Tag Archives: new rifles 2024

21st Century Survival Gun

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A simple new platform that will be headed to shelves this summer is from North Carolina’s Veteran-owned Dark Mountain Arms.

The Stowaway system is a single-shot bolt-action, take-down firearm that is initially being offered in 5.7 NATO but, as it is multi-caliber via an easy swap out of a bolt face and barrel, future options on the table include 9mm, 4.6×30, .22 LR, .22 WMR, .17 Mach2, and .17 HMR.

A packable design with a weight of less than 3 pounds (2.8 pounds for the 16-inch threaded barreled rifle and 2 pounds flat for the 5-inch barreled pistol), the gun can be stowed in two primary pieces and then easily reassembled.

More in my column a Guns.com.

Springfield Armory Enters the Retro Carry Handle Space

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Back in 1986, the Colt AR-15A2 HBAR was where its at…

Back 20-25 years ago, fixed carry handle A2 style ARs with a 20-inch barrel were about the only thing you could find on the black rifle market, and even those were typically neutered by the Federal AWB (which ran 1994-2004) so that they didn’t have such evil features as a bayonet lug and shipped with 10-round mags. Still, they were good enough for DCM/CMP matches.

These days, with the M4 being the standard post-9/11, rifle-length fixed carry handle ARs are hard to find and only a few niche sources exist to get one– Bushmaster, Fulton, and H&R (the latter sold through PSA)– with prices starting at $1,299, and they are frequently sold out.

Talk about not being in Kansas anymore…

So, interestingly enough, Springfield Armory just introduced a very nicely done homage to the M16A2 in the form of the SA-16A2, which includes all the correct throwback features (forged 7075 T6 aluminum receivers, a 20-inch 1:7 twist government profile chrome lined barrel, round handguards with heat shields, a full-length fixed stock with rear compartment, a fixed A2 carry handle with adjustable/dual aperture sight, A2 F-height front sight post/gas block, rifle length gas system, a full-auto profile BCG with a phosphate exterior with a hard chrome-lined interior, mil-spec trigger, and a hollow GI grip) you expect.

The SA-16A2. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

The SA-16A2 has some upgrades to enhance performance that the 1980s M16A2 never did, including an Accu-Tite tensioning system to cut down on the slop between the upper and lower receivers and M4 feed ramps.

The lower receiver features “Government Property” rollmarks as well as a non-functional “Burst” selector marking in an ode to the M16A2. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

A full look in my column at Guns.com.

From the Basement of SHOT Show

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One of the most uncovered things at SHOT Show last month, I thought, was the Rhineland R3000.

The what?

Exactly.

With styling that evokes the classic Walther WA2000 bullpup, the R3000 is constructed using full-size AR10 parts compatible with SR25-pattern magazines.

At its heart is a custom monolith extruded T7075 aluminum receiver married up to a Shilen match grade barrel with a stainless steel barrel nut, a low-profile gas block that fits under a full-length M1913 top Picatinny rail designed for top or side-mount bipods, a CMC match grade trigger pack, HK pattern push pins, and an American walnut thumbhole bullpup stock.

Note the side-charging bolt carrier group.

If you ever thought, hey, I’d love a WA2000 clone in .308 with AR10 compatibility, then the R3000 could be for you

They also have an R2000, which is the same thing but in an AR15 5.56 concept.

H&R is delivering when it comes to throwback ARs

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The reformed Harrington & Richardson Arms, now with a very NoDakSpud flavor, is chugging right along to bring black rifle collectors all the things.

As I covered last year from SHOT ’23, the modern H&R with NoDakSpud founder Mike Wetteland as CEO is back and ready to make some extremely sweet guns that just ooze old-school cool.

Growing from three throwback models last year– a basic M16A1 clone, the H&R 635 9mm, and H&R 723 carbine– the company has in the meantime added a gray or black XM16E1 complete with triangular handguards and 3-prong flash hider with options for either a trap or no-trap stock, an A2 rifle with a 20-inch barrel and round handguards, an A2 pencil profile carbine with a CAR stock, an XM177E2 clone, and an Air Force 604 model with a 1:12 twist barrel– and they are only getting warmed up.

I stopped by the booth at SHOT ’24 last week and spent some quality time with Wetteland where he gave us the rundown on the entire current and planned (possible) future H&R collection.

