[SHOT 2019] Hands on with Gear Head Works' ONE pistol in .300BLK

@noob A standard R700 action is incompatible with AR mags. PTG makes a bottom metal that they say will feed a R700 from AR mags but it requires machining of the receiver in order to work.

Right now they have a mostly off the shelf chassis and feeding system. The only off the shelf setup (sans the receiver machining) that I know of for making a R700 braced pistol that takes AR mags is to use a McMillan Sentry stock with the aforementioned PTG bottom metal. Barring that solution they would be required to design a custom chassis which is another layer of difficulty for a company releasing their first rifle.

@Dr. Longfellow Buchenrad Thanks that's a perfect answer.

@Dr. Longfellow Buchenrad You could use a Ruger American Ranch as a base rifle for such a setup.

Though that'd require a tax stamp or cutting amd welding the receiver.

@iksnilol I have looked at the American Ranch. In fact my next rifle is going to be a .308 American Predator. With the rifle, 10rd Magpul AI mag, 11 rounds of my .308 load, Vortex Venom, and sling it comes in at almost exactly 7lb; assuming published weights are correct.

The American Ranch in .300blk (in factory configuration) with 11 rounds of my .300blk load weighs .5lb less than the .308, but my .300blk pistol build weighs .5lb less than the American Ranch when similarly loaded and outfitted and its semi auto.

I dont know how much weight you could remove by SBRing the American Ranch. Id have to get some barrel diameter measurements and do some math. In order to build a pistol Id need a source for a virgin stripped receiver and a chassis for it that accepted AR mags (that didnt weigh too much) and to my knowledge neither exist as of now.

But what were you saying about cutting and welding?

And does anybody have an American Ranch they can measure? It appears all the calibers use the same outer profile. Diameter just behind the muzzle threads and one 8" from the muzzle is all I need to know.

ETA: Based on what I have just read about American Rifle barrel contours I have estimated that cutting 8" off the end would reduce the weight by .5-.75lb. Unless I significantly underestimated the barrel profile, thats not enough to make it light enough to be better than the AR. But if anyone has real dimensions I could use I would still very much appreciate it because I would so much love to be wrong.

@Dr. Longfellow Buchenrad Cutting and welding = you cut the receiver (thus legally destroying it) then welding it back together (thus legally making a virgin receiver). Some folks in the US did that to make non-SBR Mosin sawn offs.

@iksnilol I like it. Why have I never heard of that before?

Youre a good man.

@Dr. Longfellow Buchenrad Probably not too many that bother with it. I dunno. It's one of those weird (literal) NFA hacks.

I'd say I'm alright, but thank you for the compliment nonetheless.