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Franklin Armory Reformation: Not a Rifle, Not a Shotgun, But a ‘Firearm’

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  • FrommerStop

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    People using loop holes in Federal firearm laws. I just watched a video of a Franklin armory product with straight rifling on the Military Arms Channel. The example on the video was equipped with a binary trigger. I see people thinking outside of the box, but in this case I am wondering if this is a useful weapon. One can use a shorter barrel and a fore grip on this product since it is not a pistol.

    The hype behind this product
    Franklin Armory Reformation: Not a Rifle, Not a Shotgun, But a ‘Firearm’
    Franklin Armory's NRS barrel technology. NRS stands for “Not a Rifle or Shotgun” and has straight cut lands and grooves while retaining a standard chamber. ... Since Reformation cannot be a rifle or a shotgun, it also cannot be a short barreled rifle of a short barreled shotgun.

    With about IIRC an 8 inch barrel in 5.56 accuracy with key holing bullets was ok at 50 yards believe it or not, but at one hundred was very limited in penetration. My take is that this is an interesting development, but only useful at closer ranges in 5.56. The claim was that the straight rifling in not spinning the bullet caused less deviation when keyholing than what normally occurs. The labradar chronograph for some reason would not consistently record the tumbling bullets.

    It will be interesting to see how this product preforms in .300 blackout with heavy subsonic bullets that tumble. They might preform better at 100 yards than the lighter 5.56 bullets.



    There will be another video on penetration of materials and also using the 300 blackout coming from the Military Arms Channel.

    Below 50 yard grouping with 5.56 bullets heavier than 55 grains.
    50 yd grp 62 bullets..JPG
     

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    John B.

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    This piece of shit was released at SHOT last year... nothing to see.
    e751e4945115104f73490ed1044a38fb.jpg
    1d8b20c6c34dff4cdf0dcf3440cfa4c4.jpg


    Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
     

    SAWMAN

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    You got a bunch of rattlesnakes in a pen. They don't do a damn thing except sit around all day thinking about ways to bite people.
    Now . . . up walks a whole bunch of stoopid people with sticks. They start pokeing at the snakes trying to get them riled up.
    Finally,after haveing their fill of being poked,the snakes all lash out at once and bite all them stoopid motherfuckers.
    Sound about right ?? ---- SAWMAN
     

    Murfpcola

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    Looks like a rifle but patterns like a shotgun
     

    FrommerStop

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    Straight rifling is not new dating back about 500 or more years ago when it was meant to be a place for the accumulation of black powder fouling to go so I doubt that they can patent it in a modern firearm. So if true anyone that wants to make those barrels likely can. So for me the question is what will this do for me that an AR pistol will not do.
    1- one can put a vertical foregrip on the gun which is no value to me.
    2-The lethal range of the tumbling bullets is likely only a few hundred yards and the exterior walls of house will stop it at any distance. It is accurate enough to past 50 yards and not so much past 100. So it would work for close quarters. But is that barrel the only way to get bullets to tumble if that is your goal. But they add that tumbling bullets from conventional rifled barrels are much more inaccurate than they are this straight rifled barrel. At fifty yards is more accurate than a shotgun with conventional buckshot loads would be.

    So it might have merit for close combat such as a swat doing an entry. i am not planning to buy one for sure, but will watch this to see where goes with interest.
     

    SAWMAN

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    A tumbleing bullet would be much better if it were HEAVY.
    You would still have the momentum. Like a 300BLK / 220gr. --- SAWMAN
     

    wildrider666

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    Talk about walking a fine line: the Owners Manual states the ATF determined the Reformation was a SBS under the GCA of 68 BUT that it is not Classified as a SBS under the NFA! Therefore, since it does not fall under the "NFA"; its a Firearm.
    Please Note that some States utilize their own Classification definitions, restrictions and or Bans.

    The 7.5 inch 5.56 model is just too handicapped with this bore design. Its a firearm that obligates your carry/handling capability and is only adequate within a narrow scenario. The rifle-ish configuration provides aiming stability for "poor by design" ballistics and there are dozens of other platforms that can fit in that space and perform better under more scenarios. At $1100 $1400, its a spendy way to flip the bird to ATF/DOJ, thats the only thing I thing I think it does really well! Hell, maybe the DOJ will say ATF interpreted the Law wrong (again) and write more "New" definitions so it can be banned too.

