Bushmaster: ACR, ASAP

Bushmaster, finally, will offer a consumer version of the ACR in 2010. Several, actually. That was the bottom-line word delivered yesterday at the company's new products seminar held in Kerrville, Texas.

The ACR, or Adaptive Combat Rifle, has been an ongoing collaboration involving Bushmaster, Magpul and Remington for the past two years. A quick rundown of features includes: a two-position (suppressed and non-suppressed), short-stroke, gas-piston system of operation; modular, interchangeable bolt heads, barrels, magazines, buttstocks (one of which is a six-position side-folder) and handguards; an aluminum upper receiver and a polymer lower receiver; a cold hammer-forged, free-floating barrel; and ambidexterous controls. In short, it's innovative and badass.

The cool thing here--other than it being a brand-spanking new gun that you can get your hands on real soon--is the ACR's modularity. The consumer version will be offered with a 16.5-inch barrel, but Bushmaster will also be making barrels with lengths of 10.5, 14.5 and 18 inches. The first version of the ACR will be chambered in 5.56x45 mm, of course, but since a tool-less disassembly allows you to change bolt heads, barrels and magazines, the ACR can be user-configured to run with other cartridges as well. Ongoing development will focus on the 6.8 mm Rem. SPC, 7.62x39 mm, a yet-to-be-disclosed 6.5 mm round and, get this, the .30 Rem. AR.

When these components become available, swapping them out should be a cinch. I watched as the ACR was broken down into its six main components in about a minute.

In an update posted to Bushmaster's website, the company says it is putting the ACR "through every imaginable scenario to ensure that it's absolutely ready to be released" and that the "official launch" is "slated for the first half of 2010." In the meantime, feast your eyes on a few pics I snapped at the seminar.

And yes, I shot it. At 10 zombie targets as fast as I could.