Rifles

Monroe, NC-based I.O. Inc. is bringing the Beryl Polish assault rifle to the United States as a civilian model. Named the “Archer,” this I.O. Inc. rifle is manufactured in Poland’s Fabryka Broni 'Łucznik' – Radom plant, and prominently displays the trademark FB (Fabryka Broni) on the left side of the receiver.

Magnum Research, Inc.'s new Magnum Lite .22 LR semi-automatic rifle, the MLR22AT, includes an ambidextrous lightweight thumbhole 10/22 stock, a graphite bull barrel, and a 22 LR Benz target chamber designed specifically for semi-automatics. The MLR22AT weighs only 4.25 lbs., has a barrel length of 17 inches, and an overall length of 35.5 inches.

Stag Arms has said that the Cleveland, Ohio police department has chosen a custom configured Stag Arms Model 2 as the official rifle of the department. The rifles are being delivered this week.

The Gun Tests/GunReports.com video team recently did a range review of the Fulton Armory FAR-308 Phantom, a $1,910 retail unit before optional equipment is added. The gun’s basic weight is 9.65 pounds before the upgrades.

Everybody knows firing pins detonate primers, but not everyone can define esoteric aspects of these parts.

Anschütz has introduced the MSR RX22 small-bore tactical training rifle, a full-featured, precision .22-caliber training and small-game hunting rifle.

GunReports.com shows how to excess headspace in the 1903 and ’03A3 Springfield rifles better than the way Granddad did it. If you have access to a lathe, use this method to correct excess headspace easily, without the need for an expensive chambering reamer.

I had reworked many Winchester 94s and both the 336 and 94 Marlins, but I had never done a Model 92 until a friend of mine walked in with a little .357 Rossi carbine—a 16-incher at that. This gun was very tight, too tight for it to operate as he wanted it to as a working gun that goes with him almost everywhere.

When it comes to personal defense, competition, and recreational shooting, the most popular rifle in America is likely the AR-15 chambered for .223 Remington. But there are still plenty of shooters who prefer the light recoil and low expense of 9mm Luger ammunition. Whereas caliber .223 is strictly the staple of rifle shooters, 9mm carbines are often used by pistol shooters who sometimes use a long gun. There are three basic types of 9mm carbine. They are the 9mm AR-15, semi-automatic versions of submachineguns such as the UZI, and purpose-built 9mm carbines that more or less follow their own rules of design. In this test we'll fire the $409 Kel-Tec Sub 2000 9mm, the $700 Thureon Defense 9mm, and Norinco's $800 UZI 9mm carbines. In addition we will also evaluate a 9mm conversion unit, the $505 MechTech Systems Carbine Conversion Unit for Glock. Our goal was to evaluate each carbine on its own merits and then compare the three types of design for personal defense.

Our choice of test ammunition was Winchester USA 115-grain FMJ rounds and two loads from Black Hills Ammunition topped with 124-grain bullets. One featured a full-metal-jacketed slug and the other a jacketed hollowpoint driven by a +P charge. Each carbine was tested for accuracy from the 50-yard bench using only their supplied open sights.

One reason to produce rimfire replicas of military weapons is to help familiarize the shooter with how each gun operates at a fraction of the price of buying and feeding the corresponding centerfire model. If this isn't fun enough, then consider the history and the innovation that each rifle offers the shooter ahead of simpler rimfire designs. We last tested military-replica semiautomatic rimfire rifles in the February 2010 issue ("Tactical-Style 22 LR Carbines: Ruger, S&W, Legacy Duke It Out"), with the majority of the roster being taken up by the AR-15 design. In this test we will evaluate only one such rifle, Mossberg's $276 715T Tactical 22. Our second replica rifle represents a bygone era and the third a modern design. Our old-timer was the $399 Citadel M-1 22 Carbine made in Italy by Chiappa. The $609 German-made ISSC MK22 Desert Tan rifle with folding stock was a replica of the SCAR (Special Operations Forces Combat Assault Rifle). Both the MK22 and the M-1 Carbine are imported by Legacy Sports International of Reno, Nevada.

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For accuracy tests, we fired from the 50-yard line with support from the Caldwell Tack Driver sandbag rest. Test ammunition was the same 40-grain assortment we used the April 2012 test of more traditional semi-automatic rifles. Two rounds featured copper-plated bullets. They were CCI's Mini Mag and CCI's AR Tactical 22 ammunition. We also fired Federal's Auto Match rounds, which launched a lead solid bullet. We also tried a variety of hollowpoint ammunition to assess versatility, but elected to fire shots of record with our roundnosed selections so we could compare results directly with our earlier tests.

Each one of our test guns arrived with open sights. In fact, the MK22/SCAR offered two aiming solutions in one set of fold-down sights. We wanted to know how well all of these sight packages worked. In addition, each rifle offered a way to mount a scope. We wanted to know how efficiently this option could be accomplished and its effect on accuracy. We began our accuracy tests using only the supplied open sights. Then, we mounted the same variable power 1-4X power scopes used in last month's rimfire rifle tests. Firing only the most accurate round per each gun, we then recorded additional 5-shot groups from the 50-yard bench. All three rifles fired at least 300 rounds over three days of testing with no more maintenance than an occasional spray of Rem Oil into the chamber and on the bolt. Let's see how they scored.

The high demand and short supply of ammunition in recent months has left many rifle shooters scrambling for alternatives to their centerfire firearms. While rimfire rounds may not be the complete answer to the problem—some types of rimfire ammunition in also in short supply—the popularity of the less expensive bullets is growing.

Any day you sign on to GunAuction.com you’re liable to find a firearm that you’ve always wanted. Apparently, quite a few gunowners are interested in Browning BARs, because Auction #10965165 has a high number of bidders interested in a BAR in 7mm Rem. Magnum built in 1978.