KelTec’s CP33 is an impressive pistol. It is currently the highest capacity, conventional rimfire handgun in production with 33-round flush and 50-round extended quad-stack magazines. Optics-ready, it’s a genuine 100-yard weapon even with the stock fiber optic sights: The long sight radius and the 8-inch barrel give it more reach than most .22s. It is suppressor-ready from the box, lightweight and easy to maintain. With all these complements to the uniquely competent design, why would KelTec follow-up almost immediately with another .22 pistol? I asked myself that question right up to the moment I had the opportunity to test fire the P17, a very pedestrian-looking stablemate to the futuristic CP33. 

The two pistols have something in common: the trademark clamshell construction with steel receiver blocks inside. Beyond that, they are as different as can be, both in construction and in handling. Having both on hand, I found them impressive in completely different ways.

The CP33 is a large pistol at 10.6 inches long and pound and a half empty; it is more of a saddle gun for horseback, an ATV or a car than it is a dedicated carry solution. The voluminous magazines make it a fun plinker, but the real strengths are the mechanical accuracy and the neutral balance contributing to practical accuracy. Even moderately competent shooters can hit an 8-inch steel plate at 100 yards with the pistol unsupported. The barrel length gives up little velocity compared to rifles, simultaneously reducing the muzzle flash to a minimum. The 150fps advantage over 4-inch barrels gained with 40-grain CCI Mini Mags equals a 50-yard difference in performance. The uninterrupted expanse of the Picatinny rail on top lends itself to magnified optics to take full advantage of the potential reach. Sound-suppressed, the CP33 doesn’t have much gas blowback. It’s about as mild a semi-auto pistol as can be experienced. M-LOK slots in the forend provide options for lights and lasers and provide air circulation for the barrel. The CP33 does have a couple of minor downsides: The magazine loading is a process requiring care to avoid rimlock, and the grip matched the .22WMR PMR30 length—that’s too much for small hands.

Fortunately, both of these issues are easy to solve. Magazine loading becomes a breeze with an American Speedloaders device that enables placing all 33 cartridges in perfect alignment in about 20 seconds. The grip length would have been a factor in a pistol with heavy recoil, but with .22LR it merely means that the usual two-handed hold is more comfortable than a single-handed dueling stance.

Having a CP33 introduces a high ammunition consumption habit. The barrel is well shrouded inside a ventilated forend, so the pistol can be run continuously for a long time with no loss of accuracy or functionality. A typical range session with a new shooter running the pistol and the instructor keeping magazines topped off ends with an empty 550-round box inside of 15 minutes, and that is with aimed fire rather than mindless blasting.

Most rimfire competitions assume 10-round magazines, but with the proliferation of new higher capacity pistols on the market, we are likely to see more Open Class stages in the immediate future. Judging by the interest that the Tandemkross-modified CP33 received at the World Championship Rimfire Challenge in October 2019, it will be a common firearm on the firing line before long.

CP33 vs. P17

With all that awesomeness contained in the CP33, why did KelTec introduce a P17? At less than half the weight (0.7 pound) and less than half the price (MSRP: $199 vs. $475), this smaller pistol is more of a kit gun that goes anywhere effortlessly. While holding “only” 16 rounds in the magazine, the P17 ships with three of them! From the start, the P17 was designed as the lighter weight and more budget-friendly alternative to the Taurus TX22 which ships with two magazines for about twice the money. Unlike either the TX22 or the CP33, the P17 magazine requires no tools for quick and easy loading.

The construction of the P17 is quite unique, with an L-shaped steel slide enveloping only the top and the front of the barrel. The non-reciprocating sides of the clamshell grip frame go up to the top of the slide, permitting a very high two-hand grip with no moving parts to interfere. The CP33 accomplishes the came by enclosing the barrel and the bolt entirely, also allowing a high grip to control aim and what minimal recoil there is.

The P17 and CP33 both have 3-pound triggers, but the P17 has a longer travel and a more vigorous reset spring. The P17 trigger is optimized for rapid fire, while the CP33 is optimized for accuracy. Both can be shot fast, but with a very different feel. Both guns have fiber optic front sights and adjustable rear sights. The P17’s rear sight is not illuminated, so care must be taken to align the top of the notch with the top of the front sight rather than with the dot. For reactive fire, placing the dot at the top of the rear notch and aiming center mass produces a chest hit. Unlike the CP33, the P17 has no provision for mounting an optic. Considering the kit gun niche, it’s a reasonable compromise. The pistol does come with a Picatinny rail under the grip frame for mounting lights or lasers. 

The P17 is an omnivore by design. Its release was delayed to ensure that it can digest subsonic ammunition reliably while not beating itself apart with high and hyper velocity loads. The CP33 was designed for supersonic loads, though it runs standard velocity and subsonics well when suppressed or when used with a brake, producing some back-pressure. Both rimfire brakes made by Tandemkross work well and eliminate what little muzzle rise there was. A Kaw Valley Precision Linear Compensator does nothing for the muzzle rise but reduces the report at the shooter’s ear by channeling it downrange, along with adding enough back-pressure to cycle standard velocity match loads which are already subsonic from the 8-inch barrel. 

What does the P17 give up to the CP33? It has roughly half of the effective range of the bigger pistol, being accurate no further than 50 yards. I can hit an 8-inch plate no further than that, and even a full-size silhouette is a challenge at 100 yards. Pop cans, roughly approximating the size of a squirrel, are at risk no further than 35 yards. While the full-size grip and the good trigger help with accuracy, the limitations of the short sight radius are hard to overcome. Even so, being similar in weight and barrel length to the Smith & Wesson 317 kit gun, the P17 is more accurate, holds double the ammunition and boasts nearly twice the effective aimed range. 

The P17 comes with an extended threaded bushing to permit suppressed use, but the open left side of the slide during the ejection cycle causes annoying blowback a the shooter. Given the very light weight and the visual incongruity of the short slide and the full-size grip, an A2 flash hider from an AR-15 would fit the P17 better than anything else—it would reduce visible flash and the muzzle rise both by altering the balance toward the front and by acting as a compensator. The P17’s takedown involves the slide coming off the barrel to the front, so any muzzle device would have to be removed with the bushing, but it would not have to be re-timed after fieldstripping. 

The same open slide design and a strong return spring make the P17 very resistant to powder residue. While the CP33 should be cleaned every 500 rounds, and every 250 to 300 when suppressed, the P17 has powered through nearly 1,000 rounds so far with no sign of slowing down. In an emergency, a P17 slide can be forced closed, while the internal CP33 bolt relies only on the return spring.

Both pistols are excellent guns. For traipsing around the woods for a week, the lighter, smaller and less expensive P17 fits the need. For riding on horseback or an SUV around a mountain range, the quieter, longer-ranged CP33 is the way to go. Both would work for competition, with the P17 having an edge for steel challenges and the CP33 excelling in bull’s-eye or silhouette shooting. 

After World War II, thousands of M3 and M3A1 Grease Guns were scattered all over the world. Thanks to the simple design, the weapons could be kept operational by any reasonably talented craftsman. They performed their service on both sides of the law and were used by the paramilitary Irish Republican Army (IRA) as well as by official military forces like the Greek Expeditionary Force (GEF) and the Philippine Marine Corps. However, its use by the Austrian police is hardly known.

With the War against the German Reich, huge quantities of military equipment and weapons were shipped to the European mainland. After the victory, all this could not be brought back home. It would have been too complex and too expensive. On the other hand, public order had to be restored in the respective occupation zones. The occupiers did not do this alone, and more and more local police were called in and trained for this. The units often got equipment from foreign surplus stock.

In Austria there were large quantities of Russian and American weapons left after the War. The regular police were still armed with the old Mannlicher M1895 bolt-action carbine. To strengthen their power, the police later added the Russian submachine gun PPSh-41 to their arsenal to be used for many years.

Four years after World War II, the “B-Gendarmerie” (riot-control police) were founded in secret in the American sector of Austria. Even today it is still unclear what the letter “B” means. It could stand for “Bereit schafts-Gendarmerie” (task force) as well as “Bundes-Gendarmerie” (federal police). It is also speculated that the “B” could stand for “Besondere” (special). However, at the time the B-Gendarmerie was founded, Austria’s Allies did not yet officially grant Austria its own military organization, and the name B-Gendarmerie is to be understood as a camouflage designation in any case. 

The western occupying powers, which provided substantial support for the entire project, were also in possession of secret recruitment lists and plans of the Austrians. The organization provided for the admission of former officers, and a list of battle-hardened soldiers was compiled without their knowledge in order to be able to quickly provide appropriate personnel in case of emergency. By 1954, some 90,000 men had been recorded in this way. There were also plans for taking the members of the B-Gendarmerie out of the country, especially to Italy or North Africa, in the event of a Communist coup. They would form the core of an Austrian Army in exile.

In 1950, the first standing units were formed: three battalions (named Gendarmerie schools) and one reconnaissance company were camouflaged as a driving unit. On August 1, 1952, former Wehrmacht officers took over the leadership of the B-Gendarmerie, and the units became officially known to the public. They were under the direct command of the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI). At the end of 1953, the B-Gendarmerie consisted of about 100 officers and 4,000 men.

Unlike the regular police, the B-Gendarmerie received light infantry weapons from U.S. stock. The United States gave 24,500 M1 Carbines, 500 M2 Carbines, 25,000 M1 Garands, 1,837 self-loading 1911A1 pistols, 623 M3/M3A1 and 1,885 M1A1 Thompson submachine guns. The carbines and rifles came with a large number of bayonets and rifle grenade launchers. 

After the conclusion of the State Treaty on May 15, 1955, the existence of this organization made it possible to build a new Army relatively quickly. The last deployment of the B-Gendarmerie as such took place the day after the signing of the treaty in the form of a Liberation Parade in the city of Linz. 

