This thought experiment is courtesy of an interesting discussion with @Wolfward and @TheMarksman
How would I put together a semi-basic AR that goes on a rack to be used by a broad range of people for a variety of basic AR tasks.
Let's say a major earthquake just took half of California underwater, while at the same time two simultaneous hurricanes half drowned the bulk of the Eastern seaboard. Basic services and utilities are going to be out for at least a couple of weeks or more. Eventually, civilized life is going to be restored, but in the meantime, the dregs of society will make their presence known.
You get together with your neighbors and find a way to keep your neighborhood reasonably protected. Chances are, this will not descend into outright civil war, but armed patrols by groups of two to four people might be in order.
I need to build five general purpose ARs for that. They will be carried a lot and shot very little. However, if they end up needing to be used... they REALLY need to work well.
As you round up your neighbors, some have good firearms experience. Others have only seen a gun in the movies. Most are somewhere in between.
How do you put together an AR that will work for all of them?
That's why I called this article "The AK of ARs". An AK is a basic tool that's easy to use for almost everyone, yet it can do a lot in the right hands.
Mind you, for this exercise, I am not trying to control costs too much. There is nothing extravagant here, but I am not going to go cheap either.
I went onto Faxon website to look at barrel because I was planning to do this build around either their Gunner or Pencil barrel profiles and realized that they have a fully built AR that is almost identical to what I would choose, the Sentry model:
https://faxonfirearms.com/faxon-sentry-16-5-56-rifle/
It is right at 6lbs without optics, which is very good. It comes with ambi controls, collapsible stock (important for fitting people of very different sizes), Gunner barrel, long handguard that covers the and protects gas block and gas tube, decent general purpose grip:
16" 556 Gunner Profile Barrel - Nitride Coated
Enhanced Forged Receiver Set w/ Tensioning Screw
Nitrided M16 BCG w/ Superfinish
15" M-LOK Aluminum Handguard
Hiperfire EDTDM Single Stage Trigger
Ambi Charging Handle
Radian Talon Ambi 45/90 Degree Safety Selector
Magpul MOE SL® Carbine Stock or similar
Magpul MOE® Grip or similar
Faxon MUZZLOK® Muzzle Device
Mid Length Gas System
Rifle Weight: 6.1 lbs
They also have a lighter weight Ion rifle, but that adds a few things that might compromise reliability and durability, like carbon fiber handguards and lightened reciprocating parts.
Honestly, when I was going to configure a rifle out of pieces, I was planning to do an almost identical build, except with a Reptilia Recc-E stock:
https://alnk.to/gVJ2rgV
I discovered that stock somewhat recently and it has become my favourite.
I also prefer the MCMR handguard from Bravo Company: https://alnk.to/dAkDOEi
I find that slim handguard with mlok slots everywhere gives me very good options for hanging lights and other stuff on it should I want to.
With optics, I am going to stick to my guns. For this application, Primary Arms GLx 2x is the best currently available option: https://alnk.to/fHjJzZq
At 11 ounces, it is not terribly heavy. It requires no manipulation except for turning on illumination should you be so inclined. It has proven to be very robust. It has very flexible eyerelief which makes it easy to get behind for a very broad range of people. The reticle illumination adjusts from night vision compatible to daybright. In other words, if you want to do more with this optic, you can.
If you put the rifle back on the rack without turning illumination off, it has a motion sensor, so it shuts off on its own. For shooting within a couple of hundred yards, it is plenty of magnification without slowing you down too much. Unlike red dots, it works with nearly all eyes.
While GLx has proven to be remarkably robust, my paranoia demands a supplementary sighting system, preferably something that does not rely on batteries.
For that there are a couple of options and the one I really like comes from XS Sights in the form of their offset XTI2 sights. While they have a tritium version available, I am partial to the less expensive model with huge orange dot up front: https://alnk.to/8PCbkiW
Beyond that, a flashlight is a good idea. They vary tremendously in price and quality. I am not a flashlight snob, but one thing I know is that if I am setting something up for general purpose use, I prefer to not have wires running all over the place. From an ease of use and weight standpoint, I'll lean toward Inforce WMLx: https://alnk.to/cwQ5VuU
As configured, the rifle comes from Faxon for around $1150. The scope is $370. Offset sights are $125. The light is $170.
We have a well equipped rifle for under $1900. Five of these will cost almost $10k...
I did say that it was something of a budget build....
With cheap rifles and cheap red dots, you can get five guns well under $5k.
For example, if I were seriously looking to do something like this, I would just wait for a good sales and pick up five rifles like this one from Palmetto for $500 each: https://alnk.to/7fnmv7n
Pop five of the these PA red dot sights on them: https://alnk.to/hDo4nhY since they have Autolive, the practical battery life should not be a concern.
On two out of five, I would throw on a compact 3x magnifiers: https://alnk.to/7fnmvba also at $200 each.
It forgoes some niceties, but now I am only $3900 plus tax and shipping in, instead of $9k.
The big question is whether I am sacrificing reliability with a cheap AR. I probably am, but that is a bit of an open question. These days, even cheap ARs are fairly robust and I know how to make them run if I get a chance to test them.
The one remaining point that was brought up is that after some amount of rapid fire, aluminum handguarrds get hot.
For $45 I can get one of those Hot Pocket rail wraps that mitigate the heat.
The nice thing with going with a mid-range rifle like the one from Faxon or something built around a Ballistic advantage Hanson profile barrel (https://bit.ly/43gCH8O) is that you are very likely to end up with pretty accurate rifle that can be coerced into an SPR role with nothing more than an optic change.
