The bell of the SHOT Show ball this year is the Franklin Armory Reformation. It’s an AR15 with an 11.5” barrel but not subject to the NFA. I got to shoot it yesterday and it felt like a well-sorted 11.5″ SBR with a binary trigger. In other words, it felt great. I was not able to do any accuracy testing, so minute of barn or otherwise is strictly speculation at this point. The big debate has been how are they able to waive a big fully extended middle finger towards the NFA Branch?
Finally the guys at Franklin Armory have some frank answers.
First, what we knew up until this morning:
- 11.5″ barrel
- Accepts AR furniture
- Includes Franklin’s Binary Trigger
- Takes AR Mags
- Not an NFA item
- It’s at Booth #20365
What we know now:
- Its 11.5″ barrel has lands and groves cut straight down the bore.
- yada
- yada
The important bit is the barrel is not considered “rifled” by the ATF, even though it has lands and groves.
So how is this non-SBR not an SBR?
Good question. According to the numbers and letters below, the Reformation isn’t a rifle, because the bore isn’t rifled.
18 U.S.C., § 921(A)(7) and 27 CFR § 478.11
The term “Rifle” means a weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder and designed or redesigned and made or remade to use the energy of the explosive in a fixed metallic cartridge to fire only a single projectile through a rifled bore for each single pull of the trigger.
The Reformation isn’t subject to the National Firearms Act, So the Reformation can’t be a short barreled rifle because it’s not a rifle.
§ 5845(a)(4) — The term “Firearm” means a weapon made from a rifle if such weapon as modified has an overall length of less than 26 inches or a barrel or barrels of less than 16 inches in length;
So then what is it? Well, it depends on who you ask. It doesn’t meet the Gun Control Act’s guidelines to be considered a pistol, rifle or shotgun so the ATF is calling it a “firearm.” However, it’s over 26” long and not made from a rifle so it can’t be considered a “firearm” according to National Firearms Act. So it’s a firearm and not a firearm at the same time. Physicists are already using the Reformation to study Quantum mechanics, and apparently the multiverse theory is correct. Is there no problem guns can’t solve? The NFA branch of the ATF simply gave up and went home.
I know what you’re asking, because I was asking the same thing. How accurate could an 11.5″ non-rifled “firearm” chambered in 300 BLK possibly be?
Well, according to the Franklin rep they are achieving 4 MOA with off-the-shelf ammo, so it’s minute of bad guy. They are releasing fin-stabilized projectiles that, from their testing, have produced near MOA accuracy.
The initial release will be in 300 Blackout with 5.56 to follow. Ammo will be released when the not-SBR is released.
Watch this space for updates.