In addition to increased production by recognized AR15 companies, each and every firearm maker that has a heartbeat seems to be producing some model of an AR-15 right now. 50 % of those rifles are direct-impingement types with the same solid design  envisioned by Eugene Stoner when it was first introduced more than 40 years ago.

Rock River Arms was founded eleven years back by 2 brothers, Mark and Chuck Larson, who worked out of a garage. It has grown continuously ever since and now employs more than ninety people. Although Rock River produces weapons for various federal government agencies, the vast majority of their sales are to the civilian sector. Rock River Arms offers fifty or so versions of rifles, however customers can make up their own configurations, making use of numerous parts substitutions - sights, rails, stocks, barrel length and contour, and more. Rock River will also include add-ons like flashlights and red dot sights. Rock River Arms is like an a la carte workshop for guns. Rock River doesn’t make numerous components on site. Rock River designs and specifications parts, then receive them, perform inspections, finish them, assemble them into weapons and ship them out. The RRA facility is complete with a buffing and blasting area, where raw forgings become completed parts. Rock River Arms is definitely a family small business with the brothers Chuck and Mark Larson as well as their father and one of their sons working at the plant. Looking about the facility there were many boxes of rifle carrier groups, essentially the bolts of the rifles. Rock River Arms offers an almost countless number of chambering options for the basic AR platform. Once you own a lower half which consists of the stock and receiver, you can easily acquire upper halves (barrel, carrier group, and gas system) in all kinds of chambering and interchange them freely. There's even a company that offers a .410 shotgun upper half for the AR15 rifle.

Components are measured as well as tested as they arrive in to the manufacturing facility and at various stages during production. Tested for hardness, testing is done all the way down to the flash hider. All of the little sub assemblies - sights, gas blocks, carrier groups, safeties, and so on -- come together at the stations where the upper halves and lower halves are put together. Once at a work station the gunsmith assembles the upper half of what will be a future complete rifle. The gunsmith takes special care to assemble the upper with the silver tube running along the top of the barrel which directs gas from the gas block to run the action. During the upper half assembly, the headspace gauges are used to examine the dimensions of the chamber. The bolt of a gun must close up over the green “go” gauge but not close over the red “no go,” which is slightly oversized. Cartridges can rupture, sometimes dangerously, in an oversized chamber. Rock River offers the choice of a standard trigger or a two-stage National Match trigger for serious target shooting. A two stage trigger is the favored style for military rifle competitions such as the famous National Match at Camp Perry, Ohio. Pulling a two-stage trigger, you feel slack as the trigger moves a short distance, then a light, clean break. The Rock River Arms gunsmith will check the weight of the trigger pull by hanging a 4 1/ 2 lb weight from the trigger. If the weight doesn’t trip the trigger, he will file the trigger sear to lighten the pull. Lighter trigger pulls are also available from leading Rock River Arms dealers. Lowers also come with options such as an oversized winter trigger guard, originally designed for police officers who needed to keep their hands inside warm gloves but still be ready to shoot in cold weather. Winter trigger guards work perfectly for winter coyote hunters as well. As the final pieces are assembled into a lower half of what will be the final rifle, this lower half could also be matched to an endless combination of barrel lengths, barrel contour, hand-guards and calibers.

All rifles are built to customers specifications and each lower and upper is unique

In the shipping area, parts come in, guns go out. There seems to be no end to the demand. Rifles usually are sitting on dealers’ shelves for a few days before they’re gone. For dealers that take deposits, guns never even make it to the shelves before they are picked up by a local customer or shipped out again.

Every rifle is sighted in and test fired before it leaves the factory. The Rock River Arms finisher loads the magazines prior to every rifle test fire. Using a fast bench loading tool, the finisher snaps 20-30 rounds into a magazine in an instant.

Several times a day, assemblers and rifle testers load the Rock River van with rifles and take all of them away to the range. Shooting from the back of the van, each and every firearm with sights is sighted in, and then test-fired for function. Testers shoot at least two magazines through the fully automatic guns. Who says semi automatics aren’t accurate? With barrels provided by Wilson Barrel, the primary appeal of Rock River Arms rifles is that they shoot considerably better than marketed.

The fit and finish of the Operator 2 firearms are fantastic and definitely a step above the regular, rack-grade, Parkerized mil-spec AR on the market now, although they are barely more expensive than those lesser grade types. The Operators upper and lower receivers fit together so securely I needed a tool to work out the push pins. While the Rock River Arms Operators don't have pistons or monolithic fore-ends or flip-down rear sights, they have everything you need in an accurate, reliable semiautomatic rifle, at a price that way back when would have been unheard of. The Rock River Arms Tactical Rifle AR15 BB2522 Operator 2 is designed with a 16 1/2" Chrome Moly barrel for accuracy, Rock River Arms Tactical Muzzle Break with exceptional signature reduction, Flip forward sight, Rock River Arm Quad-rail hand guard and much more... The Rock River Arms Tactical Rifle AR-15 Model BB2522 Rock River Arms also involves such high-quality improvements as rugged fixed rear sight and flip forward sight to provide even more ruggedness and cosmetic appeal. With the forward flip sight feature, the Rock River Arms AR15 BB2522 Operator 2 is ready for action to further add a scope or red dot.

The Operator butts tock itself is a six-position CAR-type set up with watertight storage compartments and numerous sling attachment points. The stock has a ribbed rubber butt pad that slides down with a push-button release to reveal the two storage compartments, sealed with O-rings. Each will hold either two AA batteries or 3 CR123 lithium batteries. As part of the package I had my choice of 4 rear sights: a traditional bolt-on A2 carry handle; a stand-alone rear sight; a RRA Dominator2 with an elevated rail designed for use with the EOTech Holosight; or the RRA tactical carry handle that features an elevated rail just below the level of the sights. The mil-spec magazines supplied with all Operator 2 Models are manufactured by NHMTG (Colt). For range work I equipped the Operator with a stand-alone rear sight behind an Aimpoint Comp ML2, and then tried the Operator with a Dominator2 rear sight from a friend combined with an EOTech 512 (AA battery model). For precision testing I used a Trijicon 4x32 ACOG with no sights.

The first concern often, with any kind of weapon, is stability, my Operator operated without a hitch. I fed the Operator ammo from Wolf, Winchester, Remington and Black Hills, with varying bullet weights and types, and the weapons digested it all. I used the equipped magazines for testing as well as a few surplus magazines I found lying around, along with a a couple of MagPul PMags.





Rock River Arms AR-15 Model BB2522 Rock River Arms has a list price of 1515.00. I ended up ordering it over the internet for much less. Nearly all dealers in my vicinity wanted list price ... plus which did not set well with my budget plan. I obtained my Rock River Arms AR-15 AR-15 Model BB2522 Rock River Arms from Class 3 Weapons in Houston, Texas at a sizeable cost savings. Rock River Arms is at present selling the Operator rifles as a package deal, with the rifle of your choice equipped with its National Match two-stage trigger, any one of four rear sights, a one-inch or 30mm Hi-Rise scope mount, two 30-round magazines and a case. These bundles start at an incredibly economical price of $1,000 according to the RRA factory website. I ended up purchasing it online for much less. Most dealers in my location desired retail plus which did not set well with my budget. I acquired my Operator from Class 3 Weapons in Houston Texas at a sizeable savings of only $969.00 which included shipping. Based on where you live your price will fluctuate based on shipping and taxes if relevant. For the time being, thanks Rock River for a awesome firearm and keep up the good work. I am off to the community firing range to discover what this power house is capable of doing again.


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