On July 8, 1955, the Allied ban on military activity fell, and the end of the B-Gendarmerie was set for July 27, 1955, when it was renamed the Provisional Border Guard Service. The new Austrian Federal Army (or Austrian Armed Forces), named Bundesheer, was founded on May 15, 1955. Its armament came from Allied depots. In 1956, 6,000 former B-Gendarmeries formed the cadre for the newly established Army, which had to pass its first test that same year in the course of the Hungarian uprising by securing the Austrian state border. The Army soldiers, who had already been members of the B-Gendarmerie, were allowed to wear the emblem of their former organization, a red angle with a burning grenade, on the right sleeve on their uniforms. 

For consistent training and handling, instructions were issued by the BMI, like the ZI.96.363- 3/57 “Maschinenpistole Type M3 (M3 A1) Kaliber 11,43mm” on July 25, 1957. The American submachine guns remained in service for more than 10 years before they were gradually replaced from 1967 and on by the UZI. 

The Dreyse Military Needle-Ignition System: An Illustrated History 

• Author: Leonard and Guy A-R-West 
• Publisher: Woodfield Publishing Limited 
• ISBN: 978-1-84683-190-4 
• Copyright: 2019 
• Soft cover: 8”x11.5”, 164 pages, color/B&W photos, paintings and illustrations 
• Available from publisher or Amazon.co.uk 

It is perhaps appropriate that this review will appear during the summer of 2020, as it will coincide with the 150^th anniversary of the start of the Franco-Prussian War. This war began on July 19, 1870, and lasted roughly 10 months, ending on May 10, 1871. The war between France and Prussia, or modern-day Germany, was the first war to see two nations both armed with “needle-fire” rifles. The French used the Model 1866 Chassepot rifle, and Prussia used the Dreyse system. 

Regular readers of this column may remember a review I did of the book The Needle-Ignition System of the Modele 1866 Chassepot, an Illustrated History (Small Arms Review, Vol. 22, No. 8, October 2018). This new title is by the same authors and publisher and follows the same basic format. In fact, it is second of three titles examining the various needle-rifle designs. (There is no release date yet for the third book. It will cover lesser known foreign needle guns.) 

As with the previous Chassepot book, this Dreyse title fills a noticeable void. Until now, there has been very little quality information on Dreyse rifles and zero English-language reference books. The A-R-West brothers (Alston-Roberts-West) are well-known as antique arms collectors in Great Britain and beyond. They are long-time members of the Historical Breechloading Smallarms Association. They are also active on gun forums such as gunboards.com. 

The term “needle rifle” refers to the method of ignition. A long slender needle-like firing pin pierces deep into the paper case of the cartridge to ignite the primer contained within. 

The book begins with a dedication to “family, friends, and all those who shoot and collect needle-ignition systems.” Following, is an Introduction that covers the A-R-West brothers’ own interest in antique military firearms. “Development and History” briefly looks at the system created by Johann Nicolaus von Dreyse, and then covers the various wars that raged across Europe during the mid-1800s. This was a surprisingly turbulent time in Western Europe. 

Chapter 3, “Gun Models” is, of course, the main topic. There were numerous models and variants of Dreyse rifles introduced over its time in service, making it a challenge to become familiar with them. This book does a great job of sorting out the various models and making it all understandable. The authors tend to use photographs for close-up details and color paintings for side-by-side comparisons of the different guns. While this may seem a little odd, it actually works very well. Several different models can be compared together, even if the original subjects were not available for a group photo. 

Between the data charts, photos and artwork of the different variants, close-up photos of the bolt stripped down and an in-depth study of receiver markings, this chapter provides a huge amount of information that is simply not available elsewhere. 

Chapter 4, “Accessories” follows the same pattern, describing the various items in the text and then backing this up with crisp, clear photographs and illustrations. Numerous versions of brass muzzle covers and sight protectors are featured, along with leather slings, cleaning kit items and bayonets. 

Chapter 5, “Beck Conversion” explains a retrofit to improve the ballistics of the original rifles. Besides the photos and artwork, there are three cutaway section views to show how the conversion works. 

Chapter 6, “Ammunition” covers many types of ammo associated with the Dreyse system over its service life. As the gun matured, so did the ammo. This meant that the ammo was not interchangeable. Rounds for the M/41, M/47, M/55 Infantry Rifle, M/55 Carbine (3.5mm shorter than the Infantry Rifle round) and M/72 rifles are covered in great detail. Cartridge data charts, section view drawings, photos of battlefield pick-ups and even x-ray views of original cartridges are featured. 

While there is not any actual reloading data offered, there are three pages of photos showing specialized tools used to recreate working cartridges. Anyone with access to a machine shop should be able to copy these tools. 

Chapter 7, “Miscellaneous” deals with many subjects. A section on the many types of rear sights is notable for the sheer number, 20 in total. There is a chart of manufacturers that produce either complete guns or parts. Enlarged drawings of receiver markings provide valuable information for collectors and researchers. 

Chapter 8, “Evaluation and Observations” is a chance for the A-R-West brothers to share their opinions, based on their years of experimenting and testing. With their own refined loads, they can get an average of 108mm (a bit over 4-inch) groups at 100m. They claim to have achieved a 75mm (3-inch) group at 200m! That is amazing for a gun at least 150 years old. 

Chapter 9, “References and Anecdotes” has a number of quotes from training manuals from the era, as well as observations made by British military observers. 

I do have a minor complaint. The text that applies to the illustrations is quite small (the main body of text is fine), and some of the illustrations themselves are far too small. I would prefer larger type and pictures, even if this means a few more pages. Aside from this, it is a fine book. 

This book has been long overdue. As noted above, there are no other English-language books solely on the Dreyse system and probably very few German language ones either. Yes, it is a rather specialized subject, and at £45.00 it is rather pricey, but if you collect this type of firearm this book is definitely recommended. 

The popularity of the M1A when initially introduced in 1974 was a pleasant surprise for Springfield Armory—no relation to the government arsenal in Massachusetts. Looking back, it seems pre-ordained the M1A would be a success; it is hard to argue against a high-capacity .30-caliber weapon that traces its roots to the “Greatest Generation” who won WWII. Remember the M16/ AR-15 platform was suffering from a reputation of unreliability stemming from its teething problem due to ammunition changes made in Vietnam. Springfield Armory had shown the accuracy potential of the M1A with it National Match and Super Match rifles introduced in the mid-1970s. It did not take a large leap of imagination to realize that the M1As offered the same features that are craved for in a tactical weapon by either police or security-conscious citizens. Numerous Springfield Armory M1A models exist as a result of this; the M1A™ SOCOM 16 was introduced in 2004. 

The Springfield Armory M1A SOCOM 16 was ahead of its time considering the number of AR-10 patterns chambered in 7.62NATO that have been introduced since 2004. The combination of the M1A SOCOM 16’s handling with the increased power represented in the 7.62NATO cartridge is the key to its appeal. This is speaking in terms of the lethality and effective range, while still allowing for multiple rounds sent quickly downrange if needed in a close-range melee. While the 5.56mm round is often chided in terms of lethality, the 7.62NATO does not suffer from this reputation. Reports from Afghanistan and Iraq exposed the 5.56mm’s poor performance in putting an adversary down quickly with minimal rounds fired at longer distance, especially with the shortened M4 barrel.

The Details

The Springfield Armory M1A SOCOM 16 weighs approximately 8.8 pounds and measures 37.25 inches. A black composite stock provides shooter interface with the weapon. An enlarged ghost ring aperture rear sight and XS Tritium Insert in the front post give you the quick target acquisition. The specially engineered 16.25-inch barrel is mated to a tuned gas system with a proprietary muzzle brake balancing portability/handling, while maintaining 7.62NATO ballistics and terminal performance. The M1A SOCOM 16 features a forward Scout-style Picatinny mount for red dot or intermediate eye relief optic mounting. Users will need to make sure to mount as low to the barrel as possible to maintain proper cheek weld. 

The M1A SOCOM 16 proved so adept with its aperture iron sights and mounted red dots the author decided to up the ante in the form of a Leupold VX-R 1.5-5x33mm Illuminated Scout scope. The variable magnification power range and FireDot Duplex Reticle is ideal for use in this Scout scope application. Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper’s Scout rifle has a legion of devotees keeping the Scout torch burning bright, and rightfully so. What is not to like about a rifle whose concept is centered on versatility and real-world application? Everyone is dubious of something that promises to do several tasks well. The underlying concern is that compromises involved with making something adaptable invariably leads to compromises in performance. The Scout rifle concept refutes this assumption. 

A quick review of Cooper’s Scout rifle tenants are in order. “A general purpose rifle … conveniently portable, individually operated firearm, capable of striking a single decisive blow, on a live target … at any distance at which the operator can shoot with the precision necessary to place a shot in a vital area of the target.” Cooper specified dimensions of an overall length of 39 inches and a weight of 6.6 pounds with the now signature intermediate eye relief, low-powered scope mounted in front of the action; maximizing peripheral vision for situational awareness. The rifle also must have provision for efficient reloading, thus offering a modicum of firepower. Finally, the rifle’s chambering must be powerful enough to anchor large quarry while still lending itself to other criteria, such as capacity and size of rifle—the .308Win has come to be accepted as the most natural cartridge. 

There seems to be an assumption that Scout rifles need to be bolt-action in nature. Time to generate some thought. Challenging accepted notions is always the best way to do this. The Springfield Armory M1A SOCOM 16 exceeds Cooper’s weight requirements but excels in terms of firepower and efficient reloading thanks to detachable 20-round magazines. As with most good ideas, the SOCOM 16 Scout concept is simple and builds on previous ideas advocated with other firearm types, such as bolt- and lever-action rifles. 

Some will scoff at the M1A SOCOM 16 being used as a Scout rifle. “Scout” purists will find fault in the trigger, not being able to load a single round of ammunition, sling options (i.e., not Ching Sling), and point out it is overweight, and so on. Do not be dogmatic. The Scout-scope-equipped SOCOM 16 is valid and should not be dismissed until fully assessed for what it offers in terms of capabilities. Its anticipated role must be taken into account with 20 rounds of .308Win, not easily discounted. 

