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Thread: UTAS XTR-12 Classification

  1. #1
    Wolverine -CGN Sponsor RyanS's Avatar
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    UTAS XTR-12 Classification

    Below is a letter received from William Etter regarding the classification of the UTAS XTR-12 Shotgun

    The UTAS XTR-12 Tactical Shotgun
    The following is a research paper of the mechanical, historical and visual properties of the UTAS, Model XTR-12 Tactical, semi-automatic Shotgun. This research is being performed in order to determine whether or not the UTAS, XTR-12 Shotgun is correctly considered to be a “variant” of the AR-15 family of firearms and therefore “restricted” (as per RFR Part 2, Paragraph 2), rather than a non restricted specific variant of the Armalite AR-10 firearm as manufactured by Armalite Division of Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation or those AR-10 firearms manufactured by Artillerie Inrichtingen in the Netherlands under licence of Fairchild.

    1. Because the UTAS, Model XTR-12 Shotgun is a relatively new firearm on the market, the factory literature on this model is fairly sparse, the only references available on hand were factory advertising flyers from the NRA and SHOT shows of 2015 and IWA 2016. These flyers give basic technical data, but no information as to the physical operation or history of the design. The request for review of the legal class assignment of the UTAS, Model XTR-12 originates not with the manufacturer but on the part of the importer/distributor of the firearm Mr John Hipwell of the firm Wolverine Supplies who claims to speak on behalf of the Manufacturer, UTAS.

    2. There are a number of videos and web-pages available on-line that take a close look at this firearm, including a Czech video with a complete take-down (“UTAS XTR-12 Brokovnice – Special Strelnice”, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8l1qeE014 ). This video was especially helpful in determining how this shotgun operates internally, both in regards to the gas system and to the rotating bolt lock-up.

    3. Existing online references to this firearm make numerous claims as to its “Stoner” heritage (ie. Eugene Stoner, the designer of the AR-10, AR-15), and to its similarity to the AR-15 platform firearms (which is a benefit in competitions where shooters must switch back and forth between shotguns and rifles in a single stage).

    4. According to the current importer, this firearm was not developed from the AR-15 platform but was instead based on the AR-10 rifle, which, in itself, raises some interesting issues. Just as all facial tissue has become known as Kleenex, all Armalite large receiver/frame firearms have become identified as AR-10s:

    a) in truth most current “AR-10” rifles are themselves based on the AR-15, being essentially “scaled up” or reverse engineered from the 5.56mm NATO Calibre rifle in order to accept the 7.62mm cartridge and magazine;

    b) the XTR-12 certainly shares a number of features with the AR-10 (such as a rotating, multi-lugged bolt head in a bolt carrier, a two-pin takedown to separate upper and lower receivers, and gas operation), but it also shares those features with the AR-15 and the 7.62mm derivatives of the AR-15;

    c) additionally, the shotgun operates as a gas piston-operated firearm, with a gas block above the barrel that directs a piston rearwards to drive the bolt carrier during the extraction and ejection cycle. This “short stroke piston” operating system was not used in the original AR-10 series of firearms but has seen prominent use in the modernized AR-15 family of firearms;

    d) the multi-lugged “starburst” bolt head is not in and of itself, a direct indicator of lineage either; this pattern was first seen on the Fosbery pump-action shotgun, patented in 1891, which was later used by Melvin Johnson (circa 1941/1944) in a series of rifles and light machine guns at the time of the Second World War. Eugene Stoner, being an aficionado of Melvin Johnson’s work, carried that design of bolt head ahead into his designs for first, the AR-10, and later, into the AR-15 and other designs. The UTAS, Model XTR-12 bolt is somewhat unusual in that it does not have the integral “plunger” ejector of the traditional AR-10/AR-15 design, instead the XTR-12 uses a standing ejector in the left wall of the upper receiver.

    5. In the 2015 time period, there was a proliferation of new tactical shotgun models being imported from Turkey having the “look & feel” of the AR-15. As a result, in late 2015 / early 2016 a project was undertaken by RCMP - Specialised Firearms Support Services Section (the RCMP Firearms Legal Class Policy Centre) to determine which if any, of those shotguns should be considered “AR-15 variants” for the purpose of assigning the appropriate legal class to those firearms. Most were eliminated from restricted legal class assignment due to the lack of mechanical similarity in the locking mechanism such as presence of a tilting breech block or bolt lug (which locks the bolt to a barrel extension) or gas operating system and the method of locking the upper and lower receivers together that does not involve the dual push-pin system of the AR-15. The majority of Turkish tactical shotguns that imitated the AR-15 ‘style” or appearance were determined not to be “AR-15” variants as their lineage could go to either the AR-10 or AR-15 without a compelling technical lineage to either design of firearm and the weakness of the association to the AR-15 / M-16.

    6. None of the features discussed in paragraph 5. apply to the UTAS, Model XTR-12 however; it uses both a dual push-pin method of locking the upper and lower receivers together, it also uses a rotating bolt head, operated via a cam pin in the bolt carrier as the bolt carrier cycles fore and aft and has the specific to AR-15 gas piston operation which was never utilized on any of the original AR-10 firearms. On those three points alone, the UTAS, Model XTR-12 stands out as having more in common with the AR-15 / M-16 “family of firearms” than with other similar-appearing shotguns which have been classified as “non-restricted”.

    7. Thus, the classification of the UTAS, Model XTR-12 is more in line with the classification of the family of expanded (large) frame “AR-15s” that are currently being manufactured under the “name” of “AR-10”, as opposed to the original family of Armalite AR-10 firearms manufactured by Armalite Division of Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation (which was formed in 1954 to manufacture firearms in Costa Mesa, California) or the firearms manufactured by Artillerie
    Inrichtingen in the Netherlands under licence of Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation which were designated AR-10 or AR-102 Models.

    8. The proposal to assign non restricted legal class to the UTAS, Model XTR-12 Tactical Shotgun based upon the Importer’s rationale presented below cannot be supported. The UTAS, Model XTR-12 will remain in the “restricted” legal class.

    William Etter
    F.A. William (Bill) ETTER
    Royal Canadian Mounted Police
    Canadian Firearm Program
    Chief Firearms Technologist
    Specialized Firearms Support Services
    Firearms Investigative & Enforcement Services Directorate
    Specialised Policing Services

    For a PDF copy Click here

  2. #2
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