I know, that is a lot letters and numbers. Last week I had the opportunity to tour the LWRCI plant on, of all places, the Eastern Shore of Maryland. In short, I was impressed. This is a company that makes parts, a high volume of high-quality parts, from which it makes complete guns. Even better I spent a morning at the range with the guys from LWRC and Shooting Illustrated’s Jay Grazio.
LWRC is best known for its piston-driven rifles and carbines, ranging from 5.56x45 mm NATO through 7.62x51 mm NATO, and the company, too, is a leader when it comes to guns in 6.8x43 mm SPC.
The IC stands for “Individual Carbine” and the PDW represents “Personal Defense Weapon, so this gun has an 8 1/2” barrel. While offered in semi-automatic as an SBR (short-barreled rifle), the version I fired on the accompanying video was a selective-fire gun capable of full-automatic chambered in 5.56 mm. They also had a 6.8 mm PDW that proved remarkably controllable as well.
In addition to the innovative piston that runs smooth, the PDW has an interesting bolt-carrier-buffer assembly that allows a short, H&K-ish retractable wire stock with two positions. To deploy it, just pull until it locks. It may sound like a little thing, but there is some serious engineering in getting such a gun to work, and work well. At 100 yds., despite the short barrel, I was able to consistently ring steel on semi-automatic and with short bursts. Look for more in the coming weeks on our trip behind the scenes at LWRC.