The Leupold VX-R scope offers the capability to engage multiple targets in rapid sequence more accurately and at greater distances as compared to open sights or red dots. As many “maturing” shooters can attest, the single focus plane with the reticle is easier to shoot accurately than coordinating front and rear sights. The Leupold VX-R optic gathers light in dim light, the crosshair is hard to beat for aiming point, and the magnification aids in accuracy and finding lanes of fire when firing in dense areas. The Leupold is superior to iron sights and allows for reliable target recognition. The Bindon Concept of keeping both eyes open and having the reticle appear to float in front of the rifle works with the forward-mounted Scout scope with the FireDot. The bright/crisp FireDot reticle dot immediately draws your eye to the center on the target, making target acquisition quick and simple, especially at close range; thus offering the best of both worlds of red dot and magnified optics.

Ammo 

Federal American Eagle 150-grain FMJ, SIG SAUER 150-grain FMJ, 150-grain HT, 165-grain CET and 168-grain Match, Black Hills 168-grain Match and PMC 150-grain FMJ loads all produced acceptable accuracy. In fact, no ammunition, including full metal jacket surplus ammunition, generated greater than 2.25-inch accuracy levels at 100 yards. The Leupold VX-R with 5x allowed for better exploration of accuracy than iron sights or red dots. The handiness gained from the short barrel outweighs the velocity lost in my opinion. The M1A SOCOM 16’s barrel produced 2,510 fps with 168 grain bullets when tested over a Caldwell Precision Ballistic Chronograph. Velocity is important, especially for extended ranges, but the 7.62NATO round does not rely on hyper velocity to be effective. 

Range Tests

The Springfield M1A SOCOM 16 with the Leupold VX-R 1.5-5x33mm Illuminated Scout scope was evaluated at Echo Valley Training Center (EVTC). The Scout-scope-equipped SOCOM 16 showed its true promise by performing not only within the 100-yard EVTC bays firing from barricades and engaging multiple targets, but also back at the prepared firing position line. Steel silhouette targets were situated randomly from 50 to 320 yards. While 300 yards are considered the far side of most fire fights, it is confidence-inspiring to connect at that distance upon command. The SOCOM 16/Leupold VX-R combo made short work of striking various targets in quick fashion. The M1A SOCOM 16 proved just as efficient against fluid-drained automobiles located in EVTC’s 360 Range with steel popper targets located inside the cab; some of the scenarios involved firing through the front windshield.

Other range tests consisted of completing multiple runs on EVTC’s “Jungle Walk” range. Several ISPC-style man targets and steel silhouettes were engaged from different firing positions. Multiple shots were fired at each target, and a magazine change was mandated before leaving cover. Testing any rifle in this format helps highlight any strengths or weaknesses in handling or weapon manipulation. The Springfield Armory M1A SOCOM 16 handled as well as any rifle tested. This includes AR- and AK-type rifles.

Anecdotally, a casual observer can easily tell a steel target smacked with 7.62NATO versus 5.56mm at any distance. Much is made of the increased number of 5.56mm rounds that can be carried compared to 7.62NATO. While this line of thinking is appreciated, in this author’s opinion, unless one is on an extended patrol or mission that is not easily re-supplied, the extra power and lethality of the 7.62NATO over the 5.56mm trump this. For law enforcement or civilians, this consideration is really a moot point to start with considering mission profiles involved. As with most weapon system comparisons the pros/cons can be debated forever. Individual users will make the decision of what best suits their needs. 

All Business

Springfield Armory’s understanding and appreciation of the M14/M1A as a fighting rifle translate into the M1A SOCOM 16 accentuating these characteristics with no desire to make it into anything else. The forward-mounted optic rail is a nod to the advantages offered by optic mounting without succumbing to the urge to hang items that are not necessary on the forend, ruining its handling. All business with no wasted effort sums up the Springfield Armory M1A SOCOM 16. The Springfield Armory SOCOM 16 with Leupold VX-R optic will take care of most any imaginable engagements from 0 to 600 yards involving two- or four-legged adversaries/quarry. The SOCOM 16 configured as a Scout rifle is hard to argue against in terms of utility for LE or security-conscious civilians. 

Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper’s shadow will always be present for any rifle utilizing Scout setup. Yes, there are more accepted Scout forms than the Springfield Armory M1A-SOCOM-16-based version. Anyone using the SOCOM 16/Leupold VX-R combo will consider himself well-armed and ready to handle any situation. 

FOR MORE INFORMATION 

Springfield Armory

springfield-armory.com

Black Hills Ammunition

black-hills.com

Leupold

leupold.com

SIG SAUER 

sigsauer.com

Echo Valley Training Center

echovalleytraining.com

Awesome is a mightily overused descriptor these days. The dictionary definition is “extremely impressive or daunting; inspiring great admiration, apprehension or fear.” The archetypal use in a phrase, once again per the dictionary, is, “The awesome power of the atomic bomb.”

As with such similar terms as cool, woke, radical, and text, context is everything, and modern cultural influences contort the meaning to fit the times. Such societal pressures tend to infuse otherwise pedestrian terms with an unfortunate abstruseness. In the case of firearms, however, one gun above all others cuts through the linguist’s otherwise impenetrable fog. The Barrett M82A1 Light Fifty excises all the ambiguity out of the term awesome.

True Tactical Vision 

Ronnie Barrett contrived the original M82 Light Fifty back in the 1980s. I’ve not had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Barrett, but that guy is a visionary. To translate the abstract idea of a man-portable, semiautomatic precision rifle that fires John Moses Browning’s behemoth .50 BMG (12.7x99mm) cartridge into something that can be safely and comfortably fired off the shoulder is a remarkable mechanical achievement. That he did so in such an elegant fashion is all the more impressive. 

The Barrett M82 (barrett.net) is in essence a scaled-up version of the Browning-inspired Auto-5 long recoil shotgun. John Browning designed every major rifle-caliber automatic weapon used by American forces during World War II. With credentials like that, his opinions matter. The great man held 128 gun-related patents when finally he keeled over of heart failure while sitting in his son Val’s office in the FN plant in Liege, Belgium, at age 71 in 1926. Of all his remarkable gun designs, Browning himself claimed the Auto-5 was the one of which he was most proud. 

The Barrett M82 is a recoil-operated, semiautomatic, magazine-fed precision rifle. The gun is designed to accept an optical sight and feeds from a 10-round detachable box magazine. The elegant method by which Ronnie Barrett tamed the massive .50BMG cartridge warrants specific exploration. 

At the moment of firing, the bolt and barrel assembly are locked together but remain free to move. The heavy barrel is generously fluted along its length but remains quite massive. 

The barrel/bolt assembly then recoils deeply into the heavy pressed steel receiver against spring pressure. These two components then mechanically separate, and a dedicated return spring system returns the barrel to its neutral position. This action extracts the empty cartridge so it can be ejected out of the enormous right-sided ejection port. 

Once ejection is complete, the bolt returns into battery via spring pressure, stripping another round out of the magazine in the process. The AR-15-style fire control system is then free to fire follow-up shots. While there is a great deal of violence pent up within this process, the nature of the design keeps the gun quite accurate even at long ranges. 

Art Imitates Life 

In 1987, Paul Verhoeven directed a dystopian sci-fi epic written by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner titled “RoboCop.” Set in Detroit, Michigan, in the near future “RoboCop” depicted a dark and broken world characterized by rampaging crime and the corrupt uber-corporation Omni Consumer Products (OCP) . In this world, law enforcement and public safety were contracted out to OCP with minimal government oversight. The resulting tale explored themes like unfettered capitalism, corporate greed, the power of an unchecked media and the corrupt nature of man. 

All good movies hinge upon their villains, and Clarence Boddicker in “RoboCop” is one of the best. Played to perfection by the character actor Kurtwood Smith, Boddicker is a soulless nihilist who lives only for chaos. The weapon Boddicker and his mob of malevolent malcontents wields is referred to as the “Cobra Assault Cannon.” 

The Cobra Assault Cannon is at its heart an early Barrett M82 .50-caliber anti-materiel rifle adorned with a little fiberglass window dressing and an oversized optic. The imaginary Hollywood high explosive rounds these things throw are adequate to destroy an automobile or an armored stop-motion, death-dealing police robot. In the final climactic scene, Peter Weller’s RoboCop character uses one of the guns to take out a formidable ED-209 armored security drone. 

The gun nerd truly committed to his craft will note that the rifle experiences a stovepipe jam that leaves a crimped .50-caliber blank hanging half out of the ejection port. The fact that I noticed that lends insight into why I have so few normal friends. Now hold that thought. 

Trigger Time on the Cobra Assault Cannon 

In 1987, I was a freshly minted paratrooper headed back to college after a fun-filled summer at Fort Benning. I answered an ad in the school paper to audition for a movie being made on my picturesque Southern university campus. The film was an entirely forgettable bit of socially engineered pablum called “Heart of Dixie.” 

The movie was hardly Oscar material, but it was my first taste of Hollywood glitz. Ally Sheedy, Phoebe Cates, Treat Williams, Kurtwood Smith and Virginia Madsen starred, and the production occupied both the community and the campus for weeks. I thought it all more fun than a barrel of monkeys. 

I actually got a fairly decent part in the movie. I had and have no marketable acting skills and will never be mistaken for handsome. However, my head was shaved so that was adequate to earn me the lead role as a National Guardsman who beats up the movie’s central character played by Allie Sheedy. However, that’s a tale for another day. 

The spot did allow me to chill out with Kurtwood Smith for a bit. For those who are still reading, Smith was the guy who played the villain Clarence Boddicker in “RoboCop.” Kurtwood was a friendly enough gent, and I am a gun nerd. I therefore inevitably inquired regarding the weapons he used in “RoboCop.” Smith said that the Cobra Assault Cannons were just insanely heavy, and that it was really tough to manhandle the massive guns on screen and still look cool doing it. I always wondered what he was talking about until I handled one of my own. 

