ULTIMATE INFANTRY RIFLE (Centurion)

**wild_wild_wes** · 06-18-10, 13:17

This is my idea of what the Ultimate Infantry Rifle should be:

Centurion 16" midlength midweight heavy duty chrome lined barrel (MG spec)

Vltor VIS-1P gas block/folding front sight (pinned)

plus:
DD Lite 9.0 handguard
MUR upper
CTR telestock
PRI rear BUIS
TA31F Acog w/Larue mount
Vickers sling

Weight: 7 lbs. 1 oz. stripped:

With ACOG, sling and VFG: 8 lbs. 10 oz.

I chose a 16" barrel because that is the "do everything" length for 5.56 rifles. That means Midlength gas, and the best fit for these specs was the amazing cold hammer forged Centurion barrel, which is made to machine gun specs, with 2X thick chrome and a tapered bore. Centurion also makes a Lightweight (Gov't profile actually) barrel to the same specs; I will use one of those for a companion lighter-weight build with a T-1 and midlength MOE handguards. But for this build, I chose the Midweight, which is just a few ounces heavier, since it should retain a more consistent POI at longer ranges during high rates of fire, making it a good match for the ACOG.

The trend in handguards seems to be going for longer lengths that cover the gas block, but I went shorter because I wanted to use the Vltor gas block/folding front sight; it comes with a front QD sling swivel mount and has a pinned model option, which I chose for durability. I have found that rail-mounted QD mounts can get in the way of adding and detaching rail covers. The handguard is long enough for general-purpose use; the gas block is pinned on and just as rugged as the old triangle iron sight.

This is my best shot at a general-purpose AR (I've gone through...dozens of configurations), given current trends plus my 30 years of shooting ARs.

**Dos Cylindros** · 06-18-10, 14:35

I think you did a great job with this build. Really nice setup.

**ICANHITHIMMAN** · 06-18-10, 14:37

That a nice weapon. I liked your write up too.

**DTHN2LGS** · 06-18-10, 15:00

Very nice build, I particularly like the barrel choice.

**cbyrd556** · 06-18-10, 15:57

Very nice sir. I hope it shoots as good as it looks. Really like that Centurion barrel. I might have to look into one for a future build. Keep up the great work.

Chance

**rljatl** · 06-18-10, 15:59

Good point about the pinned on gas block being just as rugged as the standard front iron sight/gas block. Love my Centurion MK12 Mod1 with pinned on gas block.

**wild_wild_wes** · 06-18-10, 16:10

I was going to use a bolt-on gas block, but a while back I posted a thread about this and the consensus was that those are a bad idea. Military Morons did a convincing test of strenght the bolted version of this gas block, but still....that is just one more thing that could go wrong.

**Outlander Systems** · 06-18-10, 20:44

I really, really like that gas-block/sight.

Cool build, man. Clean and simple.

This is my idea of "KISS".

**urbankaos04** · 06-18-10, 21:34

WWW: That weight of 8 lbs 10 ozs is with a fully loaded mag?

And when you talk of the LWT Centurion barrel, don't they have more of a Noveske-ish profile instead of a straight up gov profile? On their site, the LWT seems to have more of a taper from the receiver end to the muzzle, no?

And one last thing: The mid-weight sure reminds me a lot of Denny's GTS Operator barrel. I used to have one, then I sold it to a friend.