Century International Arms
I have been working with the Century Arms C15A1 55.6 rifle forsome time now. I do love retro stuff, as long as it’s retro stuffthat works, and this retro gun does. The Army had the M16 A1 rightin the beginning-a lightweight 20 inch barreled security/battlerifle with a twist rate that only marginally stabilized 55-grainFMJ bullets.
The short A1 stock is a perfect fit for nearly everyone withoutadjustment, and the original A1 sights that can’t be knocked out ofalignment, are ideal for rough duty use. Combine this with anoverall “carry all day” light weight of about 6.5 pounds and youhave an excellent battle rifle for all reasonable ranges that arifle with open sights can be deployed. All this for around $650(or less).
Now Century International also offers a California approved ,fixed 10-round magazine, break-open version. Century Internationalalso has a great selection of surplus arms. Check them out atwww.centuryarms.com
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CMMG
This family owned, one time supplier of parts and uppers, (ofwhich I am a proud owner of an aforementioned mid-length upper), isnow making complete rifles. I can speak of the quality of CMMG, asI use their upper on a Sun Devil Mfg. lower as my SRT entry gun.CMMG is offering a wide variety of AR configurations which includeM-4 style guns, full length guns, government profile, LE series,bull barrel profile, medium contour guns (with mid-length gas portsavailable) and AR pistols. All of these are available at veryreasonable MSRP’s. But most interesting are their short-barrelguns.
The shortest of all has a 7.3-inch barrel and is gas-pistonoperated. It is hard to get reliable operation out of very shortbarrel 5.56 AR’s for any length of time because the shorteneddirect gas impingement system gets the gun superhot very fast.
The piston system ought to keep their shorty running muchcooler, and thus more reliably. As with all the shorty guns, NFArules apply, which requires the purchase of a $200 tax stamp andfederal background check for private ownership-if the gun is legalin your area. CMMG also markets piston conversion kits for yourcurrent AR. As you shop around for an AR, take a look at the CMMGline. Based on my experience, I think you will find their qualityfar exceeds their price. www.cmmginc.com
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