This rifle was designed to be completely ambidextrous, and all the critical controls on it may be operated right- or left-handed. These include the 2-position safety, the magazine release, the bolt release and charging handle and the case-ejection selector, which determines whether spent brass is ejected to the right or left. The flip-up backup sights that come standard on the ARX100 are also versatile, offering an easily-adjustable diopter system ranged from 100 to 800 yards. The barrel is also easily replaceable in seconds, making it possible to use different lengths and calibers without any tools required. Lastly, the folding stock is adjustable for length of pull at the touch of a button, using a simple and rugged telescopic construction.
The first thing that comes to mind when I think of the ARX is the keen focus its designers put into creating a truly ambidextrous firearm. The most laborious task when setting this rifle up for a left-handed shooter is nothing more than grabbing a bullet and using it to depress a tab towards the rear of the receiver. This action swaps the ejection pattern to the opposite side of the other side of the rifle.
After this, all you need to do is swap the charging handle, which is as simple as pulling back, pulling outwards on the handle itself, and swinging it across to the other side. The rifle's other notable ambidextrous features include the fire selector, the magazine release, the bolt release, and the interestingly-placed bolt catch on the bottom of the trigger guard. The U22 Neos is designed for field stripping without tools into basic modules for cleaning. The Weaver-style rail incorporates a fully adjustable rear sight and a removable front sight. The grip and trigger guard assembly, made from fiberglass-reinforced "technopolymer", is attached to the receiver with a single bolt and can easily be removed and replaced with an accessory grip. Unusual for a pistol the magazine release is above the trigger guard and is operated by a right-handed shooter's trigger finger.
The magazine holds ten rounds, giving the Neos a total 10+1 capacity. Beretta's entry into the tactical rifle market took the industry by storm with today's ultimate tactical rifle. Creating a hard-use tactical rifle by combining the principles of modularity, simplicity, and reliability was what Beretta set out to accomplish. Beretta made short work of this concept and the futuristic ARX100 was born. Fully ambidextrous controls, replaceable barrels, and countless accessories, make the ARX100 a perfect fit for multi-mission roles.
Utilizing a constant contact, short-stroke gas piston system ensures complete reliability in the most adverse conditions. Endless customization is made possible by the ease of disassembly, allowing the user to swap barrel lengths and calibers in seconds, all without the need for cumbersome tools. The folding collapsible stock can be configured to suit any user or application. A full Picatinny top rail accepts a wide range of optics, lights, and lasers to truly make the ARX100 a formidable firearm.
The mad scientists at Beretta completed their mission by creating the ultimate tactical rifle, now use the ARX100 to complete yours. If you're not a southpaw, the ARX-100 still offers a compelling feature set. First, in a departure from its AR70 predecessor, the ARX-100 takes STANAG magazines. If you have a stockpile of P-Mags in your desk, the ARX-100 will run with those. The ARX-100 has a telescoping and side-folding stock, a cold hammer forged barrel, and operates on a constant contact piston system.
One of the neat features is the quick change barrel system. Remove the standard barrel without tools, and replace with the length of your choice. The gun is multi-caliber compatible, meaning that a change to .300 Blackout would be as simple as a barrel swap. Other caliber swaps are possible with a bolt change. In fact, the select fire ARX-160 is in use by the Special Forces of Kazakhstan chambered in 7.62×39.
This provides an uninterrupted plane to mount any type of carbine-compatible optic, from a red dot to a hunting scope. The gun comes with polymer flip-up front and rear sights that are adjustable for windage and elevation. The rear sight has five apertures situated on a disc that are calibrated for ranges of 100, 200, 300, 400 and 600 meters.
Expanding on the modularity of the U22 Neos pistol, in 2004 Beretta introduced a U22 Neos Carbine Kit that transforms the pistol into a light rifle. The kit includes a skeletonized butt stock that takes the place of the grip on the pistol and a separate fore-end assembly that replaces the pistol barrel. A fiber-optic front sight is mounted on the barrel and the integral Weaver-style rail includes an aperture rear sight. This Neos carbine configuration appears quite similar to the Buck Mark Sporter Rifle, but Browning Buck Mark pistols and rifles are purpose-built and major components cannot be interchanged.
