Annals of ingenuity: British "lever release" 9mm AR-15

[Shear_stress]

With state legislators falling over each other to propose increasingly stupid and meaningless gun laws, it is interesting to see how manufacturers in countries with extremely strict gun laws cope with their own challenges. In Great Britain, where semi-automatic centerfire rifles have been banned since the late 1980s, AR-15-style rifles have enjoyed increasing popularity. Makers like Southern Gun Company have been cranking out straight pull, single shot, rimfire and even lever action ARs.

I saw the latest one on The Firearm Blog and was impressed by the cleverness of the design. It appears to be a blowback 9mm carbine that takes Glock magazines. A catch intercepts the recoiling bolt and keeps it in the rearward position. The user then depresses a lever, allowing the bolt to return to battery. The Youtube video embedded in the page below shows the thing operating fairly quickly.

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2013/04/02/scg-lever-release-9mm-ar-15-carbine/

It's still not "fully" semi-auto, but it gets our friends across the Pond a little bit closer.

 

[ECVMatt]

Very interesting.....

 

[Zoogster]

They don't have the ATF though to interpret thier semi-semi-auto as too readily converted to semi-auto, and therefore a semi-auto under the law.

If they had ATF definitions for semi-auto that we have for fully auto which can classify various semi auto only firearms as a fully auto...



Still interesting to see a 'lever action' AR.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

Hmmm. My stepdad had a Savage Model 6 and I had a later "modern" version, same internal action. Both were semi-auto, but the bolt was held open after recoil, then the trigger was released to chamber the the next round and reset the trigger for the next shot. I wonder if that would count as a semi-semi-auto? probably not, since the trigger was the bolt release.

Several million Model 6 and derivative models were made between the 1930s and 1980s.

 

[Zoogster]

We are probably playing into British anti-gunnery by calling them semi-semi-autos. As I bet the manufacturer is relying on it being called a lever action rifle for legality purposes.
A lever action that requires use of the lever to cycle the action.
A semi-semi-auto sounds a lot like a semi-auto, those things they already banned. Might work against them like the antis used the term assault weapon here to mean full auto weapons in the minds of many, backed up with videos and news reports showing fully automatic weapons being fired when talking about them.

Of course I believe the primary term they use is 'self-loading' for semi-auto firearms, so it may not be an issue.

I wish we used thier term for silencers/suppressors. They call them mufflers over there, just like they call the device that does the same thing for the same reason on thier cars. Makes them seem a lot more normal, you know like a device meant to protect hearing and reduce noise pollution, by doing the same thing other very common devices that work the same way and share the same name do.

 

[barnbwt]

A catch intercepts the recoiling bolt and keeps it in the rearward position

Not quite an open-bolt gun (since the trigger must still be reset/released once the bolt flies home), but that would not fly as a workaround here in the States. Too easily removed, too easily converted to full (semi)auto. One of the few places the ATF has been clearcut in its rulings. I'm sure the magistrates over there will have a similar ruling shortly, as well.

I wish we used thier term for silencers/suppressors.

*sneaky silent suppressor assassin sniper snakesssssss...*

I agree whole heartedly. It'd be like if repeaters were called Murdelators or something
(however, sneaker-shoes aren't associated with break ins, so...)

TCB

 

[jmorris]

Yeah, they might as well develop a mag with a ball detent that forces you to hit the bolt release every shot.

It would be a small yet handy "lever action" to close the bolt. Even more so if you held the lever down while shooting.

Don't know how it all really works but that might not fly here because of the open bolt. What happens on that system if you hold the lever on the left down?

 

[Odd Job]

They don't have the ATF though to interpret thier semi-semi-auto as too readily converted to semi-auto, and therefore a semi-auto under the law.

Actually the firearms units do check these designs, and the very first versions were deemed too easy to convert and were given Section 5 status (which is what a semi automatic centerfire rifle is). It is nigh on impossible for the ordinary Joe to get a Section 5 license.

 

[herkyguy]

that is just cool. not that it has any practical advantage, but just cool in the sense that someone can outsmart the gun ban crowd with a simple modification.