For more information, visit https://www.lithgowarms.com.
Lithgow Arms is bringing the ATRAX to America. Lithgow Arms has a 100-year heritage of making arms in Australia. For the last 30 years Lithgow Arms has been producing the bullpup rifle based on the Steyr AUG design for the Australian military. Its latest iteration is the semi-automatic ATRAX, which is a complete redesign of the original military bullpup.
The author had an opportunity to see the new Atrax at the 2017 SHOT Show along with a bunch of other appealing sights.
Overview
The ATRAX rifle will be made in the USA with a combination of Australian and American made parts. The standard version will have a 16-inch barrel and an overall length of 27½ inches weighing in at just over 7 pounds. If you want to go with a 20-inch barrel standard with the DMR (designated Marksman Rifle) variant, the overall length increases to 31 ½ inches.
SPECS
ATRAX
- Caliber: 5.56 mm
- Weight: 7.17Lbs
- Barrel length: 16”
- Overall length: 27.56”
- MSRP: $1,999
ATRAX DMR
- Caliber: 5.56 mm
- Weight: 7.47Lbs
- Barrel length: 20”
- Overall length: 31.57”
- MSRP: TBD
The Atrax has numerous rails for attaching a wide range of accessories.
IMPRESSION
This rifle does not suffer from the typical bullpup trigger and weight is distributed so that the center of gravity is directly in the middle of the rifle. This makes a rifle that is easy to both shoot and carry. The empty cases can be ejected from either left or right side of the rifle. However, with the ejection port in a relatively forward position, with the addition of a case deflector one can operate the rifle left or right-handed without the necessity to change ejection port orientation.
The standard Atrax comes with a compact 16-inch barrel.
The gun has been lightened considerably through the use of polymers. The rails on the sides are at 90° which is a welcome improvement over the original Steyr AUG design. This will allow easy mounting of lights, lasers and bipods. This and other design changes result in a rifle that is over a pound lighter than its predecessor. The fluted barrel is removable by simply pushing one retained button to either the right or left side. Incorporated into the flash suppressor is a QD mount for a sound suppressor.
Lithgow has partnered with Magpul and will be providing two Magpul PMAG 30 AUS GEN M3 Window magazines with each rifle.
PRICE & AVAILABILITY
The ATRAX is slated to be available mid 2017 with the first shipment of 300 rifles landing second quarter. MSRP for the Lithgow Arms USA Atrax is $1,999 in the base configuration. Keep an eye out for a full review of this exciting new rifle.
For more information, visit https://www.lithgowarms.com.
It’s 12/11/17, where are they? Anyone else out there offering a 20″, 5.56, 1:7 bullpup using stanag mags at this price?
Doesn’t use AR style pmags that can be had for $8 each, instead they’ll make us buy proprietary mags for $20 each. Lithgow really dropped the ball on this one.
I’d buy 3 entry level ARs and a pile of pmags for what this thing costs.
ERM, they don’t. You can use your bog standard magazines in the f90.
Where do you get this info? My understanding is that they have not even designed an Atrax that takes STANAG mags but plan to make one after they are more situated and have sold plenty of Atrax rifles by then. I hope I’m wrong, I really dig the rifle but I’m not going to buy the first version if a NATO version is coming. I also will not settle for a NATO version that does hot retain the LRBO feature, they are going to have to do better than what the AUG did decades ago.
Its not even out yet and its all ready the star of Ridley’s Alien Covenant!
This is a very bad time to be introducing a new, expensive carbine or bullpup to the US market. Due to the breather we are getting from the Trump presidency, sales have plummeted, and prices for AR15s have and will continue to tank
I’d pay $1200 to $1300 for a .300 BLK version, once the bugs get worked out, and if magpul mags were available and reasonably priced. It would be displayed next to my Lithgow MK III Enfield .303
Agree with the majority on over priced in these days of AR 15 rifles and pistols for $500 and on up. I have bull pup shot guns.
Some body tell him it is a rifle……not a gun…..
Robert, I am real sure this is a gun.
I am aware that a rifle can be a type of gun when used as a noun.
I checked with the word police, they said it was all good, as you knew what I was talking about.
Jon Hodoway
This is indeed a much better AUG and with the fixed barrel aids to better accuracy. For a full pound saving better weight distribution and a better bullpup configuration there is no reason to think this could not be a go to war rifle.
My issue isn’t with the Australian government or their contractor Lithgow Arms as much as it is that this is a vastly over-priced weapon. For eight years, American shooters have been plunking down huge amounts of money on the premise that any day now, Obama and his friends in the Democratic Party will make it hard or impossible to own semi-auto weapons in the United States.
Lithgow Arms don’t control Australian government policy. Australians collectively made the decision through their representatives to surrender civil rights we hold dear, and they’re paying for it as Muslim terrorists make their country much less safe than it would be if Australians had a plausible ability to defend themselves from such attacks.
While there’s a certain cynicism in Australian exporting arms to us they won’t let their own civilians own, we’ve bought weapons from China and Russia for decades on that same basis with not a peep of protest from the gun press. In the case of Norinco Arms, there’s really good evidence that every dollar spent on one of their weapons went directly into the coffers of the Chinese Army and helped buy nuclear devices pointed at American cities. Meanwhile, sales of guns to American citizens from Russia help offset the financial damage our financial sanctions against Russia do.
Australia’s not a totalitarian country. Just one whose citizens made a bad mistake with respect to gun laws. I’d still prefer to buy from them, as opposed to China or Russia. Just not this weapon. I can get two or three of the weapons that my survival plan would benefit from at that price.
Nobody wants to hear your sad story you cheap ass bitch.
Anyone paying the kind of money Lithgow’s asking for is wearing the bitch collar, not me. Be sure and beg them to take you gently.
I think the price is “out there”. Especially if I want to give my money to a totalitarian controlled country. I’ll get a Keltec 308 before this. Or get a M1A and convert it to bullpup.
Just stick to the battle proven steyr vs some company from Australia for crying out loud.
I agree. Why would I send money to a company that has apparently done nothing to uphold the rights of people in the country of Austrailia concerning weapons ownership.
Are you f—ing kidding me? I would never buy a gun from a country that doesn’t allow its own people to own one. F— the Aussies.
To be fair, that’s not Lithgow’s doing and the Australian government doesn’t care.
I agree. If Lithgow Arms decided to make reasonably-priced semi-auto versions of their variant of the FN-FAL, or the Owen submachine gun in a semi-auto version available here, that’d be good. Or even this gun priced at a more reasonable level.
But Australians themselves voted in their gun ban, or at least the wardheeling crooks who imposed it on them. It’s a thing they decided they can live with. More power to them, and another reason I won’t live there, or in Great Britain, or any other country that binds its own citizens hand and foot for criminals to take advantage of.
Do you own any aks or sks or hks almost all forwign manufactured firearms come from a place with prohibitive gun laws