by John Markwell | Contributing Editor
During our summer of 2013 varmint sojourn, we had the opportunity to again spend some time with our buddy Ken in Idaho. We had a nice long visit, did some shooting on Ken’s new range and, hopefully, didn’t wear out our welcome. We shot pistol and carbine as well as a limited amount of .44 Magnum. The latter is mandatory when one is in Elmer Keith country.
As neither Ken nor I are getting any younger, our talks often turned to “how to make shooting more enjoyable/ comfortable.” Both Ken and I suffer from beat up joints, and I in particular have noticed a reduction in strength over the last several years due to arthritis. In light of that, I found the new lightweight AR carbine that Ken had pretty appealing, and thus another project was launched.
The completed light carbine.
Upon returning to the Alleghenies in July, we contacted Gary Powers in Parkersburg, WV. Having shot with Gary for a number of years at the Fort Harmar Rifle Club, we knew he wrenched on ARs and did pretty good work. So a plan was made to have Gary turn one of my 6721 Colt LE Carbines into a shorter, lighter rifle for use around our place here in the mountains. This was to be mainly a “house gun” that we could also conveniently and easily pack around in the mountains on occasion.
A Daniel Defense 14.5 inch lightweight barrel was to be the heart the project. DD’s barrels are all cold hammer-forged, chrome lined and have a tough manganese phosphate finish. The DD barrel, which was obtained from Brownells, has a carbine length gas tube. The twist rate on the DD barrel is 1 in 7 inches and it is truly a lightweight profile. We had some reservations about the twist rate, but this DD barrel was the lightest available, so we went with it.
It has proven to be a good choice. In order to wring the utmost accuracy from the Daniel Defense barrel, we felt a free float hand guard was a must for this project. A perusal of the Brownells catalog offerings (brownells.com) was a bit daunting until we started eliminating the hand guards based on their weight and the preponderance of hand shredding rails. It didn’t take long to decide on the Midwest Industries rifle length 12- inch Gen 2 SS-Series Free-Float Hand Guard. This 6061 aluminum unit, first of all was really light at only 9.3 ounces. Additionally, it had a distinct lack of hand shredding Picatinny rail (except on the top) and a very slim 1.5- inch outside diameter. For accessory attachment, three, screw-on 2.5-inch rail sections are provided, one of which has an anti-rotation QD socket. These little bits of rail can be attached anywhere they are needed with cap screws. The Gen 2 hand guard is nicely dehorned and has a good feel in the hand. Finished in hard coat anodizing, the Midwest Industries Gen 2 SSSeries handguard’s matte finish is a nice match to the Colt receivers.
The 14.5 inch Daniel defense barrel was finished off with a Smith Enterprises Vortex Flash Eliminator; model G6-A2. To comply with federal law, this unit was pinned and welded in place giving the barrel an over-all length 16.1 inches. This Vortex flash hider allows for the use of a blank firing attachment as well as the use of the Smith Enterprises M4DC CQB sound suppressor. For maximum flash suppression, Smith Enterprises recommends the use of M-193, SS-109 (M855), or MK 262 service ammunition with the Vortex unit.
As this carbine project was taking shape we noticed a blurb on the Tactical Wire about the introduction of a new super light, but tough, sliding stock from MFT). The folks at MFT were kind enough to provide a sample of their new Battlelink Minimalist Stock (BMS) for this project. The BMS Mission First Tactical (780 Haunted Lane, Dept TGM, Bensalem, PA., 19020; phone: 267-803-1517; email: info@missionfirsttactical.com) weighs in at just 5 ounces! It is made of “a specially developed reinforced, super tough polyamide from Dupont’s Military Plastic Division”. The BMS is a slide-on replacement for any original collapsible butt stock. The butt of the BMS is capped by an angled rubber butt pad that prevents slippage and allows for faster presentations (be sure to adjust to a proper LOP). The top (comb) of the stock is contoured for ambidextrous use and provides for a solid, properly aligned, cheek weld.
