Carbine upper for the wife

[JimT]

Something groovy happened this morning. I was doing some inspections on my carbines and my primary carbine's backup upper was out. My wife walked in and picked it up and said "I like this one." We slapped it on the primary lower and she liked it. We are now going to turn one of my other lowers into a house gun for the both of us now that she's found something that jives with her. No, this is not one of those Cali-kosher guns. This is a CA registered AW so I can use real mags.

The upper was going to be built into the same specs as the LMT 16" M4-type (i.e. DD Omega, Troy BUIS, Aimpoint T1) but in light of this morning's events will keep it low carb but add a bit more capability. That upper's current configuration is:

1) Colt M4 handguards
2) LMT 14.5" M4 with permanently attached Smith Vortex
3) LMT BUIS

I am now looking at replacing the handguards with a MOE in order to attach a small rail section for a Surefire X200. For the rear sight, it'll be the DD A1.5 fixed unit.

My question is, how much added weight (if any) would the MOE bring for all of you MOE users out there?

ETA: Some of the failed long gun attempts for her have been:

1) Benelli Nova 18.5" - my idea and a bad one at that. LOP waaaaaaaaaaay too long.
2) Ruger Mini-14 and Mini-30 - my idea. She just didn't take well to the ergonomics.

She's a 5' 2" asian gal that claims she's 5' 3", so finding something that finally works for her is a step in the right direction. Just never thought to use one of the ARs as a house gun.

[HeavyDuty]

I haven't weighed my MOE against the spare set of M4 HGs I have, but in hand they feel about the same. Has she felt the MOE? She may be grooving on the M4 shape.

[JimT]

I haven't weighed my MOE against the spare set of M4 HGs I have, but in hand they feel about the same. Has she felt the MOE? She may be grooving on the M4 shape.

Nope. She hasn't tried the MOE. That purchase will definitely fall into the trial and error category.

[glocktogo]

A set of carbine length MOE hg's with a 2" section of polymer flashlight rail attached weighs 7oz on my digital fishing scales (it doesn't read 10ths of an ounce). I had intended to use these on an upper build for my wife when I scored a 6933 upper with no hg's, so they're on it till my DD Omega 7.0 arrives from Bravo Co.

The ribs on the lower hg are a little more prominent than I'd prefer, but for the price they're pretty hard to beat for a basic carbine build.

[JimT]

Hey, thanks, amigos.

That's the info I was looking for.

[chenzzo]

my wife just shot the AR i recently built for the first time today and it has the MOE handguards. She really liked the way it felt and started planning the build I would do for her as soon as we got home. :)