The choice was whether to increase production of the X7, to continue evolving it or perhaps do something else. The X7 has been well regarded and some have said it would be hard to improve. But there’s no fool’n the parents. In the end we decided to go back to school.
The X7 was difficult to machine and assemble. It required precision in many features that were not justified by the benefit gained (such as the barrel nut fit to the bore of the forend). It had some weight in the wrong places, such as the dovetail joint the length of the forend. For an expensive gun, many critics argued that the controls should be more “progressive”.
The barrel mounting procedure was unnecessarily complex and could not be swapped in the field by owners. The forend heats up too fast in active shooting scenarios.
On the bright side, there’s a lot to like about the X7 such as the handling and accuracy, the mag well, the forend shape, the overall balance, the Geissele trigger selections, the Cerakote exterior and interior coatings, Noveske 416R stainless barrels, the heavy action spring and buffer, and we like the results of making as many small parts as possible (because we know them well and can support them).
Overall, we continue to hate the situation in the AR world where numerous makers produce supposedly standard, interchangeable parts that are reverse-engineered and sometimes-improved copies of M4 and M16 components. The specs behind the design, production and testing of these parts are mysterious and unobtainable. Forums and experts argue about quality, materials and their personal interpretation of the tea leaves. In the final analysis, this is a sham, and it is a big factor in the “why” of the X8.
We like monolithic uppers for many reasons but have never attempted to learn the processes to make them. Maybe the lower receiver could be similarly integrated with its extension and this double monolithic chassis combination might be interesting. Note that we’re not saying any of this is revolutionary or the next big thing in the AR world. We’re just interested in trying these things and expect there are enough customers interested as well to make it worth our while to explore this new design direction.
Over the past year, the output of our SolidWorks and MasterCAM design and machine CAD projects has increased tremendously, giving wings to many more ideas in a short span of time. Effectively, we can now design and develop an entire AR package in just a few months or at least that’s what seems to be happening.
We hope to keep some of you interested in what we’re doing and make it an interesting journey.
Thursday, November 17, 2011 at 17:25 
