NOVEMbEr 2011 • GUNS & WEAPONS FOr LAW ENFOrCEMENT 19GUNS-WEAPONS.com

Those who know Lone Wolf Distributors know

them as a one-stop shopping center for all things

Glock. While that is certainly true, Lone Wolf fans might

be surprised to learn that they are now in the carbine

business, having developed an AR-pattern carbine that

should prove to be ideal as a light and handy law en-

forcement patrol carbine. Despite dipping into the long

gun market, Lone Wolf has stayed true to their roots.

Just released is the new Lone Wolf Distributors

9mm Carbine. As you might expect, this new long

gun shares many similarities to the original M4

Carbine, but it has unique features as well. The

most notice-

able is the

fact that

the LWD carbine is fed by standard Glock 17 magazines

or, of course, the 33-round G18 magazines. I’ve tested

numerous AR carbines chambered for 9mm cartridges

over the years. The Achilles’ heel for most has been the

magazine. Glock magazines, since their introduction,

have been historically reliable and less expensive

than similar steel magazines.

Beginning with the base of the gun, you will notice

that that lower receiver was purpose-built to accept

a 9mm pistol magazine. Other manufacturers have

attempted to modify standard AR lowers by using maga-

zine blocks, etc. with limited results. Although it shares a

similar silhouette with other black rifles, the LWD lower is

a bit unique. This is particularly apparent when you get a

look at the magazine release button and the triggerguard.

For the sake of commonality,

the manual controls on

Glock magazine-fed carbine

mates perfectly with issued

handguns for str

eet-proven firepower!

By Paul Markel • Photos by Steve Woods

Lone Wolf Distributor’s new 9mm carbine offers the familiarity of the AR with the added benefit of being able to use your

Glock 17/18 magazines. Shown here with a Burris FastFire II red dot sight.

20 GUNS & WEAPONS FOr LAW ENFOrCEMENT • NOVEMbEr 2011 GUNS-WEAPONS.com GUNS-WEAPONS.com NOVEMbEr 2011 • GUNS & WEAPONS FOr LAW ENFOrCEMENT 21

sight affixed to a riser base. I was pleased to find that an LWD gunsmith had zeroed the optic prior to shipping it. This fast-to-acquire sight would surely come in handy for steel plate drills.

RanGe TimeTo give the LWD carbine a thorough

workout, I decided to enlist several factory- fresh 9mm loads from American Eagle,

Black Hills, Hornady, Winchester and Wolf Ammunition. A mix of full metal jacket and controlled-expansion rounds were includ-ed, with bullet weights varying from 115 grains to 147 grains.

Chronographing and benched accuracy chores were knocked out first. No major surprises were encountered. After all, this is a carbine chambered for a pistol cartridge. I was expecting velocities to be about 10 percent higher than from a handgun and

the LWD carbine are essentially identical to the Mil-Spec M4 and located in the same place. The manual safety lever, bolt-catch and charging handle are all of traditional AR design. The lower receiver furniture is traditional M4-style with an old-school re-tractable stock in CAR-15 fashion and a Mil-Spec pistol grip.

You’ll also notice a flattop upper receiver. Surrounding the 16-inch 9mm barrel is an aluminum four-way rail system. A Mil-Spec flash suppressor/muzzle brake (of course, larger in internal diameter for the 9mm pro-jectile) is fitted to the business end of the gun.

Internally, the standard bolt carrier group has been replaced by a 9mm bolt. This component houses the firing pin and extractor but functions without the rotating bolt that most black rifle folks are used to. The ejector is a separate part that is actu-ally affixed to the lower receiver frame as it would be on a pistol.

Unlike the traditional direct gas impinge-ment operating system, the LWD 9mm Car-bine uses a recoil-operated configuration. The recoil from the 9mm cartridge drives the bolt back into a standard AR-type buf-fer/spring combination housed in the buffer tube. A combination of bolt mass and recoil spring tension keep the action closed long enough for chamber pressure to drop to safe levels before the action opens.

