The “Carmel,” named after Mount Carmel which is a coastal mountain range in northern Israel next to Haifa, was unveiled to the public in April 2019 at the LAAD Defence & Security trade show in Rio de Janeiro, catching many people by surprise. I was very excited to see this new rifle platform, so much so that I flew to Israel to try it out.

There seems to be a trend with various manufacturers around the world to have new and common features such as fully adjustable folding stocks, fully ambidextrous controls, non-reciprocating charging handles, etc. This is likely to be driven by requirements from government contracts. The Galil ACE®, while it has proved itself over the years, does not meet all these new requirements. Thus, a new rifle design was born.

However, instead of using either an aluminum upper with a polymer lower receiver like the FN Scar, CZ Bren 2 or HK433, IWI has chosen to go with a full external polymer shell with internal aluminum reinforcements.

Features

The Carmel is short-stroke, gas-piston-driven with three adjustable gas settings: normal, adverse and suppressed. The suppressed setting is necessary due to the ever-increasing use of suppressors in various Special Forces units worldwide. The gas settings can easily be adjusted on the exposed part of the gas block using the tip of a bullet just like on the Tavor 7.

Various barrel lengths are available, 10.5 inches, 12 inches, 14.5 inches and 16 inches. The rate of fire is 850 rounds per minute which makes this rifle controllable even under full-auto fire. As with all IWI products, the barrels are cold-hammer forged.

Accuracy is rated at 1.5MOA using quality ammunition.

On the handguard, hidden under polymer panels, are polymer Picatinny rails at 3, 6 and 9 o’clock. The panels can be unlocked and removed by pressing the tab with your finger similar to the X95. The handguard feels slightly large, but the operator can remove the rail panels and install slimmer rail covers if needed. On the left side of the handguard hides a small lever that can be unlocked with a tip of a bullet for the quick-change barrel.

One of the unique features is the non-reciprocating charging handle. Instead of being a removable handle for switching from left to right and vice versa like the Tavor 7 and HK433, once set in the middle position, it can simply be pushed to the opposite side. This is even simpler than the Beretta ARX-160 design which requires the operator to flip the charging handle over to the other side.

If you are an AR-15 user, you will be right at home with the control. Everything is ambidextrous including the bolt hold-open and bolt release which are paddles (instead of a lever, such as on the HK416 A5) on the right side. The Carmel has a 90-degree safety with a shorter throw from semi- to full-auto.

The folding, fully adjustable stock is intuitive and easy to use. There is a small tab at the rear to adjust the length of pull from its six positions. Shooting with just a shirt (no body armor), I find setting 2 or 3 to be quite comfortable. The cheek can also be raised to three different positions by pressing the two tabs on the left and right sides at the same time. The lowest setting at 1 works perfectly with the Mepro Foresight optic. The rifle can be fired with the stock folded.

The stock folding latch is large and looks to be designed for abuse. With the stock folded, it unveils another latch that unlocks, and the bolt carrier group, together with the captive dual recoil spring, comes out for field-strip and cleaning.

How Does It Shoot?

The author’s first impression of picking up the Carmel is the almost upright pistol grip. This makes holding the rifle very comfortable without adding strain to the shooter’s wrist. The grip, along with the trigger guard, is part of the lower receiver and cannot be switched out. For the author’s medium-sized hands, there’s no need to change this.

The rifle feels light at 3.3kg (7.27 pounds) without the magazine and is equipped with the 10.5-inch barrel. That is slightly lighter than a Micro Tavor X95 with a 13-inch barrel at 7.5 pounds.

The trigger feels good on initial take-up but becomes lighter as it’s squeezed and breaks light and clean. It’s certainly a very good service rifle trigger at around 6 to 6.5 pounds with a positive and short reset compared to most MIL-SPEC triggers.

The long polymer cheek piece provides comfortable shooting from standing to prone positions, and a large, angled recoil pad offers great support on the shoulder. I was told to use a C-clamp-style grip with my left hand right up to the end of the handguard where it angles down to the gas block adjustment knob. I was able to do a 30-round, full-auto mag dump at 15m toward a human-size steel target with ease. Impressive!

Overall, with over 80 years of experience in making automatic weapons, it is not surprising at all that IWI knows how to make the Carmel rifle tick like a precision Swiss watch.

No Commercial Version in Sight

IWI does not have information on when a semi-automatic only, civilian-legal version will be available. It’s safe to say it will be quite some time before we will see it. Just like the HK433, it is first and foremost catered to the LE and military markets. Deliveries of the Carmel have already begun, but IWI is mum about to whom or where these rifles are going.

Mepro Foresight

Representatives from Meprolight, an Israeli optics company also under the SK Group, were present to show a hardware-finalized version of the new Mepro Foresight. First unveiled at SHOT Show in January 2019, the Mepro Foresight is an augmented weapon sight that features multiple reticle options, compass, leveler and shot counter (to be available later via a firmware update) as well as built-in lithium battery with USB charging. It also features Bluetooth, which, when connected to the Mepro Foresight app on your smartphone, offers up to 10 gun profiles that store the zero of the optic and other settings.

