Earlier today I was thumbing through the latest Book of the AR-15 at the newstand and saw a story on the MGI Hydra which I'd never heard. That piqued my interest so just now I went to their website and watched this amazing video. Their system allows quick barrel changes using standard AR barrels and that's not all, their lower receiver has a removable magwell so you can turn your 5.56 into 7.62x39, 5.45x39 and many other popular calibers. Of course some calibers require a bolt change too but not all. The price really isn't bad, about $1300 for the basic 5.56. Anyway, it's well worth thumbing through that magazine and/or watching this 4 minute video: http://www.mgi-military.com/index.php?id=2&sub_id=24
Ya, saw that system a little while bck very cool concept. Pricey tho. At the time of reading ( mebbe almost 1 year ago) a caliber and magwell change costed about as much as getting a complete lower reciever. Innovative but pricey (well they usually go hand in hand right?
Yeah the magwells do add up but I have to say the quick barrel swaps look good. It's not something I'd ever get but I can see applications for this. As the magazine pointed out unlike the ACR, there are an endless supply of standard barrels already available for the MGI system.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nMvqg5nSKE&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/ame] Here's something interesting if it hasn't been brought up before.
The only issues are you will need to rezero the optic or sights each barrel change. The qd barrel idea works with squad machine guns because you are shooting at an area not a point target. Its also not a good idea to constantly swap bolts between barrels on a ar15.
