The proliferation of AR-15accessory rails hasprompted a big surge inthe amount of stuff that

can be bolted to a carbine.Soldiers and SWAT operatorshave to use their weapon for avariety of missions, from clearingbuildings to engaging activeshooters at long range, often dur-ing the same engagement.Versatility is essential, and goodoptics, backup iron sights and

powerful flashlights are a must. Civilians, on the other hand,

will use their carbines in a muchmore limited role. Optics, flip-upsights, vertical foregrips, lasersand flashlights might look cool,but only a bodybuilder or NavySEAL could wield such a weightypiece for any length of time.Those accessories certainly havetheir place, but few civilians real-ly need them.

A defensive carbine will most

likely be used indoors. For any-one short of a mansion-dwellingWal-Mart heir, most shots aremore likely to be measured in feetthan yards. The same is true inrural settings, too. The range mayincrease for dispatching feral ani-mals or coyotes in the back 40,but few true defensive situationswill ever require a long shot.Statistically, a five-yard shot is farmore likely than a 50-yard one.

“So,” you may ask, “why bother

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The author combines a bit of old-school and space-age technologyto build the perfect real-worldhome-defensive carbine.

The author combines a bit of old-school and space-age technologyto build the perfect real-worldhome-defensive carbine.BY GREG RODRIGUEZBY GREG RODRIGUEZ

FighterFighterLight Light

with all the muzzle blast of a rifle-caliber carbine if odds are I won’tever have to shoot beyond 25yards?” Well, recent studies haveshown that a .223 round pene-trates fewer interior walls thanlarge-caliber handguns, buckshotor slugs. The high velocity andthin bullet jackets that promoterapid expansion and deliver dev-astating on-target performancecombine to turn the little .223pills into so much copper dust

when they crash into wallboardand wood.

Of course, your ears may notforgive you for touching one offindoors, but there is less chanceof harming loved ones across thehouse with your .223 than if youwere to launch a 12-gauge slug atthe goblin across the boudoir.And when loaded with good bul-lets, the .223 hits much harderthan any handgun round.

If you use a .223 for home

defense, odds are the AR-15 isyour weapon of choice. You maybe tempted to mount some ofthose sexy gadgets and gizmos onyour carbine, but they are heavyand expensive and not really nec-essary on a rifle that will spendmost of its life collecting dust inthe corner of your bedroom. Infact, you can get by quite nicelywith very little, provided your car-bine is a reliable one with a crisptrigger, good sights and a light.

I have several AR-15s, all ofwhich have rail systems with waytoo much stuff bolted to them.My tricked-out guns are fun toplay with, but a recent carbineclass that left me sorer than myregular workouts made mereevaluate my real needs, an actthat forced me to purchase yetanother carbine.

Reliability and light weightwere my main criteria whenselecting my defensive carbine. Ishopped around, and while sev-eral makers offered quality car-bines, few were willing to build aone-off gun. Fortunately, GregSullivan of Defensive EdgeTraining and Consulting (DETC),makers of the SLR-15 rifle(www.slr15.com), was not onlywilling to build a gun to my specs,he shared my beliefs in whatmakes the ideal carbine for homedefense or patrol.

In addition to being one of theforemost AR-15 armorer and car-bine instructors, Greg is an expe-rienced SWAT officer. After work-ing on and training with count-less ARs, he’s figured out whichparts work and which don’t, andhe’s learned how to make an ARsing. Over the years, his gunshave earned a reputation forunmatched reliability in the spe-cial operations community.

DETC starts with forgedreceivers of hard-anodized 7075T6 aluminum. The lower featuresan Ergo Grip, an oversize trigger-guard, a mil-spec trigger withovertravel adjustment and a gripenhancement on the front of the

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The DETC SLR-15 is a simple, classic carbine. The chest rigis from Blackhawk.

mag well. This enhancementconsists of a small square with askateboard-tape-like texture thatserves as sort of a vertical fore-grip for those who grip their ARsthusly.

The upper receiver is a forgedA-1 type with a fixed triangle frontsight and carry handle. Becauseof the short distance involved inmost defensive engagements andits light weight, the A-1-styleupper is ideal for my purposes. Idon’t need an optic to shoot fiveyards, and I can shoot irons wellenough to be pretty darn deadlywith them out to 200 yards, too.

