There’s More Than You Think…

A large portion of the gun-sphere is obsessed with 3-letter acronyms. They’ll start a rifle build and think to themselves, “Is this an SPR (special purpose rifle), GPR (general purpose rifle), DMR (designated marksman rifle), RECCE (a pop-culture word in the firearms entertainment space that could mean literally anything)” etc.

It’s understandable. A lot of the gun industry, and especially the AR subset of the gun industry has military roots which REQUIRE a label, so when manufacturers push a rifle that’s based off a military-rifle designed to fill a specific role, it’s not uncommon to see these 3-letter acronyms in the model number. 

Most of us have vastly different roles than the military has had over the past few decades when it comes to our daily lives. We have a variety of different types of property (or we don’t). We’re not in a war zone. We have social norms. We have the NFA act to abide by… etc. So when it comes to a rifle build, why are so many of us trying to fit our needs into a pre-made box? Especially when the box is literally labelled “special purpose?

So this year, I’m building CSRs, “CJ Specific Rifles”. The aim of this program is to analyze CJ, his habits, his environments, the resources available to him, his funding, and his preferences, and designing weapons systems that are tailor-fit to his own wants and needs. After all, CJ is a very small nation, whose armed forces consist of one largely inactive member and one administrator who imposes a budget of, “… just make sure you have enough for everything else we have to do this month” (love you, babe) He has no mechanized support structure, advanced logistical supply-lines, or need for parts and ammo commonality across a fighting force of hundreds of thousands… So why would he model his rifles after a nation that does?

It’s strange to think that regular US consumers have something that world militaries don’t, and that is, we trade the ability to call close air support and mortar fire for individuality. There’s a world of excellent equipment out there that would cost the US armed forces literal trillions of dollars to outfit their soldiers with, but that are perfectly viable options for guys like us. Let’s take a look.

First up, the 11.5 LSD (little scoped dude, if you’d like an acronym). Now, I’m not the first person to do this, but I wanted to start with a rifle for my day to day. Not my imaginary day to day, where a nuke goes off or a George Romero film happens and I get to play action hero, but for the more honest and likely day-to-day. See, my day to day consists largely of walking out of my urban dwelling, commuting to an office, standing around for a few hours bothering my coworkers, making a video at our range, reading the mean comments from the last video I made, and then going home. You’ll notice, there’s not one guerilla war or apocalyptic event on my daily schedule. There are sometimes some pop-up hunting or varminting needs however, something that I did consider for this design.

It’s also worth noting, that I diligently carry a handgun, and despite my good humored jabs at myself for a lack of proficiency, I’m very confident and comfortable with it, making it my go-to for any quick, unforeseen, self-defense needs that may arise. So why might I need a rifle at all? Well, I probably don’t, and it’s easy for me to get into the weeds thinking of the endless scenarios that may or may not happen, but given my vanilla lifestyle and companion handgun, I can comfortably build this one on the premise, “medium deployment speed.”

So let’s talk the rifle. I know the way I talked this up made it sound like extremely outlandish, but the one I’m starting with is pretty tame. I’m certainly not the first person to put magnification on an 11.5 inch rifle, and honestly, I DID shy away from my original 5-25x EoTech Vudu, in favor of the Steiner 1-6. The reason being, as fun and useful as I may find the higher magnification, the crystal clear glass in this 1-6 Steiner covers a few more of the bases that I need this rifle to cover while retaining the exposed elevation turret so I can still dial in for adjustments, a hard line for me. Also, I do have a 3-18 Leupold Mk 5 sitting on standby if I actually make the caliber change I’ve been considering… more on that later. For now, the only thing that might strike you as, “a bit different” is the addition of a Harris bipod on the end of such a short rifle, and how it affects my grip. But, I like it. The way this rifle balances, and where the weight is distributed makes it an absolute joy to “plonk” on a bipod, and the adjustable cant of this particular Harris ensures that it’s “plonking” at its max potential.