Taking the Plunge

I will admit to having been hopelessly enamored with the Barrett M82 ever since I saw “RoboCop” in the theater back in 1987. I studied gun magazine articles about the rifle and caught it in another movie or three, but there the dream languished for some three decades. I then saved my pennies basically forever, did a serious GunBroker.com recon and landed a spanking new OD Barrett M82A1 for my own. Here are my impressions.

The gun ships in a superb rolling hard plastic gun case. The case itself is truly epic. Though I didn’t actually try it, you could almost cram a corpse into this thing. 

To fit inside this ample box the barrel assembly and optic must be removed. Fitting the barrel assembly takes mere moments without tools. However, remounting the optic necessitates that the gun be re-zeroed. 

That’s kind of a pain. Were I hunting terrorists covertly in the Hindu Kush, having to re-mount my optic every time I retrieved my rifle would be a serious impediment. Fortunately for me, the closest I will ever get to the Hindu Kush is the History Channel.

Once you get the gun assembled, you come to appreciate the elegance of the design. The receiver is thick stamped steel, so the cheek weld is hot in the summer and cold in the winter. However, I am apparently one of maybe three male human beings in the known universe who can operate a sewing machine, so I whipped up an improvised cloth cheek cover. There’s nothing to it.

The folding steel bipod is reminiscent of that of the M60 machine gun and is both rugged and functional. The legs adjust independently for command height and are free to cant, but the unit does not pivot on the receiver. There is a screw-adjustable monopod located on the heel of the stock. I find that I can make very precise adjustments to the lay of the rifle using this device so long as the gun is arranged on a firm surface. 

There is a removable folding carrying handle that affixes to the Picatinny rail up top that is quite useful given the gun’s prodigious mass and bulk. The gun comes with folding iron sights, but you have to remove the optic to access the rear bit. The entire rifle breaks down without tools via handy lock pins. 

The M82A1 uses a standard M4 pistol grip, so the rifle interfaces nicely with the human form. The left-sided rotating safety is in the same spot as that of an M4 and operates intuitively. The magazine is just stupid huge and must be rocked in and out in the manner of a Kalashnikov. Like the AK, the magazine release is a thumb lever located behind the magazine along the midline. 

The charging handle reciprocates with the bolt and is accessible on the right. The bolt throw is measured in kilometers, so you’ll want to be purposeful about charging the thing. It is important that you release the bolt at its rearmost position and let it slam forward vigorously of its own accord driven by the recoil spring. Riding the bolt at all can result in its not settling completely into battery. 

The gun is available with either 20- or 29-inch barrels with a 1:15 rate of twist. With the barrel removed, the gun becomes relatively portable. A buddy who served as a member of a sniper team with a Ranger Battalion deployed downrange in Afghanistan told me that when they deployed with their Barretts operationally, they typically broke them down into two separate loads to better distribute the weight and bulk.

The harmonica-style muzzle brake looks cool and works well. Generous angled vents direct the chaos backwards to counteract the prodigious recoil of the massive round. The down side, however, is that if you stand to the side of the gun as it is being fired (like to take pictures for a gun magazine article), the overpressure will make your eyes feel like they are going to explode. Ask me how I know this.

Trigger Time

So what’s it really like to light one of these massive hand-sized rounds off mere inches from your soft pink anatomy? The visceral effect is about like swallowing a live hand grenade. Dirt, leaves and debris are launched vigorously into the air and subsequently worm into your eyes, ears and clothing. Phlegmatically speaking, however, the recoil really isn’t too bad. I would liken it to that of a 20-gauge shotgun.

The recoil impulse is more of a shove than a jolt thanks to all the reciprocating mass and Ronnie Barrett’s incontrovertible mechanical genius. I could be ready to launch a follow-up shot as soon as the dust settled in front of the big rifle. With proper ear protection and an ample supply of ammunition I could run this gun for a long afternoon without feeling overly violated.

At close ranges the M82A1 seems like some thing that would be called a Cobra Assault Cannon. The gun feels like it would shoot through pretty much anything short of a bank vault door or Mount Rushmore. Reaching out a bit was an illuminating experience. 

.50BMG ammo is expensive no matter where you get it. I bought some bargain basement blaster rounds made from harvested GI components for about $3 a piece and then proceeded to frustrate myself at 100m. I was punching those massive half-inch holes into groups perhaps 4 inches across now convinced that I had purchased an unimaginably expensive paperweight. Then I splurged for some of the “good stuff.”

Hornady .50BMG Match rounds push 750-grain A-MAX bullets to some 2,800 feet per second at the muzzle (hornady.com). To put that in perspective, that’s like firing about a dozen 62-grain 5.56mm rounds through a standard military M4 carbine simultaneously. These Hornady A-MAX rounds are also breathtakingly accurate. They’re expensive, but they would consistently print cloverleaves at a football field so long as I did my part.

Reaching out a ways, the Barrett M82A1 did not disappoint; I pretty much suck at long-range shooting. Subguns and assault rifles are more my bag. However, with a proficient coach I was consistently connecting with a 12-inch plate at 700m. My experienced coach, a SWAT sniper, dropped behind the gun and kept the plates ringing out to a kilometer. Even that far out these heavy precision bullets still carry enough energy to kill most anything on the planet. If you find yourself in the Cretaceous period among 30,000-pound predators like the T-Rex, this is the gun you’d grab.

Ruminations

I bought this rifle with its superlative Leupold scope really not thinking I would shoot it much. Given its prodigious mass and inimitable power, I assumed the thrill would pass and I would index to some other shiny trinket. However, as I take inventory of my ammo I have likely run 200 rounds or more through this beast in the first couple years I have owned it. Decent ammo does indeed cost a cast-iron fortune, but it is amazingly satisfying to command this much power under control.

There still yet remains a place for the cheap bulk ammo made in somebody’s basement out of pulled components. This stuff really doesn’t shoot terribly straight compared to the top-flight fodder from Hornady. However, if you want to impress your daughter’s new boyfriend in a seriously lasting way, just drag out the Barrett and let the kid run half a dozen rounds through it. He’ll ask to keep the big empties for souvenirs. He will also rightfully fear any guy bad enough to own such a beast. A little healthy fear in your typical teenage boy is almost always a good thing. 

SPECIFICATIONS

• CALIBER: 12.7x99mm/.50BMG
• OVERALL LENGTH: 57in
• BARREL LENGTH: 29in
• WEIGHT: 31lb
• ACTION: Recoil-operated rotating bolt
• FEED: 10-round detachable box magazine

Subcaliber conversion kits predate self-contained cartridges. From the 1830s, some old muskets were converted with barrel inserts to project a small pellet with the energy of a percussion cap. Small bore inserts for pellets driven by blanks were also used with centerfire rifles from the 1870s on and dedicated rimfire clones of Army rifles from the early 1900s. The famous .455 Webley Mk V revolver of 1913 has an optional rimfire kit consisting of a rifled barrel insert and a cylinder with smaller .22 chambers. That was probably the first mass-produced conversion kit for training. During WWII, Colt Ace conversion kits permitted cheaper and less noisy practice with the Army M1911A1, a conversion that proved useful despite the originally spotty reliability. 

Rimfire conversions, for a time, became popular in Europe as parts of multicaliber sets. The HK4 pistol, for example, came with barrels, springs and magazines supporting .22LR, .25ACP, .32ACP and .380ACP. The Beretta 8X series, on the other hand, featured standalone pistols of the same general design to cover the same range of calibers. The difference in the approach likely stemmed from the variations in national legal restrictions. In the U.S., Smith & Wesson (S&W) and Ruger offered rimfire counterparts to their popular service and concealed carry models. The stronger mainspring required for rimfire was one reason for making whole new guns instead of conversion kits, convenience is another. Finally, sights set for centerfire shooting seldom matched the point of impact with rimfire. 

The story of modern subcaliber training in the U.S. can be recounted from the Ciener and Advantage Arms conversion kits for GLOCK pistols. Especially in times of ammunition shortages, the ability to stretch the training budget and the centerfire ammunition reserves on hand has been popular—as important, is the option to teach the basics of handling firearms and marksmanship without putting off new shooters with heavy recoil and loud blasts. Similar conversion kits have since become available for the M1911, Beretta M9 and several SIG SAUER models. At the same time, Walther, Chiappa and Umarex introduced visual clones of several common service pistols. Less true to the original manual of arms or feel, they nonetheless provided a reasonably familiar form factor for training and recreation. Finally, companies like Grand Power put out an entire XTRIM line of rimfire handguns designed with the form factor common to their defense line. Some of them are optimized for target shooting—the model with a 10-inch barrel comes to mind—while others mirror the defense or sports models in all but caliber.

Training Points

How good are these guns for actual training? They offer identical forms, so all practice with drawing to a rapid first shot, aimed or pointed, is authentic. The trigger pull is likewise the same, making trigger control practice consistent with the real thing. Reloading is quite similar; malfunction clearing is similar in some guns, dissimilar in others. Marksmanship depends on the degree of precision required. Obviously, the rimfire bullet trajectory differs from 9mm or .45ACP, but the differences are minute inside of 10m to 15m. 

As practice guns for silhouette practice on small targets at 25m, .22s are not all that useful past the initial platform familiarization. In speed shooting for defense, the minor trajectory variations are insignificant compared to the minor sight alignment errors consciously committed in pursuit of speed. Gross errors like botched trigger control remain obvious. That’s especially vital for users of lightweight carry guns with heavy triggers, such as micro .380s and various Airweight snubbie revolvers. A training session of a hundred .357 Mag shots would cause hand damage, while a hundred .22s would just help master the long, heavy trigger pull without any pain.

Obviously, one doesn’t learn recoil control from shooting the low-powered rounds; that is a skill facet requiring centerfire ammunition. The reduction in felt recoil and muzzle rise leave room for full caliber training, but the more comfortable shooting experience makes it easier to identify training issues. The actions of the novice shooter aren’t masked by the violent misalignment of a firearm immediately after each shot.

