TFB reader and Subscribe Star supporter Stubbs have been hard at work these past couple months throwing together another monstrosity of a rifle. Or is it Rifles this time? Stubbs has managed to cobble together a heap of AR-15 parts to create a truly unique Double Barreled Double Trouble AR-15 which he has dubbed the M16Z.

Stubbs’ Double Trouble AR-15

Oh God, He’s Done it Again but This Time it’s Double Trouble – TFB Reader’s Double Barrel AR-15

“But wait,” you’re thinking, “something like this already exists! The Gilboa Snake DBR.” That is where you’re a wrong dear reader. While both the commercially available Gilboa DBR and Stubb’s M16Z have two barrels, that is where the similarities stop. One massive downside of the Gilboa rifle is that it requires nearly all proprietary parts. Stubb’s rifle on the other hand is made mostly using off the shelf AR-15 parts which include the buffer tubes, bolts, barrels, triggers, and uppers.

Stubbs’ Double Trouble AR-15

Stubb’s made his rifle with the specific goal of allowing caliber changes with the rifle – even if that means each integrated firearm is firing a different caliber. He has accomplished this by constructing a 10-piece modular lower which can be disassembled into two different firearms if need be. However, in this configuration, it is all a single assembled piece with two separate fire control groups – one for each upper and barrel.

While one side of the gun is more or less entirely what I would consider being “normal” AR parts, the left-hand side is made from a left hand ejecting Tromix 50 Beowulf upper and a matching left-handed bolt carrier for proper operation.

Left-handed Tromix upper with accompanying left-handed bolt carrier

The Double Barrel AR-15 contains two fire control groups but the rig shares one fire selector, one bolt catch for each bolt, and one magazine release for both magazines. The magazine release can be pressed halfway to release one magazine and fully to release both magazines. This is highly impractical but if you’ve seen any of Stubb’s other builds then this is par for the course and shouldn’t surprise you at all.

Stubbs’ Double Trouble AR-15

Each barrel is enclosed by a mil-spec A2 style handguard that has been cut in order to allow both of the barrels to sit next to each other, however, he said if you try to recreate this build you could use any type of handguards that are 45mm across or less in order to allow both barrels to be close enough to pull each trigger with one finger.

Both the Triggers are pulled independently

Aside from the off the shelf parts, Stubbs used 3D printing to take care of a lot of the unique parts of the rifle such as the pieces for the lower, double-wide safety selector and of course. The awkwardly placed Zenitco PK7 foregrip is “entirely unnecessary” in Stubbs’ own words, I’m assuming he just put it on there for looks.

Stubbs’ Double Trouble AR-15

A few other unique parts also include the use of a Fortis Manufacturing Clutch Charging Handle which has a handle on only one side. These charging handles are available in both left and right-handed configurations as Stubbs is a southpaw himself, he chose to put the charging handle on the left-hand side.

To top the build off, Stubbs attached an Elcan M145 optic and made use of 1/4 ring pins from the hardware store to serve as takedown pins for both uppers to attach them to the lower of the rifle. The “stock” on the back is made from 3D printed material and is entirely custom.

Stubbs did want to make it very clear that this build is entirely modular and you can essentially swap out the barrel and bolts to make this rifle fire any number of rounds that are compatible with the AR-15 platform. So theoretically, you could make one side fire 50 Beowulf and the other side fire 22LR by swapping out just a few parts. I’m not sure what type of tactical advantage that would give you (okay I know it’s zero) but it sure is interesting, to say the least.

Stubbs’ Double Trouble AR-15

This functionality was inspired by the extremely obscure Soviet-made 80.002 rifle. This firearm hosted two barrels, one of which used 5.45x39mm and another which used a 12.7mm grenade. However, the drawback Stubbs saw with this design is that only one of the barrels could be used at any given time. For one reason or another, the 80.002 was not accepted for service within the Soviet armed forces and very little information on the weapon exists.

The Soviet prototype 80.002 grenade launcher rifle combo?

Well, what else is there to say about this rifle? If it were for sale on Gunbroker it would most assuredly end up on the next edition of Hot Gat or Fudd Crap although I don’t think Stubbs will be letting go of his newest creation just yet. If you’d like to learn more about his build and how he accomplished it, feel free to drop by our Discord server and have a chat with the rest of the TFB community!

Stubbs’ Double Trouble AR-15