Fulton Armory is a small manufacturer located in Savage, Maryland, known in the competitive shooting market for its reproductions of the M1 Garand, M1 Carbine, and M-14 models. Their AR-15s aren’t chopped liver either: Fulton’s FAR-15 (5.56/223 Rem.) was our gun of the year in 2009. Now the Titan FAR-308 was in our crosshairs. To ensure neutral opinions on this gun, none of our testers had participated in last year’s review of the FAR-15.
We started our examination by un-boxing the Titan to review its contents. No criticism could be made about their gun case, because there wasn’t one; just a foam-lined cardboard box. Within the box came the gun, owner’s manual, and a webbed sling for attaching to sling-looped supplied gun.
Fulton’s owner’s manual was illustrated and relatively straightforward, though not as detailed the book from ArmaLite. One note in the book stuck out: No barrel break-in was required for the Titan.
Moving to the main event, we examined the gun from stem to stern. The first feature noticed was the unique side-cocking module. The dust cover, forward assist, and brass deflector are removed, instead featuring a handle that may be used to work the gun’s action in lieu of the charging handle. All of our testers liked this feature, even a couple of southpaws in the group.
The 18.5-inch target-grey stainless-steel barrel was topped with a Bennie Coolie Compensator. Wrapping the barrel was a free-floating vented black-aluminum tube fore end. The FAR-308 also came with a non-adjustable two-stage trigger. An Ergo Pistol Grip was the last option on the rifle, as the stock was of the standard plastic A2 variety with a hard-plastic buttpad. This combination totaled a little bit more than two thousand dollars ($2058). Our testers were in agreement that FAR-308 had the most striking look, “tactical cool” as one of them phrased it.
The Titan tipped our scales as the middleweight of our group, registering 9.3 lbs. While still weighted forward, our testers said the shorter barrel and lighter weight gave the gun better balance and a livelier feel.
Our trips to the range gave the team ample time to access the shooting capabilities of the gun. At the conclusion of the tests, we found that, unlike the Armalite, our two test groups were in complete agreement. All of our testers preferred the Fulton FAR-308 over the competition. The remarks were remarkably similar: “accurate,” “balanced,” “easy to shoot,” and “low recoil.” Two of our SWAT team members gave it their highest compliment, stating they would plunk down their own cash to buy Fulton Titan FAR-308.
The empirical data tended to back up the comments, as the Fulton proved to be the most accurate with all three brands of ammo fired through it, including an average the 0.9 inch group size with the Silver State Armory 175-gr. Sierras. The Bennie Coolie Comp did noticeably reduce felt recoil and allow follow-up shots to be performed with relative ease. However, those shooters at each flank of the shooter were well aware where the recoil had gone, getting a palpable jolt of expended gas thrown their way after each shot.
