Olympus Arms has dusted off an old firearms technology and given it a new modern application. Fans of the humpbacked Browning Automatic 5 shotgun will recognize The Vulcan Rifle’s long action reciprocating barrel.
Reciprocating Barrel & Action
But Olympus has engineered this weapon so that not only does the barrel reciprocate forward and backward with each shot, but the bolt carrier group does, too. It travels back and locks in places for an instant while the barrel goes forward into place. Then, the bolt goes forward and chambers the next round.
Notably, the whole system is driven by recoil only, not by using gas from the expended round (as AR-15s and AKs do). Using the recoil to drive the system expends most of the energy and leaves little felt recoil for the shooter. The remaining recoil is felt as a relatively slow push, not a fast punch.
The charging handle is mounted forward in the handguard and it does not reciprocate with the barrel.
Chambering & Compatibility
The Vulcan Rifle is built with compatibility in mind. It’s comparable to AR-10 systems and is currently available in 7.62x51mm NATO / .308 WIN. It will be available in other short-action calibers soon, and a simple tool-less barrel swap is all that’s required to swap. Olympus is touting that .277 FURY will be available.
The rest of the gun takes AR-10 parts — triggers, stocks, etc.
Price & Availability
Olympus is taking pre-orders for the Vulcan Rifle now and the first batch will ship on April 1st. Their preorder special price is $3,995 through the of this week, and it will go up to $6,795 after that. Pre-order through the Olympus Arms site here.
Let us know in the comments what you think about this innovative rifle. Is it something you’d consider for your collection?