Recommend a lightweight AR15

EMT40SW

EMT40SW

Member
Joined
Nov 25, 2007
Messages
287
Location
Southwestern US
I need a recommendation for a lightweight 5.56 AR15 for home defense for a female small stature woman.
Complete uppers or a complete rifle are both ok. An AR pistol would be ideal but right now we are avoiding that political trap. Thanks.
 
The lightest one I had was Bushmaster Carbon-15 with a pencil barrel & Bushnell red dot. I could swing it around like a pistol. Never had a minute’s trouble with it, but some folks don’t like the polymer receivers.
 
I built one for my wife with poly upper/lower receiver, used a pencil NATO 14.5" barrel, with a welded on birdcage. Lots of lightweight parts. Some custom. Sweet little gun, very light with a Holosun RDS

She loved it until she shot it, due to increased recoil from the lightness.
 
EMT40SW said:
I need a recommendation for a lightweight 5.56 AR15 for home defense for a female small stature woman.
Click to expand...
Lo-Profile said:
I built one for my wife ... She loved it until she shot it, due to increased recoil from the lightness.
Click to expand...
We went the way of .223 to .300BLK AR to 9mm PCC for home defense as wife is competent/comfortable with Glock pistols (We use Glock 22/23/27 with 40-9mm conversion barrels for cheaper practice and Advantage Arms G22 22LR slide kit for even cheaper practice) and 9mm PCC with Glock compatible receivers use same magazines.

With 9mm PCCs, even with 33 round magazines, they are lighter and easier to handle with already manageable recoil that can be tamed further with many aftermarket/match buffer/weight systems - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/9mm-pcc-bolt-choice.903452/#post-12248344

16" 9mm barrels add about 150 fps compared to pistol MV and 124 gr bullets near .357 Mag velocities are pretty good for two legged targets, especially due to faster follow up shots that can be placed, particularly with buffer/weight system that can maintain muzzle essentially flat (Good for 3 gun match and also for home defense ;))

Here's demo of fast flat shooting 9mm PCC with very manageable recoil

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=3526785537439787

And we use ARs with CMMG 22LR conversion bolts for fast point shooting drills for cheap practice. And recently got BCA dedicated 22LR upper for more accurate plinking - https://www.bearcreekarsenal.com/22...el-1-16-twist-15-mlok-scg2-nrail-branded.html
 
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BCM, Spike's or Daniel Defense 14.5" pinned and welded complete upper on the lower of your choice. If it's me, I take the DD because all around the same ballpark price the DD will be more accurate.

I built a Spike's this way last November and even with the quad rail handguard and a weapon light on it it was ridiculously light and handy. So much so that I've built two 14.5" gas piston rifles since to run as suppressor hosts/eotw carbines.
 
At 6 1/2 lbs with loaded 20 round magazine, this is as light as you can get before cost begin to rapidly accelerate.

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The barrel is the main item that affects the marginal weight on ARs so a pencil barrel is a practical necessity for any lightweight AR. Many inexpensive options are out there. Years ago DPMS sold a Sportical which was very light and no frills. Some other company must produce a similar configuration.
 
Lightest off-the-shelf is likely still going to be the K-E Arms WWSD carbine at 5.5# empty no sight. Downside is that's $1800 before s/h & ttl. They have their "Civilian Defense" carbine that uses a "plain" trigger group, and a non-captive buffer, and only runs to $1300. Buy the lower & upper individually and on sale, you can get WWSD down to about $1400 out-the-door.

They feel spooky just to pick up, for having the same weight as an M-1 Carbine.

Going with the LWT PSA is half the price, and twice as available, and only a pound's difference in weight.
 
Generally they start around the 6.5 lb range.
My 14.7 LW barrel with a 13.5" handguard started around there.
A different stock, scope and a WML puts it at 8.75 lbs now.
With a Romeo5 it's 7.4 lbs.
Ounces do equal pounds as they say.

I swapped a couple scopes around and was weighing stuff.
The 18" is 8 lbs with no scope, 11 lbs scoped.
The .308 is 9.75 lbs no scope, 11 lbs 6 oz with a 1-8.
 
EMT40SW said:
I need a recommendation for a lightweight 5.56 AR15 for home defense for a female small stature woman.
Complete uppers or a complete rifle are both ok. An AR pistol would be ideal but right now we are avoiding that political trap. Thanks.
Click to expand...
6.5lb should not be too heavy for a home defense AR15 IMHO. It's not like you're hiking or having to hold is up in shooting stance for hours. You can buy a Palmetto State Armory AR15 for around $500 at 6.5lbs. Italy not worth the extra premium, trouble, or money to attempt to save a pound or pound and a half of weight. Plus when you start attempting to cut weight it's usually at the expense of durability.
 
LiveLife said:
We went the way of .223 to .300BLK AR to 9mm PCC for home defense as wife is competent/comfortable with Glock pistols (We use Glock 22/23/27 with 40-9mm conversion barrels for cheaper practice and Advantage Arms G22 22LR slide kit for even cheaper practice) and 9mm PCC with Glock compatible receivers use same magazines.

