was hoping somebody might give me the recipe for building a lightweight, or even ultra-lightweight ar using forged receivers and a free-float handguard.
would also appreciate links, if any available.

the idea here is to build an ar that is as light as possible, w/ a focus on reliability.

use a lightweight barrel?



a1 upper?


no frills?

yeah, but where to get that in an assembled upper? define lightweight barrel - is gov't profile light as there is, or is there lighter?

what's the difference between a1 and a2 uppers?

no frills... i'd like a ff tube - is that a frill?

no optics, no flashlights, lasers, or anything else... i just want a lightweight gun, and want to know the components, especially the source for the upper, that i should use.

i am not set up to build my own upper-half...

the ones i know of that offer the superlight barrel is


bushmaster
model 1
colt


there might be others but i dont know of them, i have only used the bushmaster barrel and its great and light.


there are a few dealers here in the equipment exchange that sells them along with your individuals.

click for thread, gds_scott


click for eagle firearms. contact them, this is where i got one of mine from


im sure that any one of them would build you an upper with the superlight bbl.

the a1 upper has less parts to it and does not have the elevation wheel


no frills as in k.i.s.s.

Carbineman built an insanely light carbine...in addition to the lightweigh barrel, he used a Vulcan carbon fiber lower, iirc.  I think it came in *under* 5 lbs.  

I'm doing one now, but I used a traditional lower.  I have a a Clark Custom carbon fiber tube I'm having cut down to carbine length...low profile gas block, and I'm using an Ace Tube stock...the same one Carbineman used.  

FWIW, I used a Model 1 barrel.  

I bought a Vulcan carbon fiber upper, but decided against using it.  There was a pic of a kaboom posted somewhere; though not catastrophic, it pushed me towards using a conventional upper.  

I still have it, and it's in good shape if you are interested...I'll give ya good deal on it.  

Maryland AR shooter.com has an exhaustive database on weight for different components that should be very helpful to you.  

if im not mistaked there were a few lightweight builds using the carbon upper.



the ones i have seen would wear at the charging handle notch leaving the charging handle unheld to bop you in the nose when shooting

I would think a J&T Lightweight barrel with a freefloat handguard and 4 pos stock would be fairley light.  If you used just the upper and a Cav Arms lower, it would be even lighter.

Just my 2 cents.

Quoted: I would think a J&T Lightweight barrel with a freefloat handguard and 4 pos stock would be fairley light.  If you used just the upper and a Cav Arms lower, it would be even lighter. Just my 2 cents.

edited



jt would be a good kit dealer, i have used them in the past with great results

the eagle firearms superlight upper is one that i'm leaning to... how has that upper behaved? any troubles?

the maryland ar shooters is based off msn, and msn thinks i'm a child, and i don't want to jump thru all their hoops to get to the info i need.

so, i emailed eagle firearms to see if they could put one together like i want, and they forgot to get back to me. kinda makes me a little leery of dropping the money on them if they can't even give me some sort of a courtesy response via email.

what is the weight difference between the ace stock and a 4 or 6-pos collapsible?

Quoted: the eagle firearms superlight upper is one that i'm leaning to... how has that upper behaved? any troubles? the maryland ar shooters is based off msn, and msn thinks i'm a child, and i don't want to jump thru all their hoops to get to the info i need. so, i emailed eagle firearms to see if they could put one together like i want, and they forgot to get back to me. kinda makes me a little leery of dropping the money on them if they can't even give me some sort of a courtesy response via email. what is the weight difference between the ace stock and a 4 or 6-pos collapsible?

hoe do you know they forgot to get back to you? give it time most dealers on here are very busy.


what ace stock are you referring to?

soon as i logged off of here, they sent me an email... actually, a well-thought out and informative email. so, i appreciate that.

back to the eagle upper... how good is it?

among other things, they said their s.l. upper is chrome lined. i had asked for a perm fh to create a total length of 16" including fh. they said they don't reccomend that because cutting the barrel to accomodate my request would ultimately lead to the chrome peeling after time. i guess i can live w/ a barrel that is 16" + the fh if the upper assembly is good, though i'd prefer 16" total.

the ace stock i'm referring to is the skeleton...

can't go cavarms because i already have the stag lower...

If you are looking for lightweight, use the old style stock, and standard carbine handguards.  

In the below picture, I went with an A3 upper, and was going to switch out the carry handle to a cut carry handle, or an ARMs 40L.  The M4 handguards were more comfortable, but were heavier than the standard carbine handguards.