Ultralight Ultralight Rifles

[Thegman]

How "stupid" would it be for say a 7" handguard and open gas port?

IDK...but seeing the gas ports on some rifles jammed with copper, I personally wouldn't want to do it. Having one hole with pieces of metal shooting out is enough for me to keep track of...

It would be interesting though to put some cardboard or something above a port at various distances and see what actually happens in that case. Could be a non-issue ...(?)....

Let us know if you try it.

 

[JBradley500]

That's really good, I think. I'd be curious what you could do with the Tikka with the Red Dot; I wouldn't think it would be much better.

Probably not a whole lot. I can get a real nice group with the Tikka and 10 power, but the red dot has a lot of guesswork at 100 when I'm behind it.

 

[ebrownw2]

Ok I can’t let you guys have all the fun. Thanks to all you who’ve contributed to this thread. Your homework has given me a good start. Solo action, TN Arms carbon lower, NFA poly LPK are on order.

A lot of the 28 pages of this thread has been about gas port solutions. I don’t want that problem if it can be avoided. Chasing the portless barrel now.

There hasn’t been much discussion on triggers. Seems several of you are just using the nfa poly trigger. How is it? I have the rise ss140 3.5lb ss in my gas guns and a couple spares laying around. Im thinking I‘ll want a pretty light trigger on such a light gun. Seems like it’d be hard for me to precisely shoot a 3lb gun with a 6lb mil spec trigger. I’m thinking I want 2-2.5lbs max. Not seeing many AR triggers that light. Suggestions?

I have a SWFA ultralight I’ll probably go with for sights. Need to decide on mount.

Not going to worry about the stock and handguard (or not) until I figure out the barrel as it will affect the latter. Undecided on some sort of folding or collapsible option with the associated weight penalty or just a super light fixed length tube and butt of some sort.

It’ll be a 223.

I’ll update as I go.

 

[Thegman]

The poly trigger is actually pretty good. Probably not as good as your Rise, but better than most mil spec triggers.

 

[StupidLightweight]

I've received messages from builders about Shaw Barrels. If they say no about building a port-free barrel, here's a plan B. For $158, snag a barrel blank from Green Mountain Barrels. Then, have a machinist turn it down to a lightweight profile. My local smith (Little John's Gun Center) charged me $160 or so to turn down a bull profile barrel.

GM-B3 17" .223 Wylde Chambered Gunsmith Edition Blank w/Extension 1:7

 

[ebrownw2]

So far the only no gas port AR15 barrel I've found in stock is this rather portly looking one at Brownells. Doesn't look like a viable option for an ultralight build but if somebody out there wanted to build a straight pull AR and wasn't concerned with weight.... this is out there.

WHITE OAK ARMAMENT SPR THREADED BARRELS NO GAS PORT 223 WYLDE | Brownells

Check out the WHITE OAK ARMAMENT available Online at Brownells Today and many more Rifle Barrels & Parts products are available in our Gun Parts Department.

www.brownells.com

It's 18" too which I'd be ok with if it was a pencil barrel, but if I'm having to go the custom route anyway I'll likely stick with a 16".

 

[ChrisAU]

I think pushing Solo300 to do more calibers is what we need to do. $200 tax fee with a 2-3 week wait and you can get really light instead of spending big money on a long schlong barrel.

 

[180ls1]

I think pushing Solo300 to do more calibers is what we need to do. $200 tax fee with a 2-3 week wait and you can get really light instead of spending big money on a long schlong barrel.

Have you talked to them about it or have they ever done it?

 

[Thegman]

Have you talked to them about it or have they ever done it?

I think he's planning on adding a couple of rifle barrels first (300 Blk initially). It's a pretty big cash outlay for a barrel order, so it's going one step at a time with biggest demand first. He's not making the barrels himself AFAIK.

In the meantime, for a portless barrel, I think StupidLightweight gave about the best suggestion, at least for those chamberings that Green River makes. Another advantage to that route is you get a barrel the exact contour, threads (or not) and length you want as opposed to one off the shelf which has to kind of meet everyone somewhere in the middle.

(Or just say "screw it", and grab a much cheaper ported barrel and an aluminum gas block in the meantime. That still works too! )

 

[ChrisAU]

Have you talked to them about it or have they ever done it?

I haven’t talked to him yet but they did just expand from only 300BO by adding 350 Legend. I’ll send him a message sometime soon.

 

[ebrownw2]

I emailed Solo yesterday about the possibility of ordering barrels from him. He got back promptly and advised me to contact Mos-Tek about having customs made. He said they are familiar with his actions and have made barrels for him and do good work. I talked to them this morning. Super friendly and helpful. About what it'd cost to buy a green mountain and have a local shop turn it down. They are going to get back with me on a weight estimate for a 16" 223wylde and 300aac. Everything seemed perfect except the 25 week lead time.

