As the rife cycled, I could feel the bolt lock back, indicating I was empty. With more rounds yet to fire in the drill my class was running, I immediately began to reload. I had to slow down and think while doing this. The handy carbine I was shooting wasn’t a member of the AR or AK family or anything I was familiar. Instead, it was an ARX 100 from Beretta—and a lil’ bit different. Distinctive looking with a definite Italian edge to it, the ARX 100 is very much a child of the 21st century. As such, it has a number of interesting features.
The ARX 100 is a semiautomatic version of Beretta’s ARX 160, which was originally developed for the Italian Soldato Futuro (Future Soldier) program. The ARX 100 is a modern gas-operated design that employs an adjustable short-stroke piston system and a carrier-controlled rotating bolt.
In its standard configuration, it is chambered for 5.56x45 NATO, feeds from common STANAG magazines, and features a 16-inch barrel with a 1:7 twist. It’s built on a “technopolymer” body and is light but a bit chubby. While it has a list of impressive features, I was curious to see what it actually brings to the table compared to other recent designs.
To find out, I traveled to the Academic training facility in Moyock, North Carolina, where I had the chance to spend an afternoon on the range with the ARX 100. Perhaps the most interesting feature of Beretta’s new rife is its quick-change barrel. It truly is quick to change and requires no tools. The entire barrel assembly can be popped out in a matter of seconds, and replacing it is just as fast. You can swap from one-barrel length to another, without tools, in less time than it took me to type this sentence. Better yet, it also facilitates rapid caliber swaps.
Many shooters were excited about the Bushmaster ACR and then the FNH USA SCAR because of the ability to swap both barrels and calibers quickly. Unfortunately, after years of waiting, neither company has offered the spare barrels and caliber conversions customers expected. Currently, Beretta plans to offer different length 5.56x45 barrels as well as conversions to other calibers such as 7.62x39, .300 BLK and 6.8mm SPC. The 7.62x39 conversion is noteworthy as it feeds from standard Com Bloc Kalashnikov magazines. Therefore, the quick-change barrel feature will be handy if Beretta does offer barrels and caliber conversion kits as accessories.
The ARX 100 also takes ambidextrous controls to a new level. Not only does it have ambidextrous safeties, magazine releases and bolt releases, but the reciprocating charging handle can easily be rotated from side to side—in seconds, without the use of tools. You simply pull it out a click, rotate it through the ejection port to the opposite side, and snap it back into place.
However, what really sets the ARX 100 apart from the crowd is the ease with which you can also change the ejection from right to left and back again. The bolt features extractors on the right and left side. You select one by simply inserting a bullet (or other pointy object) into a hole in the rear of the receiver and pushing. The rife will now eject to whichever side you choose; nothing else is required. As you would expect from a modern sporting rife, the ARX 100 features a full-length 1913 rail at 12 o’clock—enabling quick and trouble-free optics mounting—and also sports folding polymer sights, which provide adjustment out to 600 meters. The rife also has short rails at three, six and nine o’clock for white lights and other accessories.
Four web sling slots are provided for attaching a sling. To reduce overall length, the stock folds neatly to the side, this is a nice touch. The stock can also be extended or collapsed with 2.6 inches of adjustment.
At seven pounds empty and without optic, it’s fairly light and handy. It’s also a compact 35.7 inches in length. The center of the rife is a bit chubby, as I mentioned, and has a feel all its own.
Magazines insert easily but take a push to lock in place (be sure to give a good push/pull when changing mags). Te charging handle is easy to reach and manipulate, and rounds feed smoothly into the chamber.
I found the safety a bit of a reach, and I had to give it a good push to snap it to Fire. The single-stage trigger breaks at 5.5 pounds and is quite usable. Recoil impulse is mild and easy to control, and ejection is enthusiastic. The bolt locks back on your last shot and magazines eject cleanly with the push of a button. The gun is also easy to strip for cleaning.
My experience at Academi didn’t include formal accuracy testing of the rife, but I found it to shoot acceptably well with groups running 1.5 to 2.5 m.o.a. with most standard loads.
However, nothing’s perfect. If you are six feet tall or taller, you will likely find the length of pull a bit short. The stock comb is low, and thus your cheek weld with optics is less than ideal. I also wish the magazine releases were a bit bigger and the safety placed a mite lower. Further, my first demo rife did not run flawlessly, and I swapped to a different one during the class.
Overall, though, the ARX 100 is an interesting step for Beretta. It’s a modern rife with many features, and it appears well designed. Better still, it seems Beretta learned from Bushmaster’s and FNH USA’s mistakes when it comes to the U.S. commercial market. Beretta plans to support the ARX 100 with desirable accessories, and it has priced the rife within reach of many shooters. The suggested retail is $1,950, but the current street price is substantially less. I look forward to seeing how the ARX 100, its accessories, and aftermarket parts fare in the years ahead.