I’m a visionary kind of guy, which is why I predicted that natural finish stainless steel and synthetic stocks would never catch on. My logic was that stainless is too reflective for a hunting rifle and no true firearm enthusiast would ever abandon the traditional appeal of a walnut for the convenience of… plastic. I struggled with the AR and its utilitarian look for years, calling it hardware store ugly, too paramilitary primitive and too light in the chamber area to be of much use in the context of sporting purpose. Which is odd considering I’ve built and own a number of AR-15 and AR10 type guns and use them for hunting and target shooting. I’ve come to accept that they are fun, interesting and nearly indestructible.
Remington is an interesting company to watch these days. In fact, this has pretty much been the case since 1993 as it has restructured, redefined and reinvented itself to stay up with an ever changing business climate and to finance and foster growth. These days, Remington is a major component of the Freedom Group, a business group that includes: Remington Arms, Bushmaster Firearms International, DPMS Panther Arms, Marlin, H & R Firearms, New England Firearms, Dakota Arms, LC Smith, Parker, Advanced Armament Corporation, Barnes Bullets, EOTAC, and International Non-Toxics Composite Corp. With a huge amount of interrelated experience under one very big roof, and with support from $54.5 million in net income and $850 million in Freedom Group net sales, Remington is part of a structure that has the strength to innovate and persist.
As enthusiasts, we have moved beyond the paramilitary stigma of the AR type rifle and this will eventually help shift general public perception. I believe Remington’s redefining and repositioning this type of product with the introduction of their R-15 as a mainstream hunting rifle will only help to expedite that process. Eventually, the R-15 will blend right in with all of the other Remington sporting firearms. Remington’s effort is not marketing hype. By addressing and correcting two major weaknesses associated with the original AR-15, excess weight and underpowered cartridge, Remington didn’t leave very much for skeptics to complain about. The R-15 is clearly a firearm that is at home in the woods.A clever approach to making power in a confined space…
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Remington markets two classes of AR type firearms, a short and a… shorter action. The R-15 type handles cartridges of approximately 2.260″ in overall length; .223 Remington (2.260″); .30 Remington AR and .450 Bush Master. The R-25 is made for cartridges approximately 2.800″ in overall length, including the .243 Winchester, 7mm-08 Remington and .308 Winchester. There other areas where the R-15 and R25 differ, the greatest difference being weight where the R-15 weighs 7½ lbs, the R25 8¾ lbs, even though the R-15 has a 22″ barrel, 2″ longer than the R-25.
Peek through the vented aluminum handguard and you’ll find the familiar AR type gas tube running from gas block to the bolt carrier key. Mechanically this is a simpler system than gas-piston actuated and one that has proven reliable over the longer term.
The arguable benefits of gas-piston are cleaner operation and lower operating temperatures. I refer to this as “arguable” because the R-15 is a hunting rifle, not a paramilitary weapon. I clean my rifles after sustained hunting or recreational target shooting and I can’t remember a time when I have unloaded so many rounds at a deer I needed to worry about operating temperatures or accumulated carbon deposits. My belief is that the piped gas – gas piston debate for all but extreme conditions is, for the most part, academic.
The R15’s gas block is non-adjustable with an integral Picatinny rail. The barrel diameter at the gas block is 0.750″ so if someone had the mind to change to an adjustable gas block they could select from any of the twenty four types listed on Brownells web site. Port position, interestingly is approximately at the 13.25″ mark or about the same as a rifle length barrel set up for the .223 Remington.
Both the .223 Remington and .30 Remington AR have a SAAMI PMAX pressure of 55,000 PSI, however, the 30 Remington AR has nearly twice the powder capacity. At the port, the 223 Remington bore pressure has dropped to approximately 12,000 PSI, the 30 Remington AR falls to approximately 14,000 PSI, certainly a small enough difference to be compensated for with a modest change to gas port diameter. It is interesting how the larger bore and diameter case were scaled to burn so much powder in such a short distance.
The rifle is clean; no multitude of Picatinny rails growing out of the sides or handguard that give the appearance of a finned Harley Davidson cylinder head… before Harley went uptown to water cooling, but enough for the rifle’s intended purpose. The rifle does not ship with metallic sights. That said, there is not much left to strip off when it comes time to make the rifle comply with an owner’s personality and personal preferences. The R-15 is Mil Spec compliant enough to allow an owner to buy whatever $5,000 worth of spiffy AR 15 standard accessories reflect the persona they wish to project. As a hunting rifle, all that is really needed is a scope or sights and a deer tag.