It includes:

An “Aberdeen Brown” maple wood stock A1 variant, which is man cave-worthy. These will be available within the next month both as complete rifles and furniture sets. There will also be a distressed walnut version.

Reminiscent of the early 1980s DMRs, check out this resto-mod flat top. Wetteland says this is inbound shortly, scope not included, and advised to ignore the RRA mount.

An early 1990s Delta-style JSOC tube gun, Wetteland said this is a throwback to the days before the arrival of the quad rail mafia and was an armorer-level hack that high-speed guys did to allow them to mount lights and lasers. He stressed that, while H&R may not make this as an all-up gun, uppers, and parts are likely to be made to allow home builders and collectors to steal this look.

And this…

More in my column including a 10-minute interview with Mike, over at Guns.com.

In 1972, a crack commando unit was sent to prison…

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The 1980s-1990s stainless Mini-14 GB-F is an enduring work of beauty that hails from an age of VHS tapes and when MTV played music. (Photo: Chris Eger)

The original .223 caliber Ruger Mini-14 “180” series as debuted in 1974 had all-wood furniture – even atop the handguard – and was only sold to the public with five-shot magazines.

A few years later, it was offered with 20-round mags, the option for a factory folding stock, and a select-fire variant (the AC556) for government (military and LE) contracts. These guns were also offered with what Ruger described as a “Government Barrel,” which included a flash hider and bayonet lug. These appeared in as far-off places as the Bermuda Defense Forces and Royal Ulster Constabulary.

Then, starting in the second season of the “A-Team” in 1984, in which the factory-outfitted folding stocked stainless commercial Mini-14 with aftermarket flash hiders made a regular appearance, the gun marched into everlasting pop culture status.

Eventually, the stainless Ruger Mini-14 Government Barrel, Folding Stock, or GB-F, was added to Ruger’s commercial catalog, at least until the mid-1990s when it was killed off by the Federal “Assault Weapon” Ban. After the controversial AWB expired in 2004, the original Mini-14 and Ranch Rifle were discontinued in favor of an improved variant that allowed the easy mounting of optics and had an improved barrel profile and twist rate that improved accuracy and decreased heat sensitivity.

This “pre-ban” 186-serial prefix stainless Mini GB .223 in the author’s collection dates to 1994, has the original 1-in-7 twist barrel, a short rounded rear sight, and has a stainless Sampson folding stock installed, making it something of a faux GB-F. Until very recently it saw service in the Maryland State Corrections system. (Photo: Chris Eger)

Everything old is new again

With all the aesthetic of the old-school classic 1980s stainless Government Barrel Folder model, Ruger has reached into the vault to bring back an updated icon.

The new model Mini-14 Tactical variant includes a throwback style protected blade front sight with “ears” and an underbarrel bayonet lug, a factory-installed flash suppressor, and an integral stainless side-folder stock along with walnut furniture and a polymer pistol grip.

Unlike the guns that look like it from a couple of decades ago, it is chambered in 5.56 NATO, has integral scope mounts machined directly on the solid steel receiver, carries a tall ghost ring rear aperture sight, and has a threaded barrel with a 1-in-9 twist rate.

The MSRP is $1,849, which is about $500 more than other current Mini-14 models in the company’s Tactical series. But keep in mind those other models don’t come with a folding stock – which Sampson makes for $300 and are sometimes tough to get – while Ruger-branded stainless 20-round Mini-14 mags are basically unobtainium, so there’s that. Plus none have a GB-style barrel. 

Yankee Kalash Updates

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While at CANCON 2023 in Savannah, Georgia a few weeks ago, I stopped by the Kalashnikov USA booth and ran into John Cason, KUSA’s director of sales. He told me that the company wouldn’t be in Vegas for the SHOT Show later this month, but he did have several sweet new models they had queued up for 2024.

Among them is the long-promised American-made 7.62x39mm AK101 sporter (KR101), a 5.56 NATO AK102 sporter (KR102), side folding wood-stocked (not a misprint) KR103s, and a tiny Vityaz.

KUSA’s “Micro 9” Vityaz, made for an Indonesian military contract but soon to come to the U.S. consumer market

Developed for an overseas military contract, KUSA had what is tentatively just called the “Micro 9” at the show. Now don’t confuse that term with a micro compact 9mm pistol such as a P365 or Hellcat. This is a 5-inch barreled semi-auto KP-9 Vityaz clone rather than the standard 9.25-incher that the company intends to market as both a pistol (that can either use a triangle brace or be Form 1’d later should the user want) and as a factory SBR.

