Žiga, this is my video, this is my channel.
- Oh shit, my mistake, I'm sorry, I apologise. - Thank you.
Thanks for tuning in to Forgotten Weapons.
I'm Ian McCollum, and I am here today in Slovenia at the Lynx Tactical Training Centre
taking a look at a really interesting Slovenian new production rifle
that I came across here at Lynx Brutality.
This is the Tinck Arms Perun 16,
and its development started about 5 or 6 years ago, about 2016.
And the intention was to create a highly modular modern rifle
with very simple disassembly, primarily for sport shooters.
But using elements of various military systems for simplicity and reliability.
And there are a lot of guns out there today that are basically just the same thing repeated again,
more or less an AR-18 sort of modernised copy.
And that's what I assumed this was when I first saw it,
but the more I dug into it, the more interesting it got.
There are a lot of neat engineering solutions in here,
starting with the fact that it's not a short stroke piston system strictly speaking.
And it's not a direct impingement or a Stoner internal piston system.
It's actually a hybrid between the two.
The closest thing to that that I can come up with that I can remember seeing
would be like the Holloway Arms HAC-7.
But this is an infinitely more refined and more elegant version of a system like that.
So, fundamentally what we are looking at is a modular multi-calibre system.
These are offered in 5.56, .300 Blackout, 6.5 Grendel.
They have a 9mm PCC version, but we'll stick with the standard intermediate rifle calibres for today.
It uses a significant number of AR-15 parts, and also SCAR parts.
So a huge amount of interchangeability, which is something that's really cool for sports shooters.
So, let's dig into this a little deeper, and let me show you all the insides.
So starting with the basics here. Of course we have a folding stock, as you can see.
And that's one of the primary design ideas behind this rifle
was the AR-15 is a fantastic system, but that buffer tube that it requires
is a handicap for it, it prevents you from having modern folding stocks.
So that's one immediate design consideration.
And for what it's worth, this stock
is in fact directly interchangeable with anything that'll fit a SCAR.
So the first instance here of a part being designed specifically for mass market interchangeability.
Any SCAR, any ACR stocks, will fit on the Perun 16.
Magazines of course are standard AR.
This is just a 10 rounder, but it'll take any regular AR mag.
A couple of markings on the outside. We have Tinck Arms, the manufacturer, Made in Slovenia.
The model designation is the Perun X-16.
Perun is ... the Slavic god of lightning and thunder, kind of a cool allegory there.
And then designation on the handguard, this is the 13.5 inch handguard.
Because the barrels and the handguards are all very easily interchangeable
for different lengths and different configurations.
And of course, all of these slots that you see are M-LOK slots.
So tons of space to put on whatever accessories you like.
And as an M-LOK style of handguard that also offers a lot of cooling, light weight, etc.
Just for comparison's sake, here's a second example with a 10.5 inch barrel.
You can see multiple different lengths of ... basically upper rail assembly,
different lengths of handguard for different barrel lengths.
Alright for disassembly, we're going to start by simply popping the ... rear lower pin.
And then the stock slides right off, like I said, this is a SCAR stock.
Then pull the charging handle back, and that is the complete operating mechanism.
If you want slightly further field stripping,
you can pop the front pin on the lower receiver and just take the lower off.
And then that is completely field stripped, that's all there is to it,
which is really cool and really simple.
Now if we look a little bit closer at the lower,
this looks, I'm sure to most of you, very much like an AR-15 lower.
It is in fact almost identical to an AR-15 lower,
all of this ... the specifications are identical to an AR lower, with the buffer tower cut off.
So slight reshaping here and here, otherwise it is a totally standard AR lower.
Which means AR mag catches are interchangeable.
Fire control parts are completely interchangeable.
The safety selector here is made specifically for the rifle,
but it is interchangeable with AR components.
Grips are interchangeable of course, you can see they've got a Magpul grip on it from the factory.
So extremely simple, modular sort of system, like whatever parts you want.
When I was talking to the guys, they mentioned one of the things that comes up
with every new rifle design is people who are thinking, "Well that's cool, but
you know, what if the company goes out of business and I have to try and find parts?"
And that was part of the thought process that went into this.
Not so much planning to go out of business, but having the parts completely interchangeable.
Alright, now the operating system, which is one of the really neat bits.
