I will admit that I was more than a little surprised when I read the following press release announcing that IWI US (Israel Weapons Industries' US subsidiary) had shipped their 20,000th Tavor SAR bullpup carbine. The market for a bullpup like the Tavor SAR or the Steyr Aug would seem a bit limited given the design and the price but obviously I'm wrong in my estimation. And reading their press release below, it seems I'm not the only one wrong in my estimation. Sales were three times greater than IWI US projected themselves.
The press release announcing this milestone:
Harrisburg, PA (March 2014) - IWI US, Inc. a subsidiary of Israel Weapon Industries (IWI) Ltd., proudly announces the 20,000th TAVOR® SAR has been shipped. The IWI US facility was officially opened in December of 2012 and began shipments to distributors of the highly anticipated; Israeli designed and built rifle in late March of 2013.
2013 became the year of the TAVOR® SAR, with unexpected demand that tripled projected sales and garnered the receipt of two coveted awards: American Rifleman’s Golden Bullseye Award for Rifle of the Year and the popular blog, TheTruthAboutGuns.com, Rifle of the Year. IWI US doubled their employee base to meet the demand for the TAVOR® SAR, as well as hired additional management as the product found a receptive audience in the law enforcement community.
IWI US expects to expand its facility in 2014 to accommodate continued growth. Additionally, IWI US will launch an online store with a variety of IWI US approved accessories for the TAVOR® SAR in the coming weeks.
“This is a watershed moment for IWI US and our employees,” Michael Kassnar, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for IWI US commented. “We could not have met our goals without the enthusiasm, dedication and the Pennsylvania work ethic of the IWI US team.”
I bought one in tan and I love it.
ReplyDeleteMy "even more gun-nuttier than me" friend bought one.
ReplyDeleteIt shouldered well, it pointed well, it was fast, the weight was all between your shoulder and your hands. Felt great. Minimal recoil. Minimal muzzle movement while firing.
Running the weapon was easy and pretty much instinctive: Charging handle, mag release, bolt release, all great.
The ergonomics were very solid.
But right out of the box, the trigger really was an abomination - long, creepy, gritty takeup and overall *really* heavy - easily 15+ pounds. Ridiculously B-A-D. On toast. Literally the worst trigger I have ever felt, much worse even - and I am not kidding in the least - than my 1944 production $79 Mosin-Nagant rifle. Worse than my childhood BB gun.
Bad to the point where I was thinking that there was absolutely no way in hell that I would ever pay that kind of money myself for a Tavor.
I teased him that he'd been ripped off & screwed over.
But then fast forward about 3 months, 1000+ rounds, and a couple of good cleaning/lubrication cycles later. (I know it was at least that many rounds because we were shooting together. I went thru a spam can & a bit more of 5.45x39 in my '74, and since we were running the same targets and shooting the same number of 30 round mags....)
Anyway, I hadn't shot his Tavor since that initial time, when he convinced me to give it another try.
I did so grudgingly - and was very, very pleasantly surprised.
Same factory gun - same trigger.
No mods whatsoever, nothing polished, nothing tweaked, nothing upgraded - the weapon had just been shot enough to be properly "broken in".
The trigger was still not "great", but it was definitely night & day improved into "pretty decent".
Still a longer takeup than I really like, but it wasn't gritty or creepy, the break was very clean, and stayed consistently around 6-6.5 pounds pull, and after running about 6 mags thru it, and really enjoying the experience of simply running the rifle, my opinion was completely changed.
I'd liked pretty much everything else about the rifle a lot to begin with, but the atrocious trigger was very offputting - a deal-breaker. But now, after having shot the same gun several more times in its "broken in" state? Now *I'm* very seriously considering buying one.
Which my friend is now teasing *me* about!
Are you sure your friend didn't perform the secondary spring removal mod? Supposedly drops the trigger weight by half. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dizuRNL0HIs
DeleteHe might have pulled a fast one on ya. ;)
And...there are now Timney and Geissele aftermarket triggers available, so problem solved! :)
ReplyDeleteIt sounds to me like your friend must have bought a bad one right off the bat. mine had a good trigger right outta the box with about an 8lb pull and wasn't gritty or creepy at all. I have put over 5000 rounds thru mine and am thinking about using it as a 'handicap" in the shooting competitions in my area because i'm tired of not seeming to have any real competition around here. Admittedly I am a trained sniper and im shooting against bankers and carpenters who have only shot for fun and hunting purposes so I need a handicap to give myself some true competition cuz using the cheapest used ar15 straight outta the box didn't work for me so maybe this will make the competitions fun for me!!!! I guess that its like they say don't buy anything built on Monday or Friday due to poor quality!!!!! The trick of removing the secondary spring makes the Tavor very unreliable!!!!! If you plan to use it for home defense or any other time you truly need reliability don't do it!!!!! You'll find yourself wishing you didn't have a $2000 baseball bat in your hands because that is what it becomes basically!!!! Spend the money and buy a timney or giesselle aftermarket trigger pack or just be patient and see what happens during break in. I plan on buying atleast 2 more within the next year!!!! I LOVE MY TAVOR!!!!!!!!
ReplyDelete