He used to know what he was talking about. It's a whole new ball game where the rules we followed for decades are out the window. Anything goes and the government makes it up as they go.
You know what else had non-restricted FRT numbers? The ATRS series of rifles and the Maccabee rifles. They are now prohibited as variants. If you think they won't do the same with this rifle when it has no less than two named prohibited "parent designs" (FAL and FNC)?
This is not meant to be disrespectful to Bwing, he's one of the smarter posters on here. Just the reality of the situation.
Zero disrespect taken haha. As much as a despise the "lab" they have been relatively consistent, and after reading though Smith's affidavits and reading all about the Swiss Arms fiasco, and the 858 fiasco, almost all of their FRT determination changes had logic to them (not that I agreed with their logic, but still).
With regards to the Swiss Arms and 858 rifles, they issued FRT numbers without doing a proper and thorough determination. Once a proper examination of the Swiss Arms and 858 rifles were done, then they issued an FRT determination change to prohibited. It was the RCMP SFSS's mistake, but gun owners and businesses paid the price.
Regarding the ATRS series of rifles and the Maccabee rifles: I believe the ATRS series of rifles were wrongfully changed and the lab did some shady things regarding that (which is why I donated to their court battle). In their inspection report, it even indicated that it was an amalgamation of designs (AR, ACR, etc.) and also this anecdote was noted in the original FRT but was later deleted. Now, how much of a named prohibited rifle's design are you "allowed" to use in a new rifle design? Who knows.
The Maccabee rifles were doomed after the May OIC. I believe they corresponded with the RCMP and indicated design lineage / inspiration from the original AR-10 and the Armalite AR-102 sporter. Seen below is a very early AR-10 that uses a similar T-slot attachment method that the Maccabee rifle do, and also seen below is a very familiar looking magwell as well.
