The AWC G2 is a rare American bullpup designated marksman rifle. Intended to breathe new life into a venerable weapons system, the M14, the G2 was originally designed for use by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but the design never took off and was sold to AWC.
AWC later attempted to market the weapon to a variety of governmental agencies and militaries at rather steep prices; this appears to have the weapon's own undoing and very few were produced before production was stopped altogether.
History[]
Originally the brainchild of Gale McMillan, the G2 was designed to breathe new life into an old and venerable weapons system, the M14. One prototype was built for possible testing by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but was never tested; no further prototypes were built by McMillan.[1]
The design piqued the interest of Lynn J. McWilliams of AWC Systems Technologies (now known as AWC Silencers), with McMillan selling the design to them, who in his own words, said that AWC thought that "it was a ticket to become rich". AWC marketed these rifles at the rather steep price of USD 2,800 to militaries, police and other agencies, which appears to have been the rifle's ultimate downfall.[2]
It is unclear how many were produced: most sources state that about 100 were produced, while McMillan himself claims that only four more were built.[1] A total of eight rifles were sold to civilians; it appears that these rifles have changed hands and are quite valuable due to their rarity.[3][4]
Design Details[]
The G2s were built on M14 and M1A chassis.[5] All the rifles were practically functionally identical, with slightly different actions; both semi-automatic and fully-automatic versions were available.[1]
The rifle pictured was fitted by the owner with Burris 3Ć12 Signature optics mounted on a raised platform, had a tensioned Krieger National Match barrel and had a McMillan-designed stock.[2] The stocks had three sling attachment points. The trigger is activated via a cable which runs through a channel in the stock to a bellcrank in the stock which works against the normal M14's trigger, similar to most bullpup conversions of rifles of this type. The trigger appears to be rather well designed although it is said to be a bit flimsy.[5]
The G2's operating rod is slightly modified from a normal M14's operating rod, where it is moved forward to clear the action cover.[5] The gun is claimed to be capable of 1 MOA accuracy.[1][5]
Variants[]
- G2
Prototype variant.
- G2A
Full-production variant. It came in four finishes; black, white, green and panzer gray.
- G2A+
Updated version of the G2A used for testing at the Fort Bragg sniper school. It was equipped with a heavy stainless steel Krieger match barrel and McWilliams' final scope design fitted.
- GFA
Fully-automatic variant of the G2 which is still capable of 1 MOA accuracy. Only one was produced, finished in black.
See also[]
- TEI M89SR, said to be a related development
References[]
- ā 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 https://thefiringline.com/forums/archive/index.php?t-16342.html
- ā 2.0 2.1 http://forum.snipershide.com/threads/old-iron-bad-photographer.1027/
- ā http://www.valmet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1853
- ā https://www.gunsamerica.com/976872134/AWC-G2A-Bullpup.htm
- ā 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 https://airbornecombatengineer.typepad.com/airborne_combat_engineer/2007/06/whats-the-fir-4.html
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