Tag Archives: new rifle

A look at the new .264 Round from FN and the Rifle that Uses it

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FN America brought some of the best new tech to SHOT Show last month, including a new weapon system developed for the “Irregular Warfare Technology Support Directorate.”

Built around a new 6.5x43mm Lightweight Intermediate Caliber Cartridge, or LICC (lick?), that the company says delivers 7.62 NATO performance in a 5.56-sized package, FN’s new Individual Weapon System was developed for the IWTSD, a government office that supports the U.S. special operations community. Originally formed in 1999 as the Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office, for those curious, the “IWTSD Identifies and develops capabilities for DOD and Interagency customers to conduct Irregular Warfare against all adversaries, including Great Power competitors and non-state actors.”

The 6.5x43mm was developed by the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit in partnership with IWTSD and was originally dubbed the .264 USA back in 2014 while the LICC designation was in use by 2016. Awarded a contract in 2019 to further develop the concept and a weapon platform to use it, FN delivered prototyped 6.5x43mm Individual Weapon Systems to the government for testing last summer.

FN optimized the round for practical use and had examples on hand at SHOT Show, seen here with 103-grain bullets loaded. Would be interesting to do the math on that ballistic coefficient. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

The IWS is a fully-ambi piston gun rather than using direct gas impingement like the M4 series. (Photo: FN)

More in my column at Guns.com.

Pocket 308 with a Can

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I’ve been wringing out the SFAR for several weeks and, with the first 500 rounds in the rearview, decided to go for some quiet time.

Ruger’s new Small-Frame Autoloading Rifle is aptly named, as it is a 308 Winchester-chambered AR that, rather than dog pile atop the familiar AR-10/SR-25 competition, hit the market in a very AR-15 size. We are taking 6.8 pounds in weight and just 34 inches long when fresh out of the box in its shorter carbine variant that sports a 16-inch barrel.

Ruger’s SFAR, in its 16-inch carbine format. They also make it in a 20-inch model, which is probably a waste of time.

The handy little rifle is almost perfectly set up to mount a suppressor via its adjustable gas port and standard 5/8-24 TPI muzzle threads.

With the Boomer brake removed and Omega 36M mounted in its long configuration, we found the overall length of the SFAR to still just hit 39 inches with the stock collapsed. Weight, with the can, EoTech XPS, and sling installed, was 8.5 pounds. You could shave a few ounces and inches from even these figures by running the Omega in its shorter configuration.

More in my column at Guns.com.

308, Now in Small Frame

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Ruger announced its new Small-Frame Autoloading Rifle, or SFAR earlier this year, and I’ve spent the past few months kicking the proverbial tires on this .308 Winchester-chambered AR.

Not an AR10 and, of course, not really an AR15, the SFAR is something different. But it’s a good sort of different.

At 6.8 pounds out of the box and just 9.45 pounds shown well-equipped with an Eotech EXPS3 red dot on a QD mount for a primary optic, Magpul MBUS3 backup sights, and a BFG Vickers sling on Magpul QD swivels with 20 rounds of Federal 185-grain Berger open-tip match loaded in a steel Duramag, this hard-hitting little 308 still delivers and only runs 34 inches overall with the stock collapsed.

Plus, it delivers on target due to the fact that Ruger, while they gave the SFAR a skimpy handguard and lots of lightening cuts, they didn’t skimp on the heavy profile cold hammer-forged 4140 chrome-moly barrel with 1:10 RH 5R rifling.

Plus folks really, and I mean really, like this rifle. I got this poem as feedback on the SFAR, which is one of the top-selling in its class:

The meme image (“THIS, I love!”) was added by me, but the poem is art.

More on the SFAR review over in my column at Guns.com.

Ruger goes back to the AR-10, but lightly

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Ruger this week took a pause to fill the gap left in its lineup since the SR-762 was discontinued and introduced the sub-7-pound SFAR.

The new Ruger Small-Frame Autoloading Rifle is more appropriately described as a .308 Winchester-chambered AR-15 rather than a true AR10 as its barrel and bolt are roughly the same size overall as the company’s AR-556 series and accepts standard AR-15 trigger groups, receiver end plates, charging handles, pistol grips, and adjustable stocks. Ruger has hit the ground running with the new rifle available in both a 16-inch (6.8 pounds) and 20-inch (7.3 pounds) format.

By comparison, Ruger’s last .308 semi-auto, the SR-762 carbine was a two-stage piston-driven gun with a 16.1-inch barrel that hit the scales, unloaded and sans optics, at a beefy 8.6 pounds. It was discontinued in 2018.

The new SFAR comes in both 16 and 20-inch models, both in the 7-ish pound range. You know I got one coming for a review…

They share much of the same features, including CNC-machined 7075-T6 receivers, cold-hammer-forged barrels with 5R rifling and 5/8-24 TPI muzzle threads, a four-position regulated gas block, a two-port Boomer muzzle brake (you know that’s gonna be loud), and a free-floated handguard with M-LOK slots. They also come standard with Ruger’s Elite 452 trigger billed as having a smooth, crisp 4.5-pound two-stage trigger pull.

Both accept SR-25 pattern mags and ship with a 20-round Magpul PMAG while a Magpul MOE SL stock and MOE grip are installed.

