Who would have ever guessed that FN would make the leap to manufacturing AR-15 based carbines and rifles? Seems like everybody is jumping on that bandwagon these days. Though they’ve produced the guns for quite a while, they’ve only had a few regular customers. Still, it looks like they know how to build them. Maybe it’s the hundreds of thousands of guns they’ve built for the US military that has given them a little practice.

New this year is the FN 15, the commercial version of the company’s AR. Initially, it will be offered in two versions, a rifle with a full stock and 20″ barrel and a carbine with an adjustable stock and a 16″ barrel. These are decidedly no-frills guns. In fact, I expect that some are going to complain about the underwhelming nature of yet another “base” AR model. But the fact that these are coming out of the same South Carolina facility as the proven military model means a lot, and when it comes to mil-spec, these guns are built by people whose livelihood depends on earning the stamp of approval. And my guess is that these two base models are only setting the stage for a full-fledged entry into the wild AR market by someone who knows a thing or two about building the things.

Where once companies with large government contracts often ignored the civilian side of the market, we’ve been seeing them decide that there is money to be made by catering to the commercial sector, as well.