SSAR-15 Slide Fire Buttstock from Slide Fire Solutions

 

by Jeff Quinn

photography by Jeff Quinn & Boge Quinn

May 22nd, 2011

UPDATED June 13th, 2011

 

Click links below for video!

640x480 WMV format (88.0 MB)

YouTube Video

 

UPDATE! 

Jeff Rocks & Rolls with Valkyrie Armaments AR-15 Belt Feed Conversion and SlideFire buttstock

Click links below for video!

640x480 WMV format (23.0 MB)

YouTube Video

 

 

 

 

Click pictures for a larger version.

 

Slide Fire Solutions' SSAR-15 buttstock.

 

 

 

 

Finger rests on finger rail.

 

 

 

 

UPDATE!

June 13th, 2011

On the way back home from a week at the NRA Whittington Center near Raton, New Mexico, I knew that an update to this review was in order. We were out there attending the annual Shootists Holiday, and I was able to persuade the good folks from Slide Fire Solutions to come out and show their Slide Fire to the Shootists present at the event. While every Shootist is experienced with a variety of firearms, there are some who seldom if ever fire AR-15 type weapons, and many who have never fired anything with a high rate of rapid fire. In addition, some of the Shootists bring their families to the event. This offered an excellent opportunity to get a wide variety of shooters in one place to try out the Slide Fire.

At the range, shooters were strung out along the entire length of the handgun silhouette range. When Jeremiah and Matt from Slide Fire arrived and set up their weapons, I started toward the control tower to announce to the shooters to stop by and view the Slide Fire, but changed my mind. Instead, I grabbed an AR with a loaded thirty-round magazine, walked to the line, and unloaded the entire magazine into the hillside. Within a few moments, a crowd had gathered.

Shooters with all levels of experience took to the Slide Fire, and within a magazine or two, were firing controlled groups of fire at various targets. Also, we have added another video of me firing the Slide Fire attached to a Valkyrie Armaments belt feed conversion on an AR-15. In watching the video, note the steadiness of the muzzle. I was holding on a spot on the hillside at about 140 yards, and the muzzle was easily controlled by the manner in which the pressure is applied to the hand guard.

As excited as I was before about the potential of the Slide Fire, I am even more enthusiastic now, after spending more time using the unit on several AR-15 rifles. The Slide Fire is an excellent product, simply designed and perfectly executed. I highly recommend it for owners of the AR-15 rifle. For shooters of other popular semi-automatic weapons, such as the AK-47, AK-74, and the Ruger Mini-14, these units are in the planning and development stages right now.

The times are few when most of us really need a high rate of fire, but when needed, the Slide Fire delivers the fire accurately and reliably. Besides all that, it is a whole lot of fun! Sometimes, having fun is reason enough.

Check out the new video, and look at the Slide Fire online at www.slidefiresolutions.com.

For all practical purposes, the end of affordable select-fire for most of us in the USA began when Ronald Reagan signed into law in 1986 the ban of manufacture of select-fire and automatic weapons for civilian sales. Until then, in many states, one only had to submit a lot of paperwork along with a $200 extortion tax to the BATF, wait a few months, and could then take possession of a reasonably-priced M-16 rifle. Since the signing of that law, prices of civilian-legal firearms that are capable of firing more than one shot with each pull of the trigger have skyrocketed beyond the reach of most of us, with a good quality transferable M-16 going for upwards of $25,000 US.

There have been a few legal devices on the market over the years that allow the rapid firing of semi-automatic rifles, but most have been junk or worse. I expected to find the same when I first heard of the Slide Fire stock shown here. However, to my surprise, this thing really works, and works well. The first thing that I want to make very clear is that the Slide Fire stock does NOT make an AR-15 capable of full-auto fire. It does NOT make the AR-15 capable of burst fire. The rifle still only fires once with each pull of the trigger. However, with the Slide Fire stock in place, the weapon will fire much more rapidly than it will without the stock in place. Effectively, the Slide Fire stock allows for controlled, reliable “bump fire” of the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.

Made from reinforced polymer, the Slide Fire stock replaces an AR-15 telescoping buttstock and pistol grip. The rifle must be equipped with a mil-spec or civilian-spec buffer tube made for the telescoping buttstock. If your AR-15 has a fixed style buttstock, the buffer tube can be changed easily, allowing the installation of the Slide Fire stock.

Installing the Slide Fire stock on an AR-15 is very simple, quick, and easy to do. First, empty the weapon, then remove the pistol grip by removing the bolt that attaches it to the lower receiver. While doing so, be careful to not let the spring and plunger for the safety lever fly over into the next county. Retain the spring and plunger, and install the interface block, using the bolt which attached the pistol grip. Next, remove the telescoping buttstock. On most, this is done quickly, without the use of tools. Slide the Slide Fire buttstock over the tube, and you are ready to go burn some ammo. The process takes all of five minutes, if you take your time.

To fire the weapon with the Slide Fire stock, the shooter pulls the weapon to his shoulder using his strong hand. Being a left-handed shooter, that would be my left hand. For most of the world, it means the right. Anyway, with the hand that holds the pistol grip, pull the weapon into the shoulder firmly, but relaxed. The trigger finger is not upon the trigger, but is placed across the trigger onto the finger rail. With the hand that is holding the forearm/hand guard, push forward. This forward motion pushes the trigger into the trigger finger. As the rifle recoils, the trigger, along with the rest of the rifle, will recoil rearward away from the trigger finger. Applying pressure forward repeats the process. As long as forward pressure is applied to the forearm, the weapon will continue to fire until the magazine is empty. Cool! Again, this is not full-auto fire. The rifle is still firing only once with each pull of the trigger, but the rapid motion of the weapon recoiling and the pressure of pushing the weapon forward again will empty a thirty-round magazine in about three seconds.

What sets the Slide Fire apart from other bump-fire methods is that with the Slide Fire, the weapon is very controllable, as the off hand is steadily pushing the rifle towards the target. To stop firing, one simply stops pushing forward on the hand guard. Also with the Slide Fire in place, the shooter has instant selection of rapid fire, or can fire the rifle normally by sliding the trigger finger from the finger rail onto the trigger, or back to Slide Fire mode again by moving the trigger finger back to the finger rail. All this can be done without changing the shooting grip to move a safety or selector switch.

In use, operating the Slide Fire stock is much easier than I have described, and can best be understood by watching the video.

What the Slide Fire does is give shooters the capability of very rapid fire; controllable rapid fire, without the exhaustive paperwork and exorbitant expense of buying a select-fire weapon. The Slide Fire stock does not alter the weapon, and the original stock can be returned to use whenever needed. For the cost of just the tax and transfer fees, a shooter can buy the Slide Fire stock, and use the several thousand dollars saved to purchase more ammo.

The Slide Fire stock comes with everything needed to attach to an AR-15 rifle. It is easy to use, and after just a few minutes, I was getting pretty good with it. The Slide Fire also comes with a letter from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE) stating that it is legal to own in the US.

The Slide Fire is a good design, very affordable, and made in the USA.

For more information and instructional videos, go to www.slidefiresolutions.com.

Jeff Quinn

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Click pictures for a larger version.

 

To install the SSAR-15 buttstock, first make sure the weapon is unloaded. Then remove the pistol grip, being careful not to lose the spring and plunger for the safety lever...

 

 

...then place spring in the Interface Block, and attach the Interface Block using the existing pistol grip bolt...

 

 

...then remove the weapon's existing telescoping buttstock...

 

 

...then slide the SSAR-15 buttstock onto the rifle's buffer tube. You're ready to rock!