Kyle Lamb and Smith & Wesson update the VTAC Rifle with new Geiselle trigger, Troy rail, more.
Read MoreTag "carbine"
I caught sight of the new Smith & Wesson carbine on display Monday at AUSA. The flat dark earth-ish M&P4 stood out from S&W’s standard black rifles, the M&P15. I talked to David Holt, S&W’s VP of Military Programs who confirmed it was S&W’s entry into the U.S. Army’s individual carbine competition. He explained the company’s decision not to compete in the Army’s search for a new carbine, “the Army’s strategy moving forward makes it tough for us to commit.” He cited the program’s long acquisition timeline as one of the factors that made it difficult for Smith and Wesson to assume the risk of joining the carbine fray.
But, that doesn’t mean the M&P4 will be abandoned. They’ve put a lot of hours into the project and are very proud of the reliability improvement’s they’ve made over the M4 design. So, the carbine will likely end up for sale on the commercial LE/Gov market, though they’ve offered no timeline for its availability.
S&W has made some improvements to their M4 platform, namely adding a tougher surface finish, an improved bolt lug design, tougher bolt and bolt carrier group finish, a newly designed muzzle, as well as a few other upgrades that they aren’t ready to talk about, yet.
Of note, though, is the bolt carrier assembly. Smith & Wesson is competing it in the Army’s contract for an improved bolt carrier assembly kit.
Noveske Rifleworks recently made the decision to expand their N4 barrel lineup to include the increasingly popular 12.5″ length. A few years back we were talking to John and he made the comment that if he could only have one barrel length in an AR15/ M4, it would be a 12.5″. He explained that the drop in velocity from the standard 14.5″ barrel wasn’t that much, but that the portability and overall handling of the weapon was substantially increased, all while retaining reliability.
Click the picture for more images and information.
Colt gave us a look and some trigger time behind the 13” version of the CM901. The lower has fully ambidextrous controls and a new finish. Colt is able to anodize a camo pattern into the finish as opposed to painting or dipping the rifle. The result is a very durable finish that won’t rub off. On the downside, it’s also a little shiny. It looks to be between a satin and matte finish you’d find on the household paint scale.
The version of the CM901 we were shooting was the 7.62×51. It’s a huge round that the little 13” CM managed to control well (for a 13” barrel). Colt is releasing civilian versions of the CM called the SP901 (sport?) that should be out in the spring. They haven’t set a price, yet.
Bushmaster has issued a recall on a select number of ACRs. What we found interesting was that instead of listing the serial numbers that are involved, Bushmaster wants all ACR owners to contact them, and only then will the owners find out if their ACR is part of the recall or not. That seems like a lot of extra work for all people involved, and no doubt this idea wasn’t developed by the staff at Bushmaster who have to answer the phones….
Why did Bushmaster issue a recall? Evidently pulling the trigger can result in more than one round fired, and since new full auto weapons have not been allowed to be manufactured for civilian sales since 1986, it creates a bit of an issue involving illegal weapons. While no doubt this interesting tidbit puts a maniacal smile on the faces of a few of us, if you own a Bushmaster ACR, read the below notice and make sure you aren’t one of the people who has a malfunctioning weapon.
Consider this your Gear Scout public service message for the weekend.
http://bushmaster.com/pdf/ACR-Web-Notification.pdf
Tired of looking at Vertical Fore Grips (VFG) for your carbine that cost almost $100? Evidently Magpul is as well. With two new offerings, Magpul is using its Magpul Original Equipment (MOE) lineup to release one VFG that plugs into Magpul’s current MOE handguards, and a second that fits onto any 1913 spec rail. We’ve tried these out, and they share the same basic ergonomic shape regardless of which version you go with.
The MOE RVG (Railed Vertical Grip) lists at $24.95 and is built to install on standard rails. The MOE MVG (MOE Vertical Grip) plugs directly into the MOE handguards and lists at $19.95.
Whats the downside? You may cry when you see these, especially if you’ve been paying $90 a piece for your current VFGs.
Whoops. Youtuber “MexicanSpaceNinja” posted this video January 03, 2010. The Description: “Found this video on a disk at the airport. Looks like a promotional video of their ACR to be used at SHOT show.”
Read MoreThe past ten years have turned most Military and Police units away from iron sights, and into the world of optics. There is no question that shooting scores and real world hit percentages have gone up with the use of red dot and magnified optics. We’ve all used them, and while iron sights are still a solid fundamental to be familiar with, I’ll bet there are very few of us who are interested in going back to them. Battery life, and reliability are the first topics brought up when we think of optics, but how often do we consider the optic mount itself?
This simple bolt-on lever extends the bolt release (ping-pong paddle) to allow one-finger operation of the battery entirely from the right side of your mil-spec AR rifle. Drop the empty mag and return the bolt to battery using one finger. You’re mag hand goes straight back to firing position without taking a 1 second detour to the bolt release. It’s a trick little setup that saves precious time during reloads, but there’s going to be a retraining penalty to realign your muscle memory. My guess is that the beards will say it’s just one more thing that can fail while the chrono crowd is going to be stoked.
MAGPUL made sure to retain the original paddle surface in order to allow traditional operation with the left hand. The lever is made from mil-spec finished aircraft aluminum and installation looks like a dead-easy one screw operation. MAGPUL even includes a Torx wrench to get your going for your $30. Check MAGPUL for more info and availablity.
(PHOTO: Courtesy MAGPUL)
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