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CRUFFLER.COM
presents
FIREARM
REVIEW,
August
2001:
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Law
Enforcement Tactical Elite Carbine
Type: Gas Operated Self Loading Rifle Caliber: 5.56x45mm Capacity: 10, 20, and 30 round detachable box magazine Sights, front: Elevation adjustable post Sights, rear: Fully adjustable aperture Length: 7.5" Height: 5.5" Barrel length: 16" Weight (unloaded): 8 lbs. Suggested Retail Price: $995 |
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Standard
A2 Rifle
Type: Gas Operated Self Loading Rifle Caliber: 5.56x45mm Capacity: 10, 20, and 30 round detachable box magazine Sights, front: Elevation adjustable post Sights, rear: Fully adjustable aperture Length: 7.5" Height: 5.5" Barrel length: 20" Weight (unloaded): 40.2 ozs., loaded Suggested Retail Price: $925 |
ROCK RIVER
ARMS
For those
new to AR-15 style rifles, it's tempting to automatically dismiss those
manufactured by Rock River Arms.
After all, the company isn't part of the Colt-Bushmaster-Armalite
triumvirate that accounts for the majority of AR-15 style rifles made and
sold in the United States. Doing so, however, is at best ill advised,
as the company's products bring to bear the efforts of some of the most
experienced and skilled machinists, engineers, gunsmiths and designers
in the industry today. Located in Cleveland, Illinois, Rock River
Arms is owned and operated by brothers Mark and Chuck Larson. Between
them, the Larsons have almost half a century of gun making experience,
with emphases on both semiautomatic pistols and gas operated self loading
rifles. Indeed, the brothers' collective resume reads like a who's
who of the American precision firearms industry!
Between 1981 and 1991 the Larsons worked at Springfield Armory, Inc., where Mark was the head armorer. From Springfield Armory, the Larsons went into partnership with Les Baer to form Les Baer Custom, and produced some of the finest custom 1911 style pistols that have ever been seen on the US market. Parting ways with Les Baer in 1993, the Larsons began to build AR-15 type rifles for Eagle Arms in Coal Valley, Illinois. At around the same time, they began their own venture, Tolerance Plus (the name was later changed to Rock River Arms), producing custom 1911 pistols. The Larson brothers severed their connection with Eagle Arms in 1997 when that firm moved to Geneseo, Illinois. At the same time, Rock River Arms began to build AR-15 style rifles, with a commitment to producing the highest quality, most accurate AR's on the market.
AR Rifles
Working within
the basic design confines of the M16/AR-15 family, Rock River Arms uses
the highest quality materials, the most modern construction and assembly
techniques, and an intimate engineering knowledge of the rifle to produce
an impressive firearm.
Every major component of a Rock River Arms AR starts out as either bar stock or a forging. Upper and lower receivers are made from forged and milled mil-spec 7075 T6 aluminum alloy that is then hard anodized to a surface hardness of 70 on the Rockwell scale. Lower receivers are held to extremely tight tolerances to ensure compatibility with the widest range of uppers possible. But that's just the start of the process. After final machining, each receiver is carefully polished to remove dings, scratches, and other small imperfections left over from the forging and milling processes. Once polished to a perfect mirror sheen, the receivers are then sandblasted and sent out for anodizing. This polishing step is unique, and is why minor receiver imperfections, such as those normally found in front of the magazine well, are not encountered on Rock River Arms guns. Smaller parts, like the bolt stop, safety, and trigger components are investment castings made from 8620 steel that are case hardened to between 89 and 92 Rockwell.
Every Rock
River Arms rifle features a 1:9" (1:8" in the DCM competition rifle) button
rifled barrel made by Wilson Arms. All barrels are made from high
grade chrome-moly steel. Each barrel is air gauged prior to assembly,
and any that do not meet the most stringent criteria are rejected.
While the chambers of the rifle and the carbine that were the subject of
this review were cut to SAAMI .223 Remington specifications, in the future
all carbines will feature chambers cut to 5.56mm NATO specifications.
