Midwest Industries Offers One Reliable and Lightweight AR15

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While modern rifles have not changed a great deal in the last 30 years, the related accessories certainly have. Today, we have all manner of optical sights to choose from. There are low power variable optics (LPVOs), red dot sights, holographic sights, magnifiers, and traditional higher magnification scopes. Plus, you will probably want a modern LED white light. If you own head mounted night vision, you might want an IR laser/illuminator. Perhaps, you’d rather have a thermal sight. No matter what you pick for accessories no rifle is complete without a good sling.

The downside to modern accessories is simply the weight. Adding a sling, 30-round magazine, white light, IR laser/illuminator, LPVO in a good mount, and a sound suppressor can quickly turn a light and handy carbine into something that feels like a one-ton truck axle. The simplest solution is not to hang any unneeded items off your rifle. Some items though, you may simply want or need. In this case, the direction I tend to lean is to simply start with a very light rifle as my base. For many situations, a lightweight rifle is the way to go.

With this in mind, I took note of Midwest Industries’ 16-inch Lightweight Rifle. This has an advertised weight of five pounds 14 ounces with a 12.6-inch handguard and five pounds 15.4 ounces as shown on these pages. A lightweight rifle has a number of advantages for field use, and so I was interested to see how this model from Midwest Industries would perform. To find out more I decided to see for myself and requested an example on loan for this review.

Rifle Components

Initially examining Midwest Industries (MI) 16-inch Lightweight revealed it to be a good looking piece. It is very light, handy, and appears to be built with the needs of the modern rifleman in mind. Starting at the muzzle, I noted it has 1/2x28 threads and a simple, but effective, A2 flash suppressor. To the rear of this is a low profile steel gas block held in place by two set screws. It features the popular mid-length gas system.

Surrounding the barrel is a Midwest Industries MI-CMR15 Combat series handguard. This rifle model is available with a 12.6-, 14-, or 15-inch handguard, and my review rifle featured the longest of the three. This is a lightweight yet rugged rail system with M-LOK slots for mounting accessories. 

Developed by Magpul Industries, the M-LOK system is actually an evolution of their earlier MOE slot system. Their MOE slot system, as its name implies, was standard on their MOE handguards. M-LOK refines and improves this system. Magpul describes it as a, “Modular locking accessory mounting system that is a direct attachment method for hard mounting accessories to a negative space mounting point.” M-LOK is intended to be a stand-alone replacement for the MIL-STD-1913 rail system. Due to it being a slot, rather than a rail, M-LOK reduces weight. The system is designed to allow accessories to be mounted directly to the slots with no 1913 rail section required. However, as we live in an imperfect world, it is also backwards compatible and rail sections can be mounted.

Midwest Industries selected a lightweight 16-inch barrel for this model. It features a 0.625-inch “pencil barrel” style profile with a .223 Wylde chamber and a one turn in eight inches right hand rifling twist. The .223 Wylde chamber is intended to provide the best of both the military 5.56mm NATO chamber and a commercial .223 Remington chamber. Basically, you can use both .223 Remington and 5.56x45mm NATO pressure ammunition safely in it, but it is intended to provide better accuracy than the military chamber. The 1:8-inch barrel twist is very popular with competition shooters and will stabilize all your typical projectiles running from 55-grain up to, and including, 77 grains without issue. My NRA High Power match rifles all had 1:8-inch twist barrels and this twist rate always performed well for me. For protection from wear and 
corrosion, the barrel features a Melonite finish.

Midwest Industries builds their Lightweight model using their MI forged upper receiver. This is machined from 7075-T6 forged aluminum which is hard coat anodized per Mil-Spec/TDP (Technical Data Package) Mil-A-8625F, Class 2, Type 3. It features M4 feed ramps and laser T-Markings on the 1913 rail machined into the top of the receiver. A forward assist, case deflector and ejection port door are standard features.

Inside the upper receiver, you will find an MI M16 bolt carrier assembly. The bolt is machined from Mil-Spec 
Carpenter 158 steel and Magnetic Particle Inspected (MPI) and shot peened to catch any possible defects. It features a black Viton extractor insert with black rubber O-ring to aid reliability. The bolt rides in a full-auto profile carrier machined from 8620. A gas key machined from 4140 is properly torqued and staked with Grade 8 fasteners as per the TDP. The firing pin is machined from 17-4 H-900 stainless steel and the cam pin is machined from 4140. The assembly features a Black Nitride finish. A standard GI style charging handle is fitted.