You can see here through the handguard we have an AR-type gas tube.
Which you would think of as a direct impingement thing, this is in fact
a standard AR-15 gas tube just shortened at the front end.
Gas block right here, it is in fact an adjustable gas block.
But the gas tube comes back to this point.
And then it interfaces with a short-stroke gas piston here.
So when this is locked in battery like so and you fire,
gas is going to push this assembly back about 15mm with the bolt locked into the trunnion.
That of course causes the bolt to rotate and unlock.
This is full travel of the piston, that gives it enough inertia
for the bolt carrier to cycle all the way back, eject the empty cartridge,
and then the spring forces it forward, loads a new cartridge, etc.
Just continuing this trend of interchangeable parts,
we have actually a standard AR-15 bolt.
I can show you that with a little further disassembly, I'm going to push out [the cotter].
With the cotter pin removed, I can then remove the firing pin.
You guessed it: AR-15 firing pin.
We then have a cam pin that comes out.
And then an AR-15 bolt, and you can see the slot here for the gas rings from an AR bolt.
They do nothing, they're not necessary for this mechanism,
but it is designed to use a totally standard AR-15 bolt.
Including one that still has the gas rings on it.
So of course when they're making these new, they don't put gas rings on, because why would you bother?
But if you need to drop a replacement bolt in, gas rings are not a problem.
Another neat element to me is, in a rotating bolt system like this
you want something to hold the bolt in the unlocked position
while it's travelling so that it doesn't get canted.
... If it's rotated when it's trying to come into battery, it won't be able to enter the trunnion.
And in this case the thing that holds this in this position while the bolt is cycling
is actually this guide rod, which comes forward
and goes right through the top of the cam pin, locking the bolt in place.
I think that's a ... subtle, but very efficient and clever way to do that.
Anyway, we can do one more level of disassembly here
by pushing this pin through, this is a captive pin.
Use the back of the firing pin on that.
So I can pull that out, that releases the guide rod
and just sort of the back end of the ... operating parts assembly.
Which then allows me to take off the recoil spring.
And then I can pull the piston assembly out the front.
Worth pointing out, this is an 11mm piston.
For some applications, like short-barrelled subsonic .300 Blackout,
where you've got a little bit less gas pressure to work with,
you can actually punch this roll pin out and replace this with a half inch piston assembly
to get a little more reliable system on those low gas pressure setups.
And I'll show you the opposite end of that.
Well, in fact let's do that right now, let's take apart the upper.
Before I dig into this, I should point out that
this is a little more complicated, a few screws going on here.
This is not something that's intended to be standard field strip procedure.
This is basically only if you want to really detail strip the gun, or change the configuration.
So we're going to start with removing this end cap by taking out these two screws.
That comes off. Note that the upper assembly here is all aluminium,
and so threaded assemblies like this have inserts.
Right here in this hole we have a little steel insert that is threaded,
and that's what the screw is actually locking into.
And one of them is in fact a QD Sling socket, and you can put that on either side of the gun.
So already built into ... basically your detail strip takedown
you've also got left or right handed sling attachments.
The ejection port is fixed on the right side,
but the charging handle can be swapped left or right, I'll show you that in just a moment.
To finish taking down the upper, we're going to pull out this screw.
Just loosen that up.
And then two assembly lugs here on the side.
Again, I don't have to take these out, I'm just loosening them.
Alright, now I can slide the handguard off.
This is almost a standard AR handguard, it can be made from a standard AR handguard.
It just needs some cutouts back here to fit the attachments in the upper.
Then ... basically the upper is made out of two parts.
They're fairly tightly fitted together, but once I've got the handguard off
and this rear plate off I can slide this ...
(there we go), we can slide these two pieces apart.
The reason for the very tight fit there is because of course your optics are mounted on here,
and so you want a tight fit to the section that holds the barrel.
So when you're shooting, the excess gas (the piston goes back here),
the gas vent is this hole underneath the gas tube.
So all of the excess gas when firing is projected forward.
If you're running a suppressor this is particularly nice
because it is going to prevent at least most of the gas from coming back into your face.
So if we look in here, you can see there's a little flat spring underneath the charging handle.
I can swap it out by lining up this little hole ...
with (there we go), a little hole there.
