New: Bond Arms Lever Motion AR-15

Whether or not you like them or hate them, modernized or so-called “tactical” lever motion rifles have skyrocketed in reputation in recent times. We are able to attest that our personal Marlin 336 Darkish Collection mission is a ton of enjoyable to shoot, but it surely nonetheless has a number of downsides. The journal tube can solely maintain 5 rounds, it have to be reloaded one spherical at a time, and the guide of arms is considerably completely different from a contemporary semi-auto rifle, resulting in a steep studying curve. At SHOT Present 2023, we discovered a brand new Bond Arms lever motion rifle that fuses this basic working mechanism with the ergonomics, capability, and modularity of an AR-15. The Bond Arms lever motion AR decrease can be utilized with any milspec AR-15 higher, feeds from an AR-15 magazine, and accepts quite a lot of Remington 870 shotgun shares.

About Bond Arms

Bond Arms is a Texas-based gun producer that has been round since 1995, however they don’t seem to be usually related to rifles. The corporate primarily makes Derringer-style double-barrel handguns. So, after we walked by the Bond Arms sales space at SHOT Present this week, we had been stunned and intrigued to see the lever gun pictured above on a desk surrounded by handguns. We instantly requested for extra data and had been directed to the rifle’s designer, who gave us an in depth run-down of its options.

The Bond Arms Lever Motion AR-15

To be clear, this rifle remains to be in a pre-production prototype part, however Bond Arms tells us they have been testing and refining it for greater than a 12 months already. It is not the primary lever-gun-meets-AR mission we have heard of — the FightLite Herring Mannequin 2024 involves thoughts — but it surely actually looks like a serious step ahead on this class.

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Ranging from the highest, it accepts a regular AR-15 higher receiver. Bond Arms says it has been confirmed to work with every part from a .223/5.56mm higher all the best way as much as a .50 Beowulf higher. Most of us already personal a number of AR higher receivers that can be utilized with the Bond Arms lever motion decrease.

Transferring on to the decrease receiver, that is the place it will get actually attention-grabbing. There is a push-button security just like what you’d discover on a lever gun, and a novel magazine launch that extends rearward to supply quick access to the shooter’s index finger. The entrance portion of this magazine launch — the half the place a daily AR magazine launch button can be — may also be pressed on to drop the magazine. On the alternative aspect of the receiver, there’s one other magazine launch button for ambidextrous use. The magazine effectively is flared for fast reloads; we examined its retention and launch with a 30-round PMAG.

Probably the most shocking a part of the Bond Arms lever motion AR is the lever mechanism itself. Based on the designer, it makes use of an uneven cam that rides in a monitor (the slotted silver piece protruding from the receiver in these photographs). This enables the leverage utilized to the bolt to extend at factors the place extra pressure is required, corresponding to whereas feeding a spherical from the journal. Bond Arms says this advanced cam mechanism wasn’t vital for five or 10-round mags, however feeding the primary few rounds from a full 30-round magazine created extra resistance and required extra leverage for clean operation.

There’s additionally a secondary “grip security” constructed into the lever — to ensure that the rifle to fireplace, the lever have to be squeezed frivolously towards the inventory. This features equally to a 1911 grip security, solely reversed to the entrance of the grip.

We had been in a position to deal with and dry hearth the lever gun prototype, and located it to be clean and straightforward to make use of. In comparison with a conventional lever gun, this rifle has a noticeably shorter throw that lends itself to speedy hearth. The one time we observed the grip security mechanism was after we tried to press the set off with out touching the lever; it labored as meant and prevented the rifle from firing.

One other ingenious side of this design is the interchangeable lever loop. Bond Arms realized that some customers favor massive loops to be used with gloves, whereas others favor extra conventional small loops. Additionally they wished to permit customers to swap to varied Remington 870 shotgun shares, such because the Magpul SGA 870 inventory and Hogue Overmolded inventory pictured right here — this may require completely different loop shapes to match the contour of the grip. The answer was easy: make the the loop and set off guard a separate piece from the interior a part of the lever. The loop attaches to the gun by way of two dovetailed sections across the set off guard.

This modular design permits the person to simply swap lever loops (and shares) with out affecting the rifle’s inner mechanism or requiring gunsmithing work.

Value and Availability

We’ve not had an opportunity to shoot the Bond Arms lever motion AR but, however we hope to get our arms on one quickly for an intensive evaluation. Bond Arms instructed us their aim is to launch the retail model of this lever gun by this time subsequent 12 months (i.e. January 2024) at an MSRP of $1,500. Clearly, the worth and time-frame should not set in stone at this level. For extra data, control BondArms.com or observe the corporate’s Instagram @BondArms_.

Written by Patrick McCarthy