Sometime last year I mentioned that after realizing how little rifle ammo I actually shoot every year, I decided that it made sense to sell my two ARs and use the money to buy one that I’ve always wanted. In my case, that’s a KAC SR-15. After some life changes put this plan on hold last year, I’m now in a place where I can make this purchase happen. I’ll be listing my two ARs for sale here and on Armslist soon. What I would like everyone’s help with is deciding whether I will buy a complete 16” SR-15 Mod 2 or buy a separate lower and 11.5” SR-15 Mod 2 upper and assemble it as a pistol with a brace.
Here are my circumstances. This will be my only AR once I successfully sell the two I have now. I likely won’t be buying another one since I’ll likely never shoot enough to wear this one out. It will thus have to be a do-all gun. I will use this AR for home defense, training and practice, and possibly the occasional two gun match.
My current employer issues 11.5” SBRs. I will not be allowed to use a personally owned rifle on duty so the SR-15 I buy will not be a duty gun. Going with the 11.5” option will give me a gun that handles similarly to the gun I will be using at work but I don’t know how important that really is. Plenty of people have been issued SBRs at work but did most of their training with full size carbines.
I do not currently have a suppressor but will likely purchase one in the future. The optic on this rifle will most likely be the Aimpoint T2 that is currently on one of my ARs. I may try a LPVO in the future but the work guns all have red dots mounted on them so sticking with the T2 will give me commonality of equipment.
I’m worried that, since AR pistol braces are in the public eye after the Dayton murders, braces will soon be going the way of the bump stock. If I go the pistol route, I’ll be stuck having to SBR my gun if that happens. If the government doesn’t get rid of pistol braces, then I’d have the benefits of a pistol over an SBR: being able to have the gun loaded in a vehicle, not having to notify ATF if I want to take the gun out of state, etc.
I don’t have any experience with an 11.5” KAC gun. One of my friends has a 16” SR-15 I can try out.
What does everyone think?