Green mountain said 100 barrel minimum.

Faxon said 100 barrel minimum.

Haven't heard back from Shaw or Wilson.

Been trying to get a quote on some other work from Longrifles Inc. for two weeks now. I've had them flute some bolts, and they do good work, but they don't answer the phone, return calls, or answer emails. Frustrating to say the least. I left another message this morning, this time with a person in the barrel department. Different person so maybe they will respond to customer inquiries. Thinking maybe I can send them a GM to sharpen with this other work if they won't do a custom barrel.

X-Caliber is similar price as Mos-tek but with a 10-11 week lead time. You can pay an extra $100 "order expedition fee" and cut that in roughly half. However their barrels will still have the gas journal, They just don't drill the port. The mos-tek would not have a gas journal. Not a big deal, but might make the mos-tek an ounce lighter if all else equal. And would look better with a short handguard which would also save another ounce.

So, if you are offended by gas ports, and are a serious weight weinie, and you have a local gunsmith you trust to do the work, I think StupidLightweight is steering you down the right path with that GM option. I just don't have a local gunsmith/machine shop to help me so am fleshing out the custom options.

 

[SLG]

I bought a faxon and a gas block so I have something to shoot while waiting for the companies to make what i want. My thought was that I shoot out an AR barrel almost every year so it won't last long anyway. After ordering it, I realized it was for a bolt gun, so no way will I shoot it out in a year. Oh well.

 

[StupidLightweight]

Another talented smith who turned a barrel down for me a few years back was John Thomas at Retro Arms Works. He's a master AR builder, and if someone got him a GM blank, he'd likely reprofile it quickly. I'd be shocked if it took more than 2 weeks.

Again, what we're after ain't hard to do. It just takes time in a lathe. I believe that any machinist could do this as well as or better than most gunsmiths. All they'd need was the dimensions.

 

[packgoatguy]

I emailed Solo yesterday about the possibility of ordering barrels from him. He got back promptly and advised me to contact Mos-Tek about having customs made. He said they are familiar with his actions and have made barrels for him and do good work. I talked to them this morning. Super friendly and helpful. About what it'd cost to buy a green mountain and have a local shop turn it down. They are going to get back with me on a weight estimate for a 16" 223wylde and 300aac. Everything seemed perfect except the 25 week lead time.

Green mountain said 100 barrel minimum.

Faxon said 100 barrel minimum.

Haven't heard back from Shaw or Wilson.

Been trying to get a quote on some other work from Longrifles Inc. for two weeks now. I've had them flute some bolts, and they do good work, but they don't answer the phone, return calls, or answer emails. Frustrating to say the least. I left another message this morning, this time with a person in the barrel department. Different person so maybe they will respond to customer inquiries. Thinking maybe I can send them a GM to sharpen with this other work if they won't do a custom barrel.

X-Caliber is similar price as Mos-tek but with a 10-11 week lead time. You can pay an extra $100 "order expedition fee" and cut that in roughly half. However their barrels will still have the gas journal, They just don't drill the port. The mos-tek would not have a gas journal. Not a big deal, but might make the mos-tek an ounce lighter if all else equal. And would look better with a short handguard which would also save another ounce.

So, if you are offended by gas ports, and are a serious weight weinie, and you have a local gunsmith you trust to do the work, I think StupidLightweight is steering you down the right path with that GM option. I just don't have a local gunsmith/machine shop to help me so am fleshing out the custom options.

I've had some luck getting ahold of LRI through Kalli the Office Manager, often in the 30 minutes or so after they are closed... I can PM you her actual email if you like... as emails to their general contact address seem to get lost pretty easily.

 

[StupidLightweight]

Another ultralight barrel option is to take a 20-inch pencil profile A1 barrel and chop it after the gas port. This will give you a barrel around 12 inches, which is obviously SBR territory. You could have it threaded for a flash hider/suppressor or have a 4-inch tube welded on to bring total length to 16 inches.

 

[JBradley500]

Almost shaved an oz with a different mount for the Romeo 5.

 

[Taudisio]

How "stupid" would it be for say a 7" handguard and open gas port?

Mine has the kvp at 8” and change and the port is open. Works great. Just a little loud

 

[180ls1]

Mine has the kvp at 8” and change and the port is open. Works great. Just a little loud

Is that plenty of clearance? I could see the gas damaging it (10"+) with enough use.

 

[Taudisio]

The 8.625” length to be exact. I shot a 2” group at 100 and about 4” at 200 when I was sighting in. Nothing spectacular, but for a 2moa red dot, it is about half the size of deer lungs and that’s all I care about.

 

[ChrisAU]

The more I think about it, I have a couple of piston ARs I’ve built that have gas bleed off as part of the design. Allows you to tune the gas but then also lessen blowback.