Ultralight Ultralight Rifles

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Thegman

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I’ve got everything on order or here except the butt stocks. I want one fixed as light as possible and one folder. Or else just a folding adapter for the fixed stock.

The green mountain barrels are going to LRI to get turned down to a Faxon pencil profile. I may or may not have a spare or two when the dust settles.

Building one with a Faxon barrel as well for a more budget friendly build. (And to play with while waiting on the custom barrels :) Did we ever decide if it’d be ok to just leave the port open with a 7” hand guard? If not what is the preferred lightest gas block to reverse and will it fit in a kaw pcc hand guard?
A Guntec or other aluminum block works fine for covering a port. If it's a little tall, it's easy to take some off the top with a hacksaw and a file.

Post some pics and weights of your unported barrels if you will when you get them finished.
 
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Thegman

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Speaking of barrel pics, Shaw happend to have -one- test barrel left after they built StupidLightweight's barrel. I got lucky enough to get ahold of it.. It's basically a twin to StupidLightweight's. 17.7 oz. Tapers to .50" at 9" and straight .50" to the end. They could even go a little lighter if they wanted to, but I'm happy with that.

I'm getting parts together for the "Red Ryder II" sub-3# rifle with this barrel. Should be about the lower practical limit of what I'm building.

The good news is that Shaw mentioned they were getting a lot of requests for portless barrels and would likely be making a run of them, and they're light.

Sounds like Wilson is hearing the same and Bill Wilson built his own portless straight-pull AR. I also sent him some pics and description of the Solo Upper, so they're aware of them at the top. You guys are turning the tide!

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Taudisio

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Did we ever decide if it’d be ok to just leave the port open with a 7” hand guard? If not what is the preferred lightest gas block to reverse and will it fit in a kaw pcc hand guard?
No issues with mine over ~150 rounds. I am going to film/take photos with cardboard over the port. It snowed all last weekend so I haven’t been out to do so yet, and rain so forecasted for this weekend. If I find a good gap this weekend, or maybe next weekend if I’m not out scouting for bears and get some time at the range I’ll give a report. I assume it is no different than a port on a muzzle brake and treat it as such.
 

robtattoo

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Did we ever decide if it’d be ok to just leave the port open with a 7” hand guard? If not what is the preferred lightest gas block to reverse and will it fit in a kaw pcc hand guard?

Drill it out, tap it to 6-48 & use JB Weld as threadlicker to hold an old scope mounting screw in place. File it flush & file down the gas block stop until it's flush with the journal.
You won't get any lighter than that!
 
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I tapped mine 4-40 but it was a tedious job. Even with a really good tap it felt like it was on the verge of snapping a lot. I was only turning like 10* in then backing it out. Took a while but worth it.
 
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So I had a better idea for the buffer retainer plate... I had an ar308 buffer tube that has the extended threaded end with a slot cut in it. I use that with the buffer retainer pin/spring rather than the end plate to keep the tube from rotating. I ordered an aluminum castle nut also. This should shave 1 OZ off and look a little sleeker too. Here's a pic of the buffer tube and pin.
 

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Thegman

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So I had a better idea for the buffer retainer plate... I had an ar308 buffer tube that has the extended threaded end with a slot cut in it. I use that with the buffer retainer pin/spring rather than the end plate to keep the tube from rotating. I ordered an aluminum castle nut also. This should shave 1 OZ off and look a little sleeker too. Here's a pic of the buffer tube and pin.
That looks like it will work fine. Once the castle nut is tightened, I wonder if rotation is much of an issue anyway? Once I get mine tightened, it seems like they hold pretty well (although I do bring a mini strap wrench on hunting trips just in case).
 
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Yeah I thought the same thing, that the nut should do enough for hunting, but I had fun trying to have a backup with the stuff laying around the house. This is a fun game.
 
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I also thought the Solo 300 ball detent spring was causing too much friction in the upper, so I clipped a few coils off the spring and created a bedding for the detent ball into the upper with some Devcon epoxy. It gives a much more solid lockup and moves more smoothly. This was on a Cross Machine Tool UPUR-3A, since I wanted a right side charging handle (I also drilled and tapped Solo BCG to move the handle to the right side).

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robtattoo

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I got into my buddy's machine shop today & modded the cheap, nasty BCA upper.
Cut it for a left hand charging handle, slabbed ⅛" off each side & knocked off all the picatinny rail in not going to use. Unfortunately we didn't have the tooling to do everything I wanted, but we still managed to shave 2.3oz, so no complaints. Well, one complaint: it was roughly 22 thou out of square.... there's a reason it's a $40 billett upper 🙄 We also roughly hacked an ounce off the butt plate.
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The Wiland handguard also arrived & was a little lighter than advertised. For $89, I don't think there's much off the peg could beat it for a 10"
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The bare rifle is now weighing 3lb15oz & I still have the buffer tube to cut & modify, once my carbon pipe arrives. I'm thinking that'll be another 1.5-2oz.
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I'm rethinking my scope choices.....
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But at least it's fugly as hell! 😄
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robtattoo

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There's still a bunch of blending & sanding to do to smooth out the sharp corners & transitions, but I'm knackered, so it can wait until tomorrow.
 
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There's still a bunch of blending & sanding to do to smooth out the sharp corners & transitions, but I'm knackered, so it can wait until tomorrow.
I think the ugly is what attracted me to these builds. They put off that backyard mechanic/end of the world vibe. Love it.
 
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I think I'm done messing with mine. I changed the red dot mount and got rid of the standard buffer plate and castle nut and just used an aluminum buffer nut. Saved around 2 oz between those two changes.

Final scale says 4 lbs 4 oz with optic, sling, and magazine. 3 lbs 15 oz without the mag. Not sure what it would be without the optic and sling but probably close to 3.5lbs. Good enough for me without compromising any strength.
 

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