Before I talk different and fancier calibers, let’s talk about the concept of an 11.5 inch 5.56 gun in general. For those of you who are already elbow deep in the debates about effective barrel length, you’ll know that it’s one of the most divisive things you can bring up to a group of gun guys, on par with religion and politics. For those of you who don’t know, the rifle platform has seen every barrel length in this caliber from less than 7 to over 24 inches, and which length is the best is a debate that will rage harder and longer than any ongoing international conflict on the planet. I’ll cut my position short, and use my decision to illustrate another advantage of having the freedom of a consumer: I have a reloading bench. I’m not exactly hard up for specialty ammo, and I’m willing and able to tailor fit a load to an 11.5 rifle that will extract every single gram of precision, velocity, and effectiveness that I can possibly pull from it. We don’t NEED to fit our rifle platforms to the closest, cheapest, mass-produced in an armory option, which can see us compromise less on performance. The 11.5 with the barrel profile, handguard, and suppressor I’ve chosen comes out to a VERY handy length, weight, and balance that, to me, outweighs any noticeable performance loss at it’s furthest reach.

The Possibilities Of Something Different…

But what if… I could get the 11.5 to reach out a little further? Could I launch an even heavier projectile, with a much higher ballistic coefficient, even faster, more accurately, without adding length or weight to the rifle I like so much already? Well, my friend, that is a resounding “maybe.” In the near(ish) future, I may use this platform to explore a curiosity I have about the new 22arc cartridge. Right now, all I have is theories and “on paper” calculations, as I haven’t actually been able to do any hands-on experimentation with the cartridge yet. I am, however, pretty well familiar and in love with the 6mm ARC.

The numbers look good, and another big plus of being my own weapons decision maker, is that I can get the answers I’m looking for the next time I have a few hundred bucks and a couple weeks of free time. No need for lengthy trials, testing programs, and bidding wars for CJ. The decisions made on any CSR can be, and often are, quick decisions that I make on the fly. In my head, the next iteration of my “daily do-all” rifle may well feature an 11.5-12.5 inch carbon fiber barrel, and wear that aforementioned 3-18 Mk 5.

So what am I left with for now? Well, I have a short, handy rifle that can do all the CQB and defensive shooting that my skill level is capable of, but is more at home being set on its bipod and owning the mid to long range. It can carry that out without being as heavy as some of its more traditional counterparts like the Mk 12 and clones, while retaining a larger barrel profile to help out with sustained fire. It feels excellent as a varminting rifle, and could even be the perfect candidate for a thermal or nightvision clip on down the line. Most importantly, its an extremely comfortable rifle that fits me and my shooting styles and hobbies, so I’m inclined to keep bringing it to the range, developing loads and reloading for it, gathering DOPE, and putting in the thousands of practice rounds that are required for me to use it as effectively as I’m able.

Is it perfect? No. It never will be. On top of the fact that I just really like putting rifles together, and am constantly surrounded by some of the coolest stuff in the industry, there are some actual cons. 

First and foremost, it’s an NFA item. In fact, it’s a “two stamp” gun, meaning that for a “daily do-all” it’s actually been pretty limited on where and how I can take and use it. The fact that the suppressor is QD (quick detach) and there is the ability to add a braced pistol lower could remedy that, but the fact remains that the stock and can influenced the balance and shootability of this gun so much, that switching it up now would be a pretty big performance compromise to me. For now, it will have to be something that I need to take into consideration, and is the most likely reason I wouldn’t have it when I really would want to.

It’s also… a bit more expensive than I intended. I can always track the exact moment a build of mine starts to go off the rails, and in this case, it was right about the time I decided to give it the low power variable optic and bipod. The LMT defender lower was a modest choice, I got a decent deal on the BCM upper, the flashlight I had laying around… and then, boom, I saw the bipod. I’m a bit of a glass junkie, so trying out the Steiner m6xi was already on my to-do list, and of course the nice optic requires a nice mount (in this case, a LaRue SPR 1.5), and I fired it exactly one time before adding my favorite Geiselle trigger back into it, so, here we are.

What’s The Point?

The point is, that even though we all know and love the rifle designs that our military, the best in the world, has innovated, at the end of the day, we get to choose what’s most useful for us. Find yourself shooting around a chicken coop or livestock? Have a property with a lot of darker, tighter areas? Live on a piece of land with no trees or hills in sight for miles? These are all the things that go into deciding what it is that fits your “special purpose.” There are tools and parts to make anything, from a 3″ .45acp PDW to a .300WM thumper with a bayonet (yes, really), and it’s really your lifestyle that dictates what is right for you. For me, that’s half the fun. So let us know what your specific rifle is, and if you get inspired, shop around, or come see us at the retail store. Happy shooting, and as always, we appreciate y’all.