All things AR-15 and variants from newbie to advanced. Find answers here.

[Jhaydeno]

The mid lengths will shoot softer than carbines. You can play with various weights of buffer tube to reduce recoil even more for you wife.

Manufactures can cut all the holes and keyways they want in an aluminum handguard, but it will still weigh more than plastic. Even the best ALG or a Fortis REV is some 2-3 oz. heavier than magpul's mid length handguard, and the cost for aluminum guards is 3X as well.

Check out some of the Palmetto State Armory pencil barrels too, they arent always available, but I've handled a few that felt pretty lightweight!

[Gun]

My goal is to build a carbine that is as light as possible without resorting to exotic parts/materials that are unrealistically priced.
I want my wife to be able to shoot it comfortably. She has back issues and holding a rifle is generally not enjoyable and often impossible.
She CAN shoot my "standard" AR, but anything past one mag causes discomfort/pain. Something as light for the support arm as possible is what I am seeking to build.

With all due respect, your wife needs to exercise. I don't know what kind of back issues she has, but my own issues, stemming from arthritic scoliosis causing sciatic pain, has been alleviated thru exercise and strength training. My summer job is the same as yours.

Wielding an AR is no different than learning tennis or golf. Using muscles not often associated with normal activity will hamper one's progress until those muscles strengthen, which takes practice.

A pencil weight 16" barrel (.625" at GB) in mid length, with MagPul furniture would be the way to go. As mentioned, softer felt recoil!

An exercise that can help, dry firing the AR with an 'empty mag', for short periods. Make sure she is shouldering the rifle correctly. This will help with muscle memory.

[RockIsland]

Looking for feedback on tritium front sight posts. Do you like them? Pros and cons of different brands?

One of the things I'm concerned with is the width of the blade. I'm an iron sight guy, and prefer thin blade/NM type sights for longer range accuracy.

The rifle I'd consider putting putting one on is optic free, at least for a while. Thanks!

[Emptymag]

FORWARD ASSIST QUESTION:

If I use an upper with NO forward assist, do I need a bolt carrier without forward assist cuts or will a standard bolt carrier WITH the FA cuts in it be OK to use???

I just saw one for the first time. Never really thought about it.

(5.56 application BTW)

[NathanB]

With the cuts will be ok.

[Emptymag]

With the cuts will be ok.

[AHelm3]

Finished up my retroish build yesterday and noticed that the buffer won't allow the BCG to go all the way back. The buffer tube, buffer, and spring are all A2 style from JSE surplus. In this picture I only have the buffer down the tube (no spring) and the BCG back as far as it will go.

what am I missing here?

[unclejumbo]

Finished up my retroish build yesterday and noticed that the buffer won't allow the BCG to go all the way back. The buffer tube, buffer, and spring are all A2 style from JSE surplus. In this picture I only have the buffer down the tube (no spring) and the BCG back as far as it will go.

what am I missing here?

Looks right to me. It's not going all the way back into the stock. The bolt only is going back far enough to strip a new round off the top of the mag.

[AHelm3]

Derp. Stock screw is too long. Nevermind haha

[bogey1]

I dont want to throw this out, can it be used with that hole drilled into it?
The hole was for a shear pin from a piston set up, but the shear pin got sheared because the gas key screws
got sheared off due to not being staked.