The rifle that I had on hand to test came from LWD with a Burris FastFire II red dot

P E R F O R M A N C EP E R F O R M A N C ELONE WOLF CARBINE 9mm

Load Velocity Accuracy

American Eagle 115 FMJ 1,368 2.27Black Hills 115 FMJ 1,386 2.31Hornady 115 XTP 1,280 2.14Winchester 147 SXT 1,047 1.85Wolf 115 FMJ 1,197 3.07

Bullet weight measured in grains, velocity in feet per second (fps) by PACT Chrono, and accuracy

in inches for best 5-shot groups from 50 yards.

LOne WOLF 9mm CaRBine

A four-way aluminum rail system surrounds the barrel. It is free-floated from the barrel and

allows plenty of space for installing accessories.

The Lone Wolf upper is similar to a standard AR’s with a forward assist and brass deflector.

The 9mm barrel uses a NATO-spec flash suppressor/muzzle brake.

Lone Wolf Carbine controls are all standard AR-style, even though it’s chambered in 9mm.

Photo courtesy Paul Markel

22 GUNS & WEAPONS FOr LAW ENFOrCEMENT • NOVEMbEr 2011 GUNS-WEAPONS.com

accuracy to be very good. From the bench, I used a G17 magazine because it allowed me to rest the gun on a range pack.

My first outing with the carbine was con-ducted at my home range in Mississippi the

week prior to scheduled trip to Ohio. Long-time readers will know that one my favorite organizations is the National 4-H Shooting Sports program. Since 2000, I’ve been for-tunate to work as a 4-H Shooting Sports in-

LOne WOLF 9mm CaRBine

Two phenomena have driven the sales of mini red-dot sights to heretofore unheard of levels: the Global War on Terror and 3-Gun competitions. Naturally, the war is the more serious of the two applications for these small optical gun sights. Dur-ing both applications, these compact red-dot sights are being used in up-close-and-personal, fast and furious shooting.

Combining both a magnified optic for distant/precision tar-get engagement and a compact red dot to quickly take on close targets has become the preferred set up. The old method of combining a magnified optic with a mini red dot was to place the mini directly on top of the large model. This situation, however, had limited practical applica-tions, as it placed the mini red dot several inches, 4 to 5 in some cases, above the bore of the rifle.

The “offset” issue has always been a concern and, up until recently, it was one shooters just had to live with. A compact red-dot optic 4 to 5 inches above the centerline of the bore required shooters to make on-the-fly offset calculations during stressful engagements. Also, the long offset required shooters to fire from an unnatural shooting position, lifting their heads high off of the rifle stock.

The AnswerConsidering all the aforementioned issues with mini red-dot optics and long off-sets, Lewis

Machine and Tool, better known as LMT, has come up with a solution. LMT calls their kit the “Quick Fire Sight System” or QFSS.

The QFSS is a complete hardware kit that allows the end user to mount one of several styles of mini red-dot optics to their rifle and use them in conjunction with a magnified optical sight. The centerpiece of the kit is a platform that mounts to any Mil-Std-1913 rail, right or left side. This platform has a 45-degree cant to allow the mini red dot to be angled away from the magnified optic but still be in relative close proximity to the bore of the rifle.

OptionsThis mounting kit includes a platform and adapters to install the most popular mini red-dot

optics currently available. With the QFSS, you can mount the Insight Technologies MRDS, the Leupold Delta Point, the Trijicon RMR, the Burris FastFire II or Docter Reflex, and the Aimpoint Micro T-1 to your black rifle.

In addition to the adapters, LMT includes all the screws and hardware you need to mount the red dot sights. They also provide protective shrouds to guard/shield the mini red-dot sights from damag-ing impact during use. The entire QFSS kit comes in a padded hard case. For more information, visit lmtdefense.com or call 309-732-9527.

LMT QUICK FIRE SIGHTING SYSTEM

By Paul Markel

S P E C I F I C A T I O N SS P E C I F I C A T I O N SLONE WOLF CARBINE

Caliber: 9mm • Barrel: 16 inches • OA Length: 35.5 inches (stock extended), 32.25 inches (stock closed)Weight: 6.5 pounds (empty) • Stock: 4-position adjustable

Sights: None • Action: Blowback-operated, semi-autoFinish: Parkerized • Capacity: 17+1, 33+1 (Glock mags) • Price: N/A

The QFSS platform mounts the red-dot at a 45-degree angle, which is still relatively close to the bore of the rifle.

