The "Perfect" Tactical .22

[Kilibreaux]

Relatively new compared to all the upper conversion units, dedicated uppers, and airsoft derived "tactical" .22 rifles, the Razorback has to be the unannounced leader of all possible choices.

First, it's built like a "real" gun since it makes no pretense of being something other than what it is - a Browning derived, belt-fed .22LR.  The receiver and front trunion is made of massive slabs and blocks of aluminum VERY nicely parkerized with the front and rear mounting trunions welded in.  The upper is enclosed by a sturdy aluminum rail unit with top cover latch and the top cover hinges to the front of the trunion.  The barrel is a full .750" except where it passes into the trunion where it neck down to around 1/2" and is milled to fit into the T-slot of the bolt.  The barrel goes in and out with a few turns on a single allen screw which is ample considering the close fitting of all parts, and of course the barrel is threaded 1/2-28 with AR style flash suppressor.

There is absolutely nothing about the Razorback that implies "cheapness" or corner cutting to save a buck.  It's built as well if not better than any military grade rifle.  For a belt-fed semi-auto .22 upper that literally works "like a sewing machine" $695 is a steal considering the cost of much, MUCH lesser conversions and such.  The Razorback is actually a "lower cost" version of the original LM-7 but lower cost doesn't mean they left anything out....the bolt is superior and many LM-7 owners use the new Razorback bolt over their original as they are interchangeable.

So, how does it work?  Simply amazing.  I've seen the videos online, and like most who have delved in the world of .22's for years I figured it would probably be prone to functional issues....how wrong I was!  The designer pared down the Browning 1919 system to scale for the .22LR, tossed out everything the little .22 doesn't need, added a few genius touches even John M. Browning would have admired, and came up with a .22 design that really does work, limited ONLY by the quality and reliability of what is being fired through it, but even with that, the basic operational design is such that a failure to fire poses no more fuss than a quick rack of the operating handle to load in a fresh round.

A quick summary of how the Razorback works is in order:

It has a classic style top cover with traditional, Browning style feed lever, upper feed pawl, and lower feed pawl, as well as a miniature feedway.  The bolt is square with an angled slot on top actuate the feed lever as the bolt reciprocates, and the "extractor" hinges on the left side and acts to guide shells down the T-slot, but completely UNLIKE its name suggests, and the original, it does not actually "extract."  Here the Razorback departs from classic Browning in having its T-slot extend fully to the top of the bolt with a rounded "window" to admit the .22 rim.  As the bolt closes behind a belted round, the rim is gently pushed up by a bevel on the outside of the T-slot until it pops through the opening and drops down into the slot - just a bit, but more than enough for the T-slot to now become the actual belt extractor, with the extractor arm providing downward pressure for security.  The bolt moves back pulling the round from the belt, the round being fully captured in the bolt face.  Bolt moves back, extractor cams the shell downward, pushing the previous shell out the bottom, then snaps up as the T-slot and small U-spring hold the shell for a perfect presentation to the chamber.  As the bolt closes the extractor is already back up ready to move over the next belted round.  The small U-spring at the base of the bolt is another "genius" touch that provides a simple, yet perfect solution to a "complex" problem.  Properly adjusted the T-slot and U-spring create seamless chambering, and the only "adjustment" one MIGHT make would be to the width of the U-spring's opening to fine tune the level of the slotted round's nose relative to the chamber.  should the spring weaken it's an inexpensive replacement and easily fabricated in the field of needed.

The extractor uses no spring just moves in a slot.  A small cam located in the slot is spring-loaded by a simple, L-wire spring mounted from the outside....again, a simple solution to a complex problem that leads to reliability and ease of maintenance in the field (IF needed which isn't likely).

