I received the WX-MCR from Wolverine Supplies last week, and went to the range to test-fire it. Here are some first impressions from me, who has owned and been shooting an AR-15 for years, and can't help but compare everything of this rifle to an AR-15. Maybe it is not fair (I do know a little about the history and development of AR-18/AR-180), but it is inevitable.
PROS:
1. It handles and runs like an AR-15, and there is no learning curve. Ergonomics is good compared to other older rifle designs.
2. Trigger is better than what I had expected. I don't have a trigger gauge, but the trigger breaks clean and crisp, with zero creep.
3. It has most of the improvements already in place, and seems to be a quite mature design.
4. It shoots well, and seems to be accurate. I will need to do more shooting to find out how good it can be.
5. All mags I have work fine in the rifle. Pmags need a firm tap to seat, and do not drop free, but that happens to other guns, too. Traditional aluminum mags work flawlessly.
CONS:
1. The rifle is heavy, front heavy. I guess it is due to the heavy-ish long barrel and long handguard.
2. The receiver has many sharp corners and edges. I especially don't like the front corners of the mag well, which are very sharp. Bumping into them is painful, and could break skin. I understand that the rifle is modeled after the stamped steel style of the AR-18, but since we have made changes to the design, it does not make sense to have the sharp edges. Maybe the person who made the drawings forgot to add the edge chamfer/fillet?
3. The WX receiver does come in a more greyish finish, not as black as the other parts of the rifle. But it is not too bad, and is not very noticable in daylight.
I installed a Primary Arms 3x Prism scope on the WX-MCR, mainly to shoot at targets at 100 yards in my local range. Other better scopes can surely be used to achieve better results, but I'm still concerned about the weight.
I replaced the pistol grip with a Magpul one, which is thicker and nicer to grip and handle. My next experiment is to try to install the Zhukov folding stock on it, and see how it feels. It will arrive sometime next week.
The one thing that keeps bugging me now is the sharp edges and corners on the receiver. As a tinkerer, I want to smooth out the edges with a diamond file. But I'm worried about damaging the anodizing layer, and what I should do with the exposed aluminum. I'm now tortured by OCD. Any suggestions?
If you say Canadian manufacturers have worked hard to provide such a good NR rifle, and why I'm complaining about small things like finish and sharp edges? I think the WK-180C / WS-MCR / WX-MCR rifles are still in early stages of development, and there will be more improvements made in the coming years. Those of us who buy them now are brave enough to know (before we buy) and accept some imperfections and use them as they are. But we should also voice our complaints without hesitation, so manufacturers know what they need to work on in the next batches.
In a few years, if by some miracle this rifle is not banned (knock on wood), it may become a mature enough design that people like as much as AR-15s.
Targets at 100 yards with a 3x scope:
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