New rifle from MAGPUL

sendero said:
Sorry about that
You think we will have them here in Canada ??
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If you and at least another 2 dozen people put an advance deposit on, I'm sure someone will find the incentive to bring them in. So start saving.
 
How about we wait until they are actually in production before we even think about bringing them in.

Depending on barrel length, they should be non-restricted.
 
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One of SIX PROTOTYPES in existance, from the SHOT show in Florida last Jan.
 
tootall said:
One of SIX PROTOTYPES in existance, from the SHOT show in Florida last Jan.
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Last Jan? You mean Jan 2007 :)

6 prototypes, 3 were doing actual endurance and live fire testing. 3 Months from Concept to working Prototypes (That was in January).

We should write them and ask the status of the project/prototypes.
 
As I got my press pass through the CSSA, I felt it only proper to give them the first chance at my article. Now that the new CSSA magazine is out, i can post my SHOTshow review here on CGN.

This is what I wrote about the Masada:




As expected, there where numerous firearms debuted at SHOT also. The one that captured my attention is the Masada, by Magpul. ( www.magpul.com ) Magpul is a relatively new company that up until now has only made accessories. I had a chance to listen to Richard Fitzpatrick, president, and Mike Mayberry, director of product development, explain this new system. The Masada is their first complete firearm. If you are a fan of “black” rifles, you will be interested in this one! It is a completely modular design, able to be disassembled with only a cartridge to push out the captive pins. The buttstock is both foldable and adjustable for length of pull. The lower receiver is a molded polymer. This was chosen to reduce costs associated with complex milling and machining operations required on metal receivers. As the lower half has very little stress placed on it, this was deemed acceptable.

The upper receiver half is made from a 7000 series (not 7075, I asked) aluminum extrusion. This extrusion (think of how pasta or PlayDoh is extruded, or squeezed out of a special shaped die) starts out as a four sided hollow rectangular tubing, then has a portion of one wall machined away, rather than starting with a three sided channel shape. This has the benefit of maintaining dimensional accuracy in the unit. At the front of the upper is a steel trunnion. This serves as the heart of the gun. It has interrupted threads in it that accept the quick change barrel. It also serves as the pivot point for the two part receiver. And finally, two steel rails attach to it. From the trunnion, the two rails run rearward, through the inside of the upper receiver. The rails are secured to the inside walls of the receiver by three screws per side. These guide rails are for the bolt carrier to ride on. This steel on steel is claimed to be superior to the steel on aluminum situation found on the AR15/M16 series. It certainly felt very smooth on the prototypes that we were able to handle.

The Masada cleverly uses standard AR15 barrels, with a slight modification. Nothing needs to be machined off; instead a collar with matching interrupted threads for the quick change barrel feature is added. The collar is kept in place by a small ring that is press fit in place. The beauty of this is that if you want an aftermarket heavy target barrel from a premium barrel maker, chances are very god that there is an AR15 barrel in stock.

If you want to change to a 7.62x39mm AK magazine, then you can swap out the lower receiver, as the mag well dimensions are different. This is where the real beauty of the modular system comes into play. The buttstock is removable, and so too is the entire trigger pack. The trigger pack is housed in an aluminum tub, and secured to the polymer lower by pins. So, when swapping out a lower, you are not paying for a second trigger group or collapsible, foldable buttstock. And, as mentioned previously, the lower is injection molded polymer, so expect the cost to be less than an equivalent machined aluminum lower.

This gun uses a short stroke piston system, rather than the direct gas impingement method. What this means is that the exhaust gas (created by the burning powder) is not tapped off of the barrel and piped backwards to push directly on the bolt carrier, thus cycling the action. Instead, the high pressure gas acts on a short rod directly above the barrel. This rod gives the bolt carrier the necessary bump to extract and eject the fired case. The piston rod and spring are simply added to the standard AR15 barrel, in place of the small pipe usually found above the barrel.

Before you reach for your cheque-book, please understand that there are exactly six prototypes in existence right now, and Magpul only got them together and test fired within a week prior to SHOT. The entire project came together within a three month period, a surprisingly short time. In doing so, a number of assumptions were made, as to what would work. Now comes the testing phase. They would like to see this phase take perhaps another three months, but if something continuously breaks, or suffers undue wear, then the design will need to be modified accordingly. This, of course, means that the in-depth testing phase will have to be repeated. Richard and Mike would like to see it ready for market within a year, but no guarantees.

As to the expected price, Richard says they are hoping to have it retail for around US $1400 to $1600, probably because that is in the same range as an Ar15, the Robinson Arms XCR, or the Sig 556. Again, no guarantees.

From Canadian perspective, this is absolutely a new design, not a “variant” of either the AR15 (restricted class), or the AK or HK series (prohibited class), so it should be allowed in. The bigger question is will the US State Dept allow it to be exported. I suspect this will depend on how Magpul chooses to market it. If they describe it as “the most advanced Combat Rifle in existence”, they may find that they cannot export it out of the country to civilians. If they market it as “the finest self loading target, hunting, and all purpose rifle” , then we may very well get it up here.

Stay tuned, this could get interesting.
And if you are not a fan of black rifles, it also comes in tan!
The name, incidentally, comes from an ancient battle between the Romans and the Jews. Apparently, Richard is a bit of a history buff.





Note the second last paragraph, and how Magpul's marketing may affect whether the US State dept allows it to be exported.
I have since seen Magpul describe it as a 'battle weapon" or similar, so they may have just toasted their export market.
 
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