After installation, the barrel's feed ramp is highly polished and contoured
into the upper receiver, thus eliminating the common " step" between the
barrel extension's feed ramp and the upper receiver that is found on most
AR type rifles. As a result of these ministrations, Rock River Arms
claims significantly improved reliability with all types of 5.56mm ammunition.
| Other
unique Rock River features are the use of the "star safety" and a standard
two stage match trigger. The star safety, which derives its name from the
star burst type knurling found on the cone-shaped tip of the selector lever,
was modeled after a four position military safety. What makes it
unique is the combination of meticulously engineered and highly polished
camming surfaces, a slightly deeper detent groove, and the mechanical advantage
offered by the lengthened selector lever. The result of this
combination is a selector that is significantly smoother and easier to
manipulate than the standard military safety.
Likewise, the two-stage trigger demonstrates similar attention to engineering detail. Military M16 triggers, and most AR triggers are of the single stage |
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Another Rock River Arms feature is the mid-length handguard found on the LE carbine. This handguard design is closely modeled on the standard A2 handguard, but is of a length between that of the long rifle handguard and the short CAR type handguard. The mid-length handguard is fully heat shielded and offers a number of advantages, the Most important being the provision of an additional few inches of sight radius (rather than limiting the sight radius on a 16" barrel to that of an 11" barreled gun).
If there is one feature which is especially striking and stands out in terms of usefulness, common sense, and applied innovation, it has to be the Tactical Carry Handle Assembly. The LE carbine's upper receiver is of the
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Between the extra care lavished upon each rifle during assembly and the many "extras" that are standard on their rifles, Rock River Arms has attracted an impressive customer array. Among the groups and organizations that use Rock River Arms rifles for matches and competitions are the US Navy shooting team, the US Marine Corps Reserve shooting tram, the US Air Force shooting team, and the North Carolina Army National Guard shooting team.
PRODUCT
REVIEW
Given the
rifles' many features and the impressive user communities that have selected
Rock River Arms products, we were more than a little curious about the
guns. Our curiosity getting the better of us, we ordered a pair of
the guns, a Standard A2 configuration rifle and a Law Enforcement (LE)
Mid-Length Tactical Carbine. The A2 rifle was fitted with a 20" heavy
barrel, the carbine with a 16" heavy barrel. As an aside, civilians
can purchase rifles that are identical to the LE carbine with the following
minor differences: No bayonet lug, the collapsible stock will be
permanently pinned in the open position, and the muzzle brake will be permanently
affixed. Of these, the only visible difference will be the bayonet
lug. There is no difference in performance. A few days later
the BBT bearing the rifles arrived.
External
Inspection
The rifles
were very thoughtfully packaged, each coming with one magazine (ten rounds
for the A2 and a restricted thirty-rounder for the LE carbine), a Rock
River Arms catalog, a limited lifetime warranty, and a copy of the US Marine
Corps Technical Manual for the Rifle, 5.56mm, M16A2 (TM 05538C-23&P/2).
Rock River Arms' determination to go the "extra mile" was evidenced by
the care taken in packaging: Each cardboard carton had a number of
baffles cut to ensure that the rifle would be motionless during shipment,
as well as supplemental packing material. The housing cartons were
shipped inside a form fitting cardboard shipping sleeve.
To say that
we were initially impressed with the quality of the fit and finish of the
rifles would be a dramatic understatement. In fact, the telephone
conversation we had with Rock River Arms to confirm receipt of the rifles
went like this (and no, we're not making this up):
| RRA: | "Hello, Rock River Arms, this is Gay speaking." |
| CRUFFLER.COM: | "Hello Gay, this is Adam Firestone from CRUFFLER.COM." |
| RRA: | "Oh hello Adam! Did you receive the rifles yet?" |
| CRUFFLER.COM: | "Yes, they came in today. The staff asked me to call you and tell you that you're not getting these rifles back, and that we're running away with them to Bolivia. In fact, right now one of us is on another line booking passage to La Paz. And we're all changing our names. I'm going to be Adano Crufflero. Ahh, poop. I just told you that, I can't use it! Well, either way, you're never going to see these rifles again, unless it's in some CNN broadcast from South America. |
| <Brief Pause> | |
| RRA: | "I take it that you were pleased with the rifles then?" |
| CRUFFLER.COM: | "Yes, I suppose you could say that." |
In all seriousness the rifles had the most perfect fit and finish that we'd ever seen on an AR. Like AR style rifles from other manufacturers these guns had a black anodized finish. But that's where the similarity ended. Unlike the other rifles which have a very matte, very flat, and rough textured finish, the receivers on the Rock River Arms guns had an extremely smooth texture with a surface finish that can best be described as black satin. This finish was matched on the triggers, magazine release buttons and safeties. The Wilson Arms barrels were finished in a dark gray, almost black, phosphating that differed just enough from the receivers to offer an aesthetically pleasing contrast. The barrel finish was matched on the bolt stop, muzzle brake (on the LE carbine) and magazine latch.