The BMS has a solid sling mount provision and the LOP adjustment mechanism seems to be quite robust.
The BMS is temperature and humidity stable, impact and shatter resistant, and, supposedly, absorbs some of the energy of recoil. The BMS has a very high weight to strength ratio and is covered by a lifetime warranty.
The receivers for this project, both upper and lower, are Colt. Colt factory triggers have never been known for their refinement and we wanted something better than the stock Colt 6-pound plus trigger on this light rifle.
This being a sear block gun, we had to get a large pin version of Geissele’s Super Semi-Automatic AR trigger (geissele.com). Installation of the SSA trigger was a simple task. The SSA trigger is a two-stage unit with a pull weight of 2.5lbs for first stage and a nice clean 4lb. pull for the second. We were pretty sure the Geissele trigger would enhance the shootability of this light rifle.
The two optic options for the author’s lightweight AR carbine. The Aimpoint Micro will be for use “around the house and homestead” while the Leatherwood 1x-4x CMR with its American Defense Mfg. QD mount will be used “out and about” in the surrounding mountains.
To be fully functional this carbine still needed a light, a sling, a fore grip and, obviously, some sort of sights.
One of the provided short rail sections was attached to the bottom of the Midwest Industries Handguard to accept an old Knight’s Armament vertical foregrip. Another rail section has been screwed to the handguard’s left side, forward of the foregrip, to provide a mounting point for a ProTac 1L light from Streamlight. The little ProTac 1L is lightweight and runs on one CR-123A lithium battery. The 1L is securely held in a Veltor lightweight Scout Mount that came from Brownells. The remaining rail section, with its QD socket, anchors the front end of a Viking Tactics two-point sling on the left side of the handguard just aft of the vertical foregrip.
Lastly, we come to the topic of sights or an optic for our new rig. Before anyone writes a letter to the editor about it, back up iron sights (BUIS) have been considered but not decided upon, yet. Most are, quite frankly, ugly and, in our opinion, overly large for their intended purpose. We are still looking at them. What we have decided on is a simple red dot optic for general use around the house and environs, and a low magnification scope for use out and about in the mountains, where ranges can be longer—both in QD mounts for easy interchangeability.
Aimpoint (aimpoint.com) has a well-deserved reputation in the world of red dot optics and the Aimpoint Micro H1 is one of the lightest and most efficient of Aimpoint’s dot sights. The H1 we have has a 4-minute dot, runs on one CR2032 battery and has 12 brightness settings. With the Aimpoint AR-15 flattop QD mount, the H1 can be removed and replaced without loss of zero. The strongest argument for the H1 for use around the homestead, and the reason we elected to use it, is the sight’s 50,000 hour battery life when set on a brightness setting of 7. That’s five years! After considering other options, it was hard to argue with the simplicity of the Aimpoint Micro H1: mount it, turn it on, zero it, and forget it until needed. If the carbine is needed quickly, not having to turn on the dot is one less thing to worry about. For an “about the house and homestead carbine” where ranges are not likely to exceed 75-100 yards it doesn’t get much simpler than the lightweight AR and the H1 Micro sight combination.
We have tested a lot of carbine compatible telescopes in recent years. Most of our criticisms have revolved around reticles and dials and, in some cases, stratospheric prices. For our out and about optic, we acquired one of the new Leatherwood CMR telescopes from HI-Lux, Inc. (3135 Kashiwa St., Dept.TGM, Torrance, CA 90505; phone: 310-257- 8142; email: sales@hiluxoptics.com). The CMR (Close- Medium Range) optic is a 1x-4x variable built on a 30mm tube.