When introducing new people to handgun shooting, I typically start them with a sound-suppressed M1911 clone, a GSG 1911-22 heavily improved with CW Accessories (CWA) parts for accuracy and reliability. The light weight of the aluminum suppressor doesn’t affect the balance much, while the minimal sound signature and recoil permit a more comfortable learning experience. For revolvers, a S&W Model 617 loaded with Aguila® Colibri CB caps provides an ear-safe experience comparable with very low-power air pistols while matching the S&W Model 686 carry gun handling. At longer distances, subsonic .22LR works well. Unlike air guns, rimfire handguns have the same exact manual of arms as the centerfire weapons. 

My experience has been with the following: an M1911 with an Iver Johnson Arms kit; a GSG1911-22 standalone; a Grand Power X-CALIBUR with an XTRIM standalone; a S&W M&P 9 with an M&P 22 standalone; a KelTec PF9 with a Twisted Industries kit; a GLOCK 17 with an Advantage Arms kit; a S&W Model 686 with a S&W Model 617; and a SIG SAUER P938 with 938-22 conversion slide. All of these have serious applications, and everyone has something to recommend over the others.

The revolvers are not ideal rimfire platforms for new shooters due to the heavy trigger pull required for the reliable detonation of .22LR primed rims. The S&W Model 617 (the large-frame rimfire) and the S&W Model 17 (the medium-frame rimfire) are also fractionally heavier than the .357 Mag and .38 Special counterparts thanks to the smaller bores and chambers inside the same-size barrels. For the same reason, these are very good for training advanced shooters: A person who learns to use the extra-heavy triggers will be able to run better centerfire triggers with ease. For new shooters, single-action mode works well—it also greatly reduces the required reach to the front of the trigger, an important consideration for learners with small hands.

Grand Power XTRIM

The XTRIM rimfire pistol from Grand Power mimics the carry guns exactly, down the shape of the magazines. The magazines are all polymer, hold 10 rounds and load with ease, thanks to the assist tab on the follower. The accuracy is excellent, the sights and all of the controls match X-CALIBUR exactly. The sole differences are the reduced blast and recoil. The XTRIM fits the same holsters, though it uses a slightly shorter slide. The extended safety lever makes a good thumb rest, habituating new shooters to the right-hand position. As with all rimfire pistols using a conventional enveloping slide, it’s possible to retard the relatively weak slide motion too much with the thumbs, a concern that doesn’t exist with the more energetic centerfire ammo. Designed for supersonic ammunition, the XTRIM also works with subsonic ammo using additional backpressure from suppressors or brakes. I prefer to use a linear compensator to channel the blast noise downrange.

GLOCK 17

The Advantage Arms GLOCK 17 kit dates back to around 2000, with successively improved versions introduced since. Like most conversion kits, it uses a lightweight aluminum slide that’s dimensionally identical to the centerfire part. One caveat with safe-action handguns: Lightened triggers can cause light strikes with rimfire ammunition. On stock GLOCK frames, it’s extremely reliable and very accurate.

KelTec PF9

The same is true of the KelTec PF9™ conversions by Twisted Industries (TI). Instead of molded plastic, TI uses milled aluminum blocks to make extremely robust magazines for the kit. Accuracy is better than with the 9mm, and the relatively light weight—3/4 pound loaded with 10+1 instead of 1.1 pound with 7+1—makes it a viable kit gun for nature hikes. With the PF9 being a relatively difficult pistol to master due to the long 7-pound trigger, rimfire practice can aid in gaining competency without breaking the bank. Recoil that limits comfortable range time with lightweight pistols is also a non-issue with the conversion kit.

Smith & Wesson

The M&P 22 is a clone of the M&P 9 in look, feel and controls but not in the internals. Designed similarly to the Walther P22, the M&P 22 is a more durable implementation of the concept. Feeding from 12-shot magazines, it’s a competent target pistol in itself. While the M&P 9’s recoil is mild, the lower cost of ammunition pays for the rimfire kit quickly. The pistol suppresses well and runs reliably with a wide range of loads.

SIG SAUER

The SIG SAUER P938-22 slide is 1 inch longer than the 9mm version. The magazine comes with an extended plastic floorplate to extend capacity to 10 rounds instead of the six or seven in the centerfire variant. With these changes, it isn’t an exact clone of the main weapon, but it is a very comfortable and accurate trainer. Its longer sight radius makes it a little easier to aim but limits holster compatibility. Everything else on the 938-22 matches the regular P938.

M1911

M1911 conversion kits have a mixed reputation. The Iver Johnson kit actually works well. Like the PF9 kit, it comes with machined aluminum magazines. Cheaper and lighter plastic magazines made by ProMag™ work equally well or better. The conversion delivers impressive accuracy, making the frame with a kit a target gun in itself. All functionality of the regular M1911 is preserved. Compared to that, the GSG standalone 1911-22 has a less refined trigger and a magazine disconnector—not quite the same manual of arms as the real thing. After the plastic recoil spring guide snapped in half, I replaced it and several other parts (extractor, ejector, barrel, bushing, springs and sights) with CWA parts. The upgraded pistol is significantly more accurate, permitting reliable hits on an 8-inch plate from 100 yards. Actual CWA 2011-22 pistols do not suffer from the magazine disconnector. Unlike STI 2011 rimfire adapters, CWA uses a single-stack GSG magazine, so they would not fit centerfire mag carriers. On the plus side, those magazines are much less expensive and easier to load.

Consider This

Pistol rimfire conversion kits fall short with red dot optics. The energy available from the .22LR recoil isn’t enough to move a red dot sight back and forth, so the conversion kits normally have no provision for anything other than iron sights. The CWA 2011-22 is the exception to that, having the option of a frame-mounted red dot for an exact match of the centerfire race-gun configuration. For training towards greater competency with iron-sighted handguns and for recreational shooting, rimfire conversion kits and standalone clones of fighting pistols are well worth having.

After World War II, Italy kept the war-proven Beretta submachine guns in use, and production went on. Future-oriented innovations were sought in vain. Beretta seemed to be without competition—until Luigi Franchi entered the government market.

With minor modifications, the Beretta M38/44 became the M38/49, and the following models remained basically the same wartime model without any outstanding technical innovations. After the death of Beretta’s chief engineer Tullio Marengoni, his successor Domenico Salza took over the work on the submachine guns. He designed the Model 5 with its striking grip safety. A large oblong push button was inserted laterally in the finger groove of the stock and had to remain pressed during shooting. This model was used by the military and police. However, Salza now tried to finally break away from the World War II model and create a modern, inexpensive submachine gun.

While he was still developing the future M12 model, a competitor from his own country unexpectedly pushed onto the market. The arms manufacturer Luigi Franchi S.p.A., founded in 1868 in Brescia, ventured into a completely new field with its LF-57. Until then, the company had mainly produced hunting and sporting guns. But the governmental market seemed to be lucrative, and so the company owner Luigi Franchi developed a new type of submachine gun according to his ideas for his new company department Divisione Sistemi Difensivi. He attached great importance to a simple design and cost-effective production. 

LF-57 Is Born 

Already in spring 1956 the first examples of the LF-56 were ready for test and evaluation purposes. Franchi was satisfied with the result; his basic concept worked. After the experiences from the trials had been incorporated into the design, the LF-57 was thus created. The weapon was largely made of formed sheet metal, riveted around a basic block of milled steel. There are no grip plates, because the grip is pressed together with the respective half of the housing from a single piece of sheet metal. The barrel is only fixed in the receiver by a nut screwed on the muzzle. The sight consists of a fixed front sight and a laterally adjustable rear sight zeroed at 50m (55 yards).

In contrast to many other short submachine guns of that time, the breechblock does not enclose the barrel. Instead, it is shaped like a horizontal “L,” whose main mass moves in the housing above the barrel, and only a small part with an integrated firing pin closes the cartridge chamber. During the loading cycle, the breechblock has a short travel, which makes it possible to shorten the overall length of the receiver. It also increases precision, as most of the breechblock movement takes place near the centre of gravity of the weapon. Due to this feature, the receiver is very slim, but high. At first sight, the weapon therefore looks like a gas-operated gun.

The LF-57 has no manual safety device. Instead, a pressure safety device is integrated in the grip, which blocks the way of the breechblock. The way is only cleared when the hand clasps the handle and presses the safety in. A push button above the grip allows switching between single and continuous fire. The side folding stock is very stable; it does not wobble and offers a good feeling when firing.

Commercially, the LF-57 was unfortunately not a success. It also remained Franchi’s only submachine gun. The company received one was won in 1962. In the same year, Franchi launched the semi-automatic “Police Model” for the civilian American market, recognizable by the double-barrel length of 406mm. Smaller quantities of the weapon were sold to the Congo, Nigeria and Rhodesia. Interestingly, the sales success of Beretta’s new M12 in Italy was also limited. The weapon was much more sought after abroad. Until 1987, Franchi S.p.A. was run as a family business. Once in competition with Beretta, the company has been part of the Beretta Holding since 1993. 

TECHNICAL DATA

• CALIBER: 9x19mm
• LENGTH (stock folded): 420mm/16.53in
• LENGTH (stock extended): 680mm/26.77in
• LENGTH OF BARREL: 206mm/8.11in
• WEIGHT (empty): 3.32kg/7.32lb
• WEIGHT (loaded): 3.82kg/8.42lb
• MAGAZINE CAPACITY: 30 rounds
• RATE OF FIRE: 460 rounds/min 

In 1946, an ambitious program was launched, intended to replace all the existing small arms of the French Army. A substitute for the M1 carbine, a new cartridge was developed: the 7.65mm M1948 (7.65×35), which was very similar to the 7.92mm Kurz (7.92×33). 

The 7.65mm M1948 Cartridge 

Experimented with since 1947, the 7.65mm cartridge was tested and compared to the .30 M1, the 7.92mm Kurz and the 7.5x54mm. Its results were better than those of the .30 and of the 7.92mm, but it was not adopted, mainly because of the growing cooperation and support of the United States which furnished military equipment to the European armies as well as to the French forces fighting in French Indochina. 

