WK180C - weight reduction?

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diegocn

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Waterloo, Ontario
The WK180C is a wonderful rifle. However it's by no means a light and nimble rifle. The listed weight is 7.25lb and I assume that's empty weight without sights or mags. It also feels front heavy and not well balanced for some reason.

Is there any place we can save some weights on? I'm looking to get close to the original AR18 spec of 6.7lb empty, ideally not so front heavy either.
 
I helped setup another wk180c over the weekend. When I took the rifle out of box I was surprised that it's much lighter than mine. At the end of the day I weighted both rifles:

Rifle1, 4.2kg (9.3lb) - jcomp muzzle brake, bcm gun fighter stock and grip, sling with mlok qd attachment, bushnell 1-4x scope.
Rifle 2, 3.1kg (6.9lb) - holosun 403c, dd fixed irons, MFT minimalist stock.

I think there's lots of weight saving in the scope and stock. And yes the 180c is capable of under 7lb fully equipped just by being careful with what you put on it.
 
My target weight for a "dry" rifle was 7 lbs, the first samples that I weighed where 7lbs, with a light profile barrel the balance was good. Balance, in my opinion is more importent that gross weight but often overlooked. It will be very differcult to add optics and extras with out going over the 7 lbs, but you should be close and the balance will be good.
 
I'm trying to (literally) weigh my options with my 19" AR right now.. I want some kind of magnification, and I know 1-4 / 1-6x variables are the hotness right now, but there's a substantial weight and size penalty compared to a fixed prism scope.
 
diegocn said:
The WK180C is a wonderful rifle. However it's by no means a light and nimble rifle. The listed weight is 7.25lb and I assume that's empty weight without sights or mags. It also feels front heavy and not well balanced for some reason.

Is there any place we can save some weights on? I'm looking to get close to the original AR18 spec of 6.7lb empty, ideally not so front heavy either.
Click to expand...

Change the rail to a shorter one, one without 191/picatinny or whatever along the top.

Change the barrel to a thinner profile or a shorter.

Use a Red Dot optic such as the TRS-25

Use 10/10 or 5/5 magazines

I have no idea whether a polymer lower would work on a WK180C so I'll leave that to Wolverine to answer.

Honestly though, it's 3.28kg (Imperial is so 1790) for a near full size rifle, I honestly think that the time and money invested on reducing the weight of a WK180C would be best spent exercising (This is not directed at you specifically, you could be Rictus Erectus for all I know).

Rifles like the Forgotten Weapons/InRange "What would Stoner do?" rifle are fantastic but for a majority of shooters I see at the range the loss of several Kg of fat and the conduct of exercise would allow for a significant improvement in strength+cardio which is a benefit outside of shooting.
 
Mr Wolverine said:
My target weight for a "dry" rifle was 7 lbs, the first samples that I weighed where 7lbs, with a light profile barrel the balance was good. Balance, in my opinion is more importent that gross weight but often overlooked. It will be very differcult to add optics and extras with out going over the 7 lbs, but you should be close and the balance will be good.
Click to expand...

Balance is everything.
The XCR with anything but a pencil barrel and the Quad rail is a perfect example of this. Overall weight not bad for 5.56 semi auto blaster.
Ungodly front heavy and just horrible to handle for anything other than shooting at a table.

The one positive thing I can actually say about my unfortunate experiences with an early model WK180 is that it was exceptionally well balanced and very light.
I had Carbine Fixed stock I put on it and a set up flip up Magpul BUIS sights though. Other than that it was stock. I could shoot it one handed standing and still get hits on my 16" plate at 100m.

Adding massive honking scopes, mounts and rings to rifles tends to increase the weight a lot. Add goofy oversized muzzle breaks to the far end of the barrel and you start upsetting the balance hard and fast too.
 
My problem, there seems to be no light weight 1-4x24 scopes. They are all around 500 gram range. Yes I can move to a leopould 1-4x20 but it reduces the FOV so much and it's not a fast scope anymore.

I am thinking about handguard swap and a lighter (and more accurate) barrel though. Part of the balance problem comes from the 18.6 barrel we have to put on unfortunately.

I have no problem with a 10lb rifle as a range toy. But once in the field every oz counts. If I can save 3lb on the rifle, maybe I can bring more ammo, more emergency supplies, or even my tea pot ��?
 