Weighing just 16.5 ounces and with a length of 10.2 inches, the CMR has most of the features we require in a carbine optic. First off the CMR has a usable reticle. Although we wish the reticle was graduated in either MOAs or MILs, not a combination of both, we found it usable for both ranging and holdovers. It is our opinion that the reticle could be just a bit bolder. However, it was still quite functional. For close range or low light shooting, the reticle has a rheostat controlled illumination feature (green on our sample) that highlights the circle/dot part of the reticle, allowing the scope to work almost as well as a red dot for close fast shooting when dialed down to 1X. The CMR has the reticle in the first focal plane so at 1x it is quite small which, at least for this shooter, almost requires the illumination be turned on for effective use.
Given time, we much prefer to be able to dial elevation when shooting a scoped carbine at distances past 200 yards. The Leatherwood 1x-4x CMR has ZRO-LOK turrets graduated in ½ MOA for both windage and elevation.
After sighting in, the turrets can be re-indexed to the zero position. Once set up, the CMR has 28.5 MOA of elevation available in one revolution of the turret. The zero stop feature (which eliminates “spinning out”) is not commonly found on scopes in the under $400 price range and is one of the strong points of the CMR. The CMR has DiamondTuff fully coated optics, is finished in matte blue, and has a fast focus ocular.
The 1x-4x CMR is held securely in a mount from American Defense Mfg.
(purchased from Brownells) utilizing their QD AutoLock System. After sighting in at 100 yards on our range, we made a trip up into the mountains where we can shoot steel at distance.
We used the CMR’s reticle for holdovers, making notes as we shot, and then repeated the same shots dialing in the come-ups and making notes of these as well. The wind gave us some fits during this initial outing but we came away with a good start on a DOPE chart for the light carbine and the CMR scope.
More work is needed with our new lightweight carbine and its dual sighting system. Sorting out which ammunition the rig prefers is also going to be an ongoing project. Thus far we have fired only M855 62-gr.
green tip, Federal TRU 55gr. Hi-Shok SP, and a 55gr. ball hand load out of the carbine’s 1:7 Daniel Defense Barrel. Results have been encouraging and, quite frankly, for defensive/utility use around the house/homestead any of these rounds would be more than effective. It’s at longer ranges where ammo selection will be a bit more critical and we are especially looking forward to shooting some Mk 262 77-gr. from the 14.5” barrel at longer ranges. This is a work in progress and we are going to enjoy figuring out all the nuances of this new outfit.
So, after some gun smithing and the scrounging of some other “stuff,” what we now have is a carbine that is lighter, shorter and handier than the original Colt 6721 (which was a pretty handy carbine); and that was the goal. As weighed on the produce scale at the local general store, the total weight of the new homestead carbine, sans optic, is 6.36 lbs. With a loaded 20 round magazine in place the weight is 7.03 lbs.
The Aimpoint Micro adds .39 lb., and the Leatherwood CMR, with the American Defense mount, adds 1.5 lb.
Maximum weight loaded with 20 rounds and with the CMR mounted is 8.53 pounds and, with the Micro in place the ready to go weight is just 7.42 lbs. Gary Powers estimated that just changing out the stock Colt barrel for the Daniel Defense lightweight and replacing the hand guard on the upper, saved about a pound and a half and the MFT butt stock is also a weight saver. All in all, we deem the light carbine project a complete success and, like most builds, it was fun.
Having a fully loaded and equipped carbine that weighs in at a maximum of 8.5 pounds, makes for a right fast handling “go to gun” for use around the old homestead.
Hopefully this new outfit is never needed to address a life-threatening emergency. But, if it ever is, we feel this new rig should be up to the task. We will continue to sort out the carbine’s likes and dislikes in the ammo realm as well as experimenting with the interchangeable optics, all while enjoying the refined rifle’s handiness.
Interestingly, as we were working on this piece in February, a Detroit mother drove off three home invaders using what the press referred to as an “assault rifle.” The incident got worldwide coverage and illustrates the value and validity of using a rifle and standard capacity magazine for the defense of one’s home and person. In light of that incident, our new light carbine looks to be a better and more practical idea than we initially thought. Good shooting!
