Law Tactical ARIC AR Internal Carrier

The ARIC (AR Internal Carrier) is the part that makes the buffer tube optional on a direct-impingement AR-15. Law Tactical splits a bolt carrier and fits two smaller recoil springs on guide rods inside it, so the whole recoil system travels within the length of the receiver. The carrier replaces the BCG, the recoil spring and the buffer together, and the receiver extension stops being a working part of the gun.

Two things follow from that. Paired with a Law Tactical folding stock adapter, the rifle fires repeatedly folded as well as unfolded, which no ordinary folder allows. Paired with Law Tactical's ARIC 1913 Rail Adapter Plate, the receiver takes 1913 Picatinny stocks and braces directly, and the gun will even fire with nothing mounted at the rear at all. That combination is the only route from a standard DI AR to a 1913 stock, because the buffer-thread 1913 adapters from Strike Industries and A3 Industries require a host whose recoil system already lives in the upper.

Pick the version by how the gun is shot. ARIC-C is the unsuppressed carrier for 5.56 NATO and .223 Remington. ARIC-M covers suppressed use in 5.56 and .223 and unsuppressed use in 5.56, and Law Tactical publishes a version selection guide for edge cases. Conversion runs both directions without tools, and the gun reverts to a standard BCG and buffer whenever you want it back.

Treat this as a platform decision, not a parts upgrade. It costs more than most complete uppers' worth of furniture, it is DI-only, and Brownells buyers rate it 3.9 out of 5 across 16 reviews, with a visible minority reporting a break-in period before the gun ran cleanly. The payoff is a rifle that folds to receiver length and still shoots.