I wish BCM still made the original KMR (magnesium alloy) hand-guards. These are low profile and super lightweight.

Playing off of Wilson Combat's response, Coda Evolution's Carbon Fiber handguard will save several ounces, is real nice, and is super easy.

I haven't shot it enough to know how the lower will hold up yet, but so far so good. The rear receiver pin walks out for some reason.

The rifle presently has a 20” Ballistics Advantage barrel. Very accurate, but heavy. I could get it lopped to 16 or 18 inches or I can replace it. I don’t want to lose accuracy, so would I be better off with a thin barrel or a fluted barrel, or shorten the one I have?

As for the rest of the rifle, the lower will remain as the lower. I can replace the hand guard, but is that a worthwhile weight savings?

This desire for a lighter AR is due to my Black Rain AR (16” barrel), which is delight to handle and carry. Then I pick up the Grendel and it’s a pig.

Whaddayathink?

Earlier, someone said never sell a rifle that is that accurate. I wouldn't mess with the barrel at all. You're probably going to have to shave an oz here and an ounce there. Not sure it'd be worth it. Maybe lighter handguard? Remove flash suppressor, lighter stock, etc. Do you have a pic of this pig?

What are we talking about on real weight; with mag. loaded? Cause those look very heavy.

I borrowed the wife’s food scale and weighed the 223 (8.4# with scope) and the Grendel (10.3# with scope and IR light).

223AR, without scope weighs about 7.3 pounds
6.5 Grendel AR without scope and IR light weighs about 8.4 pounds.

The rifles have the same butt stock, and I weighed both with the slings attached. And weights are approximate due to the less-than-precise scale.

So we are looking at a pound difference in the basic rifles, without scopes and attachments. The Grendel has that 20” barrel, versus the 16” on the 223.

So…if cutting the barrel on the Grendel to 16” drops a pound, with the scope and IR light, the weight will still be 9.3#, versus the 8.4# of the scoped 223.

It looks as if I need to do what Bill Wilson said, and get a pencil barrel (or maybe fluted) to get close to the 8.4# of the 223. So, I need a very accurate pencil barrel, I suppose. And I wonder what a lighter hand guard would gain me.

The easiest places to reduce weight are the barrel, buttstock and mag.. Then go with a lightweight mount and scope. I don't want a mount/scope combination that weighs over 19oz and prefer lighter.

The scope is a Wraith Mini (21 ounces) and the Wraith IR light (8 ounces), so almost 3 pounds total. The 223 has a Leupold of 17.4 ounces. Just swapping the scope out with another Leupold would save me almost 2 pounds, But then I’d lose my night hunting.

Maybe I just need to suck it up and leave the gun the way it is. Or have the barrel cut down a bit and get a light hand guard. That is the cheapest way to go.

The AR that I have my night vision on is a heavy sum buck. Ironically, it is a Wilson Combat. Looks like all of your weight is in the barrel and NV scope. Maybe get a new complete upper for the NV, and keep your current upper as is because it's very accurate. Or, just come to grips with the fact that NV guns tend to be heavy. That's what I did.

That was one of the factors in mind for me when I decided I may as well go with large frame ARs for hog hunting and I decided I wanted more punch than the 6AR or the 6.8 SPC. Since that's mostly from a blind anyway, at least for me, I figured "screw it!"

I built this several years ago. Comes in at ~ 6.8 pounds as shown.
I could trim up a few ounces by removing the BUIS and changing the butt stock.
1MOA rifle.

Spikes Tactical U/L Receiver
Spikes Tactical BCG
Spikes Tactical Pencil Barrel (5.56)
BCM KMR-13 HG
PWS Buffer Tube
Timney Trigger
Trijicon TA-26 1.5x16 Optic
MP CTR BS

I think I’ll get the barrel shortened to 16” or 18”. 20 inches and a flash hider is too long. Gets in the way in a small blind. And maybe a lighter hand guard. If that doesn’t help noticeably, I’ll have to rethink.

What is your muzzle device?

Thanks WC - I've heard some like them and some actually have reinforced area to the stock. Some actually have a one piece stock/lower.
heavy? try a DPMS 308W RIFLE AR! Carbine HBAR barrel was as accurate and lots lighter. Most of my BO ARs now at 7-8# which is fine. Shorter hand guard works fine for me. IR Rattler is no more than the scope I had on it. But I'm old and don't walk far.

I think you'll regret cutting that accurate barrel down with the potential accuracy loss. I think you should get a well-made upper with a barrel of your choosing and enjoy having options for whatever situation you're in at the time. IMHO.

Heck, I just don’t want or need another upper. If I bought one, I’d wind up getting another lower. It’s unavoidable. And of I replaced the existing barrel with a new pencil barrel, the old barrel will just wind up in a dark corner of my workshop. So, it seems to me that if I have the existing barrel chopped, and all goes well, then I’m good. If all goes wrong, then I just get another barrel and the existing shorter barrel winds up in a dark corner of my workshop. But, I will go to town and talk with the gunshop. If they’ll let me put the existing barrel toward the cost of a new barrel, then I might go that way.

I’ll start a new chat for barrel suggestions. If I get a new barrel, I need to know which one or ones.

It's really hard to get a rifle truly lightweight with a thermal scope and suppressor but here's my best attempt. The Pulsar Thermions are great scopes, but they sure are HEAVY!

Rifle with WC Ranger barrel
Thermion 2 XP50 Pro
Thunderbeast Ultra 5

Forgot to mention, the rifle is loaded with 20rds of 300 HAM'R

Looking at barrel options, your 16” Grendel barrel was 26 ounces. That’s the lightest I’ve found so far, and lighter than your 18” fluted. That’s the most attractive barrel option so far.