Its spitzer bullet was designed by the Ballistic Laboratory established in Satory, near Versailles. Its core was made of light alloy at the tip and of lead at the rear, with a brass or light alloy jacket. Unfortunately, just after WWII, brass was scarce and expensive, but light alloy was not a good choice because it self-ignited the cartridge in the hot barrel! 

Then, cupro-nickel-plated steel jackets coming from the 7.5x54mm cartridge were used after matrix forming. The result was a 6g bullet (0.21 ounces) with a 600 m/s (2,000 feet/s) initial velocity. Later, bullets for tests were made at the Tarbes cartridge factory. 

The bottleneck, rimless case was made of brass. It was designed by D.E.F.A. (Small Arms Research Service). Valence factory marks can be seen on some cases, others have no headstamp marks. The primer was of Berdan type and an American powder was used for loading. 

Several factories developed experimental carbines.

CEAM Carbine 

On April 20, 1945, General de Tassigny’s French First Army entered in Oberndorf, 3 weeks before the end of WWII. The French military discovered the Mauser factory without any damage; its machinery was not present, but the soldiers found a large quantity of experimental small arms (some happy collectors were lucky) and enormous quantities of small arms parts ready to be assemblead. Machinery workers and their families had traveled to Tyrol by train, hoping to escape. 

In August 1945, the factory was ready to work again and produced several thousands of small arms for the French Army, including: 

• 15,000 H.S.c. .32 pistols; 
• 1,000 W.T.P. II .25 pistols; 
• 38,000 P38 pistols; 
• 2,500 P08 pistols; 
• 60,000 K98k rifles; 
• 10,000 .22 LR Mauser .45 carbines, later made in France as MAS 45; 
• 300 MG 151 cannons; and 
• 41 flammenwerfers. 

These were mainly used in French Indochina, but the Soviets protested against this use of the factory in June 1946. The Mauser factory was closed and destroyed between July and December 1948. But before its destruction, 6,142 weapons were sent to France, in various arsenals, and several tons of gun parts. 

Many drawings and technical documents were also transferred in France, as well as some engineers who were “invited” to work in the French gun factories, but the German engineers claimed to be too distant from their families in Germany. They were then regrouped in Mulhouse (South Alsace) in a former shell factory: FOHMAR converted in a stamping center. The society became CEAM (Centre d’Etudes et d’Armement de Mulhouse), a research center. 

These Germans had a particular worker status: They lived with their families in Switzerland, very close to Mulhouse, but their passports were confiscated. 

The CEAM developed many prototypes and designs, such as: 

• stamping operation for MAT 49 SMG; 
• semi-automatic carbines; 
• light assault rifles (called machine carbines); 
• assault rifles; 
• 7.5mm and 7.62mm machine guns; 
• .50 machine gun; 
• 20mm and 30mm aircraft cannons 
• ammunition, links and tripods; and 
• stamped frame for the MAS 36. 

The CEAM became AME (Mulhouse Small Arms Factory) in 1952 and closed in 1967. AME is not to be confused with Saint-Louis Research Laboratory, also established in Alsace at 30km (20 miles) from Mulhouse. In 1959, it became a joint French/German venture for defense, and it is still open. 

In 1948, the CEAM developed a semi-automatic carbine derived from a German prototype realized by Mauser in 1945. It was a simplified G43, firing a 7.92×57 cartridge with a bolt locked by lateral rolls. The CEAM 1948 Carbine is a light gun with a single part stock and short forearm. A short handguard covers the barrel. Its tubular frame is made of stamped metal, and its actuating lever is on the right. 

The gun works with a delayed opening bolt, locked by lateral rollers like CETME and G3 rifles. It fires the .30 M1 cartridge, and its curved magazine is the same one as the M1 U.S. carbine. It has no safety device. The sights are two apertures in a folding “L” rear sight and a front sight with ears, adjustable in elevation. For disassembly, a push button at the rear locks/unlocks the frame assembly. A variation had an actuating lever on the left and a tangent rear sight. 

CEAM 48 Features 

• CALIBRE: 7.62mm (.30in) 
• AMMUNITION: .30 M1 
• LENGTH: 0.892m (35.12in) 
• BARREL LENGTH : 0.397m (15.43in) 
• WEIGHT: 2,930kg (6.46lb) 
• CAPACITY: 15 Rounds 

MAC Carbines 

MAC 48 

Like other factories, the Manufacture d’ Armes de Chatellerault (MAC) developed a carbine firing the 7.65mm M1948 cartridge, but before completion, the choice was made to make the .30 M1 cartridge. 

MAC 49 

This short carbine has a stock with a pistol grip and short forearm. A short handguard covers the barrel and is fixed by a cap. Its frame is made of sheet metal; the ejection port is on the right. It works with a delayed opening bolt, with an inertia lever like the AA-52 LMG. Firing is obtained after a linear hammer course. The carbine has a safety. The rear sight has two apertures, and its front sight is protected by ears. Feeding is performed from a vertical box magazine. 

The MAC carbine was tested by the Army Technical Section (STAT or Section Technique de l’Armée) from December 18, 1950. The MAC’s short length, accuracy and easy handling were much appreciated, but reliability was poor, with five parts broken after 2,500 rounds. Disassembly was more difficult than the MAS carbine tested at the same period. 

MAC 49 Features 

• CALIBRE: 7.62mm (.30in) 
• AMMUNITION: .30 M1 
• LENGTH: 0.895m (35.23in) 
• BARREL LENGTH: 0.400m (15.75in) 
• WEIGHT: 2,405kg (5.30lb) 
• CAPACITY: 15 rounds 

MAS Carbines 

MAS 49 

Like other arsenals, the Saint-Etienne small arms factory designed several semi-automatic carbines (designated at this date automatic carbine). Most of them were derived from the 7.5mm MAS 49 semi-auto rifle but were simplified. The stock and forearm are two parts; the barrel is covered by a long handguard with swivel band and forward band. The barrel is 7.62mm (0.30 inches) with four grooves to the right—one spin/twist in 508mm (20 inches). 

The frame has an ejection port on the right and a cocking handle on the left; it can be retained in the front position by a ball stop and is associated with a slide cover. The trigger guard and mechanism are mounted in front of the stock. The bolt carrier and the bolt are actuated by the gas coming from a tube without a piston. 

The MAS 49’s stock, forearm and handguard are made of wood, and the frame is made of machined steel with a sheet metal cover. The sights are a tangent rear sight scaled to 600m (650 yards) adjustable for windage and a front sight protected by ears, adjustable in elevation. 

The carbine uses a vertical 15-round magazine, which cannot be used on a U.S. M1 carbine. 

Several variations of the MAS 49 carbine exist, such as: 

• a standard model with a grenade launching device for the M1948 anti-personnel rifle grenade; and 
• a carbine with a folding stock similar to the model used on the MAS 36 CR 39 rifle. 

Both were also developed for the 7.65×33 M1948 cartridge. 

From September 11, 1950, S.T.A. tests and experimentations of both .30 prototype carbines were made and were to be compared with the MAC 49 and the U.S. M1. These tests included: 

• general organization and characteristics; 
• ballistics; 
• working in normal conditions; 
• working in adverse conditions (mud, sand, snow); and 
• reliability of the mechanism and barrel. 

Due to damages during the tests, all the models were rejected: MAS prototypes after normal conditions of shooting as well as after adverse condition tests for the MAC carbine. 

Comments for the MAS models were: Easy to handle and to use, accurate; but working safety (3.5% incidents) and reliability too poor. 

In the final report, S.T.A. wrote that no model can be accepted, but perhaps after some improvements, they could be better than U.S. M1 carbine. 

MAS 49 Features 

• AMMUNITION: .30 M1 
• LENGTH: 0.895m (35.23in) 
• BARREL LENGTH: 0.400m (15.74in) 
• WEIGHT: 2,430kg (5.07lb) 
• CAPACITY: 15 rounds 

MAS 51 

The MAS 51 is an evolution of the former model MAS 49, with a rigid wooden stock and a 22mm grenade launcher. The automatic MAS 50 and the MAS 51 carbines were developed with the same action. 

MAS 51 Features 

• AMMUNITION: .30 M1 
• LENGTH: 0.920m (36.22in) 
• BARREL LENGTH: 0.450m (17.71in) 
• WEIGHT: 2,880kg (6.40lb) 
• CAPACITY: 15 rounds 

Other Models 

Another MAS prototype was seen, but despite our research, no document was found about it. Its presentation was very crude, and it seemed to be a model design rather than a prototype. 

The stock and short forearm are two parts. It fires the 7.65mm M1948 cartridge and works with a gas action and a piston. The frame is made of machined steel and receives a tilting bolt similar to the model used on the MAS 44. The cocking lever is on the right. 

The rear sight is an ascending aperture adjustable from 100m to 600m with a rotating button. The magazine is retained by a right external button similar to those of the MAS 49. Disassembly is possible after removing a transversal axis at the rear of the frame. 

MAS Carbine Features 

• AMMUNITION: 7.65×35 
• LENGTH: 0.869m (34.21in) 
• BARREL LENGTH: 0.400m (15.74in) 
• WEIGHT: 3kg (6.61lb) 
• CAPACITY: 15 rounds 

MAT Carbine 

MAT 50 

The MAT 50 works on gas action. Its organization is very simple, but ingenious. The stock has a pistol grip, and its forearm is like a tube; both are made of wood. The frame is made of sheet metal, with an ejection port on the right and a gas cylinder in front. Its bolt has an oscillating locking lever and a cocking lever on both sides. After the last round, a bolt stop retains the bolt in rear position. 

The tangent rear sight has an aperture; the front sight has a tunnel mounted of a forward band. Feeding is from a vertical box magazine. 

During the same year, MAT developed a machine carbine, very close to the semi-automatic carbine with similar parts. 

