Oh man, I had a blast this week down at the Big 3, for those who asked, I made it home safely a got a flight out just before they shut down MCO, thank you for your concern.  

One of the things to catch my eye first was the F90 from Lithgow.  It was like the first time I got a Tavor in my hands... I know I have to have one.

These models were select fire and handled and shot very well.  I didn't see a single malfunction on either of them all day and they worked with both the older styer mags and the newer AUS pmags.

I'll be looking forward to doing a full review on these once they come out of production.

ETA?

Their caliber change claim is slightly ridiculous. Removing the entire barreled action while replacing it with another barreled action (only keeping the stock/hammerpack) is essentially a new firearm - not a quick caliber change.

Meh sort of similar to an ar except the barreled action is probably the firearm as far as the ATF is concerned.

How many people actually quick change calibers though? To me it seems like a useless thing to hype. Oh man look how fast I swapped calibers (with something where it is just a barrel and bolt swap)... now I gotta re zero because the rounds have a different trajectory. I could be wrong but I think most people leave their convertible firearm in whichever caliber they like better with very little swapping back and fourth.

And as you brought up upper swaps aka an ar or this you essentially have most of a gun sitting around aka a barrel reciever and either irons or a optic that's zeroed. At that point I'd rather finish it and have two guns instead of the swapping game.

Thank you for the video and the information.

Don't be the 2nd man in the stack.  What an ejection pattern.

They are saying by this SHOTshow .  Hopefully that's the case.

Interesting you should bring that up, lol  I did a video on 5.56 to .300 blk recently.  Mostly for the ease of taking down for a backpack, not solely for caliber changes.





I have to agree here, considering what the lower cost would be, just have two guns. Makes sense for you and I.

Then again for having a DMR in a squad that usually does urban ops and then having to pull overwatch on a roof, being able to pull a 20" DMR with a dedicated longer range optic on it would be pretty useful.  I'm also sure the bean counters figure buying 1 extra upper vs upper and lower per squad equals a lot of coin in the budget.... ?  Speculative for sure.  There are a lot of end users who like the "modularity" though... i.e. if the demand is there, someone will do it/build it.

That AR reminds me of the old take down winchesters not a new concept. Kind of neat but very situational and how much does it add to the $$$?

As for swapping uppers in the field. I don't see that being something that will ever be really popular with the military. Then you have to store your dmr upper with optic someplace in your gear where it easily accessible yet won't get damaged from the abuse it will inevitably take from being in your pack and getting thrown around. Also a easier solution is just having the guy practice cqb with his dmr rifle if that's what he's going to be issued. Is it less than ideal sure but it will work look how long the marines kept the a4 heck that's what I used in basic at fort benning in 07 even. Hell I don't remember us even taking and using the spare barrels for our belt feds most of the time and that's lighter more rugged and something that should be lugged around.

It's just my opinion that the quick change configuration things are of dubious merit and not needed for most users. That said I think modularity down to where say a armourer level they can reconfigure a rifle is pretty much mandatory these days. You can still change things easy just not in the field as it were where I doubt that ever really happens anyways.

Back on course I'm jealous you got to shoot the f90 it looks like a real beaut.

Guys - it's an AUG with re-worked receiver and lightened barrel, and rail(s).
You'll recall the AUG has removable quick-change barrels - not the case with the Lithgow, as they've more or less solidly clamped in the barrel to the modified receiver...which comes out of an AUG stock exactly the same way.

I remain expecting he hammer pack to be identical or nearly so, so the Geisselle trigger being mentioned is very likely the identical AUG hammer pack they've been working on.  

None of this is a negative - they've collectively lightened the receiver and barrel, and the rail setup may be more appealing to some vs the current AUG A3 M1 or older A3 setups.  

If they come out with any caliber 'conversions' which are more or less entire rifle minus stock and hammer pack, at reasonable prices...wonderful.  It may kick Steyr in the ass enough to see some movement/signs of life there, and I might well be interested in a .300BO whether it's for the Lithgow or Steyr.

I am curious to find out if a Steyr receiver will lock into their stock...and vice versa.

I was really excited about this gun, but now I'm bummed about the mags. I was hoping the US release would be redesigned for stanag mags. I'm a one rifle guy. I sold my MSAR and went back to an AR when they went under do to parts availability (I did wear them out), and have been waiting for a replacement.

 

the AUG pattern mag is what the Australian military uses.  Why would they change to using the inferior stanag design and have to dump all their inventory of ADI (and now Magpul) mags?


if you're a 'one rifle guy' what difference does it make what mag it uses?  Magpul AUG mags only cost about $18

Oh I understand WHY they use it. I was just hoping to see them built over here with stanag compatibility, or a separate option. I have piles of mags already, and the guys I train with all use stanag too. I don't want to be the only guy I shoot with that uses weird mags.

The AUG magazines - along with the SIG 55X magazines - are the most robust and reliable magazines in the world.  The MAGPUL versions are also excellent. I wouldn't discount the platform (AUG or LITHGOW) just because of the magazines.buy 5-20 and you are in business.

I would bet at some point they have a stanag lower, if the reception is as good as it probably will be..

I was a bit bummed about the mags as well, especially because I saw the big pile of PMAG's next to them initially before realizing they were AUS lol.

This is one of those things, I have SCAR17 mags, I have SR25 pattern mags.  I have AK47 and AK74 mags.  Having AR and having AUS mags isn't that big of a deal in reality.  If I want to go to war with a bullpup I'm grabbing a Tavor and Hexmags , no issues on what gen mag to run in which, or putting it in any other rifle that takes AR mags.  

At $18 each it's not that big of a deal and if the F90 takes off, you'll see competition from other companies push that $18 down to $15ish pretty quickly.  Either way grabbing a 10 pack won't break the bank if you are already forking over 2k (or whatever it streets at) for the rifle.