Although it is tougher to sight-in, I like the A-1 rear sightbecause once it’s zeroed, it won’tmove. I had Sully install XS Sights’same-plane rear aperture so mypoint of impact wouldn’t change,regardless of which aperture Iselect. I also went with an XS frontsight with a tritium insert forfaster sight acquisition and betterlow-light accuracy—an impor-tant issue considering the per-centage of defensive shootingsthat occur in low light.

Although 1-in-7-twist barrelsand heavy bullets are en voguethese days, I like 55- to 60-grainbullets for home defense becausethey are devastating on soft tissuebut they won’t pass through everywall in my house if I miss. A 1-in-9 twist will easily stabilize bulletsin the 55- to 60-grain range, sothat is the twist I specified. Thefact that most inexpensive prac-tice ammo is loaded with 55-grain ball is pure coincidence,but you can bet I’ll make the mostof it.

Because home-defense situa-tions rarely call for extended fir-ing sessions and I find light gunseasier to handle, I went with car-bine-length handguards and a16-inch pencil barrel that meas-ures .6 inch just short of the A2flash hider. The thin barrel helpedkeep down the weight of the car-bine and makes it easy to handle.And thanks to the chrome lining,I can bang away in my normaltraining sessions without worry-ing about harming my barrel.

I hope never to use my car-bine, but I know that if I do it will

probably be indoors, so I wantedto keep it short. I couldn’t goshorter than 16 inches on the bar-rel without a lot of paperwork, soI ordered my gun with a Sullystock. This fixed stock is designedto give a better cheekweld than acollapsible stock and is short forsmall-stature shooters like me orfor those who use their carbineswhile wearing body armor. Withthe Sully stock in place, my car-bine is two inches shorter thanmy 14-inch-barreled shotgun.

Other features include a PRIGas Buster charging handle,heavy-duty springs, a forged nick-el extractor and a one-piece gasring. Most ARs use a three-piecering with a gap. According toSullivan, the solid one-piecedesign requires the gas pressureto work its way through five layersof rings, resulting in increasedreliability.

The SLR-15 came in an OD dis-creet carry case with two maga-zines and a magazine clamp fromShellback Tactical. Few wouldbother to grab an extra magazinewhen investigating a strange

Light Fighter

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The SLR-15’s oversize triggerguard and “CY6,” or “Check Your Six,” logo.

noise in the night. The magazineclamp allows the shooter to carrya reload on board. The extrarounds are nice, but I find theability to change magazines incase of a malfunction to be agreater comfort.

My new SLR-15 turned outexactly as I hoped it would—short, light and handy. I was anx-ious to see if it was as reliable andaccurate as I hoped, so after giv-ing it a thorough going-over andmaking sure it was properly lubri-cated (most people don’t useenough lubrication on their ARs),I headed out to AmericanShooting Centers in Houston(www.amshootcenters.com) tosee if it shot as good as it looked.

I started by zeroing my newrifle at 25 yards. A 25-yard zeroallows me to hold dead-on frompoint blank all the way to 200yards, which is about as far as Ifeel comfortable shooting withirons these days. The first fewshots I fired with my favoritedefensive load—Hornady’s 60-grain TAP round—were dead-on.In fact, the first magazine I firedfell into a fist-size cluster in thecenter of the chest. I got the sameresult with American Eagle’s 62-grain FMJ load and Winchester’s55-grain white-box ammunition.I was pleased to see that thoserounds hit the same point of aim,because they are my two favoriteinexpensive practice loads.

I fired 250 rounds that day and,after a thorough cleaning, 300more rounds a few days later. Ishot fast, on the move and withless than perfect gun mounts.Through it all, the SLR-15 ranwithout a hitch and hit where Iaimed. I didn’t do any seriousaccuracy testing because I didn’tpurchase my SLR-15 as a preci-sion rifle, but I had no troublemaking center hits out to 100yards with the iron sights.

I really like the Sully stock.However, as noted previously, I

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The Crimson Trace laser grip for A-1-type rifles is light and unobtrusive. Itis also easy to mount.

XS Sights’ tritium front sight is easy to pick up in any light.

