There is no question that Jerry Miculek is an extremely popular and high-performing shooter. The pro shooter recently released his patent-pending Miculek Magnetic Buffer system which uses rare-earth magnetic technology to provide the end-user with better muzzle control and to dampen the recoil of the AR-15 platform. The Miculek Magnetic Buffer system is specifically designed for modern sporting rifles and will fit in all carbine buffer tubes as well as rifle buffer tubes with a buffer spacer.

Recoil compensators are nothing new for Hiperfire. Although the company specializes in drop-in aftermarket triggers, they have previously released their popular Generation 1 recoil compensators which rivaled some of the best performing compensators already in the industry. The Hipercomp 556C, 556CQ, and 9mm versions were among their most popular. Hiperfire has since then taken a new approach using modern computational models to produce their Hipercomp Next Gen recoil compensators that are not only more effective but less expensive as well.

Welcome everyone to the TFB Armorer’s Bench! As mentioned in the little blurb, this series will focus on a lot of home armorer and gunsmith activities. In this article sponsored by  Wheeler,  Tipton,  Caldwell, and  Frankford Arsenal, we’ll show how to completely disassemble an AR15 bolt carrier group. I am well aware that most of the folks who pass through these parts are into the new, cool, and tacticool. I personally love older and obsolete stuff but I also like to take things apart and put them back together. That being said we here at TFB thought it would be nice to have a resource available for disassembling and assembling an AR15. Smith & Wesson was gracious and kind enough to help us out and sent us one of their Sport II models. Now we are back to it folks! Took a nice little break over Labor Day weekend and now we can jump back into our disassembly articles on the AR15. This one is sort of a special intermediate article focusing on the BCG (bolt carrier group) and charging handle that would be removed from an AR15 upper during cleaning or disassembly. Let’s dive right in!

Brownells are celebrating Labor Day with a sale and a new rifle. Partnering with Foxtrot Mike Products to offer the Gen II FM-15 Zhukov, a rifle with a self-contained recoil mechanism meaning the rifle can use the side-folding Magpul Zhukov stock. The rifle has a forward, side-switchable, nonreciprocating charging handle and an MSRP of $1,049.99. Brownells Labor Day sale will be running from 2-6 September.

Uintah Precision, a company known for making AR-style bolt action rifles, has entered the market of semi-auto AR-15 pattern firearms. Their first AR is simply called Semi-Auto AR-15. If you have been a Uintah Precision customer and like the quality of their bolt guns, the company assures that their gas gun is manufactured to the same high-quality standards. Let’s take a closer look at the features of the Uintah Precision Semi-Auto AR-15 rifle.

By far the most popular way to aim a rifle in complete darkness is with IR lasers in tandem with a night vision device. IR lasers give you great accuracy potential and a less complicated aiming process when you are equipped with a head-mounted night vision device. Viridian Weapon Technologies has just added the new HS1 infrared hand stop laser to their existing lineup of visible red and green rifle-mounted lasers.

Blackout Defense has their roots in aerospace and defense manufacturing. Prior to entering the small arms space, the machines in this Arizona-based shop produced parts for customers like Boeing and Raytheon, on projects like Apache helicopters and Bradley infantry fighting vehicles. While they still maintain some of these business lines, today Blackout’s focus has turned toward the firearms industry. Their 20,000 square foot factory churns out AR-15 receivers, barrels, BCGs, and more, with an eye toward quality and strict tolerances. I’ve spent the last few months getting to know one of these AR components: the Zero Trigger.

Photo Of The Day: We take a look at some modern DMR rifles from Schmeisser GmbH in Krefeld, Germany. To my knowledge, Schmeisser doesn’t make any AR10s, instead,  they focus on AR15s and AR9s. It’s easy to think that the black Schmeisser DMR rifles above and below are in .300 Blackout, but it’s the BLK LBL handguard with an integrated bipod. The riflescopes are from Falke.

There’s a saying that says what old is new, and the popularity of fixed carry handle rifles have made a roaring resurgence whether it’s nostalgia or space for collectors to build something different from the ordinary sea of flat top ARs with an MLOK handguard. One of the most iconic is the Gordon Carbine and 90s era Delta rifles. Now some people are die-hard clone builders and that’s awesome, but the 90s Delta rifles are a style of their own. This summer, I decided to take a deeper look into the Delta-style rifles and build an AR that wouldn’t be out of place in the delta world during the 1990s. Let’s take a dive into the Delta and Gordon Carbine which has truly become a modern-day classic.

