Several months ago one of Suarez International’s Staff instructors, Jon Payne, came to me with a problem; build a rifle for a student that was missing his left arm. The student, Brad, had lost his left arm in an accident many years ago and had not shot a rifle since then. Making the rifle as lightweight as possible while maintaining a reasonable cost were critical concerns. Using my resources at KE Arms, contacts at GWACS Armory, and consulting with Gabe and Jon we came up with a package that met the right price point and performance.

Features include:
CAV-15 MKII Polymer Receiver
Suarez Recce Trigger and Lightweight Handguard
Lightweight contour 16″ barrel
Young Manufacturing low mass bolt carrier group
Suarez Kompressor to reduce muzzle jump

Weight without the optic was 5 pounds 6 oz.

For Brad the addition of a BAD lever was obvious to control the bolt catch and aid in malfunction clearing. We know that a charging handle can be racked against a surface or by otherwise bracing the rifle against something. Neither of those things is convenient. I modified a charging handle to attach a sling directly to it. With the other end of the sling around the shooter’s body, running the charging handle was accomplished by simply pushing out or down.

Working on a consistent repeatable manual of arms was critical. I experimented with different techniques in dry practice at home. Some techniques worked, others had to be modified once we were on the range training.

Working through the manual of arms for various conditions including sighting in and recreational range use was part of the training.

This project was a success. Brad was very pleased with how his rifle turned out and being able to use a rifle again was clearly satisfying for him. I was personally very pleased to bring together these manufacturing and training resources to facilitate this project and help Brad accomplish his goals.

Suarez International will be applying the concepts learned in this project to the Light Fighter Rifle. If there is sufficient interest, the charging handle sling may enter production.