A pencil-ish weight 308 barrel is a beautiful thing. After building an aero M5 receiver set around a Brownells (Faxon) 20” retro pencil barrel and Troy carbon fiber handguard, the darn thing was easier to flick around than a poorly designed 16” 5.56 barrel.

But finding parts like that are impossible now without spending a ton of money, as far as I can tell.

Two options I would consider:

1) Ruger SFAR - Seems inconsistent and typically overgassed. But a hybrid frame that can use standard AR free float handguards. If they got this right, it seems like a great choice. If. And it’s cheap.

2) Colt M7 - Because it’s Colt. They are on sale for $2200, and also “hybrid.”