Lightweight "assult rifle"

[Browning]

Olympic Arms has come out with some featherweight AR-15's that feature a skinny barrel kind of like how the M16A1's were originally during the Vietnam era, but they have have the better sights (A2 style).

The idea is to return to the idea of a lightweight handy carbine that's easy to carry and use, instead of a modern monstrosity where it's got all kinds of stuff hanging off it and which makes it weigh just as much as a .308 battle rifle.

These are the ones I'm talking about right here.
http://www.olyarms.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=42&category_id=7&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=37

http://www.olyarms.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=46&category_id=7&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=37

http://www.olyarms.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=47&category_id=7&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=37

There was an article in the SGN awhile back about them that caught my attention, which is why I remembered it when the subject came up about them now. According to the article these AR's are pretty nice and they handle very well. To sum it up, the author basically said that it was nice to not have all the usual gear weighing it down.

 

[dstorm1911]

Horsesoldier, the VZ58 is so far and beyond any standard milled AK the closest I can compare it to would be a Sig or Valmet they are deffinetly worth the $$ ya get a rifle thats super light, fires a .30 cal projectile very accuratly and has all of the reliability of an AK, they are sort of a blending of an SKS and an AK mechanically with a much nicer trigger, BHO standard, a safty ya can actually use and the ability to swap from fixed stock to side folding in a matter of seconds (if ya picked up any of the parts sets when they were $54) To convert the low cap to Hi cap ya just gotta mill out the magwell and 922r parts of course

The VZ58 is still in use with the Czech Army in an updated version with optics rail etc.. it is slowly being replaced with the CZ2000 in 5.56x45 and 5.45x39

 

[GunTech]

Here's my 6.8SPC SU-16. Fun and very light rifle.

 

[MIL-DOT]

don't forget the saiga... lightweight,reliable,simple,economical,up-gradable,scope mount,lethal,cool....

 

[Baron357]

Yes the Saiga I will put that on the list.

The PS90 is pretty cool and she has shot them before and liked it but the gun and ammo is much too expensive for us.

 

[telomerase]

Here's my 6.8SPC SU-16.

Seems like a great idea... but where did it come from? Alternate universe?

And the obligatory: can you get it in 6.5 Grendel ?

 

[nalioth]

telomerase. He built that himself. There is a web site around with the story on it.

 

[benEzra]

Listen -- The rifle is an AK.
It was DESIGNED for little people!

Little people who are MOTIVATED.
Not little-motivated people.

Except that the Russian AKM-47 uses a 1mm-thick lightweight stamped receiver, not a heavy chunk of milled steel. Yes, the original AK used a milled receiver, but one of the reasons it was ditched in favor of the stamped-receiver AKM was its excessive weight--and that was for 18-to-24-year-old males who do tons of PT every day.

Yes, I think it is reasonable to look for a lighter rifle, particularly for someone who is presumably not doing military PT on a daily basis.

I have a lightweight-stamped-receiver SAR-1 (1mm receiver wall thickness), and it's as heavy as I'd want a defensive carbine to be. It's not that I'm too weak to shoot a heavier rifle, but that a heavier rifle would be less pleasant to practice with or shoot recreationally, and would be less practical in a Katrina-like situation (even if you never have to shoot it).

I say, if the OP's wife wants a lighter rifle, she needs to get a lighter rifle. She doesn't have to justify it.

 

[modifiedbrowning]

Checkout the Armalite AR-180B. The only problems I have had were with Wolf ammo. The AR-180B is a fun and light rifle.