The Franklin Armory F17-L
The Amazing Gas Piston-Driven Rimfire
The Franklin Armory F17-L is arguably the ideal survival weapon. Flat-shooting and recoilless, it is a blast on the range.
The Franklin Armory F17-L is a gas-operated, piston-driven semiautomatic rimfire rifle. Yeah, you read that right. I didn’t believe it myself until I got my grubby paws on one of these extraordinary things and tore it down. Amidst a sea of tragic sameness at your local gun emporium, Franklin Armory has produced something entirely fresh, new and different. Press on, dear friends, for the particulars.
The AR-pattern rifle has been around since the 1950s. It is hands-down the most modular and adaptable firearm ever contrived by man. What began as a Space Age 7.62x51mm battle rifle has since evolved in some of the wildest directions. Today’s versions launch dozens of different cartridges and come in all shapes and sizes. And then, there is the Franklin Armory F17-L.
The Franklin Armory F17-L is a long-range precision gas-operated rimfire rifle that is more fun than a barrel of monkeys.
When properly accessorized with some quality Trijicon glass, a Magpul bipod, and a top-flight SilencerCo sound suppressor,
this tricked-out gas-operated .17-caliber precision rifle will shoot the flies off of your target stand.
Particulars
The beating heart of the F17-L is its short-stroke, gas piston-driven action. This system is conceptually similar to that of the ArmaLite AR-180, the Steyr AUG, the FN SCAR or the HK416 used by Delta Force and SEAL Team 6. Hard practical experience has shown that this particular action offers the best reliability and accuracy for a given weight and bulk of any autoloading rifle on planet Earth. It improves upon the classic direct gas impingement system of the original AR-15 in several critical ways.
For starters, the piston-driven action is hugely cleaner. As gas is vented underneath the handguard rather than within the entrails of the weapon, the reciprocating bits stay way tidier and cooler than those of the traditional gun. Not only are cleaning and maintenance chores made markedly easier, such a rifle is much more resistant to fouling and crud than the more traditional sort.
They are in the minority, but there are actually lots of piston-driven ARs in circulation these days. They’re more expensive than their direct gas counterparts, but they’re out there. What really sets the F17-L apart is its radically unconventional rimfire chambering.
The forged receiver set that serves as the foundation for this amazing rifle has all the bells and whistles
to include bilateral finger rest pads and built-in sling sockets.
The fixed Bravo B5 stock is rock solid.
The F17-L come with a superb Aura muzzle brake.
Feeding the Beast
The Franklin Armory F17-L fires the .17 WSM (Winchester Super Magnum) cartridge. The .17 WSM actually began life as a .27-caliber PAT (Power-Actuated Tool) round. These high-powered rimfire blanks are used to drive nails and fasteners into stuff like concrete. By taking this PAT case and necking it down to accept a tiny little jacketed .17-caliber bullet, the good folks at the Winchester Skunk Works produced something truly amazing.
These .17-caliber projectiles are the same diameter as the .177-caliber pellets we all burned through by the bushel basket back when we were kids. When firing 20-grain, polymer-tipped bullets, you can expect muzzle velocities that flirt with 3,000 feet per second. The 25-grain versions are a bit slower but pack more downrange thump. I’m actually the plant doctor for the Winchester ammo plant where these things are made. Watching these adorable little cartridges roll out of those machines is a near-religious experience for me.
These Winchester .17 WSM rimfire rounds are just adorable.
The Holy Melding
Most rimfire weapons operate via a straight blowback action. Think your favorite Ruger 10/22. However, while such a mechanism is cheap to produce, it is neither the cleanest nor the most consistent option. By contrast, the piston-driven .17 WSM F17-L is as reliable as a mother’s love and as straight-shooting as your date’s dad when you pick her up on prom night.
The Osprey Defense slim piston system also somehow self-regulates when used with a sound suppressor. No idea how they did that. Magic, I guess.
The basic chassis of the F17-L is standard Gene Stoner AR. That means modest weight and literally perfect ergonomics. If you have ever hefted a standard AR or M4, there is legit no learning curve. All the switches and ditzels are in the same place. In the free states, the gun feeds from a 20-round removable box magazine. The bolt does not lock to the rear after the last round is fired.
The SilencerCo Omega 36M is one of the most versatile sound suppressors on the market today.
The 20-inch, 1-in-9-twist barrel is threaded 1/2×28 for a sound suppressor, and the 15-inch premium handguard includes an integral barrier stop. Franklin Armory also offers a 16-inch version as well as drop-in uppers. The gun comes with a nice Aura muzzle device should sound suppressors not be your bag. The rifle utilizes a standard AR charging handle to drive a proprietary bolt carrier assembly unique to this Franklin Armory design.
The fixed Bravo C stock is as rigid as humankind can make it and as comfortable as your toddler’s favorite teddy bear. The Ergo Ambi Sure pistol grip feels great in your hand. The synergistic sum is a lightweight rifle that fits your anatomy like it grew there.
The F17-L is built around Franklin Armory’s premium Libertas billet aluminum matched lower and upper receiver set in ODG. An all-black forged receiver set version with a 16-inch barrel and slightly different furniture configuration is available as the F17-X model.
All the cool kids are running short-stroke gas piston-driven actions these days, but Franklin Armory
is the first to successfully pulled it off in a rimfire platform.
Trigger Time
You may have logged decades behind dozens of black rifles. You may own the original AR-15 that Gaius Julius Caesar carried as he pacified Gaul back in 55 BC. I’d stake my reputation as a gun writer, such as it is, that you have never fired anything quite like this. This is the next best thing to the Terminator’s phased plasma rifle in the 40-watt range. Flat-shooting, recoilless, breathtakingly reliable and cooler than Steve McQueen circa 1968, the Franklin Armory F17-L is a refreshing new range experience.
You could cover this 25-meter get-acquainted group with a dime.
I’m not a terribly good shot, but this rifle is capable of some superb accuracy in still air out to several hundred meters.
This is a typical 100-meter group fired from a simple rest.
The trigger is delightful, and these zippy little 25-grain rounds hovered around 2,700 fps out of our test gun. So, what’s it really good for? Don’t much care. This bad boy is a 300-meter precision rifle that will explode a Coke can or a milk jug like an antipersonnel grenade. The F17-L is accurate enough to make head shots on a water moccasin at a football field and adequately powerful to turn a coyote veritably inside out. Just pinging steel is a peerless way to kill a lazy Saturday afternoon at the range. Radical, revolutionary, practical and fun, the Franklin Armory F17-L is optimized for piston-driven rimfire perfection.
Learn more at FranklinArmory.com.
