As AR rifles became more and more popular during the past three decades, adding rails and gear became something akin to a fashion trend. Although it seems to have eased up a bit, there was a time that shooters appeared to see a full length quad rail handguard as a challenge. Every kind of flashlight, laser, forward grip, stop and switch were clamped on wherever one could find the room.

Now, there seems to be a trend away from excessive weight on America’s rifle and back to the fundamentals. Keeping pace with that trend, Armalite released the M-15 Light Tactical Carbine (LTC) earlier this year.

The M-15 LTC is a full featured AR rifle that weighs in at 6.0 pounds unloaded. In fairness, the rifle does not ship with sights, so adding any kind of iron sights or glass will add some amount of weight to the package.

Armalite chambered the base LTC in the original 5.56 NATO and uses a 16″ chrome lined barrel with a 1:7″ twist. The barrel is threaded. Armalite uses a low profile block and carbine length gas tube. As mentioned above, the gun does not have sights, but it does have a Picatinny rail on the receiver and on top of the handguard for the quick addition of them. The rest of the handguard has KeyMod attachment points. This gun carries a MSRP of $999.

Armalite also offers two additional calibers for the LTC: 7.62×39 and 6.8 SPC II. Both of these guns weigh in at 6.2 pounds but are similarly configured as the original 5.56 model.

Both of the larger caliber guns use a chrome lined 16″ barrel and mid length gas systems. These rifles carry a MSRP of $1,099.