More in my column at Guns.com.

Hell(ion) on wheels. Actually not that bad

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Announced to coincide with SHOT Show in January, the 5.56 NATO carbine is an Americanized version of the HS-Produkt– who also makes the XD series pistols– VHS-2 rifle made for the Croatian military.

Well, I’ve been kicking one around for the past couple of months to get a feel for it and have the battle scars to prove it.

More in my column at Guns.com.

Meet a new 5.56 Bullpup to the American Market, via Croatia

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Shrinking the size of their rifle game, Springfield Armory hit the market Friday with the Hellion bullpup 5.56 NATO platform.

An evolution of the proven HS Produkt-made VHS-2 rifle system, the Hellion has an overall length of just 28.25-inches while still possessing a carbine-length 16-inch CMV barrel with a 1:7 twist. The rifle uses a 2-position adjustable short-stroke gas piston operating system. It also has fully ambidextrous controls and a reversible ejection system that can be swapped without using special tools.

While the HS Produkt name is vague on the U.S. market, the Croatian gun maker is known for variants of its HS-2000 pistol, which has been imported to this side of the Atlantic for decades as the Springfield XD series. The VHS series rifle was first introduced in 2005– an evolution of a bullpup prototyped during the Croatian War of Independence in 1992– and today is the standard rifle of the Croatian military and police, as well as in use in other countries around the globe.

More in my column at Guns.com.

IWI Now Apparently in the AR pistol biz

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Pennsylvania-based IWI U.S. continues to expand its new ZION series of AR-15s with a 12.5-inch mid-length Tactical Pistol.

The Z15TAC12 model doubles down on the company’s new 5.56 NATO AR platforms which were only introduced earlier this year and are fully manufactured at the new IWI US facility in Middletown, Pennsylvania. Direct gas impingement with an 11.5-inch free float handguard, adjustable SB Tactical SBA3 stabilizing brace, and a B5 Systems grip, the pistol weighs 6.5-pounds.

The first M4-style rifle from IWI US, the ZION 15 was developed as an anchor of sorts for the company to ensure their products will be available here in the states should future restrictions shut the door to imported guns of certain types.

More in my column at Guns.com.

Sig promises a more affordable 716 rifle

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Sig Sauer’s 716-series rifles have proven popular since they were introduced a few years ago. Essentially a 7.62 NATO variant of the company’s SIG516 carbine, it has been offered increasingly as a battle rifle, patrol rifle and designated marksman rifle (DMR), seeing a good bit of adoption in military and police circles. After all, India just ordered 72,400 of them last year.

The problem is, they run well north of $2K, especially for the SIG716G2 series, with is a piston gun.

That’s where the new 716i, with the appeal of being essentially the same gun at half the price, comes in at.

With a lightweight direct impingement system paired with the company’s TREAD line of semi-customization, the 716i is chambered in .308 Winchester. Standard features include a free-floating M-LOK handguard, a 2-stage Matchlite Duo trigger, and an M1913 Mil-Std top-rail for optics.

Using a 16-inch barrel with a 1-in-10 twist, the overall length of the 716i is 37-inches while weight is 8.5-pounds. The barrel has 5/8X24 TPI threads for muzzle devices.

More in my column at Guns.com.

IWI Begins Making…AR-15s?

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Israeli-based IWI has been making inroads to establish a serious U.S. operation for years. In 2017, this included moving to a new Pennsylvania facility with increased “space for manufacturing, assembly and warehousing areas.”

It turns out that the facility is going to make AR-15s.

The IWI USA ZION 15

Dubbed the ZION series, they use a 16-inch 4150 chrome moly vanadium HB barrel with a 15-inch free-float M-LOK Handguard, along with an adjustable B5 Systems stock and grip. The rifle uses a mid-length gas system, includes a top Pic rail and ships with one 30-round Magpul PMAG.

It is thought the new plant will help provide a hedge against any future import bans on semi-auto rifles from Israel, as the facility here in the U.S. can roll their own.

Of course, I don’t know why IWI would come to the U.S. from Israel and open up a McDonald’s franchise when everyone wants a Roladin.

What they should have done is start cranking out legit U.S.-made Galils. Give the people what they really want!

 

Sig Makes a Return to the Bolt Gun Market

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Back in the late 1990s Sig Sauer marketed a short-lived (two years in the catalogs) bolt-action rifle. Geared to sportsmen, it was the European-made SHR (Swiss Hunting Rifle). As both Swiss SIG and German Sauer had a heritage in making both, the SHR should have been a no-brainer.

Boom.

Now, with the SHR in the rearview for two decades, New Hampshire-based Sig Sauer has a domestic precision bolt-action hunting rifle, the CROSS.

The rifle– which will be available in 6.5 Creedmoor, 308 Winchester, and the upcoming .277 SIG Fury Hybrid cartridge– has a one-piece aluminum receiver with a folding adjustable SIG precision stock. Using a stainless steel barrel that runs 16-inches (.308/.277) or 18-inches (6.5CM) long, overall length remains compact at about 36-inches. With the stock folded, you are looking at a 25-inch pack gun.

Unloaded weight eight is under 6.5-pounds for all models, a key takeaway from the design philosophy.

…and counter-boom

More in my column at Guns.com. 

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