Besides featuring left or right ejection, the charging handle can be quickly changed from one side to the other. The magazine release, located in the same general area as an AR's, can be activated from either side. And the magazine can also be released by pushing up on a button located at the bottom of the triggerguard just to the rear of the magazine well. The bolt can be locked to the rear with the same button.
The bolt catch can also be activated with the trigger finger by a button located on either side of the receiver just to the rear of the magazine well. The safety lever is fully ambidextrous and located in about the same place as an AR's. It is a little stiff and could be a bit longer though for better leverage. The ergonomic design is different than a typical AR-type rifle, and that's OK. Despite the ARX100's light weight, recoil was quite manageable and not uncomfortable in the least. The controls were positive and required only a bit of getting used to.
Magazine changes were quick and easy to accomplish even though there is no bevel on the magazine well. Incidentally, the ARX100 uses AR-15 magazines, so there will be no need to search for special proprietary magazines. Returning the bolt to battery after loading was lightning quick because the trigger finger did all the work without the need to modify the shooting hand's position. During the entire testing period, no malfunctions of any kind were encountered. I used an EOTech XPS3 holographic sight with a 1-MOA red dot within a 65-MOA circle for a reticle.
This sight is very fast for tactical drills or hunting. Its monolithic top rail includes flip up iron sights. The cold hammer forged barrel with two-position gas block regulates the short stroke gas piston and is designed to cycle even the lowest power 223 ammo.
Unlike the AR-15, the charging handle on the ARX 100 reciprocates with the bolt. Therefore, it is easy to simply grasp the bolt-mounted handle and give it a tug. To change the ejected cartridge's path from one side to the other, a bullet nose is inserted into an opening just to the rear of the receiver.
This is a bolt that lets you press the bolt to one side or the other to control ejection. There are two extractors and this cross-bolt activates one or the other. This may be debated at length, and it is what it is, and when being used, cocked and ready for action the rifle will be open.
At the moment, Beretta is simply trying to meet demand. The ARX 100 features a unique design that lets you change brass ejection on-demand from right to left. This makes the ARX 100 a truly ambidextrous rifle, with excellent interchangeability and ambi options. The selector controls and the magazine release are ambidextrous units. If the magazine release does not function correctly, there is another release just in front of the trigger guard for a total of three magazine release buttons! The third lever is actually a lock rather than a button.
It is more like the AK 47 than the AR-15 type release, while the primary release is a close copy of the AR-15. In 2003 new features were added to the U22 Neos product line, in the form of DLX models which can be identified by a special U22 NEOS logo is engraved on the slide. As with the standard models, the U22 Neos DLX was made with blue or stainless steel finish.
DLX barrel length was 6 inches or 7.5 inches (no 4.5 inch DLX model). DLX triggers are adjustable for pre- and overtravel. Front and rear sights have user-replaceable blades in different colors. DLX models have rubber inlays in the pistol grip; these inlays are textured to improve the shooter's grip and are colored for a distinctive appearance. Even with features like removable barrel and piston operation, I was able to get 100 yard groups just over an inch when shooting good ammo with care.
If your primary concern is bench rest accuracy, you wouldn't buy a configurable, piston operated battle rifle anyway – that's not its intent. If you're looking for a defense gun ready for rough conditions, this might be your huckleberry. It'll stay clean, is easy to maintain and can be adjusted to fit any shooter in seconds. Speaking of stripping, to field strip the rifle, you put the bolt in the maintenance position and fold the stock into the pistol position.
Next, rotate the safety lever past "S" while pushing into the back of the receiver, now uncovered because the stock is folded. At this point, you can rotate the pistol grip out of the upper receiver and the major components come apart. It's a lot easier than it sounds and requires no tools.
