I have a 15" PRI, a 16" AP customs, soon I'll have a 17" Loki and I have fondled the Lancer 15". They were supposed to send me one for T&E too but they must have forgot.
Here is my take on them all. The Long Loki is really cool! 17" on an 18" barrel is going to be the new rage. Loki/AP customs is definitely the lightest. I haven't done any destruction testing but I would also guess the lightest would be the weakest. The reduced weight comes from the thinner carbon tube and lack of big chunky aluminum barrel nut.
The PRI is the Cadillac of carbon tubes. It has a fancy barrel nut and it's fit and finish is excellent. It is pricey though.
The Lancer is dope! The octagon shape doesn't feel weird at all. It too has a fancy barrel but that actually has a QD sling swivel attachment point milled into it. That little option is very cool! The fit and finish and thickness is on par with the PRI. I believe the cost was similar too? The one thing that concerned me with the shape was trying to fit it in some weird ports or stabilize a pointed edge on something? I guess Having a round tube never gives u a flat surface to rest on for support either. Heck the flats on the sides and top/bottom may provide a nice flat surface for testing against barricades and ports.
I have a carbon Arms tube on my AR10. It is thicker than the Loki. Its close to the PRI thickness and maybe the same. I could measure them all if you needed me to. The carbon arms finish is not as nice as the PRI. I can't remember the exact prices of all of these but I remember thinking the Carbon Arms was kind of expensive for its level of finish compared to the PRI. One cool thing about the carbon arms is that you could mount it directly onto your JP barrel nut in about 10 minutes. I think not having to buy a batrel nut reduced the price significantly too. My biggest dislike with my carbon Arms is that there are no holes for ventilation. It gets hot!!!
All carbon tubes get incredibly hot sitting in the sun and when Shooting a lot. I highly recommend holes in them. Also bear in mind you need a sling swivel adapter for most of these. They are almost always sold separately.
If somebody gave $300 and said go buy a carbon tube id buy a Loki that was the same length as my barrel. Maybe 1/2-1" shorter than that actual barrel length so you don't blow the end off with your comp. then I would use the remaining $100 to buy a Syrnac Ordnance adjustable gas block. I haven't used one of these yet but it's in my bench ready to go. Seems like its gonna be the heat!
