Quoted: Will there ever be a mid-length RAS or RAS II?
Or is the URX line the new thing? Will these ever be widespread on the civi market?
Just trying to send KAC more of my money!! Make it easier for me...
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Mid-length: lacking a common military model with a standardized "mid-length" profile, i.e., position of the gas port/FSB, etc. I doubt anyone would ever put out a mid length RAS that would mount between the delta ring and the forend cap in a manner of the M4 RIS/RAS and its many copies. RAS II would be a completely the oposite because we could make the front end as long as one wished. However, the small population of mid-lengths out there would not make a strong business case for such.
One could always take our long rifle model FF RAS (and to some extend our MRE) and shorten them to terminate short of a mid-length FSB. As a matter of fact, be accidently made a bunch of carbine length FF RAS that I call "Two Too Long" because they are two ribs longer than the regular carbine length that fits the M4. These sit on the shelf at present because of their odd length.
URX Carbines are coming (someday?) to the commercial side as the SR-15 E3 Carbine (16" chrome bore/chamber, 1:7 twist, mid-lenght URX, etc.). They are a true mid-length that use the medim length gas tube from our SR-25 Batle Rifle (BR). However, that gas tube is not the same length as others like Armalite's. I think his (Mark's) was designed to replicate the length of barrel in front of the FSB on his mid-length, whereas ours was the result of a gas pressure requirement in the 7.62 BR development program.
Ironically, this BR program also spawned the URX design becaue its design saved so much weigth in the 7.62 format replacing the huge steel SR-25 barel nut.
Several US Government customers have URX's as standard equipment on out SR-16 Full-Auto Carbines. So we routinely build M4 Carbine length URX's for those contracs. However, due to the current huge volume of War related orders for a whole host of our other products, we just can't address the commercial potential for the URX product a this time. As far as URX parts set availability, that will not happen until after we start delivering SR-16 E3 Carbines to our Dealers, and that is at least a year away...or USSOCOM selects our submitted 5.6 URX for the SOPMOD Block-2 program which has been dragging along now for 3 years+.
Now a year away is a long time, but consider this, 2007's Shot Show will be in Orlando, Florida aout 45 minutes from our plant in Titusville on the Atlantic coast at the Cape. We will be hosting a big afternoon-evening party--probably on that Saturday. So if you can attend, don't be surprised if you see a-couple of racks of SR15 E3's ready to ship to our dealers. I'll also have one on the range for you to shoot, along with the Army SASS, etc. I am also trying to build by 2007 one-hundred 5.6mm SASS clones. These will be dark earth colored like the new Army M110, have a flash suppressor, long URX, one-piece SASS Scope mount, adjustable buttstock from the SASS, etc.