I’m gonna be 100% here, .45acp is a highly unusual cartridge for ARs. If you want a quiet pdw you’d wanna look into 300blk, if you wanna make it bufferless you’re going to be hunting into proprietary territory. BCA has a bunch of bolt-action 300blk uppers and that would be a good place to start. CMMG has some for 9x19 and also a great place to start.
Don’t dismiss the buffer though, having a nice long stroke is super smooth and a collapsible stock on a carbine buffer tube with ~8" barrel is surprisingly short. Even a fixed stock with a shorty barrel is pretty compact.
+1 for just going 300blk instead of .45ACP. Very similar mass, speed, and bore size plus you get to use regular-ass STANAGs and can scale up to a more serious rifle loading if necessary.
I’m gonna be 100% here, .45acp is a highly unusual cartridge for ARs. If you want a quiet pdw you’d wanna look into 300blk, if you wanna make it bufferless you’re going to be hunting into proprietary territory. BCA has a bunch of bolt-action 300blk uppers and that would be a good place to start. CMMG has some for 9x19 and also a great place to start.
Don’t dismiss the buffer though, having a nice long stroke is super smooth and a collapsible stock on a carbine buffer tube with ~8" barrel is surprisingly short. Even a fixed stock with a shorty barrel is pretty compact.
Same upper with a collapsible lower
+1 for just going 300blk instead of .45ACP. Very similar mass, speed, and bore size plus you get to use regular-ass STANAGs and can scale up to a more serious rifle loading if necessary.