The SLR-15’s pencil barrel is a special contour made for DETC.

am short and stocky. Even so, thecarry handle would tap me in thenose if I crawled the stock. Mytaller training partners opinedthat they would like it better withthe included spacer attached.

The SLR-15’s controls werevery positive, although the boltrelease and charging handlerequired a firm hand due to theheavier springs Sully employs. Italso fed smoothly and ejectedspent brass well clear of theweapon. All told, the SLR-15digested more than 600 roundswithout a bobble before Ideclared it fit for home defense.

Once I was confident that mynew SLR-15 was reliable enoughfor home defense, I made a fewfinal modifications to make itmeet my needs. Since the majori-ty of defensive situations occur inlow light, a good weapon-mount-ed light is essential. It is hard tomount a light on a gun with stan-dard plastic handguards, butthere are a few ways to accom-plish it without making the gununnecessarily heavy.

I chose one of PentagonLight’s Picatinny mounts for mySLR-15. This handy mountattaches easily to the front sightwith a single screw. Pentagonmakes great lights. In fact, I haveseveral, but I chose to mount oneof SureFire’s excellent ScoutLights on my carbine because itweighs next to nothing. Morelumen output sounds sexy, butthe Scout’s 100-lumen output ismore than enough to light up aroom or hallway and temporarilyblind an attacker at home-defense distances.

I used thread locker to attachthe Pentagon Light mount andtightened the heck out of theSureFire’s knurled knob. With thelight firmly in place, I attachedthe pressure switch with Velcroand used a high-tech MK 1, MOD0 “tactical” rubber band to holddown the excess cord on the

Light Fighter

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This Picatinny light mount is from Pentagon Light.

The author trains with his new defensive carbine. The chest rig is fromBlackhawk.

SureFire’s tiny Scout Light is a perfect match for the Light Fighter.

rate than I’ve ever been withirons or glass. I was also happy tosee that the little Scout Light hadmore than enough horsepower toclearly illuminate every room I’vecleared with it.

Overall, I am very pleased withmy new carbine. It’s as light,handy and reliable as I hoped itwould be, and it’s a joy to shoot. In

fact, I shoot it much more thanany of my other, fancier carbines.As a result, I’ve gotten pretty darngood with it. My Light Fighter maynot look like a cast-off from theStar Wars set, but it has all thetools it needs to do what I’ll ask ofit. And because it’s so fun to shoot,I know I’ll be equally up to the taskshould the need arise. ¥

handguard. So mounted, thediminutive Scout Light doesn’tseem to affect the SLR-15s bal-ance in the least.

Again, since most defensiveshootings occur in low light, Idecided to mount a CrimsonTrace laser grip on my carbine. Ittook me a long time to jump onboard with lasers, but time andtime again I’ve seen their bene-fits for engaging multiple tar-gets quickly and accurately,shooting on the move andshooting from unconventionalpositions. Making hits from aweapon-retention position orany of the many awkward posi-tions that are likely to arise dur-ing combat is a snap with aCrimson Trace grip. As long asyou can grip and point your gun,you can make good hits.

Crimson Trace’s lasers are alsovery rugged. In fact, I’ve neverseen one lose its zero, even aftersuffering some rough airlinebaggage handling and a few harddrops on the range. I especiallylike the fact that you don’tchange anything but the gripswith Crimson Trace; in theunlikely event that your laserbreaks, it cannot affect the func-tion of your gun.

My final addition was a TroyIndustries single-point sling.Single-point slings are easier touse than the more complicatedthree-point slings, and they areeasy to take on and off. Troy’s ver-sion is one of the more comfort-able single-point slings I’ve tried.

Fully equipped, my new car-bine weighs in at seven pounds,10 ounces. It is a joy to carry, easyto maneuver and handles like adream. I have trained with it athome and in a live-fire shoothouse. It handles well and is real-ly fast to bring into action. Myeyes pick up the tritium frontsight very quickly, and when theambient light permits it, the lasermakes me faster and more accu-

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The author had no trouble making hits from 15 to 100 yards with the XSSight-equipped SLR-15.

Deputy Fernando Flores, a Texas SWAT officer, really liked the SLR-15.