Push down on that to drop the flat spring.
And then the charging handle comes out and can be reinstalled on the other side.
Moving to the other half of the upper, this is the gas block.
And this ...
can come off.
When the gun is assembled this lug, right here, in your barrel nut holds it in place rotationally.
And then these V rails are locked into the rails in the upper, right there.
So that holds the gas block in position.
And then that is what interfaces with the gas piston.
So if you are changing this to a larger diameter piston,
you simply change this out to one with a larger diameter hole.
One of the other important elements with an aluminium receiver
is of course when you have a steel bolt carrier you don't want steel running on aluminium,
or you'll get really accelerated wear.
And then things won't run straight etc. and you'll have problems.
So there are a pair of steel rails in the upper here.
What I like about these is that they are minimal rails.
They are just ... the amount that you need to sit in these two running slots in the bolt carrier.
So the bolt carrier can run on those slots like this.
The way they attach them is simply to mill a slot in the aluminium, press in the steel rail,
and then tap and lock it in place with these three pins on either side.
There are a lot of other designs out there of pretty darn modern military-pattern rifles
that have way more intricate systems for getting these rails
that add a lot of weight and complexity and like screws on the outside of the gun.
This is a really nicely done system for that.
And then of course we have a barrel nut, very much like an AR.
Standard AR-15 barrels, so barrel profile, barrel length,
all of those things can be whatever you like.
Standard AR gas block. Of course AR muzzle devices.
And there is the whole Perun 16 completely detail stripped.
What do you say we take it out on the range and try it out?
Alright, we have gone ahead and pulled the muzzle brake off
and put on actually a Ukrainian Strela suppressor,
because I am particularly curious to see how ... much gas I get in the face, frankly.
As a left-hander I am used to getting a lot of gas in the face from suppressed rifles.
So 25 rounds to work with, see how it does.
I'm getting a little bit. Honestly, it's less than I'm used to.
I suspect if we had a flow-through suppressor that would take care of it,
because ... what I'm not getting is any gas from where you would have an AR-15 charging handle.
I'm just getting a little bit from the ejection port,
which is caused by excess back pressure from the suppressor.
But it's actually not as bad as ... I was a little dubious about it being no gas,
it's actually not as bad as I was expecting.
Lawrence, you're left-handed. - Yes, I'm left-handed too.
- You're here shooting Lynx Brutality. - Yes.
- And you thought this also looked like a cool rifle.
- Yes. We talked at the booth and it was very interesting, yeah.
- You want to give it a try? - Thank you. - See what you think.
- Another ... 25 round magazine.
It's better than I expected. I'm used to get much more gas.
- Yeah. - I got a little bit. So my one eye is a little bit tearing.
But like mag dumping those 25 rounds. - Yeah, you were going fast.
- Yeah, I wanted to try it. They claimed it has less recoil and less muzzle climb than a piston gun.
And I would say it's true.
- I would agree. There's less moving mass, there's less mass out front that's moving.
The moving bits are back here instead of out here,
which I think ... contributes to it being a little lighter on the shoulder.
- Yeah. I had no problem (like what is it, like 40-50 metres) to stay on the target.
The red dot doesn't even climb out of the target. - Yeah. - Yeah.
Alright, well I snuck another 10 round mag.
- So. - I'm going to shoot a little bit more. - Have fun.
Hmm.
We have a 10 round mag that doesn't want to lock the bolt open.
That is really nice and flat shooting, there is not much felt recoil to it.
Now part of that's the rather chonky can out there on the end.
But I like this system, I think it has a lot of potential,
I'm excited to see it gets more exposure.
Alright, we have to cool this down for Mike.
Well, I hope you guys found that interesting.
... Like I said, the more I dug into this the more interesting, the more neat that I found it.
These are currently being sold in Europe, in the EU.
There's I think some distribution in the US, ...
I think they need probably better distribution in the US
because I've never heard about this in the US but it's pretty cool over here.
So perhaps it's something that we will see distributed more widely
in the United States at some point in the near future.
Anyway, hopefully you guys enjoyed the video.
A big thanks to Tinck Arms for giving me access to this
to do some shooting with, and to take apart and to show you guys.
And thanks to the Lynx Tactical Training Centre in Slovenia for letting me use their facility.
Thanks for watching.