Artemis Sawfly .22 LR Bullpup

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MosinMan

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Has anyone heard of this rifle? https://artemissawfly.wordpress.com/introduction/

I've had a desire to own a .22 LR bullpup for some time now. However everything I find is either a conversion kit for existing front loading rifles (prohibited) or low capacity rifles that load in through the pistol grip.

For what I've read of the project this seems to be a stand alone purpose built design (not a conversion) utilizing gsg 10 and 22 round box mags.

The only thing I see as a problem is that it utilizes gsg mags for their rifle. I know the gsg mp5 is prohib, but are the magazines prohib as well?

They claim to begin their production run in May 2015 with a launch date of June/July 2015

If anyone else knows about this project please chime in.
 
I had never heard of it before reading your post, but found this:

http://bullpupforum.com/index.php?topic=3168.0

index.php



It looks like a very interesting design, however the fact that it has been in development since 2008 and they are using "crowd funding" to finance the project does not instill much confidence in my opinion.
 
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Based just on a quick read through 4 pages of posts on bullpupforum it seems to me they have used the excuse that they have been tweaking the design slightly for several years to explain why it has not gone into production, when the real reason is a lack of funds. Maybe I am just being too cynical. I hope things go well and it goes into production.
 
Tom E Gun said:
Based just on a quick read through 4 pages of posts on bullpupforum it seems to me they have used the excuse that they have been tweaking the design slightly for several years to explain why it has not gone into production, when the real reason is a lack of funds. Maybe I am just being too cynical. I hope things go well and it goes into production.
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Hi Tom E Gun. I suppose you deserve an explanation directly from the man responsible for the creation of the 'Sawfly'...Me! The project started in 2008 as a personal rifle build that was not originally planned as a commercial venture. I was living abroad at the time but still count this as part of the development process because the stuff I learned from doing that build has been used in the current version that you see on Indiegogo. Incidentally the 4 pages on the 'Bullpupforum' is small beer compared to the 30+ pages on the 'AirgunBBS' site, which provides a much fuller account (feel free to read that - listed under the heading of 'Bullpup rifles')

Much of the reason for the length of time taken for the whole thing to get this far has been because I started with absolutely nothing and have had to build up a legitimate company, get licenced as an RFD, work through the design so it is viable for manufacturing, covering the same 'design' ground more than once to factor in legal requirements for import to different countries, generate the support of a manufacturer and a distributor and organise as much in the way of marketing/publicity as I can without having to overexpose myself financially. I've self funded the project from my own pocket and am only crowd funding because, yes, lack of funds...and only because the UK banks don't want to support anyone in the gun trade. All of the above has been done by myself and a small team of volunteers who also believe in the project.

Other stalling factors in the project have been down to - re-settling to the UK, holding down a full time job which frequently required overseas travel, suffering from and recovering from a heart attack in 2012, lacking 24/7 access to state of the art manufacturing facilities (my small workshop is reasonably well equipped but not ideal for what I need to achieve).

I did start a thread on this forum in 2013 IIRC, to get some feedback from a Canadian perspective. This attracted the interest of a distributor who advised against publicising it due to the possibility of the project being stymied by the Canadian authorities before it got out of the starting blocks, which is probably why none of you has heard of it before...but I suppose the cat's out of the bag now!

If you wish to know more, feel free to ask.
 
Good for you! Taking control of something you want, I admire.
With risk, there is reward. Small firearms companies all started as you did. If you have a good product, people will buy it.
 
I personally am in love with this design. I will admit I have dumped $1000 dollars into my 10/22 to get it where I like it. But in all honesty where I want it is a bullpup stock like the HTA 90/22. But this seems to be just as good, and now I have the chance to speak with the designer himself! I have a few questions for you Artemis.
1) Does the charging handle reciprocate?
2) Is the charging capable of being mounted on the right side?
3) would you consider launching with a threaded barrel?
4) Do you have any video of the rifle firing?
5) Is it possible to implement a ambidextrous safety selector into the design?
 
NR, 30 rounds? .22lr/.22mag/ .17hmr???? I would buy this for sure.

If you managed .17hmr I would sell my left nut to get one.
 
