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?
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I paid less for my Barrett .50, damn this Bidenflation is real.
They showed this at SHOT last year. I ordered one in March and finally got it in December. Nice, but only came with 1 magpul mag and a cheap plastic case. No manual.
Hefty. Well made. Shoots nice.
Damn and I just spent $6795.00 on my 50 BMG bolt action glock 17 slide. I guess this will just have to wait…
Something is very wrong. If they can sell them for $3935.00 this week, how is it worth $6795.00 next week. I must say it is unique, but I can’t think of any of my running buddies that will be buying one.
At that price range I think I’ll stick with the ol’ recoiling AR-15.
It looks interesting but for 6700.00 dollars and not being sub-MOA. Not making me want to open my wallet. Great to revive the system but not enough information out there yet on its performance and long term reliability/maintainability.
From the video it appears to low recoil, not recoilless.
Took almost a year to get one from them. It is pretty nice, but not $7k nice.
I really don’t understand how many could comment on this before they had the opportunity to actually shoot the rifle or that it is reviewed by a reputable reviewer. There are many factors that determine a good design. There are some potential benefits to a recoilless design. Just like a car, how could you determine what it is like, if you have never driven it. Car reviews are not made just reading the brochure. Even if this particular design has flaws, I like that someone has the foresight to try and bring up the concepts and further refine them. That is the only way that we advance in firearm technology.
Well, if you know your weapons history, you understand that that this system is not ‘new’, and that past systems, while good for many things, were never ‘Precise’. The lockup of the system shot to shot is problematic for precision work, as the components heating up and expanding change the barrel orientation enough that precision is difficult to achieve. Works fine for a shotgun like the Auto 5, but a Rifle? And yes, the article didn’t claim precision, but at that price for such a Rifle, well, what’s the point?
This is why ‘bedding’ of the action and barrel on a sniper rifle has traditionally been of paramount importance, and why MOST auto loaders were rarely considered for really long range sniping.
So the moniker of ‘Precision Rifle’ in this case calls to question the firearms real attributes in that class. That much stuff moving just doesn’t make one confident in much ‘precision’, as past history and experience has shown. And if recoil management is the idea, I would like to know who is going to send that much lead downrange that quickly in those calibers that the system justifies its own existence? I just don’t see it as practical, or even all that desirable.
But hey, if you like being a test subject with your wallet, more power to you.
Not sure why I’d pay 4-6 thousand dollars for this. Interesting? Yes. Compelling? No.
1-2 MOA but called a precision rifle?
This is going to be a very tough sell in the AR-10 marketplace, even if barrel swaps are easy.
My AR-10 builds are highest quality, sub MOA with any decent factory ammo, and 1/3 the cost.
I love innovation but …..
overpriced af
I had a Browning 12 gauge shotgun using this principle. Accurate and easy recoil. Used it until it broke from old age.