How Heavy is your AR?

AR/M4 AR General Discussion
1

Gents,

In a class I recently took there was a discussion about how a drop leg holster all the way down on your knee added so many ounces of weight to your leg, and therefore added to the amount of weight you were carrying.

Along the same lines, if my AR is 12 pounds, how much extra weight am I carrying?

As a comparison and contrast I took a couple photos of my own AR’s I use the most. Using my highly calibrated bathroom scale I put each rifle on it and snapped a picture with my iphone. All three have a Vickers/Blue Force sling wrapped around it to stay on the scale.

First, as a control, I pulled out my M4 clone. A Colt 6920 with a pinned 14 1/2" barrel, knights rail, surefire flashlight and Sopmod stock. It is a ‘clone’, so it has a couple of different items on there not to spec, like a Larue mount for my Aimpoint and the LMT rear sight. But for all intents and purposes it is as close as I am going to get to an issue M4.

Second, is a purpose built lite weight AR I took to a 5-Day TigerSwan class I just went to: AAR 5-Day TigerSwan Pistol/Carbine. It is a ‘Frankien-gun’ with a Stag lower and a RRA upper. The purpose behind this rifle was weighing things before I added them. I had the DD M4 12" FSP rail added because it was the lightest of the DD 12" FSP rails. I used a Larue hand-stop instead of a fore grip of any kind. I mounted a Surefire pistol light and a mini Aimpoint because they were the lightest I owned.

Finally, is my 3-Gun rifle. A Colt 6721 with a 16" HB, DD Lite 12" FSP, and a Trijicon 1-4x. This rifle has seen numerous changes, modifications, and upgrades. From the Chip McCormick 1-Stage trigger, to the Surefire Muzzle Break. This rifle is a pure game gun, it has no rear back up sight, it has no flashlight, and the flash that comes out of the Surefire comp is blinding at night.

As you can see, my M4 clone weights in at 8.5 lbs. My light weight build is a skinny 8 lbs. And finally my 3-Gun rifle is a chunky 8.5lbs.

Did I gain anything by cutting off a 1/2 lb from the other two rifles, hard to tell. I know that after 5 days of carrying it around I did not notice anything significant. Did I do a 12 mile road march with it, no.

If I look at the M4 and the lite weight build, I can do the same thing with either weapon and have the same capabilities with either. I have a red dot and a surefire flash light on both. But on my light weight build I can get a more aggressive hold of the weapon and brace it against different objects. Is it worth the 1/2 lb? I say yes.

How heavy is your AR? It is your duty weapon, your plinker, your 3-Gun rifle, your class rifle or ? Post a pic, I dare you! lol

Thank you.

2

I guess to me it wouldnt be worth the hassle to save a 1/2lb. My m&p with colt barrel and bcg is a heavy dog and my dd v5 is a little lighter but its difficult to tell the difference. 1 handed is the true test of weight to me, how well can I sholder and fire the rifle 1 handed.

3

I have a DD M4V7 LW that is 5.7 lb without anything on it my other rifle is a noveske afghan now my DD rifle is way lighter that my noveske much much more than a half pound my DD right around 7 and a quarter lbs with t1 dd irons and light blah blah my noveske is more around 9 to 9.5 pounds both weights depending on if i have dbals on them and nv gear so theirs a lot of variables in exact weight even different ammo types make a change

i think lw rifles make a big difference

4

My go to weighs in a little under 8 lbs (6.8SPC 16in).

My night hunter weighs in at 10.5 lbs, which includes a D-740 night scope. The night scope is rather heavy.

I have a 5.56 that I use primarily as a training gun that weighs in at ~8 lbs (set up basically the same as the go-to 6.8SPC)

Would 1/2 pound make a difference to me? If it was a carry all day weapon, you bet it would!

5

I have no idea how much my rifle weighs. If I found my 16" gov’t contour middy to be too heavy, I’d go to the gym.

I do have some white collar friends who get winded taking the trash out. Maybe shaving ounces would be beneficial to them.

6

+1 IF you cant carry a 9 lb rifle :confused:. Before we know it 7lb will be too much. I carried machine guns for a long time so a 9 lb rifle is a relief.

"The day a man cant carry a 10lb battle rifle is the day a stronger breed of man comes into our houses takes our land and breeds with our women. "

7

I would guess mine at about 8lbs or so.

8

Mine’s about 9.8 pounds.


photo (6) by Wake27, on Flickr

I want to change the TLR to an Inforce WML and I have a GS Handstop that should be here in a few days. That chrome lined 249 barrel is hefty.

9

Colt 6940 with a t-1, bfg sling, x300 light, and a few extras in the grip and buttstock. Doesn’t feel heavy to me, but when my friend picked it up for the first time a couple days ago the first thing he commented on was how heavy it was. He has almost zero experience around firearms though.

