#Lithgow

Australia’s history of indigenous small arms production begins with the opening of the Lithgow small arms factory in the eastern part of the country. Starting with Lee-Enfield production before the First World War and ending with the Self Loading Rifle before the takeover of Australian Defense Industries (ADI) after the Vietnam War. During this time period, Lithgow and other facilities in the country produced the majority of small arms and ammunition that armed the Australian infantry in WW1, WW2, and Vietnam where Australians fought alongside Vietnamese and American allies against the Viet Cong and Noth Vietnamese Army.

In the Legacy Sports International booth at the 2018 SHOT Show Industry Day at the Range, Australian company Lithgow Arms brought out their precision rifle series dark horse, the LA105 Woomera. Based on the excellent Lithgow LA102 bolt action rifle platform, the LA105 features a custom American chassis from Kinetic Research Group. With a polymer exterior, the rifle combines the rigidity of an aluminum chassis with the good thermal characteristics of a polymer stock (read: your skin doesn’t stick to it in cold weather).

Good news for bullpup fanatics: The Lithgow F90, Australia’s improved version of the AUG, is in production in the USA right now under the name “Atrax”. Representatives of Dasan USA, the stateside manufacturer/importer, said that major components of the Atrax, including the barrel, were already being produced in their facilities within the country, to allow production weapons to comply with US import laws. Dasan Representatives said that the technical data package for the US-made components was transferred to the US from Australia, so each component made in the States adheres exactly to Lithgow’s methods and standards for that component.

Australian rifle company Lithgow Arms has introduced a new rifle for the precision rifle shooting (PRS) market. Called the LA-105 Woomera (after an Australian aboriginal type of general purpose atlatl or spear thrower), it is based on the Lithgow Arms LA102 centerfire bolt action rifle, but further accurized and fitted with a Kinetic Research Group developed chassis that is similar to both the Whiskey-3 and X-Ray chassis. The chassis features a simpler stock like the X-Ray, but M-LOK mounting points on the forend similar to the Whiskey-3 and Bravo chassis.

The Firearm Blog would like to extend its thanks to reader and contributor Giorgio, who lent his journalistic services to us at this years IDEX conference in Abu Dhabi in February. Thanks, Giorgio!

As we wrap up our SHOT Show coverage, we turn to a new company on the US market, but an old name in Australia: Lithgow. This Australian gun company dates back to the Lithgow Small Arms Factory, established before World War I and located in New South Wales. Today, Lithgow brands itself as a high tech manufacturer, advertising its military Atrax bullpup rifle as using a completely novel polymer in the construction of its barrel cradle, for example. Lithgow’s US arm themselves will not be importing the Atrax (that will be handled by Dasan), but rather a line of premium bolt action rifles that have been sold on the Australian civilian market for several years now.

I met up with Josh Whi of Lithgow Arms. They just got ATF approval and the big question last October, at Big 3 East, was “what part will be the firearm?” ATF has approved the barrel housing to be the registered part.

One of the most highly anticipated firearm manufacturers at Big 3 East was Lithgow Arms. We heard about the Lithgow F90 being imported a few months ago. See the post by Nathaniel F. At first I was not as excited about the Lithgow until my friend Curtis of VSO Gun Channel was raving about how great it is. He got a chance to check it out at the recent IV8888 shoot the week before Big 3 East.

Big news at the National Rifle Association Annual Meeting 2016, importer Lithgow Arms USA will be bringing the EF88/F90 improved bullpup assault rifle to the USA. The F90 is a variant of the Steyr AUG developed for the Australian Defence Force to replace the F88 (their designation for the AUG) bullpup rifle.

Earlier this year I wrote about the Lithgow Arms LA101 CrossOver rifle, a Thales Australia and Winchester collaboration. It was unveiled at the end of May at an Australian gun expo. I thought it was about to go into production but apparently the general public had a lot to say about the design and Thales have subsequently made many design changes. Nic Jenzen-Jones sent us a press release from Thales …

Australia’s famous Lithgow factory, which originally opened just before the first world war to produce Enfield rifles for British Commonwealth troops, stopped producing civilian rifles decades ago and instead focused on military weapons, such as the Australia/New Zealand variants of the FN FAL and Steyr AUG rifles. I was surprised to learn that Winchester Australia have partnered with Thales (owner of the Lithgow factory) to start producing a new tactical/hunting-style bolt action rifle called the Lithgow Arms LA101 CrossOver. The rifle will be officially unveiled at the Melbourne Shot Expo this weekend.