PSA Krinkov (no, really, they say)

Palmetto State Armory has been teasing the public for years that they have an American-made Krink headed to market while not delivering.

Well, Cameron surfaced over the weekend on social media and said the company is in their final testing phase for the gun, expecting to launch it in February (yes, of 2024).

They intend to have five variants at launch– all in 5.56 with included side rails.

These will include a plum gloss, a Vudu version, a JMac railed option, a redwood version, and an SBR-ready variant. PSA says that they will work on 5.45, .300 BLK, and 7.62×39 variants after the 5.56s have been released. No pricing is available.

Color me excited.

Kicking around an A4 Dissipator– that works

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The Dissipator concept came about briefly during America’s involvement in Vietnam. Early slab-sided Colt 601 AR-15s, Colt 602 XM-16s, Colt 604 M16s, and forward-assist equipped Colt 603 M16A1s all had full-length 20-inch barrels with a good portion of that being past the gas block/forward sight assembly. 

A circa-1962 layout from the U.S. Army’s Springfield Armory showing an early Colt 601. Note that the last 6 inches of its 20-inch barrel are past the forward sight assembly, with overall length hitting just shy of 39 inches.

 

Troops in tight situations, such as crammed into helicopters and pushing through triple canopy jungle, found themselves wanting something handier. This led to a “field modification,” which saw some simply hacksaw a few inches off the barrel to make the rifle shorter. This mod even became semi-official, with in-country workshops whittling down the barrel a couple of inches and then threading the muzzle to attach the flash hider. 

The hacked Dissipator was born – although there is no evidence that it was ever called this in military service. The mod made the 6.5-pound early M16 more compatible in overall length to the 35-inch long M1 Carbines which, while not in U.S. frontline service at the time, were often “acquired” from local South Vietnamese troops due to their ease of carry. 

The unwelcome news was that the Dissipator mod killed the rifle’s dwell time and made a gun that was already of questionable reliability at the time even more prone to fail. Doh.

Left is a workshop wall at the U.S. Army’s Springfield Armory with a Dissipator M16 second from the top. Its formal industry replacement, the Colt 610/XM177, can be seen above the Dissipator on the wall. Right is a Fleet Marine Force M16 workshop in South Vietnam apparently reworking guns to make them shorter ala Dissipator style, in April 1968. (Photos: Springfield Armory National Historic Site/National Archives.)

Colt even made the Dissipator concept refined with the Model 605, which included a bayonet-lug-less 15-inch barrel whose flash hider started right where the front sight assembly ended and a full-sized fixed buttstock and a rifle-length gas system. However, it was very soon superseded by the Colt 610/XM177/GAU-5A, which entered service by the late 1960s. With its adjustable two-position buttstock and a 10-inch barrel with a carbine-length gas system, it only took up about 28 inches of real estate and would go on to be the go-to shorty M16 for generations. 

While the military walked away from the Model 605, it turned out the concept of an AR-15 platform with a full-length fixed buttstock and handguards with a rifle-length gas system on a trimmed-down barrel made for a smooth-shooting rifle while still coming in (a little) shorter than a traditional 20-inch full-length rifle. 

A niche for sure, but one that black rifle makers took a chance on over the years with Adams Arms, ASA, Bushmaster, Delton, Doublestar, KAK, PSA, and Windham Weaponry all selling their own assorted takes on a Dissipator for the commercial market. The thing is, most of these are “mock” Dissipators, as they actually used carbine or mid-length gas systems with a low-profile gas block under the handguard. The A2 sight was pushed out as far as possible to give the short look of the Dissy while getting away from the old dwell time issue the Vietnam-era guns suffered from.

Faux Dissipator: top mid length 16inch, 2nd is a standard 20-inch rifle length pencil, bottom is a true dissipator with a rifle length system on a 16in HBAR

The latest Dissipator comes from Anderson, of all people, and they got the dwell time right without resorting to faux-ing it up.

I’ve got 500 rounds through it thus far and I think I am falling in love. 

The recoil impulse on this thing is smooth. I just wish it had a carry handle upper

More in my column at Guns.com.