I’m considering/gathering parts for a 5.56 AR pistol. I will use a “sport” upper (no FA or DC), DD fixed iron sights, 10" ALG V2 Keymod rail, KAK Blade and tube with H2 buffer. Any guess what the weight for that setup would be with an 11.3 BA Hanson barrel ~ 22 ounces?
The pistol would be primarily a range toy/handy gun to throw in my truck/boat.
Is it a mistake to want a light pistol? A lot of the guns I see here are a lot heavier than the build I am considering.
Thanks
Andy
You won’t run into issues being light as long as all the parts are of good quality, look into the sb3a brace tho it’s so much more enjoyable shooting than the blade style brace
I go back and forth on which brace to pick up. The KAK blade kit is attractive to me due to cost, but I do understand that buying a second brace because I can’t stand it is false economy.
Andy
My 11.5 incher, sans RDS or light, is 6.8 unloaded, 7.6 loaded w/30 rnds.
I really like the KAK brace. Works great.
Ive got a kak kit if you’re interested
My 11.5 bcm is 5lb 10oz unloaded. Thats a elw fluted barrel, m16 carrier and stt2 buffer. So all milspec internals, just lightweight barrel and rail, which makes it feel lighter due to balance.
My go to AR pistol is 7.4 lbs loaded.
Colt lower
Colt 6933 upper
SBA3 brace
Daniel Defense EZ CAR 7.0 quad rail
T1 on a non QD lower 1/3 mount
Magpul MBUS rear
Surefire 6PX Defender in a “I forgot who makes it” offset mount
I sling this thing often and hike trails and old logging roads close to home and the weight doesn’t bother me.
I think that is pretty much what my theoretical build will end up weighing.
Andy
I second the comment about the SBA3, the blade is ok but not nearly as nice and the quick adjustability is awesome on the SB.
I 've got a 11.3 hanson build with an alg 10 in rail (mlok without full pic rail), mbus sights, sba3, afg, , sling, light and a sparc 2 it’s right at 6lbs 9oz.
Great info, thanks - mine should be a bit lighter without the light, Spark II, or AFG.
De nada. Yeah k2 pistol grip isnt the lightest also h2 buffer. Adds up quick I’d think you’d be under 6lb’s easily.
I put the pistol together, the barrel is a .750 gas block Hanson, not the .625 gas block barrel I ordered. The retailer offered to swap it when I pointed out the error, but BA’s site shows 1 oz difference between them, so I declined.
I don’t have a proper scale, but my bathroom scale says I am 5.8 lbs lighter when I am not holding the pistol. No optic, light, sling - just DD/Troy fixed F/R sights, an empty Pmag 30 and 5 BCM rail covers. H2 buffer.
Zeroed it at 50 yards and fired a couple hundred problem-free rounds yesterday.
Andy
Good job, we wanna see pics!
Good on ya zeroing at 50, I did that too, now 2-3 inches high at 100, perfect.
You can walk and run all day with that thing and not get smoked.
Thanks, I am pretty happy with the way it turned out.
I’m at around 7.5lbs with a 11.5” Colt FBI barrel, H2 buffer, SBA3 brace, Troy BUIS, Aimpoint PRO, and a Streamlight TRL-1 (for the moment). It wears a MI 10.5” Combat rail. Does that seem heavy? I went with a light weight rail knowing the barrel was heavy.
I don’t think that’s heavy, especially if that’s loaded.
Mine’s 7.6 loaded, sans RDS or light.
I always take for granted the amount if weight those two force multipliers add to any weapon. It’s one of the reasons for the modern trend toward shorter barrel “battle carbines”, shorter guns are lighter, so it doesn’t tip the scales so much with all the crap we need to hang on them, I think.
One of the reasons I built mine without optic or light was to avoid the weight penalty. On the other hand, my 11.3 pistol is not my “go-to” AR - that would be my 16" BCM lightweight or my 14.5" LMT SPM with red dots and lights.
The other reason, frankly, is that quality fixed sights cost me @ $100 and equivalent quality RDS would run $400+.
Andy
Unloaded…but with light and optic. It’s officially 7lbs 7 oz on a luggage scale. My original intent was to make it a very light weight gun…but then I found that barrel with a factory shaved FSP for a good price. It’s very accurate
I’d be happy with that.