Not everyone at Industry Range Day has booths for shooting. Off to the side of the main entrance is a cluster of tents with booths. Sort of a tactical winter market. Here companies can showcase some products that are either gun related and not necessarily a gun, or some manufacturers use it as a mini Shot Show booth.

One of the companies tucked away amongst the ear pro and cleaning solutions was War Sport. I have been a fan of the LVOA that I went and made my own Salient Rifle which is similar to the LVOA. At least the original SAI Tier 1 rifle was. One issue I had with my DIY Salient Rifle and the two times I handled an LVOA had to do with the handguard. No it isn’t the front end that I had issues with, but rather the handguard was already behind the curve for me. It has screw holes all along the sides and bottom to attach a picatinny rail. I much prefer MLOK or even Keymod. Well War Sport has now addressed that and has updated the LVOA rail with MLOK Slots.

War Sport did not just stop there though. Another complaint, and it is not just me, was that the handguard inner diameter was too narrow to use a suppressor. The LVOA muzzle is tucked behind the front of the handguard so unless you had a very narrow suppressor or a barrel adapter to stick out past the handguard, you could not suppress an LVOA. The new handguard inner diameter has now been made wider to accomodate 1.5″ diameter suppressors.

Their muzzle brake has changed as well. You can see it shares a similar style brim as their Top Hat muzzle brakes but this one is wider to accommodate the larger inner diameter but the style of the muzzle brake has changed completely.

Due to the larger ID of the new LVOA handguard, the barrel nut has been changed to a timed barrel nut design. The flanged barrel nut helps to act as a heat sink and pulls heat away from the barrel, according to the War Sport rep.

I noticed some other small changes as well. At the back of the handguard, the original LVOA handguard has steel clips called Dog Bone, that help index the handguard to the upper receiver and prevents rotation. War Sport has integrated these supports and machined them right into the rear of the handguard. You can see one directly under the picatinny rail where the upper receiver mates up with the back of the handguard.

Another small change is the switch to use three hex screws. Before the old hand guard used two hex screws and one set screw in the middle. Due to the larger ID, War Sport needed more clamping force so they went with a three screw design you can see in the photos above and below

The blocked off triangular holes have also been given texture for added grip.

War Sport is also starting to make pistol caliber carbine ARs. Below is their pistol AR chambered in 9mm using Glock magazines. I have been told there will be a rifle version of this as well as a rifle version of an LVOA in 9mm. I would very much like to check out a 9mm LVOA for USPSA.

The flash hider on the PCC is not a final product. They are going to tweak the design a bit, so if you get one, it might have a different flash hider or muzzle brake on it.