    I wasn't impressed with the tests other than the ballistic gel. He used a top, of the Line LabRadar (Doppler radar) but he fails to place muzzle in proper relation to the LabRadar WITH consideration for the firearms muzzle device. Side discharging muzzle devices need to be well forward 6-8 inches in order to properly read the Pressure Wave (its not directly measuring a "passing projectile" between set points. Same reason it wasn't providing full data out to 100 yards with the rifle. Further, since we're told projectile tumbling starts @15 feet(+-), any measurement prior to tumbling will not accurately reflect mid nor terminal ballistics that progressively degrade with each tumble rotation. The 62gr Green Tip from a 7.5 inch barrel (2329fps) is already more than 500fps slower than from a 16 inch barrel. If it were properly stabilized it would loose about 300fps @100. Since it's umbling on all axis; you can't use existing ballistics data to determine the velocity loss over a given distance. Based on his 100 yard shotgun pattern, I don't think it would be wise to try and shoot past that $600 Chrono.

    IMHO
     

    FrommerStop

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    MY interest is more on the barrel design than for the rest of the gun. While I am not sold on tumbling bullets, its limited range might have some advantages. In a self defense scenario you own the liability for all bullets that leave your weapon. For home defense I tend to heavily lean on the shotgun with number 4 buckshot because of its limited range and penetration. This straight rifling combination is still accurate enough to get a head at 50 yards and probably is not too dangerous at longer distances. I am just thinking about it with an open mind at the moment.
     

    wildrider666

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    If a tumbling round is desired, it can be created with a few swipes of a file to the side of the projectile (above the rifling contact area) will offset stability: no need to buy a seperate gun for that. Lol. I don't have a clue how "notched" projectiles would group.
     

    FrommerStop

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    If a tumbling round is desired, it can be created with a few swipes of a file to the side of the projectile (above the rifling contact area) will offset stability: no need to buy a seperate gun for that. Lol. I don't have a clue how "notched" projectiles would group.
    Marring the barrel will cause tumbling, but the essential is still getting a 2 inch group at 50 yards which is accurate enough to head shoot a foe. If the bullet is spinning as it leaves the barrel and it tumbles the claim is that it is more inaccurate than a tumbling bullet from straight rifling. I am interested, but not 100 percent convinced. If you want a to bullet tumble upon striking flesh even from normal rifling, make the bullet unbalanced with a large air space or aluminum insert. Military 5.45x39 is loaded that way.
    What is attracting my attention is limited range, but still very deadly at ranges up to 50 yards. You own the liability for any bullet that you fire. Anything that drastically reduces velocity will reduce potential to penetrate materials and cause harm at a distance.
     

    wildrider666

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    It's my understanding that the origional U.S. Military 5.56×45 was designed to tumble on impact when fired from the origional weapon.
    Defacing a barrel or muzzle is a bit extreme compared to notching bullets. You can still shoot unaltered ammo for normal accuracy.
    I really don't have enough interest to bother testing notched bullet spread or how big or small the notch is to still achieve a desired 50ft group size.

    The firearm size can be matched with the only difference being what you legally call the back end. Tumbling can be induced and is likely adjustable and repeatable. I see no advantage in a dedicated tumble gun with such range and terminal ballistic limitations.

    Additionally, if pre impact tumbling type results are desired; it could also be done (as above) with carbine/rifle length guns @ higher velocities and more than likely smaller groups.

    Just my opinions.
     

    FrommerStop

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    notching bullets.
    You say that notching causes tumbling. Have you observed such bullets to keyhole? I would think it to be detrimental to accuracy. I have fired deformed bullets and noticed a loss of accuracy, I did not see keyholing in the targets, but i may have missed it. You still want a 2 inch group at 50 yards that you will likely not get tumbling or not from notch bullets. Yes I would be interested in learning more about it. Do you have any sources or links on such.
     
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