A good illustration of the regulator at work
At the recent industry shoot, I had a chance to try new Faxon AR uppers. The design is an AK-style long-stroke piston with a FAL-type gas regulator. It allows effective suppressed use without any gas blowback at the shooter. Little comes out of the ejection port: I was able to shoot left-ejecting version from the right shoulder comfortably. Felt recoil is very low.
With AWC suppressor, Nightforce scope and CTC green laser for CQB
Charging handle doesn’t reciprocate, can be switched left to right in seconds. Folding stocks are possible. The barrel can be quickly swapped between .223 and 300BLK. Field-strips very easily, with fewer small parts than a regular AR upper. Left and right ejecting uppers are made.
Scoped
Bob Faxon is left-handed, so his company pays close attention to the needs of left-handed shooters
The balance is excellent: this slightly built 12yo kid had no trouble running the medium-weight version.
A screw-on shell deflector is available.
Looks pretty cool. I’ll keep them in mind. If only they licensed the 458SOCOM round and 50Beowulf I’d be very happy.
UGH! I can’t wait to get my hands on one of these again! I loved the 14 inch bull barrel they had. I’d like one with a 12-13 inch cowel and 16 inch barrel. That design is sooooo sweet.
I could give up my Sig 556 for this. I like the 556, except that the mag release and safety are just out of reach, but I can work the controls on a standard AR lower just fine.
That was my first impression — I sold my Sig556 recently and this would make a great replacement. Better balance and adjustable gas regulator. My Sig didn’t have a folding stock, more current models have one that’s superb — but the gun gets much too front-heavy when silenced.
How is it better than a stock AR-15 upper?
It doesn’t field strip with fewer small parts than an AR upper. Field strip an AR, you get three parts, the rifle, the charging handle, and the bolt carrier assembly. Field strip the Faxon, you get the rifle, the return spring, and the bolt carrier assembly.
So it’s an upper that costs as much as a Colt 6920, made by some no name company, that’s clearly much heavier and less elegant than a stock AR-15 upper, which uses the same 7-lug bolt (arguably the weakest point in the AR-15’s upper receiver). Since it uses AR-15 lowers, it uses AR-15 magazines, again arguably the weakest point in the reliability chain of an AR.
How is this better?
I base my liking on firing it and comparing my subjective impressions.
I’m not trying to say that it’s not an enjoyable gun to shoot, I’m just not seeing the improvement over a standard AR.
Variety is the spice of life and all that, but it’s a far cry from an interesting curiosity that you own because you like it, and a real technical improvement over the current standard.
I agree. I’ll have more time with it in a month and will be able to comment in detail.
Good gawd, it’s like having an AR but without all the annoying bits about an AR (awkward charging handle, gas in face)
25 years ago what choices did you have for a black rifle maybe 10 or 15 at the most. There are now over 45 company’s producing rifles and full uppers. We all are very passionate about our weapons and we have a choice of what we can shoot. Innovation , passion and technology has kept the industry alive. Ammo makers are knocking it out of the park with new bullets and propellents. Without the above mentioned, the haters would have put us out of business long ago.
At Faxon we have stepped out of the box with our design and the ease of use that we have built into our upper. How many manufactures have a product where you can change from 300BLK to 5.56 in less than 5 minutes? An 8 lug bolt, a reliable long stroke piston system, cleaning ports for the gas block, the fact you can attach a side folding stock to your lower because there is no need for the buffer with our recoil system. A true left hand upper. These are just a few of the features on our upper. There once was a guy named GLOCK that had a new approach to the handgun industry, well you know the story there.
We still have our guns because the industry is strong. The biggest thing that has kept it strong is we get to choose what we want to buy. We are going to do our part with some new technology, versatility and reliability and stand behind our product 100%. We welcome all comments and opinions. Support the Shooting Sports, and be safe.
From Oleg’s info, it’s 90% of a Robinson XCR, without Alex Robinson, and using a standard AR lower. I would love to see a real website with sales info and prices. If you added some more calibers (6.5 Grendel, 7.62x39R), and also had a .308Win/7.62 NATO in the works, I would seriously be considering a purchase.
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I can’t wait for the website to get up and running to learn more about this rifle. I love it and will be ordering one as soon as they become available. If it lives up to it’s potential I’ll be thanking Faxon for answering my prayers.
I’m tentatively excited. Could one run a folding stock on this?
Yes, folding stocks are shown in several of the photos.