LMT’s QFSS kit allows the shooter to mount a number of popular mini red-dot optics to their rifle. (Left to right) Trijicon RMR, Leupold Delta Point, and Burris FastFire II.

24 GUNS & WEAPONS FOr LAW ENFOrCEMENT • NOVEMbEr 2011 GUNS-WEAPONS.com

structor. One event that I look forward to all year is the Shooting Education Camp held outside of Jackson, Ohio. My duties have kept me from the camp the past few years, but this summer I would return and the LWD 9mm Carbine would accompany me.

STeeL ChaLLenGeAlthough a 4-H shooting event might

not seem like the best test for an LEO-style carbine, don’t judge too quickly. The Steel Challenge has become the Super Bowl of speed shooting events, drawing action shooters from all over the world to participate. Recently, Scott Moore modi-fied the adult Steel Challenge competi-tion and created the Scholastic Steel Challenge (SSC), a team event for young shooters. The 4-H Shooting Sports pro-gram has embraced the SSC, and when I arrived at camp, I found that the pistol range was arrayed with steel targets set up for several different stages.

As a pistol event, the angled steel plate targets from Action Target are designed for pistol-caliber firearms and can be safely en-gaged at relatively close distances. The SSC shooting stages (Please turn to page 104)

LOne WOLF 9mm CaRBine

The four-position retractable stock is styled after the traditional CAR-15 stock.

The Burris FastFire II mated to a riser mount allowed for quick, both-eyes-open shooting.

104 GUNS & WEAPONS FOr LAW ENFOrCEMENT • NOVEMbEr 2011 GUNS-WEAPONS.com

would provide an excellent proving ground for the LWD 9mm Carbine.

The five-target “Speed Option” and “Smoke and Hope” stages allowed me to run the 9mm Carbine fast and furious, and truly get a feel for the handling character-istics of gun as well as the red dot optic from Burris Optics.

Beginning each session with a full 33-round Glock 18 magazine, I moved from stage to stage clanging steel. As long as I did my part and held the little red aiming dot on the steel as the trigger broke, I was rewarded by the joyful metallic sounds.

Aluminum rail systems, re-gardless of the manufacturer, will get hot during protracted shooting sessions. I found that a short vertical foregrip offered a solid hold point for my support hand.

Somewhere between 300 and 350 rounds into the evalu-ation, the hammer pin sheared on one side and broke. How-ever, this carbine is an early

model that I had received for testing pur-poses. That said, the trigger and hammer pins in the AR platform are relatively easy to replace and can be done so in a mat-ter of minutes. Apart from the pin break-ing, which, as noted above, can be eas-ily replaced, the LWD 9mm Carbine ran without a hitch. I suspect that with a new, hardened pin in place, the gun will con-tinue to run like a champ.

FinaL nOTeSWhile it may at first seem like an an-

swer to an unasked question, the LWD 9mm Carbine has a number of positive at-tributes. The most obvious is the savings you will appreciate from firing 9mm am-

munition versus .223 or genu-ine 5.56mm. The cost of 9mm training ammunition hovers a bit less than 50 percent of .223. The LWD Carbine mimics the standard M4 style as far as handling and manual controls, so you can appreciate the training and practice value.

Another benefit to using a pistol-caliber M4 is that it would make an ideal companion to an LEO’s 9mm Glock pistol. With the ability to share maga-zines between the two, and the

handy size and capable performance of the LWD Carbine, this could be an ideal patrol combo team.

LONE WOLF 9mm CARBINEContinued from page 24

Lone Wolf Distributors208-437-0612lonewolfdist.com

Burris Optics970-356-1670burrisoptics.com

National 4-H Shooting Sports410-228-88004-hshootingsports.org

For more information:

While it appears at first to be a standard 5.56 car-bine, a closer look at the mag release button and triggerguard show the uniqueness of the design.

Rather than employing a traditional lower with an adapter, the Lone Wolf 9mm AR employs

a dedicated magazine well in its lower.