Toying with the idea of building an AR

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The OP mentioned shooting offhand. AR's are a poor choice for shooting offhand. They have zero drop at the heel which either forces putting only the toe on the shoulder or leaning far forward and down. Most of them also have a short length of pull and a pistol grip. An rifle better suited to offhand shooting will be opposite in all these respects. It will have significant drop at the heel, a longer length of pull, and a straight or shallow angle in the grip. The only guns I know of that are currently produced with these features are replicas or reproductions of 19th century lever actions. But M1 Garand, M1 carbine, M1A, M14, Mauser 98, and AK47's with the traditional furniture are all 20th century service rifles with good characteristics for offhand shooting. Show me a single example of a more modern production rifle of any action type that has any drop at the heel and a shallow angle grip. That will be your offhand shooting rifle.

Now it should be noted why we see virtually all straight stocks. The AR's stock is straight because it contains the buffer tube. But most rifle's stocks are straight to compromise for two factors: prone shooting and optics. If we were to look back at offhand match shooting rifles we would see a lot of drop at the heel, more than three inches and those rifles would be miserable in any prone position. Consider the difference in height between the eye and shoulder when standing to shoot offhand versus the difference between eye and shoulder when prone. An old wood-stocked 20th century service rifle finds a compromise with perhaps just a couple of inches of drop at the heel. But after you also factor in the need for a higher comb to use optics, we see late 20th century and present century rifles stocks all totally straight or perhaps with half an inch of drop at the most. It's a compromise that does not work well for shooting offhand but works acceptably for the type of prone and benchrest shooting that's favored by present-day riflemen that are obsessed with 0.3MOA, VLD, ELD, and will buy gear based on 1000 yard performance claims even for their deer rifles.
 
The last 556 AR I built was with a 20" barrel and I found it shoots a lot better than a 16" 1 bought, both have the same twist, it also shoots better than a early 70's colt with a 1 in 12 twist.
There is a lot of options to look at from a lot of companies to keep you dreaming of the perfect AR and after building one it will start over again and again until you start looking like Gunny:).
 
The OP mentioned shooting offhand. AR's are a poor choice for shooting offhand.
Says you. I find ARs more than comfortable to shoot offhand. I don't like stocks with that have drop at the heel. I prefer a modern stock with a straight comb, regardless of shooting position. The Garand, a rifle that I find easiest to shoot offhand has a straight comb. Its comb height is almost perfect for me to see through the sights.

I don't know why old rifles had so much drop at the heel. What I can tell you is I can't get a good cheek weld and find them awkward to shoot from any position. The drop angle means the comb kicks into my cheek bone instead of simply sliding along it. The angles gives the recoil more leverage to raise the muzzle, slowing recovery.

The AR does not have a straight stock because it contains the receiver extension. The receiver extension was placed in the stock so the recoil and action forces would all be in a straight line to give the shooter more control of the rifle and recover quicker from recoil.

When shooting rifles with pistol grips, I prefer a steeper angle. I replaced the stock pistol grip on my AR and FAL with grips with a steeper angle which places my wrist at a more comfortable angle.

I use a different grip when shooting rifles with traditional stocks (such as the M14 or the Garand or Remington 700) and find the grip angle to be comfortable. I do most of my shooting offhand.

I can't tell you what stock design works best for you, but stocks with a lot of drop at the heel, you can keep.
 
An AR “that has no use” can easily be kept with a couple loaded magazines in the safe and on home defense duty. It may be upgraded and changed along the way (I dropped from an 18” to a 16” pencil barrel and added flashlight and RDS when this became my “official” use for the rifle) but even the man who stopped the Sutherland Springs church shooting just grabbed his AR from his safe and went to work. Think having the modern musket in your home is always worth it.
 
Says you. I find ARs more than comfortable to shoot offhand. I don't like stocks with that have drop at the heel.

I don't have any place to tell you what you prefer, but the fact is that your shoulder is much lower than your eye when you're standing than it is when you're prone. No fixed stock shape is going to be consistent in both positions.

What you write about recoil in a straight line versus a drop is absolutely true. This may be especially relevant in full automatic fire. Nevertheless, 12 gauge shotguns produce much more recoil than any AR and most other rifles as well, and I can't imagine someone shooting a shotgun better with a straight stock.

Also, insomuch as the rifle is stablized by contact at the pistol grip, a steeper angle grip will have the same effect as a stock with drop versus a straight-line grip or stock. Typically, a steep angle pistol grip is favorable where there is a short length of pull such as with AR pistols, and the grip is held close to the chest and the wrist must be bent.
 
IMG_0527flippedNoMeta.jpg Shipped pretty fast, but a lot of projects in the queue in front of it. It'll get done sometime.
 
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