Scout rifles, ARs, and the like – I’ve been on the quest for the ultimate, new millennium, general-purpose rifle. Might I have found it? I’ve been working with Melvin Forbes at New Ultra Light Arms to build up an ideal, do it all, anywhere, anytime, rifle. I drove up to Granville, West Virginia, yesterday and picked up what you might call a prototype.
This New Ultra Light Arms model 20 in .308 Winchester has an 18 inch threaded barrel. Melvin attached a Surefire suppressor adapter (flash-hider) to which he installed a front sight ramp. I installed an XS Sights’ white stripped blade. I also managed to round up some discontinued Weaver Grand Slam bases for the model 20 and installed them with an XS Sights’ Weaver Low Backup rear sight. For an optical sight, I mounted a Trijicon AccuPoint 1-4X riflescope in Leupold QRW rings.
To round it all out, you can remove the threaded flash hider – with front sight – and screw on a Surefire muzzle brake suppressor adapter. This little gem not only helps tame recoil, it allows for the use of the quick attach Surefire FA762SS suppressor. I’ll not tell you how well this rifle shoots; jealousy is a terrible thing to experience this early in the week.
Jeff Cooper used to say something like, there ain’t many troubles a man can’t fix with a seven hundred dollars and a .30-06. Well, Cooper can keep his old .30-06, but I would not mind the 700 dollars about right now. With that cash and this rifle, there’s a lot of fix’n I could do.
Here are some specifications you can envy:
Length: 38.5 inches
Weight: 5 pounds, 3 ounces (without scope) / 6 pounds 2 ounces (with scope) / 7 pounds, 6 ounces (with scope and suppressor)
Capacity: 4 +1
Price: I got the only one and it’s not for sale! If ti was, $ 700 would not touch it.