A technical inspection yielded similarly positive results. There was no perceptible play between the upper and lower receivers, and loaded and unloaded USGI magazines from six different contractors (Colt, FN, Cooper, Sanchez, Adventure Line and Parsons) readily locked in place and dropped free when the magazine release was depressed. Safeties moved very smoothly through their entire arc of motion without binding or overtravel. Headspace was perfect, with the bolts closing easily on a SAAMI .223 Remington GO gauge and not even coming close on a NO-GO gauge.
Shooting
the Rock River Arms Rifles
Much to our
chagrin, we could find nothing to complain about. After all these
were AR type rifles, and as defenders of the CRUFFLER faithful, we weren't
supposed to like them, right? Hoping that the range test would offer
another chance for the rifles to fail, we packed them up, and headed off
to the NRA
range in Fairfax, Virginia.
Ammunition
We brought
along several types of ammunition with which to test the Rock River Arms
guns. The selection included:
South African
military 55 grain FMJ
British Radway
Green military 55 grain FMJ
South African
PMP commercial 55 grain FMJ
Israeli IMI
55 grain FMJ
US military
M193 55 grain FMJ
Spanish Santa
Barbara military 62 grain FMJ
Wolf commercial
55 grain FMJ
Barnaul commercial
55 grain FMJ
Accuracy
The rifles
were fired for accuracy with iron sights at the range's maximum distance
of fifty yards. The target was a one inch orange dot on a three inch
black center. As we'd feared, both the rifle and the carbine proved
to be outstandingly accurate. While there was some deviation in point
of impact based on the ammunition used (e.g. the Wolf ammunition would
consistently shoot about an inch below and half an inch to the left of
the other types), overall group sizes were surprisingly consistent, varying
between 1.25" and 1.5". Given that none of the testing staff are
match shooters, that the cartridges fired were either military surplus
or inexpensive commercial "blasting" ammunition, and that we were using
iron sights, these results are impressive, to say the least.
To gain a better idea of what these rifles were doing, think of the old carnival game "Shoot Out the Star." In that game the contestant uses a pneumatic tommy gun to shred a paper target with a red star on it. If the star is completely obliterated with one magazine's worth of BB's, the contestant has won the prize. Once sighted in, we were able to consistently obliterate the one inch orange dot from the target with one thirty round magazine, there being left only a ragged hole about an inch and a half in diameter where the dot had been.
Recoil and
Ergonomics
Recoil?
What recoil?
One of the blessings of the 5.56x45mm cartridge is its capability to deliver very high performance with a minimum of recoil, making rifles chambered for the round extremely pleasant to shoot. In this regard both the rifle and the carbine performed exactly as expected. Recoil was further dampened by the heavy barrels fitted to both guns. These rifles will certainly NOT fatigue the shooter due to recoil.
However, the
5.56mm still causes a discernible muzzle rise which requires the shooter
to reacquire the target between shots, thus increasing the time between
shots. This time lag can be critical in both competition and law
enforcement situations. In other words, the greater the degree to
which muzzle rise and movement can be eliminated, the more rapidly the
next shot can be delivered. This simple relationship has given rise
to a burgeoning market in muzzle brakes for AR rifles. Some of them
work, and others are simply steel tubes with slots and holes cut in them
that are fixed to the muzzle of the rifle. Rock River Arms has developed
a brake that works extremely well, which was fitted to the LE carbine that
we tested. (Editor's note: Richard Cutts would be very impressed!)
| The brake is roughly cone shaped and screws on to the threads at the end of the barrel. From the attachment point the brake has a shoulder which increases in diameter until the brake is approximately 3/8" greater in diameter than the barrel, at which point the brake is cylindrical for the remainder of its length. The central axis of the brake is bored through with a smooth hole that is a few thousandths of an inch larger in diameter than the bullet. As the bullet leaves the muzzle, it enters the first of two expansion chambers in the brake. The first expansion chamber contains three large chamfered vent holes (one on top, and one on either right or left side) that intersect at right angles the brake's central bore through which the bullet is traveling. As the bullet clears the vent holes, the high pressure propellant gasses are forcibly vented up |
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This brake
works.