The upper receiver pins onto a lower receiver forged from 7075-T6 aluminum and hard coat anodized per Mil-Spec/TDP (Technical Data Package) Mil-A-8625F, Class 2, Type 3. The receiver rear takedown pin detent hole is threaded for a 4-40 set screw. Controls are standard GI style, and a GI-style single-stage trigger is fitted, which has a pull of about 5.5 pounds. A Mil Spec diameter M4 style receiver extension (buffer tube) is standard. Inside the receiver extension is a standard weight CAR buffer and action spring. Midwest Industries uses a Mil-Spec castle nut and their end plate features a QD sling socket. The castle nut was properly staked per the TDP. The receiver also sports an oversize Midwest Industries trigger guard for use with gloves. A Magpul Industries collapsible CTR buttstock is fitted along with a MOE pistol grip to add a bit of style.

Out of the box, the Midwest Industries 16-inch Lightweight looked good, exhibited a nice finish and everything operated smoothly. I took the bolt apart to verify the black Viton extractor insert and black rubber O-ring were present. They were. Then, I checked to verify the staking was properly executed on the gas key and castle nut. Everything looked good.

The Midwest Industries 16-inch Lightweight features QD sling sockets at 3 and 9 o-clock positions at the rear of the handguard, one on the end plate and at 3 and 9 o’clock on the buttstock. So, adding a padded VTAC sling was easy. Next, I added an Aimpoint T-2 red dot sight and 3x magnifier. These were attached using a Spuhr RDF-20225K mount. The Spuhr mount features a 2.25-inch height making it well-suited for firing passively using head mounted night vision.

Range Report

Accuracy was checked firing from a rest using a rear bag at 100 yards. Test ammunition consisted of American Eagle’s 5.56x45mm 62-grain M855 ball, Speer’s .223 Rem 75-grain Gold Dot and Black Hills Ammunition’s 5.56x45mm 77-grain OTM. Four five-shot groups were fired with each load with velocity recorded using a LabRadar Doppler chronograph.

Getting to work, I was pleased to note the rifle to be accurate and running reliably. The action operated smoothly, rounds feed easily and extracted and ejected without issue. The gun cycled without issue with all the different loads and was properly gassed. It is a pleasant rifle to fire although the standard trigger could be improved upon. Zero issues were encountered.

Accuracy was good for a rack grade 16-inch semi-automatic carbine. Best accuracy was obtained using Black Hills Ammunition’s 77-grain OTM load. This averaged a respectable 1.3 inches. Muzzle velocity of this load averaged 2,783 fps. Not far behind though was Speer’s 75-grain Gold Dot load. This was a bit slower averaging 2,573 fps as it’s a .223 Remington pressure load, but it shot well. The Gold Dot load averaged 1.5 inches. Of course, I had to try some economical 62-grain M855 ball. This averaged 2.8 inches at 2,972 fps.

Running drills with the Aimpoint T-2 both with and without the 3x magnifier showed the Midwest Industries 16-inch Lightweight to be a nimble and fast handling rifle. It balances well, feels good in the hands and is quick to the shoulder. Despite the light weight, it proved smooth shooting and capable of making rapid follow-up shots. The stock allows you to attach a sling in multiple ways, is comfortable and the rubber pad prevents the butt from sliding around. Magazines ejected cleanly with the push of a button.

I ran drills with the Midwest Industries 16-inch Lightweight in daylight and at night. At night, I did a mix of drills shooting passively through the T-2 with a head mounted PVS-14 night vision monocular. The Spuhr mount brings the T-2 up high enough so shooting passively is much easier and more natural. Regarding practical accuracy, I found the Midwest Industries Lightweight AR to perform very well. I engaged steel targets during the day at 70, 100, and 280 yards. Shooting at 280 yards felt very comfortable, I didn’t have to fight the gun or struggle to make nice center hits. The gun is easy to hit with at a distance and proved very consistent with Black Hills’ 77-grain load.

Complaints? If I was going to grumble, I guess my only complaint would be this model is fairly vanilla. The controls are all stock, including the charging handle, and it wears an A2 muzzle device. While this keeps the price down it doesn’t allow the Midwest Industries to jump out at you from the rack. Many customers are not going to consider things like gas key and castle nut staking or the quality of the bolt carrier. They want eye candy. That said, this would be a very easy rifle to customize to fit your individual needs. 

Reliability throughout testing was flawless, with zero issues encountered. Overall, the Midwest Industries 16-inch Lightweight performed well. If you are looking for a high quality but lightweight AR-15 for hiking and carrying over hill and dale this is one to consider. 

MIDWEST INDUSTRIES 16-INCH LIGHTWEIGHT RIFLE SPECS

• Action Type: Stoner DI with rotating bolt
• Caliber: .223 Wylde
• Feed: STANAG magazines
• Barrel: 16 in., Melonite, 1:8-inch twist
• Overall Length: 37 in., 33 in. (collapsed)
• Weight: 5 lbs., 15.4 ounces
• Finish: Anodized black
• Trigger: GI single-stage
• Sights: None, MIL STD 1913 rail
• Price: $1,385 MSRP
• Contact: (262) 896-6780, MidwestIndustriesInc.com

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