With 9mm PCCs, even with 33 round magazines, they are lighter and easier to handle with already manageable recoil that can be tamed further with many aftermarket/match buffer/weight systems - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/9mm-pcc-bolt-choice.903452/#post-12248344

16" 9mm barrels add about 150 fps compared to pistol MV and 124 gr bullets near .357 Mag velocities are pretty good for two legged targets, especially due to faster follow up shots that can be placed, particularly with buffer/weight system that can maintain muzzle essentially flat (Good for 3 gun match and also for home defense ;))

Here's demo of fast flat shooting 9mm PCC with very manageable recoil

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=3526785537439787

And we use ARs with CMMG 22LR conversion bolts for fast point shooting drills for cheap practice. And recently got BCA dedicated 22LR upper for more accurate plinking - https://www.bearcreekarsenal.com/22...el-1-16-twist-15-mlok-scg2-nrail-branded.html
Click to expand...
I don't know. A 9mm PCC is still just a low power handgun round. If I am at home and need to resort to a rifle sized firearm I wand rifle energy, power, and ballistics. YMMV
 
I just built a PSA mid length AR with carry handle and it weighs seven pounds 3oz. If I had of used a folding rear sight I would probably be under 7 pounds. I bought a DPMS "Lite" with 16" skinny barrel in 2012 and it only weighs 6.5 pounds. I really don't notice that much difference when holding them.

Like mentioned maybe consider something like a 9mm carbine. I have one of the old Marlin Camp Carbines in 9mm that weighs around 6.5 pounds and the recoil is nothing. Its like shooting a 22 mag auto. One of the Ruger 9mms might be a consideration. Of course there is always the newly made Inland M-1 carbines to consider. If ammo were more available at a better price I would have one.
 
If this is for someone that knows how to use an AR and is just looking for ideas on what to buy, then it's pretty much pick your poison. You can get any AR in a configuration with a lightweight barrel. I'd stay away from ultra lights for something you're gonna trust your life to. I don't buy whole ARs, but if I was going to, I'd probably go for a BCM.

If this is someone that isn't a gun person and is just looking for a home defense weapon to defend herself, an AR is the wrong answer in so many ways. She should be looking at a handgun; and depending on how much training she's gonna do, maybe a good revolver.
 
TonyAngel said:
If this is someone that isn't a gun person and is just looking for a home defense weapon to defend herself, an AR is the wrong answer in so many ways. She should be looking at a handgun
Click to expand...

Nah... There's a lot to unpack here, and none of it really adds up.

1) Rifles are more "shooter friendly," bar none. An inexperienced shooter with a rifle will be far more capable of delivering rounds on target than with a handgun. Specifically, in instructing handgun and AR courses for my entire adult life, I can't pretend there's improved proficiency with minimal training for new shooters picking up handguns than with AR's. The revolver part, even worse - new shooters suck at managing sucky triggers... Picking handguns over rifles for new shooters which won't train sufficiently to become proficient with the handgun is almost always a mistake.

2) The manual of arms for common handguns aren't so different than for an AR. Safety, slide release/bolt catch, mag release, charging handle/slide, trigger... The only thing we have on an AR we don't have on common pistols with manual safeties is the forward assist, and not all AR's even have that.
 
Pencil barrel in just about any config will be as light as it gets. HBAR adds a ton of weight. Save practically nothing with polymer lower.
 
What's the difference in weight between a pencil barrel and a standard government profile barrel? 3 to 5 ounces? Doesn't seem like that would be a noticeable difference at all.
 
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I would stay away from poly receivers. I’d go with a lightweight red dot sight without iron sights. I’d put the smallest usable white light I could find. I’d use a 20 round mag. I’d find the shortest lightest legal barrel I could find. But I would not sacrifice quality. You will be somewhere in the 6.5 lbs range with this setup.

If this person cannot handle that, then I would either pivot to a handgun or look for a Ruger LC Carbine:

https://www.ruger.com/products/lcCarbine/specSheets/19300.html

take the irons off, put a red dot on it, and press. It has small petite shooter written all over it!
 
Varminterror said:
Nah... There's a lot to unpack here, and none of it really adds up.

1) Rifles are more "shooter friendly," bar none. An inexperienced shooter with a rifle will be far more capable of delivering rounds on target than with a handgun. Specifically, in instructing handgun and AR courses for my entire adult life, I can't pretend there's improved proficiency with minimal training for new shooters picking up handguns than with AR's. The revolver part, even worse - new shooters suck at managing sucky triggers... Picking handguns over rifles for new shooters which won't train sufficiently to become proficient with the handgun is almost always a mistake.

2) The manual of arms for common handguns aren't so different than for an AR. Safety, slide release/bolt catch, mag release, charging handle/slide, trigger... The only thing we have on an AR we don't have on common pistols with manual safeties is the forward assist, and not all AR's even have that.
Click to expand...

The OP said that this firearm is going to be for home defense. What i envision is a scenario where a small woman is home alone and in bed to be awakened by a bump in the night. What should be happening at that point is she should be taking a defensive position with the gun in one hand and her phone in the other. If a shooting does occur, it's likely going to be within a few feet, not a distance where having a rifle will be of any great benefit. For any encounter that will occur within a few feet, a weapon that requires space to manipulate and two hands to manipulate it will put a lone defender at a disadvantage in an enclosed space, especially if there is a likelihood that the defender might have to fend off an attack with one hand while employing the firearm with the other. All a long gun does in the situation is lend itself to being snatched away by a stronger attacker.
 
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