The feed pawls are pure Browning and of course drive against the belted rounds to shuttle shells into position.  The supplied fabric belts are superb examples of woven belt technology, hold the rounds securely and function with 100% reliability.  So to do the polymer disintegrating link belts.  A belt can just as easily be made by grabbing a 1/2" tubular "flat" shoelace and stitching loops into it....works 100%....take note that this "complex" belt fed .22LR feeds 100% even with home-made feed solutions!  No worries about expensive plastic (cheap) magazines, and overly expensive plastic drums with crappy quality control because the makers of those figure the .22 is just a plinker toy anyway so why bother trying to make it to the same quality standard as "real" rifles.  The designer/builder of the Razorback CLEARLY builds it to the standard of "Mill-Spec" as evidenced by the incredibly smooth functioning of the internals.  And while most "tactical .22s" might see a few thousand rounds over a life of shooting...the Razorback can rip through thouSANDS of rounds in a single afternoon of shooting.  A hundred round belt goes by as quickly as the average 20-something round magazine.  Belts can be of any length...200, 300, 500, 1000, even 2000 rounds.  Surprisingly a two hundred round belt fits in a VERY small space, and Lakeside Machine of course supplies belt feed boxs that mount up via the magazine well, so a 200 round belt is easily carried around and feeds flawlessly.  Of course users have come up with more creative solutions that allow much higher capacity belts feeding from "belt bags" to be carried.  When the belt is empty it simply drops away or is pulled out and stuffed in a pocket.  Loading another belt is pretty fast and easy.

The best part is the operational sequence.  With most magazine fed .22's if a feed stoppage occurs one must retract the bolt and MAYBE pull the shell out, and MAYBE not have to drop the mag to clear the chamber.  Same with a miss fire - yank the bolt open and MAYBE the extractor pulls out the dud round cleanly, but often not.  The Razorback has no such issues.  It ALWAYS chambers, and if the round fails to fire a quick pull on the operating knob extracts the bad and cycles in the good, dropping the dud shell right out the bottom.  Here the belt-fed design does have an operating consideration that must be respected.  Ammo length must fit within certain parameters as ammo too short will lead to failure to extract from the belt, and ammo too long could lead to failure to fire because it cannot be chambered to full depth (we're talking thousands of an inch), yet once understood this poses no problem because most round-nose profile ammo works just fine, and if one simply HAD to use shorter HP ammo a few small strips of tap on the front edge of the feed way will do the job.

As for "power"...as in "can a .22LR operate a belt feed mechanism?"  The answer is a resounding YES it can...easily.  The mechanism can easily "lift" a 50 round belt (22.5" long) unsupported and feed with no problem, which means if one is feed from a bag or box with the belt S-looped it will self feed just fine and this is with "standard" ammo.  For those who choose to add a suppressor it will have higher operational reliability, though I'm not quite sure how one goes beyond 100% feed reliability.  For those used to futzing around with "so-so" magazines of dubious and known UN-quality, and never quite achieving that level of reliable feed desired, the Razorback belt-fed is an eye-opening experience...it works, and it works well.

Because it is AR based, the Razorback can be ordered as a semi-auto only model or full-auto for use on registered lowers.  UNLIKE all other .22 "conversions" (which the Razorback is not), if the full-auto model is pinned to a full-auto lower it will work right out the gate....yeah, there are tweaks and things people might do, or think they must do, but as delivered the full-auto version works...can't say that about too many .22s, not even about their BASE level of functional reliability.

There is a video on YouTube of a 1000 round belt "dump"...non-stop.  That's a LOT of shooting for any .22, and the Razorback is capable of doing multiples of those without a hitch.  It's almost self-cleaning in how it works, and using a dry-film lubricant comes out almost "clean" after firing several hundred rounds....kind of hard to take the Razorback out and NOT fire hundreds upon hundreds of rounds....another testament to the ease with which this thing runs.

I felt the "urge" to post this because is see so many posts about the same old thing, over and over again...same old 'tactical" uppers with their puny mag capacity, nothing "new" except allowing the owner to shoot .22LR in place of .223.  The only two truly innovative "tactical" .22's on the market are the AM-15 and the Razorback because they add to the .22LR what it needs--capacity.  The main deficiency of the AM-15 is limited capacity and an almost total reliance on expensive STORE-bought drums.  The AM-15 is also outrageously priced.  The Razorback puts the "complexity" of feeding in the gun itself, but does so in an elegantly simple way that enhances reliability.  Feeding the gun is by relatively inexpensive belts or links, and if needed belts can be made even more cheaply and work BETTER than any factory .22 magazine I've ever encountered.

In the world of "poseurs" the Razorback is the genuine article.

...the link above pretty much says it all.