Through an entire thirty round string, motion of the sights relative to
the target was virtually nonexistent, allowing for an extremely high rate
of very accurate fire. Currently the brake has been submitted for
approval to the BATF. Once approved, it will be offered on civilian
rifles and carbines as a permanently attached muzzle fixture.
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Another
feature found on the LE carbine was a collapsible buttstock. However
"evil," or "tactical" they may look, we're not especially big fans of collapsible
stocks. They tend to be uncomfortable, and are usually so different
from the feel of a standard fixed stock that they effectively require
the shooter to learn to shoot two different guns. This was not the
case with the collapsible stock on the LE carbine. It is a proprietary
design that addresses many of the problems and shortcomings of the standard
M16/CAR-15 collapsible stock.
The buttplate is angled in the same way as the M16A2 buttplate instead of being vertical like the CAR stock. The top of the stock is made significantly wider and is reinforced with molded corrugations. Not only does this make the Rock River Arms buttpiece stronger and more durable than that of the CAR, but it |
Reliability
Short of unsafe
actions that would have gotten us (justifiably!) removed from the range,
we tried everything we could think of to get these rifles to malfunction.
We wiped the bolts and carriers virtually dry of lubrication. We
allowed the guns to free recoil. We fired them canted to the right
and to the left and upside down. We purposely used our worst magazines.
And we were dramatically unsuccessful. Through more than 500 rounds
apiece, neither rifle experienced any failures to feed, fire, extract,
or eject.
IF I HAD
MY 'DRUTHERS . . .
It would be
pretty hard to improve on the rifles' performance, design, or construction.
However, there are some additional variants we'd like to see added to Rock
River Arms' product line. Perhaps our biggest objection to the current
crop of AR rifles on the market today is their weight and balance.
When compared to an AR-15 or an AR-15A1, the current crop of rifles seems
both overweight and unbalanced. While unquestionably better suited
for long range precision shooting and the needs of law enforcement, the
modern rifles lack the balance, easy carriage and rapid handling qualities
of the earlier versions. When introduced in the early 1960's, the
AR-15 was the ideal lightweight tactical carbine. The fact of the
matter remains that this niche remains unfilled on the commercial market.
Consequently, we'd like to see a civilian version of the Law Enforcement
Mid-Length Tactical Carbine with the following features:
16" A1 contour
1:9" barrel
Choice of
A1, A2 or pinned buttstocks
Muzzle brake
Conclusion
The Rock River
Arms rifles we tested were exceptionally well made, accurate to a fault,
and extremely reliable. They also represent a significant value,
offering as standard features found only on other manufacturers' high end
rifles, costly options, or as expensive aftermarket custom parts.
Indeed, the Rock River Arms' guns offer the most "bang for the buck" of
any entry level AR rifle available.
Now let's get down to brass tacks -the meat of our review. We're Crufflers, remember? Our idea of "state of the art" is a FAL chambered for the 7mm Optimum, and our idea of the ideal rifle bears an uncanny resemblance to a Vz24 in 7mm Mauser. So the fact that we've got a biased opinion about intermediate cartridges and the mass produced metal and plastic carbines that fire them wasn't helping the Rock River Arms guns.
Despite this bias, and the fact that we were rooting against the rifles, we could find nothing to complain about. But it's more than that. Despite our best efforts to the contrary, we really liked these rifles. More so than any new rifle we've fired in a long time. If you're in the market for an AR style rifle, then we strongly recommend that it be a Rock River Arms gun.
Now about that flight to Bolivia. . .
And now, our
Buy-O-Meter rating for the AR rifles from Rock River Arms:
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