Radical Firearms 16 in 223/556 Socom Barreled Upper Full Review
In 2013, Radical Firearms opened shop with a uncomplicated business organization model: source cheap parts from all over, build economic AR-xv rifles, and then sell them at a low price.
I was recently afforded the opportunity to tour the company's facility in the sweltering belly of Houston and meet with the folks working backside the scenes.
Marketing manager Mel Miranda was a gracious host and gave me some background about the all-American showtime-up proverb he and COO David Spector had started the concern with a handful of other people.
The visitor experienced exponential growth and soon outpaced some of their suppliers who could not go on up with need. This forced them to grow into manufacturing, purchasing expensive machines and raw materials then they could keep upwardly with the edifice shell of orders coming in.
Inside five years the company grew to 100 employees, currently manufacturing 75 percent of all its rifles in house, creating parts and assembling 600 units per day, and all the same having some backorders. Radical Firearms builds the AR platform in just about every configuration and quotient currently available.
It hasn't all been polish. Spector admitted they had an issue with commodities carrier groups previously and learned some difficult lessons. They re-sourced to a better supplier and now the issue is fixed. Reputationally, the visitor has moved forward, honoring its lifetime warranty on parts they build.
Radical Firearms has a large reach through distributors Brownells, RSR, Williams and Atlantic, also as straight to client sales. The company also builds parts for some major players in the firearms manufacture. They have military machine clienteles, and even strange government militaries, merely law enforcement holds a special place in their hearts. The company has donated somewhere between 700-800 rifles over the last few years – at least half of them to law enforcement officers, the other half to back up worthy charities. Radical has issued weapons to 305 law enforcement agencies.
Radical Firearms Blue Line offering
The company story is keen, simply I wanted to see exactly what Radical Firearms is doing for cops around the nation with its Blue Line offering.
Officers who tin can prove their credentials can guild a quality base of operations rifle for $699.99, much less than the $1049.99 MSRP. The AR is duty set up and comes with a lot of great features for the toll.
The basic burglarize is a 16-inch, Melonite-coated butt (1 in 7 twist), v.56 chambered, mid-length, direct impingement gas arrangement, with pinned gas block and staked castle nut. The upper and lower are forged and the MHR rail I chose (one of a few options) was a full length, free-floated rail having M-LOK and quad Picatinny at the end. The runway is apartment-top, so yous tin can mount whatever optic or BUIS you similar.
Plus, constabulary enforcers can select from a limited amount of upgrades offered to them just higher up Radical's cost. Options like a CMC Trigger, Aimpoint optic, BCM charging handle, or Streamlight weapon lite, are inside your grasp at a discount making this a ane-stop shopping destination.
Once the weapon is configured, Radical Firearms gunsmith Clayton Schubert hand-assembles all the parts and puts the burglarize through a 36-signal inspection before test-firing it in-house using 50 rounds. Schubert went to the oldest gunsmithing schoolhouse in America at Trinidad State Inferior College, incidentally the same place I went to the police academy many moons ago. I observed every bit Schubert assembled and fired my test rifle in an in-house booth marked with a blueish line downward the middle of the walls. We so drove to a local gun range and fired the better role of some other 150 rounds earlier it was even cleaned or lubricated. I liked the residual of the rifle, the feel of the rail and the Magpul furniture, and experienced zero malfunctions.
To the range
Next, I wanted to stretch the rifle out for some MOA testing. Because the theme of high-value at a depression-cost, I asked Truglo for ane of its Omnia 1-4 scopes and a bipod. When these arrived, I mounted them up and headed out to the 100-yard range with several unlike brands of ammunition.
When I saw the $182.00 price of the Truglo Omnia on Amazon, I tempered my expectations, but was completely surprised – it was a good optic. The glass was clear, the throw lever helped dispense the magnification with ease, and there were 11 levels of illumination for the reticle. I set zero pretty quickly with turrets that popped out for aligning, then locked back into place with a snap.
The Truglo bipod was also a good value, providing a stable platform and different angles of adjustment capable of dealing with different shooting terrain. The but negative I found involved having to retighten the bipod after a couple hundred rounds.
I was able to hitting some i.5-inch groups at 100 yards with this setup. I suspect the rifle could practice improve, simply with my eyes using a 1-4x24 at that distance, I felt this was pretty proficient.
Performance
The Radical Firearms Blue Line RF-15 ran flawlessly through 700 rounds of testing. The first 200 rounds were pre-lube/cleaning. I lubed the burglarize for the next 300 rounds and so cleaned it before the final 200 I shot for MOA. There were nil hiccups and the performance became predictably solid through American Eagle, Winchester, Hornady Black and Hornady Frontier brands of .223/5.56 ammunition.
The muzzle break (RF design) gave me a very controllable recoil impulse and the Magpul furniture was a delight (though the Magpul CTR was not 100 pct beard friendly). All the controls were outstanding and I establish myself learning the rifle and getting comfortable with it.
I don't care where y'all work, officers on the street demand an AR. The chances of you lot being out-gunned are fairly high, only disallowment that, yous sometimes have to engage a threat from a greater distance. Most agencies provide officers with this option, but some let employees to provide their own. I establish the Radical Firearms Blue Line to be a nifty pick to fill this role. The standard rifle is of loftier quality and at least to the limit of 700 rounds, has been perfectly reliable. Nearly problems would take been ferreted out well curt of this mark. Cops looking for an inexpensive option should check out the Firearms Radical website and build themselves a duty rifle.
Specifications
- Manufacturer: Radical Firearms (Stafford, Texas)
- Caliber: 5.56 (multi)
- Action Blazon: Semi
- Barrel: 16 inches with RF cage device
- Magazine: Detachable
- Sights: Optional
- Weight: half dozen lbs., 9 oz.
- Length: 33-36.25 inches
- MSRP: $1049.99 ($699.99 Blue Line price)
Nigh the author
Sean Curtis is a police force enforcement professional with over two decades of experience, serving with SWAT, diving and swift h2o rescue teams in Colorado. He has also served in wildland fire, search and rescue, EMS and emergency management.
Source: https://www.police1.com/police-products/firearms/articles/review-radical-firearms-blue-line-rifles-rHAb0hiUTDbISuhn/