#Ar-15

Due to Smith & Wesson’s recent  acquisition of Crimson Trace it didn’t take a crystal ball to predict that we’d be seeing more Crimson Trace accessories bundled with Smith & Wesson products, and this example falls into that category.

Luth-AR now offers an AR-15 lower receiver enhancement kit which consists of three replacement parts including their “Switch” extended safety selector, “Paddle” oversized bolt catch and “Wide Body” trigger guard. All of them are drop-in parts.

A Californian company called Aeon Tac makes aluminum AR-15 stocks called LWB (Light Weight Billet). The stock is machined out of a billet 6061 aluminum and as the name implies, it is quite lightweight weighing only 7 oz. It is an adjustable stock with 3″ difference between the fully collapsed and extended positions.

Leapers Inc. announced a new rear sight for the AR style of firearm called the Super Slim Fixed Rear Sight. Released under the UTG brand, the new sight mounts to a Picatinny type rail and is designed to work with an A2 type front sight tower. It has a Torx head screw for mounting to the rail. A lot of rail accessories use a hex head screw, so fair warning.

With Level IV armor rising in availability, calls for “overmatch”, and the increased presence of urban warfare, will designers be able to meet the requirements for future small arms? Forumgoer Poliorcetes raised this question in a discussion at the Military Guns & Ammunition forum:

Earlier, we have reported about the Brownells’ launch of retro M16A1 build components. The recently released videos by Chris Bartocci of Small Arms Solution is a good followup to this subject. Let’s see what the former Colt employee and renown AR-15 expert thinks about these parts and how he builds the rifle.

Phase 5 Weapon Systems, Inc. (Phase 5) announced a pair of new stock kits that are based on the recently introduced Mini Stock. The Mini Stock is a minimalist style stock designed to work with the company’s hexagonal buffer tubes as well as most round tubes. One of the kits is called the Carbine Mini Stock Assembly and the other is called the Rifle Mini Stock Assembly.

The United States Special Operations Command (US SOCOM) is looking for a new variable-power rifle optic to allow users to engage targets out to 600 meters, while still preserving close-in capability. The solicitation, released last week on Fed Biz Opps, announces a Firm Fixed Price (FFP) Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) supply contract for up to $33.2 million dollars worth of the new optics. The draft requires offerors to provide 12 sample optics before December 8th of this year. The solicitation follows a pre-solicitation notice issued in July.

An entrepreneur in Seattle has developed a bayonet mounting attachment that is specifically designed for AR15s with standard front sight gas blocks. Currently, the U.S. Infantryman of today doesn’t have an option for mounting a bayonet on an M16A4/M4 that has been equipped with a 40x46mm low-velocity M203 under barrel grenade launcher ( Unless he goes picatinny with Geissele). When coupled with an M4 carbine, the M203 clamps to the 6-inch barrel past the front sight post, completely preventing an issue M9 bayonet to be mounted to the carbine. A standard M203 on an M16A2 or M16A4 just barely aligns with the bayonet stud, apart of the front sight post, therefore also preventing the fitting of an M9 bayonet. However, shorter barrel M203s that haven’t been widely adopted such as LMT’s 9 inch barrel variant, or the currently issued H&K M320s would allow issue bayonets to be mounted, but it would negate the grenade launcher entirely.

An Israeli Defense Force Brigadier General is currently under investigation for having a large number of issue rifles in his personal storage container while transferring bases in his career. None of the rifles (more than 30) were supposed to be there as Generals typically don’t fight with a rifle, they fight with an Army, and as such they were unauthorized. This report on its own could be alarming, but coupled with other reports in recent years, is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to small arms and ammunition theft from IDF bases. A number of reports, specifically claiming that as many as seven bases aren’t secure at all to common theft of sensitive items with an estimate of over 450 small arms have been stolen, has lead to the IDF increasing budgets up to $4.2 million to better secure armories around Israel. In 2014 a report by the Times of Israel that expressed almost the same sentiments about issued small arms being stolen from IDF bases in increasing numbers and incidents.

Samson Manufacturing has released an AR-15 low profile gas block which is extremely lightweight weighing only .63 oz. The company targets this product to people who are building lightweight AR-15 rifles. To many people, weight reduction wherever it is possible (even in very small amounts) is important for their ultra lightweight build. At the same time, it is designed to retain the original strength not to compromise the functionality of the weapon system.

DefenceWeb recently released a video overview of the new Steyr / Rheinmetall RS-556 assault rifle. The rifle, a sort of hybrid between an AR-15 and a Steyr AUG, was submitted to the Bundeswehr’s System Sturmgewehr Bundeswehr trials, competing against both Heckler & Koch’s HK416 and the new HK433 assault rifles. The RS-556, mechanically, is substantially different from a basic AR-15, and therefore occupies an interesting spot in-between being an AR-15 variant and a completely different weapon. The upper receiver is a single piece forged unit, with an AUG-style fixed extension/trunnion and quick change barrel. An AUG-style short stroke tappet gas system and connecting operating rod replace the AR-15’s direct impingement system. In the upper, a steel insert, rather than the aluminum receiver itself, guides the bolt carrier group. This feature is supposed to increase upper receiver life, and improve its maintenance characteristics, although it does make the rifle significantly heavier.

Strike Industries has released a new AR-15 dust cover made of aluminum. It looks similar to their polymer Ultimate Dust Cover (UDC). Besides being made of a different material, the Aluminum UDC also features noise reduction padding (patent pending) on the outer surface which virtually eliminates the sound of the opening dust cover hitting the receiver. Watch this:

One of my all time favorite rifles is the Smith and Wesson M&P 15-22, out of all the firearms in my safe it definitely has had the most range time. It’s a great trainer rifle, it’s light and accurate and it’s just plain fun to shoot. One of the great features of the M&P 15-22 is it can use many of the parts a real deal 5.56 AR-15 can. Over the years I’ve used a bunch of various sights, optics, stocks, and triggers on my M&P 15-22, all of which were parts from my real ARs that I was no longer using. The only downfall really was the plastic quad rails the original M&P 15-22 came with, it worked ok but it just felt cheap.

Vendetta Precision has introduced a new extended and ambidextrous AR-15  charging handle called VP-25. You can tell it is really extended because the overall width of the latches (tip to tip) is 4″! Why would anyone need such a huge charging handle? Vendetta Precision has some reasons for making it.