights.
The upper is the Radical Firearms 16" 1-7 twist SOCOM barrel, a 13" UTG Super Slim handguard, an Anderson stripped upper, and a DS Arms basic BCG. The lower is Anderson with an ALG ACT trigger (you've got to draw the line on low-end somewhere). I've got $630 in the rifle, including all parts, shipping, and sales tax.
Assuming I can get the mounts to work right, I've got an interesting optics system in mind that will run just $205 including mounts. I’m using a 55 year-old Weaver, El Paso-made K4-60B (that’s a fixed 4x) in a DNZ Freedom Reaper mount with a Primary Arms reflex red dot offset at 45 degrees. The old scope is light and tough with decent glass. The whole enchilada weighs 7.25 lbs.
I think I’ll get 3 moa out of it. I'm hoping I can get 2 moa. If I get more than 4 moa, call the experiment a bust. I'll post a range report when I get it out.
I'm excited to see what this build will do. There's a definite risk it's craptastic. There's also a chance to hit a bang-for-the-buck homerun. Worst case, I figure I can upgrade a few parts if it sucks (the barrel, buffer, spring, and maybe BCG are the suspects) and have a very good, light rifle for under $1,200, including optics.