Having handled the WWSD rifles from the InRange TV project, I knew I wanted to build one of my own. Finally got it together and shot it in a 2 gun match Saturday.
Goal was to build a rifle similar to those in the project. I wanted a nice, lightweight, ambidextrous rifle primarily for matches and also to use in classes.
Upper parts:
Aero Precision forward assistless upper
Geiselle ACH
Adams Arms BCG
Faxon 16 inch pencil midlength and gas block
Isler Custom Gun Works carbon fiber handguard
Streamlight rail mount 2 in a Proctor PLMD
Vortex Crossfire red dot
Lower
GWACS Cav 15
KE arms SLT-1 and ambi 45 degree safety
Norgon ambi mag release
PDQ ambi bolt catch
JP Enterprise captured buffer spring assembly, H2 weight
Sling is a Redwire Gear CS mounted with some paracord
Rifle runs great and handles awesome. This is my first rifle with an ambi mag release and ambi bolt catch. Despite being a lefty, I never really sought these features out. But after using them I can appreciate having them.
I watched most of the series on their builds, and I have to applaud their out of the box thinking. Personally I don’t think I’m going to build a polymer lower until more feedback is available, to either prove or disprove their durability. At 5.9 lbs. I bet it handles quite nicely.
This lower was previously a CavArms release, if there is a proven polymer lower, this is it. IMO the integral stock is a way better setup than trying to install a standard RE on a polymer lower.
With that said, however . . . I actually got a WWSD carbine and I really like it. I mean, when I say “WWSD” I tend to take an “idea” interpretation and not a “product” interpretation. The WWSD I got from Brownell’s is quite nice, in a lot of ways. I like the KP15 unitary lower—it just makes sense to me. I’d long standardized on an “A1 length of pull” and I generally prefer fixed stocks to adjustable slidey-bois. Sure, I “have” to use a regular carbine buffer instead of a rifle setup, but still . . . I think we’ve proved that the carbine buffers* (carbine, H2, H3) just flat out work. I am incredibly left-eye dominant, so I really appreciate the ambidextrous features (selector, magazine release, and the PDQ lever).
I think the Young Mfg bolt is probably an upgrade . . . but I don’t regard the regular (hopefully mil-spec) bolt as lacking. It’s a wear item, big deal. While the production version went with a 16" barrel, I’d have preferred a 14.5 with the option to p&w . . . and while I don’t mind the Faxon barrel, I’d swap it out for a Colt 6720 in about a heartbeat. While this is a personal thing, I’m not a huge fan of 15" handguards on 16" barrels—12.5 or 13" would have been fine with me. If someone doesn’t like a carbon fiber handguard, well, gee----you can build it with whatever floats your boat.
It’s the idea.
“Hey let’s take a carbine sized AR and redo it to be as good as it can, while being as light as it can.” That’s a challenge—not a dictate. Similarly, I look at the “Scout rifle” as an idea, not a product, and not even as a specifications sheet.
Karl’s a fruit loop.
Since I know one of the banes of this website is people who show up, full of uninformed enthusiasm, let me offer you a blast from the past. (I’m buffing my street cred! Or at least my reading cred. Hell, reading cred has to count for something, doesn’t it?)
“What I’m looking for in a WWSD is what Rob Jensen was looking for with Project Featherweight.”