RWA has a mid length rod for the gas system that opens up the barrel options for us but I dont know if there are lighter barrels out there than whats already on it. I have a new to me wk with a serial <1000 and its hella light but mind you I also carry 14lbs rifle during deer season lol
Most of the weight is in that phat receiver
 
diegocn said:
My problem, there seems to be no light weight 1-4x24 scopes.
Click to expand...

Why go variable?
Seriously?

How about a lightweight and small fixed power?
Look up Pilad 3.5x20. There is one with set focus and one with an adjustable focus.
That and a 25mm mount and go.
Even the service Elcan is 3.4 power. (and has lousy eye relief)

Look up the Belomo po3.5x17.5 scope.
You can find them complete with mount.

Do you need magnification?
What about a small red dot???

Don't try to put the Hubble telescope on a rifle you intend to carry.
 
I had a 1.5-5x20 vx3i Leopold on my wk, the feild of view and light gathering ability was fine. Actually at 1.5 you would see a folded down backup sight in your feild of view. Anyway check out the specs, it's a great optic that works well both eyes open at low power. It's on a 8lb stag 10 now, the wk180 without a buffer loosened the objective locking ring all the time... highly annoying. Took some 1000frames a second vid of the action after that and good god... it definitely needs a buffer.

So untill they figure out a buffer system, and either a clamp on or pinned gas block.... a figure out the dang charging handle lol. ....I'll be paying the .308 ammo bill gladly instead.
 
diegocn said:
My problem, there seems to be no light weight 1-4x24 scopes. They are all around 500 gram range. Yes I can move to a leopould 1-4x20 but it reduces the FOV so much and it's not a fast scope anymore.

I am thinking about handguard swap and a lighter (and more accurate) barrel though. Part of the balance problem comes from the 18.6 barrel we have to put on unfortunately.

I have no problem with a 10lb rifle as a range toy. But once in the field every oz counts. If I can save 3lb on the rifle, maybe I can bring more ammo, more emergency supplies, or even my tea pot &#55357;&#56838;?
Click to expand...

The handguard weighs literally nothing on the 180c. It feels like a piece of tinfoil.
Unless they make one out of air I don't think you can find a lighter one.
 
lawn gnome said:
Why go variable?
Seriously?

How about a lightweight and small fixed power?
Look up Pilad 3.5x20. There is one with set focus and one with an adjustable focus.
That and a 25mm mount and go.
Even the service Elcan is 3.4 power. (and has lousy eye relief)

Look up the Belomo po3.5x17.5 scope.
You can find them complete with mount.

Do you need magnification?
What about a small red dot???

Don't try to put the Hubble telescope on a rifle you intend to carry.
Click to expand...

I'm a fan of low magnification scope in general. Trust me I debated long and hard on whether I can live with a fixed power scope, something like a leupold ultralight 2.5x that weights less than 7 oz would be awesome on some of my hunting rifles.

However, this is my 2 gun competition rifle. Majority of the time I'll be shooting on about 1.5~2x. From time to time I really need the 4x with BDC marker to hit those mini ipsc target half hiding behind a no shoot target. I've tried red dot, and found it to be slower in general for anything beyond 25 yard, simply because unable to see the smaller targets well means taking longer to line up the dot. Also my left eye does not really like red dot (it's more of a red start).

Leupold seems to have some high end 1-ish-4x24 that are much lighter than market average, however I can't justify dishing out that kind of money.

I just purchased a pair of nikon scope rings that's supposly be lighter than the "heavy duty" stuff I have on there now. We will see.

Hornychief said:
RWA has a mid length rod for the gas system that opens up the barrel options for us but I dont know if there are lighter barrels out there than whats already on it. I have a new to me wk with a serial <1000 and its hella light but mind you I also carry 14lbs rifle during deer season lol
Most of the weight is in that phat receiver
Click to expand...

I have my eyes set on the maple ridge amory 18.6 barrel offered by TNA. Not necessarily to save weight although I was told it "should" be lighter. It has carbine length gas port.

Travis Bickle said:
The handguard weighs literally nothing on the 180c. It feels like a piece of tinfoil.
Unless they make one out of air I don't think you can find a lighter one.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I've always wondered but was too lazy to take it off to weight it. Sounds like I can save some money on handguard.
 
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