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The Armtech C30R is an Australian assault rifle.

History

Armtech chose to pursue the design of its rifle for export sales and proceeded with development of the C30R, an advanced technology rifle using caseless ammunition. Although the concept of the C30R was highly publicized in Australia, it was developed in haste and premature demonstration before full development in front of news media led to the worst nightmare of the gun developer - poor reliability and an explosion while the rifle was being test fired, apparently an "out of battery ignition." This disaster led eventually to the demise of Armstech, but not before the firm had decided to pursue a conventional rifle with the basic features of the C30R. The company went into receivership in 1990 after having transferred rights to the rifle to Keith Greenwood of Edenpine, where it was developed into the Sak 30, the direct ancestor of the M17S. By June 1990, the name of the rifle had changed again, this time to ART 30 and the salient features of the M17S were essentially in place. The prototype rifle was tested in Guns Australia and received a highly favorable review, But the handwriting was on the wall as far as sale of firearms in Australia was concerned and Edenpine's management realized that while the primary market for the rifle would be the United States, restrictions there would make importing it difficult and so Edenpine began searching for a US manufacturer to produce the rifle. An agreement was reached with Bushmaster, who completed development of the rifle, re-designated it M17S and began producing it for domestic sale in early 1994.

References

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