Faxon Firearms announced the new ARAK-21 XRS complete rifle. Â The new rifles are designed around the company’s innovative ARAK-21 uppers that blend some of the best elements of the AR-15 and AK-47 rifles. Â Prior to now, shooters could only buy an ARAK-21 upper and mount it on their own AR lower.
The rifles use a long stroke piston system with a double recoil spring. Â There is no buffer tube to mess with, so a folding stock is optional. Â And yes, it will fire while folded. A folding charging handle is located in a forward position. It is non-reciprocating and can swap from the left side to the right side very quickly for southpaws.
Barrels swap in less than two minutes, so going from 5.56 NATO to 300 BLK is relatively easy.  Rifles are sold with either a single barrel (caliber) or two barrels so the owner can swap between the two cartridges at will.
The system is adjustable to match ammo if needed. Â The 5.56 has four positions (including off for single shot) and the 300 BLk has three positions (including off).
I was able to handle a Faxon rifle at the 2014 SHOT Show and was impressed with the build quality. Â The Faxon Firearms employees were exceptionally helpful and knowledgable about their products (believe it or not – not all companies send employees who know anything about their products.)
This review of the Faxon ARAK-21 upper does an excellent job of showing how the gun runs and is put together.
This is a video of a Faxon SBR upper on a select fire lower. Â Even in full automatic, the gun seems to run very well: