Extar Exp Mk2 556 Ar 15 Pistol Review

I'm not a huge fan of the AR pistol platform.  AR-15 rifles, yes.  Short barreled AR rifles, aye.  But when you take the stock off of an SBR, all you have left is a heavy pistol, and one that is much harder to handle.  I've never understood why anyone would want a pistol that'south difficult to muffle and command, and 1 that reduces the efficacy of the circular information technology shoots.

But the Extar EXP just might modify my heed.  This AR pistol is as piece of cake to use as any big revolver.  The EXP feels less like an amputated rifle than it does an actual pistol.

The EXP

The Extar EXP-556 is a semi automated gas operated pistol chambered in .223 / 5.56.  It takes typical AR magazines.  The gun weighs three pounds empty, and about iv and a half pounds with a loaded thirty round magazine.  From end to terminate, the EXP is 18 inches long, and the barrel is viii and a quarter inches.

The barrel has a 1:ix twist rate, and is threaded.  Just backside the muzzle suspension is a gas block that doubles as the front sight.  The handguard is polymer, every bit is the lower, upper, and rails.

Extar, who makes the EXP in Arizona, has cutting out many of the AR features on the EXP.  This paring downward gives the EXP a minimalist feel, and lightens the gun significantly.  It has no buffer tube, for example.  They've removed the grit encompass from the chamber.  Even the over-sized trigger guard is integrated into the design, and made of polymer.

The grip and handguard are two of the customizable features on the EXP.  Though they can be changed, I'm not sure they demand to be.  The grip is from Mission Commencement Tactical, and has a capped storage space inside.  The handguard, which is free floating, is solid and easy to agree.  The reversible safety accommodates lefties.

I'm especially addicted of the trigger.  When the gun is cocked, the trigger sets up house.  There's no have up at all.  It is solid, and breaks clean just over v pounds.  This is fundamental to the success of a gun like this, that can be held ane handed.  With the crisp trigger, there isn't extraneous movement to take you off target.

The muzzle device is extremely effective.  While it does nothing to hide the flash, information technology angles the force of the escaping gas up.  This pushes the barrel down.  In that location's no appreciable recoil on the EXP, and the gun seems to move downward when you shoot.  Even fast repeat shots don't create cage climb.

The tube in a higher place the handrail looks similar it might be the gas tube, merely it isn't.  The gas tube is inside the handrail.  The tube above is more of a key to marshal the front sight with the rear.

Shooting the Extar EXP

The AR pistol is authentic enough.  While non every bit capable as a rifle, an eight inch barreled EXP should exceed the accuracy of most handguns.  Nevertheless the sights don't really inspire that kind of confidence.

This isn't a criticism of Extar or the EXP.  Instead, I think Extar is acknowledging something nigh the AR pistol as a philosophy.  It isn't meant for precision shooting.  This isn't an MOA gun.  It is meant to put rounds down range, and fast.

Accept the rear sight, for example.  It is polymer dovetailed into a cutting in the polymer rails.  It is a no-frills ghost-band.  And it works just fine.

Twelve inches alee on the gas block is a wide blade front end sight.  Information technology isn't adjustable.  And it is broad.  Broad sights are fast, because they're easy to see.  They are not accurate.  And that bears out on the EXP.  When shooting from a standard 2 handed position from 25 yards, I can grouping shots in a iii inch circle.

Possibly I'k off with this cess, simply I don't feel similar that's the purpose of the EXP.  Subsequently a magazine's worth of standing and shooting, I opened it upwardly.  Double taps.  V round groups.  One handed shots.  This is where the EXP realy opens up.

And I remember this is how the EXP's accuracy should be measured.  The depression recoil and fast recovery time allows for target conquering. From 25 yards, you can dump 30 rounds into a twelve inch target.  Fast.  And that makes the EXP highly constructive.

Our friends at Ballistics by the Inch have data that shows relative speeds of bullets from rifles of differing lengths.  A 16″ barreled burglarize, shooting a 55 grain .223 bullet can be expected generate somewhere shut to 3,000 fps at the cage.  From a eight″ butt that drops to closer to 2,400.  Information technology isn't equally significant a drop as I expected, actually.

The rail on the Extar will allow for any optics you might want.  Just watch the weight.  The more you put up pinnacle, the harder information technology will be to concord at arm's length.  The Trijicon RMR, or something like may be the logical choice.

Bug?

There'due south no good place to attach a sling.  I'1000 still working on that.  It needs one.

Other than that, issues were minimal.  We shot more than 200 rounds without a single failure.  Later that, the EXP was getting grimy and the brass started sticking in the chamber.  The extractor would pop off.  The next round would then jam up under the rim of the spent brass in the bedroom, requiring a magazine drop, live round extraction, and so a cycling of the commodities.  After a basic cleaning, the EXP ran fine again.

The finish or the beginning?

Extar is going to sell as many of these as they can build.  They are selling for under $600.  And that'due south now, when prices for black rifles are still a bit higher than what I would consider normal.  In one case supply and need level off a chip, the cost may drop equally low as $500.  And at that price, they will be hard to resist.

I call back Extar has nailed it.  I'll admit that I wasn't fully on board with the idea when I first saw the press releases.  Only when the gun arrived, I was impressed by the commitment to cutting weight.  And the trigger.  Later the few shots, I was hooked.  Though what they've done might seem like a subtle refinement of an existing thought, I think Extar has charted a new course for the AR pistol.  And I tin can't await to see what they do next.

carrlarre1982.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.guns.com/news/review/gun-review-extar-exp-an-exceptional-ar-pistol-video