If you’ve been waiting around for the right time or the right color of the popular KP-15 Lower Reciever to come out, then maybe this is your chance. KE Arms has announced that they will be doing a limited run of OD Green KP-15 lowers and that they are currently in production. The KP-15 lower receivers only started showing up in people’s hands this year and since then there have been loads of updates, accessories, and services made available for the lightweight monolithic polymer lower.

Matador Arms has recently moved from Canada to the USA. Shortly after the relocation, the company announced a new US-made product – the AR9 80% 9mm lower receiver. Let’s take a closer look and see what features this 80% pistol caliber carbine lower receiver packs.

Hello and welcome to TFB weekly Amazon Deals 8: National Composites Week. Composites have taken on a big role in the firearms world and continue to do so as the years go by. From carbon fiber handguards, roll-wrapped barrels, and composite rifle stocks, you almost can’t avoid the part of a composite firearm in this day and age, and probably for good reason. This week we’ll be featuring some recent deals I’ve discovered on Amazon that involve composite gun parts as well as a few other odds and ends I found that was interesting.

The only thing that is probably as important as buying quality glass is buying (and installing) quality mounts. The best optics on the planet are reduced to Alibaba-level accuracy when they are paired with bargain-bin rings and bases. A shifting zero is one of those issues that you really need to experience once in your lifetime; it will make you a believer in reliable hardware. The Arisaka Aimpoint Micro Mount comes in two height options: 1.70” and 1.93” to allow for the use of magnifiers, back up sights, and laser illuminators. Pricing and additional details can be found below.

The recent and hasty withdrawal of the United States Armed Forces from the country of Afghanistan has been somewhat of a controversy. Many say that the withdrawal of US forces was irresponsible while others are lauding the decision as a step towards a more peaceful world. No matter what side you fall on, if you’re a serious gun aficionado then you are probably curious about all the shiny new hardware the Taliban has found themselves now owning. Today we’ll take a brief look at some of the new weapons of the Taliban and how they are already starting to integrate some US and European weaponry into their arsenal.

Unlike the standard AR-15 lower receivers which are primarily made of forgings, the majority of custom receivers are machined from solid blocks of aluminum. This was the case with the Sharps Bros Livewire lower receiver too, however, the company has announced that from now on they will be making these receivers from custom 7075 aluminum forgings made by  Anchor Harvey. Let’s take a look at Sharps Bros forged Livewire lower receiver’s features and see what are the benefits of this transition for the end user.

Hello again, and welcome to Part 3 of my escape from bondage. This is it. Return of the Jedi. Mockingjay. FDR’s last complete term as President of the United States. This is the third and final installation in the series. If you haven’t read the previous two articles, you can find Part 1 here, and Part 2 here. We left off having completed both the upper and lower halves of the rifle. At this point, we’ve accomplished our goal. This rifle is a far cry from the abomination it once was, but I’m still not ready to call it quits, and I don’t think you are either.

The hand stop or indexer is a popular aftermarket piece that many AR-15 users choose to run for one reason or another. I have recently used several of them to serve as a direct indexing point so that my light and IR illuminator combo is always where I expect them to be. Other people use them as a great way to bring their hand to the same place on the rifle every time so that their grip is consistent for competition purposes. Arisaka Defense has expanded their Indexer lineup to include new attachment methods for both KeyMod and LWRC compatibility making their Indexers compatible with almost any rifle currently on the market.

Photo Of The Day, or the Heckler & Koch of the day, is the G95K. Here seen with German Special Forces KSK and a quick burst of 5.56mm NATO in the air. The Heckler & Koch G95K (HK416) has a barrel length of 14.5″.

Two-Stage triggers still remain a popular choice for many riflemen due to their unique characteristics that make them great to run in high-stress situations or in precision applications where a predictable and consistent trigger pull is needed. The recently revived Bushmaster Firearms has just introduced their new DM2S Dedicated Marksman 2 Stage Trigger. The new trigger will feature a standard installation and will be compatible with all mil-spec AR-15 lowers.

