Carbon compoite AR receivers?

[dukefan70]

In the market for my first AR and noticed Bushmaster has a couple models w/ carbon composite receivers, both lower and upper. My first reaction is stay away...not sure those models interest me for their other features anyway. Just wondering what other people's experiences* may have been w/ carbon composite receivers.

*Experiences preferred, although opinions good too as long as you state which yours is.

P.S. No I'm not settled on a Bushmaster so lets stay away from the brand debates, PLEASE.

 

[taliv]

i bought the STRIPPED upper and lowers and assembled a really cool game gun with them, along with a 17" carbon fiber barrel, clark custom carbon fiber handguard, and JP aluminum bolt carrier.

very happy with it because i knew the limitations and it did what i wanted it to do. that's not to say it doesn't have problems; it has plenty. it would not be a good choice for vast majority of uses.


now, their carbon15 complete guns absolutely suck. they have many parts that are not interchangeable. they are unreliable.

 

[MrCleanOK]

Also check out Cav Arms if you are interested in a composite receiver.

http://www.cavalryarms.com/

I don't ever see one in my future, but as Taliv said, they do have their place (very lightweight builds, game guns, etc.)

 

[MrCleanOK]

Taliv, do the BM carbon 15 uppers have composite threads, or do they use a metal insert?

 

[Zerodefect]

AR upper recievers don't really weigh much. Not going to save much weight there with carbon.

For a lightweight build a Cav Arms lower and a 16" pencil barrel would really knock the weight off without going to the finicky Carbon stuff.

 

[dukefan70]

actually I wasn't really looking at carbon seriously anyway, I just wanted to see what people's experiences/thoughts were, but the answers I got pretty much confirm my instincts. cheers.

 

[SpeedAKL]

Carbon fiber has been used the body panels, space frames, etc. in very high-performance automobiles and race cars for some time now because it has proven to be the best combination of structural rigidity and light weight. I'm surprised more gunmakers have not tried it out.