laststandonzombieisland

FN’s motto for the past several years is “The World’s Most Battle-Proven Firearms,” and it has the lineage to prove it. Founded back in 1889 to make Mauser pattern rifles for the Belgian government, FN promptly out-Mausered Mauser and remained in that bolt-gun business with its in-house upgraded Model 24 and Model 30 as late as the 1960s. By that time, FN had the FAL in production and later superseded it with the FNC and today’s SCAR – all of which have seen combat around the world. Much like the way it took over where Mauser left off in the 1920s, FN jumped into the M16 biz in the early 1980s and out-Colted Colt, winning a $112 million contract to produce 266,961 M16s for the U.S. Army in 1988.

Now, with over 40 years in the AR game, FN has the game figured out and tends to market a lot of more top-shelf options such as the FN15 DMR3, which costs almost SCAR kinda money. That’s where the FN-15 Guardian comes in, as a more mid-shelf offering with an MSRP of $999 and a cost at retailers usually a bit lower than that.

I’ve been kicking one around for the past several months, passing 2,000 rounds drawn from 20 different brass and steel-cased loads through it, including shooting it suppressed, with assorted optics, a dozen different types of mags, the works.

See my column at Guns.com for the full review.

Light, affordable, and ready for the range or field, the new FN 15 Guardian offers one of the iconic company’s most obtainable 5.56 caliber rifles.

Billed as a light, fast-handling carbine, the Guardian complements the rest of FN’s AR (FN 15) line of rifles in the respect that it is priced at a more entry-level (MSRP $999, more like $899 at retailers) rung on the ladder than some of the company’s other offerings, which have an ask of $1,350 (FN 15 Patrol Carbine) to $2,350 (FN 15 DMR3). Thus, according to the marketing materials, the new addition is “making FN quality accessible to all home defenders and sport shooters.”

In a nutshell, the FN 15 Guardian is a carbine-sized (16-inch, 1:7 twist barrel) direct gas impingement action AR with a mid-length gas system that has a flattop, smooth-sided (no forward assist) upper, a 15-inch aluminum handguard with a couple dozen M-LOK slots, and a lot of mil-spec parts. This keeps it light, at just 6.6 pounds, and with a streamlined aesthetic.

The all-up weight of the Guardian as shown below, well outfitted with a Magpul PMAG loaded with 30 rounds of M855, an Aimpoint Patrol Rifle Optic red dot reflex sight on a QRP2 mount, a full-length direct-thread SilencerCo Omega 36M can, and a field expedient Israeli-style sling, is just a hair over 9 pounds.

So far, I have put it through a bit over 500 rounds, a quarter of that while suppressed, from across at least 15 different brass-cased loads I had around the house, including German, Malaysian, and South Korean military surplus, Federal XM855 Green Tip, Winchester NATO-marked overruns, Winchester black box BTHP Match, and bulk pack Wolf M193 NATO, all running the gamut from 55-grain to 77-grain in weight.

And have few complaints other than the funky furniture.

Full review over after the jump to Guns.com.