Franklin Armory is best known for their Binary Firing System, which has three modes. It can be set to safe, semi-auto and fire a following shot on release. (Photo: Franklin)
Firearm and trigger manufacturer Franklin Armory just bought up AR component manufacturer Osprey Defense for cash money. Franklin uses Osprey products in several of their flagship guns.
Franklin Armory is a company that likes to blur the lines, building parts like their Binary Firing System and fully-stocked, non-NFA-regulated short-barreled firearms.
“I’m excited to add this exceptional product line to our stable of proprietary accessories serving the firearms industry,” said Franklin Armory president and CEO Jay Jacobson. “We have already initiated the expansion of the excellent product offering from Osprey Defense and look forward to introducing newly adopted patentable products by the end of the year.”
The sale included Osprey’s patents and existing inventory. Future manufacturing will take place at the new facilities in Minden, Nevada. They expect to move the whole company to Minden with new products available by the third quarter of this year.
The Osprey piston system will live on. (Photo: Osprey)
“With their company structure, innovative products and stellar reputation,” said Lee Tolleson. “I can think of no better company than Franklin Armory to take the Osprey Defense products to the next level.” Tolleson is the president and CEO of Ark Defense, Osprey’s parent company.
Franklin Armory was a big customer for Osprey Defense. Franklin uses their piston system to drive their gas-operated ARs chambered for .17 Winchester Super Magnum.
The .17 WSM is a powerful rimfire cartridge for taking small game and varmints. It’s also an exceptionally accurate rimfire round and it shoots very flat, too.
At the muzzle, the projectiles produce up to 400 foot-pounds of force putting it about on par with 9mm Luger, which means it can be considered a self-defense cartridge if necessary. This puts Franklin Armory in a good position to sell relatively powerful rifles to people limited to rimfire-only semi-autos.
See Also: The Magic to the Franklin Armory Reformation Non-NFA AR Firearm
It would be interesting to see if Franklin adapts the piston system to work with other non-standard AR cartridges including pistol-caliber cartridges. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Franklin has been busy ramping up production of their Binary Fire System to accommodate non-AR-based firearms. The company recently added a BFS trigger to their catalog for CZ Scorpion rifles and pistols. They also offer BFS triggers for Brugger and Thomet, Bushmaster ACR and select Heckler & Koch firearms.
The author claims Franklin ‘blurs the lines’ selling their Binary Trigger sets even though they are in full compliance with the law.
It is probably pretty clever for Franklin to diversify. In more and more states, they are banning trigger modifications, which keeps eating away at markets for binary triggers. There may even be a national ban on binary triggers before the next Assault Weapons Ban. It is a good idea for a company to diversify before the bulk of its products end up as some kind of grey-market modifications.