On a side note I just weighed my AK which has a ultimak rail and trs-25 red dot set up. Only 7.4… haha!

10

Four ARs with optics, respectively:

  1. 8 lbs 12.6 oz - Main HD weapon - BCM 14.5 middy upper w/ permed A2, DD Lite Rail 9.0, DD VFG, Aimpoint Comp M3, Surefire M951, Sabre Defense lower, UBR stock and Geissele SSF

  2. 7 lbs 13.0 oz - KISS #1 - Colt LE 6920 w/ CTR stock and ACOG TA 11J, Geissele SSA-E

  3. 6 lbs 15.2 oz - KISS #2 - Colt Lightweight LE Carbine w/ CTR stock, KAC rails, KAC VFG and A2 carry handle sights, Geissele SSA

  4. 7 lbs 14.6 oz - 3-gun/sporting AR - KAC SR-15 w/ Trijicon TR24

FWIW - I wouldn’t put too much stock in a “finely calibrated” bathroom scale … my digital bathroom scale won’t even register the ARs, and your going to be at the extreme end of any bathroom scale’s range. To “pseudo calibrate” it, put a few known weights on if you have them: 5lbs, 10lbs, 7.5lbs, and see what variance the readout shows vs. actual weight. Do it multiple times to see if it’s reproducible. Then you can correlate your gun weights and adjust accordingly. Please disregard if you already know this …

11

Deleted

12

I think mine is still lighter than my ak.

13

8.4 with a loaded mag of 28.

14

Looks like I’m the fattie McFatfuck…10#'s!!! Unloaded…Shit that’s crazy how will I ever save my life and my families life with a weapon so heavy?

It’s an M&P-15 w/ the following
YHM 2 Pc. Quad rail carbine length.
Magpul MOE
EoTech XPS2
EoTech G23 3X FTS magnifier
Magpul BUIS
MFT E-VOLV stock adapter…basically a bolt on SOPMOD style stock…stocked with ear pro and 6 CR123’s
Cheap single point sling…got a VCAS on the way.
Magpul Bad Lever
Magpul AFG
Streamlight scorpion w/ MFT rail clamp
Brownells oversized charging handle

15

16

My 6920 with USGI plastics, KAC rail, ACOG/Docter, BlueForce sling, and very lite Inforce light is less than 8lbs. The green DPMS with half the barrel being heavy is almost 10lbs, and the A1 is just under 5 all on the same inaccurate scale. I believe the real weight of an A1 is 6.4lbs so add 1.5lbs to these weights.

17

My #1 tips the scale at 8.6 pounds.
BCM 16" carbine m4 profile
Daniel defense omega X 12.0 FSP
Magpul AFG
Streamlight LED in Viking mount
Aimpoint M2 in Larue LT150
Magpul rear BUIS
Daniel defense lower with Magpul STR and MOE+
VTAC sling

I hope to get my SBR build right around 7#

18

Noveske/BCM pinned 14.5" LW with CTR & MOE furniture, 600 Scout light mounted on an IWC mount, DD A1.5 fixed rear BUIS, Aimpoint H1 on a DD mount, Vickers VCAS QD sling, small bottle of oil and rag in the MOE grip and a P-Mag loaded with 30 rounds. Total weight: 8 pounds 5 ounces. It’s a quality setup and an absolute delight to carry.

It’s the one in the middle. On the left is my precision/game gun, a Noveske Rogue Hunter 18". On the right is a RR Colt M16A1 with a 6933 upper and an M42K suppressor.

19

My previous go-to rifle was an Armscorp National Match M-14 with a bull barrel… 13 pounds loaded.

My AR (11.5" Colt 6933) isn’t heavy at all. :smiley:

20

I’m not saying you’re wrong…IF there’s a reason for the weight. It’s patently silly to imply that there is anything wrong with getting lighter if whatever was making it heavy didn’t do anything worth missing.

Your argument can be taken to the extreme(just like the lightweight argument can be.) The X300 is for pussies, mount a spotlight. The M4 profile gives up too much when it’s hot, mount a bull barrel and man up. Plastic stocks break too easily, mount a fucking metal one and grow balls.

If you’re strong enough to shoot a ten pound rifle all day, and nobody is doubting that you are, imagine how much more energy and strength you’ll be able to bring to the fight when you haven’t carried extra weight all day.

Let’s say you’ve shaved three pounds off of your rifle. If you’ve walked a mile your legs have more than three thousand pounds more gas in them now for when you need it.

There’s a balance. Do capabilities lost equal or outweigh the benefits of losing weight? Not worth it. Have you lost a little capability but gained more in mobility and ability to deploy the rifle? Worth it.