C8 Equivalent

deadIce

deadIce

Regular
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Canada
Hi All,

Does anyone know for certain what the barrel length of a Canadian Forces C8 is, and if it is available from local retailers? I love that the C8 is so light and want one when I get home.

I saw the Armalite LE M15 from Wolverine with a 16" barrel + telescoping stock but it still looks to a long (and therefore too heavy). Some other barrel lengths I have seen are the 14.5" and the 10" (which I think is too short).

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

It's good to be back on CGN.

Deadice
 
C8 uses a 14.5" lightweight profile.
C8 FTHB or SFW uses a 16" heavy profile.
Both barrels use proprietary profiles not available anywhere else but you can come fairly close to the lightweight.

Closest thing on civie street would be to get an old SP1 carbine, they have a 16" barrel, but 14.5's are hard to come by, especially in a lightweight profile.
 
Actually 14.5 lightweight barrels are retty easy to come by. The SP1 chop job isn't recommended as the 1 in 12 twist isn't any good for stabilizing all but the lightest bullets. You can get 1/7 or 1/9 barrels of that length and contour.
 
...the SFW barrels are actually 15.8" or some such thing, they won't make US non NFA requirements 16.1" is close enough though, and that pressed on sleeve is kinda tough to replicate without a good machinist...
 
Oops, forgot that the SP1 carbine was 1/12 twist. Easy to come by? I've never seen a 14.5" lightweight come up for sale, and the M4 profiles don't pop up as much as they use to.

Anyway, a lot of people seem to think that the C8 uses a lightweight profile, but it's not a true lightweight since it's .750 under the front sight base instead of .625. This makes the C8 barrel rather unique, it also means that if you want a true clone than the only way is to take whatever barrel you want, have it chopped if needed, and re-profiled to the proper dimension. It all depends on how finicky you want to get, sounds like you just want a nice light rifle though, and not necessarily a true clone.

C8
C7 style upper
A2 lower
Colt aluminum or fiberlite stock
C8 profile barrel or substitute 14.5" lightweight with 1/7 or 1/9 twist

All the parts are fairly easy to source, except the barrel. Maybe Reaper can point you in the right direction on that one.

Wouldn't mind making a C8 clone myself. I've got a Colt aluminum buttstock that I picked up and I can't quite make up my mind how I want to use it.
 
I found a Rock River Arms LAR-15 from Questar (the CAR A-4). It has a 16" barrel, telescopic stock,, weighs in at 7.1lbs and is 35.25 inches long. I think this will be a good place to start (especially with Questar's prices).
 
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