SIG SAUER first introduced their M400 series over a decade ago, with the initial version’s release in 2010. The M400 concept was meant to be SIG’s entry into the world of budget-friendly AR-15s. These guns differ from SIG’s pricier rifles like the MCX Virtus Patrol, which is a piston-driven platform, and fall more closely in line with the direct impingement operation that has become generally accepted as “standard” for ARs. Until recently, the series’ current models covered the basics: a regular 16″-barrelled rifle, an 11.5″ pistol, and an upscaled rifle variant that came with some factory upgrades, like an optic and flat trigger. There is also a large-frame cousin, the 716i Tread. This AR-10 shares most of its DNA with the above 5.56 models, but is chambered in 7.62 instead. Never a company to rest on its laurels, SIG is now expanding the M400 family with two new models announced in 2021: the Switchblade (to be covered soon) and the Predator, which I’ve spent the last few months getting to know.

Still life photography is a genre with a large gray area between fine art and documentary photography. In today’s Photo Of The Day,  we’re taking a look at a piece of history with this Colt SP-1 from 1967.

More than five years ago, I published a review on the MicroMOA Govnah, a tool-less adjustable gas block with a three-setting push plate. Today, even though the Govnah is no longer available, I still believe that gas regulation is an important part of shooting a suppressed direct impingement AR-15 rifle. And I’m always on the hunt for innovative gas block designs. RIFLESPEED offers a gas block that can be opened up or closed down with a simple twist of the wrist. Don’t worry, if you have a longer barrel or a longer handguard, RIFLESPEED has models with varying lengths of adjustment rings to get a solid grip. The only possible downside I’ve noticed so far is the need for a proprietary straight gas tube.

In 2018,  CMMG unleashed the Banshee pistol caliber carbine for everyone to enjoy. At the time, pistol caliber carbines and SBRs were going through somewhat of a resurgence and if you fast-forwarded to today, you’d struggle to not run into one at nearly every gun store you went into. The original Banshee was first released in .22 LR, 9mm, .45 ACP, and .300 BLK. CMMG is now offering the Banshee 300 in a 5.56×45 chambering in a 10.5-inch AR-pistol configuration.

Over the years,  Bushmaster Firearms has gained a reputation as a staple in the AR-15 manufacturing community. Bushmaster has gone as far as to become somewhat of a household name when it comes to the iconic AR-15 design and the company recently announced that they are back – standalone. As part of Bushmaster’s return, they plan on resuming production of the ACR and .450 Bushmaster rifle models. As a start, however, Bushmaster will offer variants of the XM15-E2S like the M4 Patrolman’s Carbine and the QRC rifle.

High-end rifle manufacturer Cobalt Kinetics has just announced the official reboot of their BAMF-Pro firearms. The Cobalt Kinetics relaunch includes partnerships with Radian Weapons, SB Tactical, Geissele Automatics, and VLTOR Weapons among others. Cobalt Kinetics opened its doors in 2014 and has gone through ownership changes and a series of product lineup updates. The press release with additional information can be found below.

Vantac D.A.D.S. (Direct Access Defense System) is an AR-15 stock system that allows adjusting the length of pull (LOP) without breaking your grip, cheek weld or sight picture. To unlock the stock and adjust its length, you need to push the ambidextrous tabs at the base of the buffer tube with your primary hand thumb. This system has been in development for five years and it’s now available for preorder.

What’s your experience and opinion on cleaning and disassembling firearms in the military? Let us know in the comments below.

Elftmann Tactical has just introduced the industry’s first truly finger adjustable AR-15 trigger. The Elf SOCOM Trigger is a drop-in solution for competitors, precision shooters, and service members who need or want the ability to fine-tune their trigger pull on the fly, all without the use of tools. The Elf SOCOM will be offered in 6 different variants for different styles of shooting and firearms. All triggers are currently in stock and ready to ship at the time of writing.

The vertical grip is a very common accessory in the AR-15 world for many riflemen both for duty and competitive use. The BGV-ML1 is TangoDown’s latest offering in their extensive lineup of bipods, foregrips, rail covers, and magazines for the AR-15 platform. The BGV-ML1 combines the original design of the tango down stubby grip and mates it with the M-LOK rail interface.

Raven Concealment Systems has been cranking out holsters, magazine carriers, and related products for over a decade. Some of their noted prior offerings include items like Eidolon holsters and the Vanguard series, or their Copia mag pouches. Now they’ve released a new mag carrier, originally designed for low-profile usage to conceal AR/M4 mags under plain clothes. The main use case for the style of Raven’s new Lictor AR Magazine Pouch would be in the context of a personal security detail or armed bodyguard situation, which is where the Latin-origin name “Lictor” comes from. Check out the press release below for product details.