On the issue of scopes…
The Bushnell Elite 6500 4.5-30 x 50mm scope was moved over from my LR-308 for the live fire evaluation of the R-15. I wanted to make sure I was reporting on the rifle’s performance and not my eyesight. The scope was secured with an American Defense quick detachable mount system, Brownells # 100-003-654. I believe retail price on the assembly is approximately $170. The mount’s cross bars, camming hardware and fasteners are steel, while the mount body, rings and release levers are hard anodized aluminum. It is an easy to install system and one that stays put.
Oh give me a home, where the buffalo… err turkeys roam…
Rural target ranges are like rural airports, sometimes you have to wait for something to cross before you can take off or land. Today it was waiting almost half an hour for Tom here to finish his pose down for the nearby flock of turkey la-dies. I swear I heard a little Barry White playing in the background. I mean, can this guy have more attitude? One round of 30 Remington AR through the chronograph brought the crowd under control and demonstrated that turkeys really can fly. Yeah, that’s right, fly you @#**@# buzzard looking… glob gobbling, bag of feathers. Anyway…The R-15’s controls, type and position, are the same as they are on an AR-15, so the rifle instantly has a familiar feel. Laser bore sighted, the gun shot high, so the groups were walked down an inch or two at a time with scope adjustment until they were close to being on. The gun has virtually no recoil and report is muted. On that I received a thank you note from my neighbors. Nice people, but they are from Massachusetts.
Thanks to the mount system and the flat top’s Picatinny rail, it was easy to scoot the scope fore and aft to accommodate shifting shooting positions and trying to adjust to varying eye relief when cranking the scope from 4.5x to 30x.The R-15’s trigger is non-adjustable, preset from the factory at between 4.5 and 5.5 lbs. This one checked out at 5 lbs 9 oz. It is no worse, or much better than most AR-15 factory triggers; a little heavy on pull, a little creep and in need of concentration to shoot well.
I’m sure a little clean up would bring the trigger right it, and there is always the group of forty-nine aftermarket triggers at Brownells to select from if it becomes necessary to upgrade. I didn’t see this as a significant issue.
The R-15, like it’s AR-15 relatives, is an open architect system. It stands on its own, but it is also open to a raft of third party parts and accessories to suit individual tastes and requirements. Besides, the R-15 is only a conveyance for the real crown jewel, the 30 Remington AR round. What does the combination look like on paper?
| Group # | Group Size |
| 1 | 3/8″ |
| 2 | 3/4″ |
| 3 | 1 1/8″ |
| 4 | 3/4″ |
| 5 | 5/8″ |
| 6 | 3/8″ |
The first three rounds out of the barrel went 3/8″, then the next four groups expanded a little and closed back down to 3/4″. My wife shot the last two groups; excellent concentration and she is really patient. There isn’t much to complain about, particularly from an out of the box rifle. I’ve been shooting a good number of heavy cartridges recently so this was a lot of fun. The light weight R-15 was already a pleasure to shoot, but in combination with this little 30 caliber round it would make an excellent deer or larger varmint rifle.
These groups noted above were all shot with 125 grain Remington Premier AccuTip factory ammunition. They are listed at 2,800 fps MV and checked in at 2,811 over the chronograph which means 2,170 in ME. These means a deer and similar size game hunting cartridge without having to step up to the larger and heavier R-15, AR-10 type rifle. The 30 Remington AR is an important development for all of us. Neither the 450 Bushmaster or 50 Beowulf have enough propellant to drive bullet weights substantial for the respective bore sized. The 30 Remington AR has a huge selection of high BC .308 bullets in every major bullet construction type.
Comparatively speaking…
|
Cartridge |
M | 100 yds | 200 yds | 300 yds | |
| 223 Remington | FPS | 3240 | 2854 | 2500 | 2172 |
| Ft/Lbs | 1283 | 995 | 763 | 576 | |
| Trajectory “ | – | 1.5 | 0 | -7.1 | |
| 30 Remington AR | FPS | 2800 | 2531 | 2278 | 2039 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ft/Lbs | 2176 | 1778 | 1440 | 1153 | |
| Trajectory “ | – | 2.0 | 0 | -8.7 | |
| 308 Winchester | FPS | 2700 | 2501 | 2311 | 2129 |
| Ft/Lbs | 2670 | 2292 | 1957 | 1661 | |
| Trajectory “ | – | 2.0 | 0 | -8.6 | |
Picture L-R .223 Remington, 30 Remington AR and .308 Winchester and a quick drawing of the 30 Remington AR case. With brass on hand and a set of Redding dies, Part II should yield some handload data.
Remington’s R-15 Xtreme Hunting Rifle Part I
Remington’s R-15 Xtreme Hunting Rifle Part II
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