Low velocity AR pistol build for HD?

Discussion about 5.56mm ARs

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Scratch
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Low velocity AR pistol build for HD?

Post by Scratch »

I had recently seen some cool AR pistol builds come in like the Saint Edge pistol, a certain BCM pistol, and a few others, and I really liked how lightweight and modern looking they were. Some of my AR's still have quad rails on them. I like them, but they seem dated now with the smooth M-Lok, and Keymod stuff out there. plus the smallest AR pistol I have has a 14" barrel and I've always thought I'd like to go really small like 10 inches.

I had a customer come in yesterday who upgraded barrels and he decided to give me his old 7" barrel... who was I to say no...

After he left, I got to thinking and realized I had enough take off's, extra parts, and prize table pickups to build a complete pistol so I put one together last night.

This is built on a PSA lower and a mystery upper. It has an SBA3 brace, H2 buffer, Raptor charging handle, Magpul BUS, MOE+ pistol grip, Mystery BCG, Mil Spec trigger, B.A.D lever, Primary Arms AMD, Sharps Bros ultralight handguard, mystery low pro gas block, and a Lancer Nitrous comp.

I was worried about such a short 5.56 barrel causing cycling issues, so I took it out today and put about 300 rounds through it with absolutely zero problems! I did chronograph my reloads (Berrys 55gr FMJ's) and they were running about 1905 FPS. (These loads run 2785 out of a 20" IIRC) I was getting about 2-3" groups at 50 yards with the red dot, but decided to try stretching it's legs a little, so I put on a PA 1-6 ACSS scope and went for my 20" gong at 250 yards. After finding my POI, I was able to hit it 8-10 times which is OK I guess...

I do really like how lightweight it is. Every time a new, nice looking, lightweight, AR pistol comes in, I weigh it and record it so I have something to base my future build on. They were coming it at 5 pounds 10 ounces, 5 pounds 13 ounces, etc... Mine is 5 pounds 8 ounces so I'm very happy with that! I also really like the Lancer comp. The barrel barely moves, although it is pretty loud. I did tune it with the adjustable jets, and found I like having two of the small orifice jets installed in the comp best.

I like the gun so much... I'm thinking I might want to use it for my home defense gun.

Of course I need to run a bunch more rounds through it for reliability testing, probably swap over to a matching black pistol grip, and trigger guard because it bugs me, and I think I'm going to try a Holosun HS515GM, but I'm wondering if I should be concerned with such a short barrel on a 5.56. So far it's running perfectly, but using it as a HD gun with hollow points, could I have expansion, or fragmentation problems with a velocity of only 1905?

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dellet
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Re: Low velocity AR pistol build for HD?

Post by dellet »

Looks like fun scratch. Pretty nice for spare parts.

Maybe look at varmint bullets. I know most of the Nosler line, Sierra 50 grain Blitz and VMax all expand well down to 1600 fps. It sure if any fragment. I don’t shoot 223, so my experience is mostly in the 45-50 grain range for K Hornet, 218 Bee and those work very well.

You also might want to fire that thing at night or very low light, that might change your choice of muzzle devices.
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Scratch
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Re: Low velocity AR pistol build for HD?

Post by Scratch »

dellet wrote: Sat May 16, 2020 9:47 am Looks like fun scratch. Pretty nice for spare parts.

Maybe look at varmint bullets. I know most of the Nosler line, Sierra 50 grain Blitz and VMax all expand well down to 1600 fps. It sure if any fragment. I don’t shoot 223, so my experience is mostly in the 45-50 grain range for K Hornet, 218 Bee and those work very well.

You also might want to fire that thing at night or very low light, that might change your choice of muzzle devices.
Thanks, didn't know about the varmint/1600 thing, will have to check them out. I've already tried shooting it in the dark. Was hoping it was more of a fireball for funsies. It had a couple good ones, but nothing major. I've done quite a bit of low light shooting. I built a pitch black dark room on my range for low light classes and had it set up for a few years before I finally took it down. I've never seen anything that had such a blinding fireball, that it was too bright.
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