I have a .17 hmr handgun and bolt gun.............a bullpup would bankrupt me. I would love one of these if under a grand
with an extra mag. Maybe thet wll use ruger mags and save some hassle.
 
sgt.rock said:
I have a .17 hmr handgun and bolt gun.............a bullpup would bankrupt me. I would love one of these if under a grand
with an extra mag. Maybe thet wll use ruger mags and save some hassle.
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17hmr semi auto is a special circumstance. I believe savage managed to make a safe one this year, but all others were recalled.

22lr would be more likely... A cool semi 22 mag would be nice too though.

Edit: just noticed the question from post one. GSG mags are not prohib... No magazines are prohib unless over capacity limits. For rimfire that's unlimited in a rifle. I have a 110 round GSG drum magazine I got from canadian tire.
 
MosinMan said:
I personally am in love with this design. I will admit I have dumped $1000 dollars into my 10/22 to get it where I like it. But in all honesty where I want it is a bullpup stock like the HTA 90/22. But this seems to be just as good, and now I have the chance to speak with the designer himself! I have a few questions for you Artemis.
1) Does the charging handle reciprocate?
2) Is the charging capable of being mounted on the right side?
3) would you consider launching with a threaded barrel?
4) Do you have any video of the rifle firing?
5) Is it possible to implement a ambidextrous safety selector into the design?
Click to expand...

Hi 'MosinMan'

I'll put my answers in the same order as the questions

1) Short answer is "No it doesn't" After cycling it manually it stays forward with the charging handle folded down and the bolt cycles independently of it.
2) Charging handle is capable of being mounted on the right side, but only on the Left Handed models as everything is reversed.
3) Threaded barrels are a legal minefield when importing into certain countries, some don't mind and others mind very much... Rather than adding cost and complexity to production by having multiple options it was felt that the safest way forward was to leave the threading decision to the end user.
4) Not at the moment. I really haven't had the opportunity to but it is something that is getting asked more frequently so it will be done (It will be the prototype being featured but hopefully it won't disappoint as it is mechanically very similar to the production version).
5) Another short answer, "No" To be honest there's not much of a need for it as the safety will be thumb operated whether the rifle is the Right Handed or the Left Handed version. It was specifically designed to be within the sightline when the rifle is mounted in the shoulder, for quick reference.

If you have more queries please feel free to ask. I also hope my interpretation of the questions was correct. :)
 
Thank you for answering so quickly. Yes you pretty much answered everything I wanted to know. I do have one more question but I feel it is unfair for you to answer at this time. However I'll go for it anyways.

"How much will the rifle cost for the Canadian market?"

At $1000 Canadian most rimfire shooters start to feel the tightness in their wallets (myself included) How much do you think the rifle will end up costing?
 
MosinMan said:
Thank you for answering so quickly. Yes you pretty much answered everything I wanted to know. I do have one more question but I feel it is unfair for you to answer at this time. However I'll go for it anyways.

"How much will the rifle cost for the Canadian market?"

At $1000 Canadian most rimfire shooters start to feel the tightness in their wallets (myself included) How much do you think the rifle will end up costing?
Click to expand...

I am getting this question a lot lately:) and it's the most difficult one to answer at the present time.

Put simply, the price depends on a lot of variables beyond my control, but I can more or less guarantee it will definitely be under the $1000 you mentioned. If I can get enough real world support for it then the price will be easy to keep down.
Based on what we plan to retail it for in the UK (£430-£500) then you just need to convert the currency to get your best estimate...if there's enough interest then you can reasonably expect the retail price to be somewhere between $450-$600).

Apologies for the convoluted answer. Please check out my blog, artemissawfly.wordpress.com I posted a new FAQ's page today which contains more useful information about the project.

We are currently endeavouring to raise £25,000 by crowdfunding on Indiegogo to get to the tooling/production stage, however the promotion restrictions imposed on us by Indiegogo (because we design and build firearms) is crippling our capability to raise these funds. So what I'm asking is that if you guys really want this rifle to be manufactured as much as we do, please spread the word and subscribe to the campaign; if we hit the target then I will guarantee the Sawfly being manufactured.
 
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