Where to reduce upper weight on Hardened

[howl]

Howdy all. I'm looking at getting the http://www.hardenedarms.com/ecProduct_222_36 Hardened Arms 20" upper. Mostly I want it for the 20", not-pencil-weight, melonited barrel. They say it goes five or five and a half pounds depending on whether you get it with the quad rail or their M-lok Talon rail.

I'm adding pics because people like pics.





Whether I go with an AR, or wait on Legacy to ship the youth version of their Mini rifle they are working on, depends on the weight I can get an AR down to. I need 4.5-ish pounds for the upper so I can end up with a scoped 20" rifle not much over 7# total.

Where would you look to remove weight on the Hardened upper? Right now I'm thinking an AP Customs carbon hand guard instead of the quad rail and maybe a thread protector instead of the bird cage.

[Boondoggle]

If they still have their scorpion rail it's pretty light. I have the 12" on my Grendel and I think they made a 7" or 8" too which would also work on my 16" barrel but probably isn't long enough for a 20".

I'm a about 7 1/2 pounds with a Vortex Diamondback HP and Aero Precision ultra light mount.

[diddlyv]

my barrier defense 16 inch goes 7.8 with a Leupold Mod1 AR 4 x 12 40 mm and leupold mount with 3 rail sections

[A5BLASTER]

Shorter carbon handguard, lose the birdcage, lowest weight lowpro adjustable gas block you can find, shorter barrel, flute the barrel as well, lightweight bcg, aero scope mount.

[A5BLASTER]

They have some info on the link you profided that is not correct, they state a 5.56 mil spec bcg wont work with the grendel and you have to pay more for a upgraded bcg, the grendel will work fine with a 5.56 bcg , I have a PF m16 profile bcg in mine right now, you could save a lil cash by buying the bcg and bolt from anouther company.

And just incase it comes up JP bolts will work in bcgs made by companys other then JP and this company, My rifle has a JP barrel and bolt and the bolt is in a PF bcg.

[Slappy]

Titanium forward assist knob, titanium gas block, carbon fiber hand guard or the O2 Odin Lite. and plastic dust cover or not. The cheapest is the dust cover the others are spending cash. BANG BANG!!

[Rickc]

Saving weight.

First place.is.the.barrel. quite a tradeoff there between accuracy for multiple shots and.weight. also a gun that is fun to carry and one.you want to leave.on the.bench

Next is the.handguard. you can easily have.a.half a pound of.difference in handguard

Everything else is just ounces

[howl]

Thanks for shedding light y'all. Looks like leaving off the flash hider and ejection port cover assembly will shed a couple ounces. And the switching to a different hand guard could save at least half a pound.

Two other places would be the barrel and optic, but those are not the places for me. I'm already restricting the scope to 12 ounces and that's pushing it for the kind of performance needed for this rig.

How about the bolt carrier and buffer assembly? Will reducing mass of the carrier group and buffer be harder on the lower? If I'm going to all this trouble should i just build the thing myself? It looks like I'll have to buy a good bit of necessary tools just to swap out the hand guard.

[A5BLASTER]

My personal feelings is to build your own, that's what I did and couldn't be happier, you get to choose what parts are used and it gives you knowledge of how your gun works and how to fix a problem.

[babue]

Thanks for shedding light y'all. Looks like leaving off the flash hider and ejection port cover assembly will shed a couple ounces. And the switching to a different hand guard could save at least half a pound.

Two other places would be the barrel and optic, but those are not the places for me. I'm already restricting the scope to 12 ounces and that's pushing it for the kind of performance needed for this rig.

How about the bolt carrier and buffer assembly? Will reducing mass of the carrier group and buffer be harder on the lower? If I'm going to all this trouble should i just build the thing myself? It looks like I'll have to buy a good bit of necessary tools just to swap out the hand guard.

I think you would be best served to build your own. If you buy one and then start trying to lighten it up you will be spending money twice on a number of components. If you build it, you only have to buy once and get what you want the first time. To do all the change over work you will need the same tools as it will take to put the upper together your self. There is alot of weight to be saved with just getting the best barrel and handguard for your build. Then you could look at a light weight bolt carrier and buffer if you wanted to cut more weight. To use a light weight carrier you will need an adjustable gas block, which is a good idea anyway and you could splurge and get a light weight gas block, also.
Overall build your own and get what you want the first time.

[just_john]

Taking pieces from several of the suggestions above - shorter flutted barrel, no frills on the muzzle, carbon-fiber handguard, low profile gas block, then an upper with no deflector or forward assist. For a little extra reduction, remove the dust cover. Some folks remove meat from the upper and bolt carrier - not recommended. Just my nickel's worth.

[Christopher67]

Theres always this http://2a-arms.com/collections/recei...ts/balios-lite & this http://2a-arms.com/collections/rails...ant=4753291011 to save weight.

[85_Ranger4x4]

Why not just buy the barrel and build your own? Start out with a sporter upper receiver that doesn't even have provisions for a dust cover or FA and not buy a pile of parts you don't want...

[LRRPF52]

If you're going to do a lightweight build, it's better to start off with lightweight components from scratch, rather than try to pull apart a complete upper, because you will end up replacing almost everything, if not everything.

I like the Aero no-FA uppers, but still with the ejection port door.

That combined with a light profile barrel and any of the modern streamlined handguards will cut the upper weight way down.

My Lilja 318 barrel 6.5 Grendel weighs 7 lbs 12 oz with Vortex Viper PST 2.5-10x32 MRAD and NightForce Unimount, and is one of the better-balanced AR15s I have ever owned.

http://www.65grendel.com/forum/showthread.php?11666-1000yd-Results-with-Lilja-17.6-quot-Barrel

[howl]

That is some cool lookin' stuff! I'm thinking I need to assemble one to account for a fluted barrel, carbon hand guard and lightweight bolt carrier. There aren't too many light bolt carrier that have forward assist to choose from, though. I find FA necessary for quietly chambering a round when hunting. And that means adjustable gas block. The adjustable gas block has me thinking of just waiting to see if Howa will put out the youth Minis they said they're working on.

The bolt might not be as fun, but I can get a Howa Mini and send it off for melonite for about the price of an upper. And the lighter weight means I can go heavier on the scope and mount.