Make sure to practice with this system to become acclimated. If you're used to shooting standard AR-type rifles, you won't want to be reaching for a bolt release button on the left side as you might drop a magazine. You also will want to train your fingers to find positions of the bolt release levers and magazine release levers, as they are about an inch apart on both sides of the receiver. The ARX100 is the ultimate evolution of the modern sporting rifle. Designed for ease of use and ultimate reliability, the ARX100`s feature set is unparalleled.
The cold hammer forged barrel can be removed and replaced with various lengths and calibers in a matter of seconds. Case ejection can be switched from right to left with the simple push of a button. All of the critical controls on the ARX100 are completely ambidextrous. With a constant contact piston system, the ARX100 can easily feed and fire under the most unforgiving conditions. The lightweight, technopolymer receiver allows for reliable operation with virtually no lubricant. To make maintenance easy, the ARX100 has no pins and can be completely disassembled with no tools at all.
The ARX100 is the next step in modern sporting rifle evolution. This is a minor complaint, especially given the rest of the rifle's stellar features, like the adjustable folding stock and the quick-change barrel system. Initially, I didn't see the utility for most civilian shooters. A skilled person can remove and replace the ARX-100's barrel, sans tools, in under 30 seconds. Simply lock the action open, remove the bottom handguard cover, pull down on the barrel release levers and pull the barrel free. A hell of a feature on a squad automatic or an LMG, but not so useful on a civilian weapon.
At least, that's what I believed until I heard about the caliber conversion kits. I was interested in it and when the price showed up so low, I went to try one on. The lower part of the forearm is ergonomically perfect for a grip. The quick change barrel lockup is rock solid and simple.
Magpul gen 2's fit fine, as do Lancers and good old GI's. Sure, there are some things that could be slightly better, but only slightly. I've seen guys knot themselves up with their sling by having it connected in the wrong place and trying to switch on the fly.
The rifle comes with a folding stock that is adjustable for length of pull. Controls are laid out well and are easy to manipulate and reach for shooters with small hands. The charging handle is reciprocating, but small enough so that it didn't get in the way while shooting from inside vehicles. By design, the charging handle is very small compared to other systems due to the ambidextrous design of the weapon.
One of the nifty features of the ARX100 is the quick change barrel design. The end result is that you can change the barrel completely, in seconds, without any tools whatsoever. Over time, we might see conversion options for things like 300 AAC Blackout, 6.8 SPC and 7.62×39 – not to mention short barrels. First off, it's important to note that 10 rounds at Media Day isn't enough trigger time to offer a real review.
But it is enough time to gain an initial impression of the gun, and the ARX-100 has a lot of positive traits to it. One of the big complaints about non-AR-15 rifles in .223 is that they have an unusual recoil impulse, a trait not shared by the ARX-100. The stock rifle uses a standard birdcage style flash hider, but even with only that the recoil impulse is straight back. The rifle doesn't porpoise and flex when firing, but delivers the recoil in a linear impulse straight back to the shooter. While I've listed many positive qualities of the ARX-100, not everything about this rifle can be viewed through rose tinted glasses.
In fact, some of the baggage brought about by this rifle cannot be spun in a positive light at all. One shining example of a feature that cannot be viewed in any real positive light would be the sling loops. The designers at Beretta opted out of adding QD sockets to the ARX in favor of five metal sling loops molded into the body as well as one sling swivel placed in the gas block. Under normal circumstances I wouldn't have a problem with such an idea, but the problem is that these loops are four strands of angel hair pasta in thickness.
This means that there aren't many good choices for sling attachment hardware which will mount to this rifle. The current sling I've got mounted, a Blue Force Gear Vickers sling, uses MASH loops. These fit through the sling loops but provide almost no freedom of movement meaning that while hanging the rifle does swing around in ways I wish it wouldn't. On top of this, the MASH hooks have a gnarled polymer receiver of the rifle which is something that wouldn't be a problem on rifles with more standard mounting hardware.
