AR-15 Lesson: What is your Jack of All Trades?

[Bear44]

I have a heck of a background with firearms, especially the AR-15 platform. I received most of my training at Moyock, NC. I was there for a few months before shipping to Iraq as a PMC. As a very young adult I was very lucky to train next to the finest ex-military and former police officers in both America and International.

One thing they don't teach you is something I had to learn in Iraq. You don't need a CQB weapon... You don't need a precision weapon. You need a weapon that can and will perform both roles. Because in combat when you need one thing, you'll have the other. Sure, it's nice to have precision and CQB systems along side of your primary system but what do you have as your primary weapon? Will that red dot really work at long ranges? Will that 6x-24x scope work if you need to clear a building?

I highly recommend considering how you build your first AR-15 before you worry about "cool-ness" factors. For example, my primary system consists of the following:

Bushmaster Upper w/ Carbine Gas System
Fixed front sight w/ lug
16 inch M4 profile barrel
FAB defense NFR EXM4 Extended Aluminum Quad Rail System
LRBArms Lower
Magpul grip and Magpul MOE stock (Will be replaced with B5 SOPMOD)
Primary Arms 1-4x scope w/ doctor sight mount (sight coming soon)
Tapco Single point sling mount (Replaced with 3 point sling mounts soon)

In conclusion, plan your your primary AR-15 for any engagement. Can you hunt with it? Defend your home? Defend your car? Go ahead, let's see those primary ARs! The more beat up they are the better too!

This is precisely why I so much prefer the AR to an AK platform. The AK is just not accurate enough for long range engagement of a target with anything other than "Spray and Pray".

My setup is relatively simple.
Bushmaster HBAR 20 inch.
Rifle length quad rail free floated.
Flip up front and rear sights
Magpul pistol grip and collapsible stock. Both with storage.
Lightweight light laser combo.
Folding vertical grip. When folded it acts as a good palm rest for precision offhand shooting.
Quick release bipod mount, just incase I need it.

What really makes this rifle able to handle just about any situation is the 1x4 Nightforce with center dot reticle illumination. It's a true 1x power, so with the reticle illuminated it's like using a red dot. The clarity of the scope is phenomenal and gives me the ability to do precision shooting at much longer ranges than the 4x power would suggest.

 

[Hunng]

You guys have some great ARs, I'm totally jelly

 

[user 71]

Quick off topic: but that is like the world's smallest bench.

 

[Swine]

^bahaha

My do it all. Goals were relatively light, simple, affordable, efficient, and effective. Ive been toying with a 1-4, not sure if i really want the weight/clutter up there though. There is not alot i couldnt hit or come real close to hitting thats human sized and within 300'ish yards with a red dot. Built the rifle for ~$900 and she runs like a top.

-PSA upper, 16" mid length pencil profile barrel. *Not pictured jet brake*
-TWS BCG
-PSA lower, MOE furniture, H2 buffer
-ALG Qaulity mil spec trigger
-PSA aluminum BUS
-PSA 14.5" rail
-Strikefire
-Pistol light attached for HD use.

​

Its not real dirty, but it does get used. Noveske 3 Gun.

 

[lostgeorge75]

I prefer a 10 - 12 inch barrel in 6.8 SPC or 300 Blackout. It's much handier getting out of a truck and in the thick woods. The 6.8 or 300 AAC both have plenty of power in the shorter barrels.

I also like an illuminated 1-4x scope for CQB, target ID, and shooting out to 200 yards.

And of course a silencer doesn't hurt anything either especially considering you won't be wearing ear-pro in most cases.

My current deer-hog-CQB-SHTF-home defense rifle:
10.5" 300 blackout, MI key-mod rail, Specwar 7.62 silencer, Leupold Mark AR 1-4x Firedot

 

[Swine]

^thats my ideal HD weapon. 10-12" suppressed 300blk shooting subs.

 

[ngcsugrad09]

My do pretty much anything carbine is setup as follows:

14.5" CHF, midlength gas system, lighter-weight barrel, pinned with a 51T AAC mount
13" Geissele Handguard
Geissele trigger
Nightforce 1-4x riflescope
Surefire "Vampire" Light that has both IR and white light settings

It's accurate enough for even small varmints out to a couple hundred yards (picture from MT after shooting gophers), handy inside and outside, and easy to shoot well with. I've got a competition rifle for 3-Gun, more precision types for that kind of shooting, and an SBR for playing around with; but this is my pick for an all-around, do anything setup.

 

[tdi_g]

Quick off topic: but that is like the world's smallest bench.

Or the worlds largest AR

 

[NWSharpshooter]

Quick off topic: but that is like the world's smallest bench.

Full size bench. I like all my guns to be 20:1 scale.

 

[LMK]

Freaking huge
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