MAT 50 Features 

• AMMUNITION: .30 M1 
• LENGTH: 0.910m (35.82in) 
• BARREL LENGTH: 0.450m (18.30in) 
• WEIGHT: 2,850kg (6.28lb) 
• CAPACITY: 15 rounds 

Most gunpowder comes in three forms: black powder, cordite (now obsolete) or smokeless powder. The invention of gunpowder comes from a strange twist in the search for immortality. Back around A.D. 850, Chinese alchemists were mixing various chemicals, hoping to find something that would extend human life. What they got was gunpowder, definitely not a life-extending invention. The Chinese made the first reference to gunpowder in a Taoist text produced in 142 A.D. But it wasn’t until the 9th century that the dangers of gunpowder were really understood. Another Taoist text in 858 A.D. says: “Some have heated together sulfur, realgar (arsenic disulphide) and saltpeter [potassium nitrate] with honey; smoke and flames result, so that their hands and faces have been burnt, and even the whole house … burned down.”

By the year 904 A.D. the Chinese warlords had figured out how to burn other people’s houses down. An assortment of weapons utilizing gunpowder as an incendiary appeared. Fire arrows, fire lances and rocket arrows were deployed when the Liao Dynasty attacked the Song Dynasty in 994.

In 1044, the first chemical formula for gunpowder appeared in the Chinese military manual Wujing Zongyao (Complete Essentials for the Military Classics). The same manual discussed “thunderclap bombs.” Period depictions show them to be a stick with a vessel loaded with black powder attached to one end—similar to Nazi stick grenades used in World War II. The earliest depiction of a cannon appeared on some of the Dazu Rock Carvings in Chongqing, China done in the 12th century.

It’s not until 1267 that gunpowder was mentioned in Europe. English Franciscan friar Roger Bacon covered it in his work titled, Opus Majus (Major Work) where he discussed its properties. The gunpowder formula began appearing in Europe in 1280. The word cannon from the Old Italian word cannone and the Latin canna, meaning tube, was used to describe the large black powder devices. 

The oldest known hand cannon in the world is believed to be the Heilongjiang hand cannon found in 1970 in Banlachengzi, China. It’s not so much as a gun, but it is one of the first firearms created. It was constructed out of bronze and was small and light enough to be carried on a soldier’s back. It was used by Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368) soldiers in putting down a rebellion in 1287.

Black powder was in continual use from 904 A.D. until 1880 when smokeless powder was invented and began replacing black powder. The first smokeless powders weren’t exactly too stable or safe, and it wasn’t until 1886 that a much more refined powder was produced in France. By 1890, Europe had replaced black powder with smokeless powder which was then known as “gunpowder.” By 1902, gunpowder replaced black powder worldwide. 

Making ‘Powder 

Black powder 

Black powder is composed of three chemicals: potassium nitrate (saltpeter), charcoal and sulfur. Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound, containing potassium ions and nitrate ions. It occurs in nature as the mineral niter. It is the major ingredient in black powder, comprising 75% of the mixture. It decomposes rapidly at a high temperature which provides oxygen for the reaction. Because black powder provides its own oxygen, it doesn’t need to be exposed to air to burn. 

In the past, saltpeter was sourced from caves filled with bat droppings or islands where seabirds had been nesting for years. These droppings are known as guano and have a very high concentration of saltpeter. In the early part of the 19th century and throughout the Civil War, caves in many southern states were viable sources of the mineral. The Chincha Islands off the southwest coast of Peru were also a source of guano. The mining was grueling, and in earlier times, the workers could develop respiratory diseases from inhaling the guano dust that they created when they dug the guano by hand with picks and shovels. 

Charcoal makes up 15% by weight of black powder. Willow or grapevine is considered the best source of charcoal for black powder. It contains incompletely decomposed cellulose which provides the fuel. If pure carbon is used, the powder will ignite but won’t explode. 

Sulfur makes up the final 10% of black powder. It will burn, but it’s used to provide more energy at lower temperatures and lowers the ignition temperature of the charcoal. 

Cordite 

Cordite was in use from the late 1880s to the end of World War II in 1945. It usually consisted of long thin strands similar to pencil lead. It was developed in Britain to replace black powder as a military propellant. The components are nitroglycerine, nitrocellulose (gun cotton) and petroleum jelly. The original cordite as manufactured at the Royal gunpowder mills at Waltham Abbey (1787–1991) in England was composed of 37 parts of guncotton, 57.5 parts of nitroglycerin and five parts of petroleum jelly. The high amount of nitro in this cordite eroded gun barrels over a short period of use. Modified cordite, Cordite M.D., was introduced in 1901. It proved to be quite stable and had a long storage life. 

During World War II, cordite was altered by replacing the nitroglycerin with other nitrates like dinitrotoluene. This lowered the combustion temperature which reduced barrel erosion by a significant amount. Cordite is now obsolete and is no longer manufactured. It has been replaced by newer propellants such as the Improved Military Rifle (IMR) extruded powder in use in modern weapons. Cordite is mostly seen today in older British cartridges manufactured before 1945. 

Gunpowder (Smokeless) 

The first practical smokeless powder was Poudre B. It was introduced in 1882 at Laboratoire Central des Poudres et Salpêtres in Paris, France. It was dark greenish grey in color and was first used to load the 8mm Lebel rifle cartridges issued for the Fusil Mle 1886 M93 rifle. 

Gunpowder is a common term used to describe all types of powder. Actually, it pertains to smokeless powder in use today. It’s not really smokeless, but produces much less smoke and residue than black powder. Modern powders are a derivative of cordite in that guncotton, which was an ingredient of the older propellant, is the base ingredient. There are two common smokeless powders: single base and double base. Single-base powders are based on nitrocellulose alone, while double-base powders use both nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine. To control burn rates, grains of powder are formed in different shapes or have different surface coatings. Some coatings can reduce the smoke produced by combustion to the point where it is nearly non-existent. 

Lately, some triple base powders are being produced by adding nitroguanidine to a double-base powder. This type of propellant is used in larger weapons like tank guns and artillery and is seldom seen in small arms use. 

Smokeless powder is about three times more powerful than black powder and should never be used in a gun built specifically for black powder. There are certain smokeless-for-black equivalents, but in general, swapping powders can have disastrous consequences, with a destroyed gun the least of them. 

Smokeless powder is available in a wide variety of types, each designed for specific requirements like smoke, burn rate, flash and reduced deposits. A good reloading manual will show which type of powder is suitable for any particular load. 

Propellant 

Technically, propellant is any substance that makes a gun fire. However, many current powders aren’t truly “powders” but cylinder-shaped grains. Today, the term propellant is used as a general term in the firearms industry to describe any flammable combination of chemicals suitable for propelling a bullet out of a gun. 

Perhaps one of the most overlooked rifle designs to come out of the Cold War era was the ArmaLite AR-18, a gun that did some impressive things for its time. The design of the AR-18 was not exactly revolutionary or exceptionally innovative considering the other, more radical models put forth by the company, such as the well-known AR-15. Today, Brownells has graduated from a premier supplier of parts and gunsmithing tools to offering and even resurrecting guns like the AR-18, perfected as the BRN-180™ and BRN-180S™. 

ArmaLite Does a “180”

The “AR” in AR-15 does not stand for “Assault Rifle,” as the media would have you believe; instead it is a simple initialization of “ArmaLite Rifle.” The company introduced the action developed in large part by Eugene Stoner, which was a space-age aluminum set of upper and lower receivers with the gas system routed directly into the action to cause it to cycle. This was something of a revolutionary concept, but it was of course met with a healthy degree of criticism when it was put to the test. 

The AR-15 first saw action in the early stages of the Vietnam War, and NATO had recently decided to standardize the 7.62x51mm cartridge. The AR platform chambered for 7.62x51mm was dubbed the AR-10, but it was not fully developed in time for the NATO tests that would eventually see the American adoption of the M14 rifle, which itself was a variant of the M1 Garand used in World War II and Korea. 

The initial reviews from combat use of the AR-15, which at the time used a revolutionary small-bore 5.56x45mm cartridge, were positive, and the fully automatic weapons were then dubbed the M16, with later improvements being designated as the M16A1 and XM177/CAR-15. Problems, some catastrophic, were immediately apparent despite the good start. Representatives from Colt, the licensed manufacturer of the rifle, were sent to the war zone to diagnose the problems with the rifles, reported by American soldiers. 

The problems with the M16 proved deadly to many American troops, who were up against mature weapons such as the AKM and SKS in close combat. The rifles were just not all that great for use in a damp, muddy environment, and it seemed that the world’s largest industrial power had failed to deliver a basic rifle to fight the communists head-to-head. The change in powder used in the cartridges led to the majority of the issues experienced by U.S. troops.

By the time that the problems with the M16 were resolved, the faith in the rifle had already been shattered. It would live on to become the darling of the shooting public, but only after 50 years of cautious testing and several more wars and conflicts. 

In the late 1960s, ArmaLite began to look at some new designs and manufacturing techniques that would perhaps gain it some greater traction in the marketplace. Unfortunately, this was not the case whatsoever, and there were only around 20,000 AR-18 rifles made over its short production life. The design was considered to be rudimentary, as it used welded and stamped receiver components and had a generally crude appearance when compared to the more elegant AR-15.

The ArmaLite company had, in just around a decade, gone from making what was considered a space-age rifle to developing technology that had already been tried and tested, old news in other words. The AR-18 was put into only a small handful of trials, and it offered no real advantages to the maturing M16A1 or the Soviet AKM and their respective suites of arms. As a result, the design was shelved, and manufacturing ceased in 1985. It was only produced for 16 years. 

The Widowmaker

The AR-18 would have likely vanished into the footnotes of rifle history had it not been for its significant and bloody use in The Troubles in Northern Ireland. The Irish, long held under the boot of the English since the reign of King Henry VIII, attempted to rectify hundreds of years of occupation through armed rebellion and to oust the English from their lands. There had been many attempts at this, but all had failed to give the Irish the result they wanted. 

