The Firearm Blog

I guess the real news would be if they were not!

This photo was taken by a French photographer.

[ Many thanks to jdun1911 for emailing me the link. ]

Earlier this year Soroka, a New Zealand firm, unveiled their Soroka 07 rifle action. It based on the famous falling block Gibbs Farquharson action.

Internally it differs from other rifles that make use of the Farquharson action by its use of a in-line striker driven by a coil spring rather than a rotating hammer. This decrease lock time and allows repeated dry firing. Soroka says ...

Firstly it is 100% manufactured in New Zealand. Secondly, my action whilst looking like a later model Gibbs Farquharson is completely different inside. It uses a striker (firing pin) that is in-line with the bore that is powered by a chrome silicone coil spring. This gives extremely fast lock time and reliable ignition. The design also allows for dry firing which many single shot designs abhorr. Every single component in this action is either CNC'd or wire cut. All the major components- receiver, trigger plate, underlever, quarter rib are CNC'd from Boehler P 20 vaccuum re-melted billet bar stock, a couple of minor items, safety button and bar from 4140, the internal links and other components EDM wire cut from from 17-4 ph stainless ground plate. My machinists are are arguably the best 3d machinists in this part of the world. I can assure you it takes some doing to machine the compound curves found in this design. Ask anyone who knows.

This stunningly beautiful work of art comes at a price. The total price (inc. shipping overseas) is US$14,500!

Many thanks to Mehul for the link and info about the rifles.

From MP.net:

However, although the 13,000 Steyr rifles which have been in service for 20 years, would not be replaced, they would be a significant part of the upgrade programme.

The study would look at modifying about 3000 of the 13,000 5.56mm rifles so they could take more fittings on the top rail, instead of the factory-fitted 1.5 magnification sighting system

The Australians already use a mixture of the AUGs with 1.5x sights and the ‘railed’ AUGs. I have always thought that the 1.5x scope was a bad compromise on an assault rifle. The target acquisition speed is less than a non magnified red dot sight (I have no experience with magnified red dot sights) but lacks the benefits of a more powerful scope. It must be working for the New Zealanders because they are only thinking about converting 23% of their rifles.

Australian Solider in Iraq with ADI Austeyr A3 that
comes fitted with a rail.