The AR-18 (AR-180) became the star rifle of the Troubles, where it was seen as something of an equalizer in combat. The Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) was instrumental in making the AR-18 into the symbol of Irish independence and the will of their people to reclaim their ancestral lands. Indeed, the implications of the rifle were far reaching, culminating the ultimatum campaign called “ArmaLite and Ballot Box” strategy. The prevalence of the AR-18 in the conflict made this a serious issue to the British, who were basically presented with the choice of allowing referendum in Ireland or facing violence using the ArmaLites, among other weapons. 

The weapon became so highly valued and famous among the Irish that it was the subject of folk songs and murals. The IRA soldiers using the rifle favored it greatly due to its compact folding stock, light weight, simplicity, reliability and excellent medium- to long-range accuracy. It eventually became so feared by the British soldiers and loved by the IRA that it was nicknamed the “Widowmaker.” Indeed, it was a frightful rifle to face, with the British forces unable to answer it in terms of portability and lethality in the areas the IRA chose to fight. Anyone could have an AR-18 about his or her person and use it effectively, which of course was a terrifying notion for those considered to be occupiers. 

After the decades of fighting ended, not much had truly been achieved, but thousands were dead or wounded as a result. The AR-18 continues to be an element present in Irish culture, but its influence today is purely symbolic. The semiautomatic rifles can be found today on the U.S. civilian market for around $1,500 USD, but they are not in high demand except by ArmaLite collectors. Many modern rifles are loosely based on the AR-18’s pistol operating system, but the success of those designs has varied depending on nation of origin and number produced. 

Enter Brownells

The author spent some time talking to Paul Levy, director of Product Management at Brownells. The company released a surprising product at the 2019 SHOT Show. They were starting to produce a version of the AR-18, called the BRN-180. The interest was immediate, but one would wonder why Brownells, one of the largest retailers of gun parts and accessories in the world, began creating an obscure gun like the AR-18?

“It started with just being a fan of the AR-18. We had worked with some various companies getting the BRN-10 to market, and we then started working on a translation of the AR-18. I sent that over to Dean Sylvester at Primary Weapon Systems (PWS) and Paul Noonan at FM Products for engineering. I wanted to keep the design close to the original. After a few revisions, we had a free-floating handguard, rails and M-LOK compatibility.” 

Brownells came to market swinging, and it created some waves. While the primary thing that made it attractive was the fact that it could utilize a folding stock, as there is no buffer tube, the other advantages became rapidly apparent, and what Brownells released was nothing short of extraordinary. What they ended up with was an extremely simple and ruggedized receiver unit that has the potential to be more reliable and go longer between maintenance sessions and cleanings than the AR-15. The best part is, if you have an AR lower, it is a drop-in proposition. 

“The heart of the design is based on the AR-18. The gas system and the recoil assembly are close copies. The carrier travel distance had to be the same as the AR-15 in order to make it compatible with today’s popular AR lower receivers. The AR-18 had a longer carrier travel distance. It wouldn’t have really worked if we did a 1:1 recreation. There are no interchangeable parts with the AR-18. The BRN-180 is basically an improved version instead of a direct copy. We tried not to reinvent the wheel, and our goal was to make a rugged and reliable rifle that was as accurate and reliable than the original. Instead of stamping, we use aluminum extrusions. This is stronger.” 

Just how good and reliable is this design? The internal components are deceptively simple, consisting of a bolt group that travels along two guide rods. The action has dual springs and simply pulls out the rear of the receiver. Cleaning is very simple due to the fact that the action is just a rectangular box. Wiping it out with a rag is just about all it takes, unlike the AR-15 action with its various nooks and crannies. 

The internal tolerances are a bit looser than the AR-15 and will remind the user of a high-quality AK-47. The action itself is remarkably slick and smooth. It is so easy to work the action that it can be pulled back and into battery with just a finger. When lubed up, it feels as smooth as a custom polished action. 

The samples used for this article were assembled with the new Brownells BRN-180 lowers, which are just like AR-15 lowers but have a closed-in area where the buffer tube would have gone, as well as the BRN-180S 10.5-inch upper. In place of the tube there is a Picatinny rail segment to allow the mounting of stocks or folding braces. This is a huge plus and really lends utility to the design. A note on the lowers is that this version in the article is a more conventional AR style, but there is a version that is coming soon that will mimic the lines of the AR-18, including the reverse-slanted magazine well. The lower assembles in almost the same way as a standard AR lower, but there are some differences near the rear pin. The retaining pins and springs are retained by the grip, same as the safety pin and spring.

Levy continued the conversation, this time looking at the capabilities of the design.

“We never really made the BRN-180 to be a 1 MOA gun, but you can certainly expect 1.5 to 2 MOA. We came at it with the purpose to create a rugged and reliable rifle, and that’s what we delivered. If you want to shoot prairie dogs at 500 yards, this probably isn’t your gun, but if you want to get down in the dirt, it is every bit as good as the original AR-18.”

The BRN-180S Design

Just how accurate and reliable is the design? Well, there is no real bad news here. The BRN-180S is fully capable of outperforming many competing designs and is exceedingly accurate and durable. In the testing performed by the author, it was proven to him that Levy was in fact being modest. The build completed by the author featured only high-end components. The internals of the lower were all from Geissele Automatics, including the trigger, safety with dogleg levers and all pins and springs. The folding brace is the highest quality available from SB Tactical, and it features an aluminum body. This brace mounts to the rail on the rear of the receiver. The build was topped with a set of folding Troy folding iron sights and a Trijicon ACOG 4×32 TA31 in a Midwest Industries QD mount. All these components noted in the article, with a couple minor cosmetic variances, are available directly from Brownells. The build was tested … brutally. 

The first procedure was to zero the build at 25m with both the irons and the ACOG. Zeroing with the irons took seconds using 62-grain FMJ Frontier 5.56mm ammo from Hornady. This is good quality ammo, and it shoots very well in the short barrel used for this build. Three-round groups at this distance were ¼-inch—a great sign! The ACOG was then zeroed, and the BRN-180S was put to work at distances out to 200m. 

The first thing to note about this build is just how smooth shooting with it is. The recoil impulse is far different than that of an AR-15, likely due to the low mass of the cycling parts and the slickness of the action. It was just flat out pleasant, and recovery time from shot to shot was amazingly fast. This action has to be experienced to be believed, and the author was floored by what Brownells managed to deliver at such a modest price, but more on that later. 

When it came to accuracy further out, the short barrel was not deterred. It was easily as accurate as any combat-style AR out there and even better than most. Average accuracy with the 62gr FMJ was 1.5 inches at 100m. The real accuracy test came with Black Hills Ammunition’s 77-grain OTM load, a cartridge that is the civilian variant of the legendary MK262 Mod 1. If a gun has trouble shooting, this load is the one you want to use to get it going as it should. It is not a weak-sauce load, and it offers full pressure and velocity for these heavy-for-caliber bullets. The 77gr OTM shot to 1 inch at 100m and did extraordinarily well at 200m. It shot an average 2.1 MOA group for five shots at that range using the ACOG, which is extremely impressive and a testament to the high-quality product Brownells was able to bring to market. 

When it came to reliability, the author loaded up 35-round mags featuring Taran Tactical Innovations extensions and went to town at short range. The build was subjected to 750 rounds immediately. This ammo was a mix of 55-grain SIG SAUER and Hornady FMJ loads. A total of 2,350 rounds were fired in one session with absolutely zero malfunctions or failures to feed or eject. It was also not cleaned for the entire duration of the test. The longest string of fire was 500 rounds in one hour-long session, which is a lot for any gun. 

After all that, the build was checked for zero, and there was no significant deviation or even a shift of impact after all that racket. The BRN-180S was easily banging 10-inch plates at 200m, and it showed no signs of stopping. The rigid receiver and stiff barrel made it a real winner for this type of use. As fast as handling goes, it was easy to master if you’ve ever shot an AK rifle. It is in no way similar to the AR except in the safety and magazine release. Switching to a side-charging handle is an adjustment, but it is second nature once you have an hour or two on it. 

The Modern AR-180 or Just a Gimmick?

“I’m happy with the reception, and we’re excited to continue developing the design. Hopefully we’ll see some new variants and additional products to the BRN-180 line in the near future.”

Levy sees a bright future for the relatively new design. It is something of a novelty to many shooters, but the BRN-180/180S have some major and distinct advantages over existing systems, and the possibilities are endless, so long as they gain traction in the market.

The idea that this is just a gimmick and a one-off is shortsighted. The companies involved with Brownells in getting this on the market did so in a way that others couldn’t. Many competing and now defunct designs failed to make it to success on the open market, including the original AR-18. Had it not been for the guerrilla warfare use of the weapon, it would have likely never been remembered. The design itself was, for the most part, better than the AR-15, but it never won the fame of its brother. The product released as the BRN-180S is the culmination of the AR-15’s modularity and the simplicity of the AR-18. It is a nearly perfect blend of both designs, and Brownells executed it precisely. 

There have been many attempts to pull off something like this, but none have made it. Some rifles based off the elements of the AR-18, such as the Bushmaster ACR, were great ideas but failed to succeed on the commercial and military markets. Rifles like the FN SCAR could be thought of as something of a variant of the AR-18, with the same going for the British SA80 and HK G36. These rifles have all been met with a degree of criticism over time and have had significant teething problems. What Brownells did with the release of the BRN-180S, delivering a 100% reliable and functional weapon platform with no real downsides is exceptional. Many nations of the world have failed to develop weapons as reliable and accurate for their primary service arms. 

What does this mean for Brownells and the future of their engineering collaborations? Well, the fact is that they came out of nowhere with an apparently mature system that is a compliment to the most popular rifle type in the country, something nobody else has really succeeded in doing correctly. The only problem is getting word out about the BRN-180S, as most people assume it to be a novelty. Even so, this is a true novelty in that it works 100% right out of the box, which is more than some prominent companies can say about the launch of a major product line. The bottom line is that the BRN-180S is a seriously good product that demands a close look for any shooter looking for a compact, reliable and easy-to-maintain rifle that has all the advantages of the AR-15 but none of its shortcomings.