The optic is non-magnified at 1x, but it is compatible with Meprolight’s MX3 series of 3x magnifiers.

The display is amber in color, with a hint of purple tint on the glass to enhance visibility as well as battery life. Battery life will get the most criticism here, rated for only 2 days. But how long does your smartphone last with one charge? The idea is you can charge it using your phone or a battery pack that you may be already carrying for charging your phone. It does have a low-power mode that automatically engages when the battery is low and disables all other on-screen functions except the reticle. The Android app will be available first, followed by the iOS version. At the time of writing, the Android app is in its final phase of testing.

Pressing the up/down arrows cycles through the five preset reticle options, from a simple circle dot, circle with a horizontal line crossing through the dot, circle with a line pointing up to the dot, circle with a cross, to a circle with a “T.” I was told that custom reticles can be made by the user and uploaded to the sight using the phone app.

This is the author’s first time using this sight mounted to a rifle in an outdoor setting. The objective is large and unobtrusive, similar to the Mepro M5 electro-optical red dot sight which is standard issue on X95 rifles for the IDF (Israel Defense Forces). The experience can only be described as being in a video game. The compass and leveler shown on the upper left and left display area are sensitive to small movements, and they can be disabled in the menu setting if the operator finds the display to be too cluttered with information. There’s a battery icon showing the battery percentage level on the upper right corner as well.

Conclusion

This rifle is part of a revamp of IWI’s product line starting with the Masada 9mm striker-fired polymer pistol. While there are many countries, particularly in the South American and Asian regions, that have issued Galils and Tavors, the rest of the western world has a fresh set of requirements. IWI is no longer constricted to selling only Galils, Uzis, bullpups and hammer-fired pistols. They have caught on to other small arms manufacturers such as Heckler & Koch, CZ and FN that produce modernized modular assault rifles for the 21^st century and beyond.

The author sincerely thanks Shiri Katsav Begoon, Yoav Hirshberg at IWI and Amir Karo at Meprolight as well as the rest of the IWI and Meprolight team for inviting and spending a warm summer afternoon with me at the range, showing me these interesting new products.

Photos by IWI

By Dickson Ly

This year’s IWA show carried on in the turbulent time of industry slowdown and increasing tension between countries such as the U.S. and Turkey; yet the show did not slow down, with 1622 exhibitors compared to 1562 the year before. The number of attendees was down slightly to 46,000 from 46,562 in 2018.

Heckler & Koch

At Enforce Tac, Heckler & Koch Germany (HK) proudly showcased its next generation rifle for the German Bundeswehr tender, the HK433. It is now HK’s prototype iteration version number 4. HK representatives are usually tight-lipped about what was changed internally; externally, the charging handle has been revised such that the charging handle can only be removed when it’s pulled back in the middle position very similar to the IWI Tavor 7 prototype (SADJ Vol. 10, No. 3). This is to prevent the handle from coming off if the operator grabbed it under stress. The handguard lockup has been revised again compared to the version I saw back at the Heckler & Koch factory in Oberndorf in 2017 (SAR Vol. 21, No. 9).

The HK433 was shown in both black and RAL8000. The RAL8000 seemed to gather more interest due to various shades of tan, which HK claimed is effective camouflage. Many clients now opt for colors other than black due to its high visibility in the IR spectrum.

HK was also showing off the new SFP9-OR SD with a push button magazine release in RAL 8000. “OR” means Optic Ready, and “SD” means it features an extended, threaded barrel. Unfortunately, the pistol was not available for a photograph for the later part of the second day, as it was being shown in meetings with potential clients.

The HK416A7 (German military designation G95K), used by Germany’s special ops units—Kommando Spezialkrafte (KSK) and sailors of the Kommando Spezialkrafte Marine (KSM)—was also on display showing the new, 45-degree safety.

HK did not show the above products at IWA due to commercial restrictions via German regulation. The company did, however, showcase the new SFP9L-OR with push button magazine release at IWA. The “L” stands for Long Slide, which is designed for competition use.

Back in early March this year, Heckler & Koch Germany sent out a letter to all its commercial distributors that it is no longer accepting orders indefinitely due to existing military and law enforcement contracts from various countries such as France, U.S., UK, Germany, and so on.

Currently, the company has the French Army HK416F contract for 102,000 rifles; the UK MoD/British Army SA80A3 upgrade for 44,000 rifles; the USMC M27 IAR contract for 50,814 and M38 contract for 15,000 rifles; the U.S. Army M110A1 contract for a maximum of 3,643 rifles; and the Berlin police SFP9-TR contract for 24,000 pistols.

Heckler & Koch representatives have since clarified that they are continuing to accept commercial pistol orders, with lead time of 12 months or longer. They are capable of producing over 10,000 pistols a month; however, the allocations are for both commercial and military/law enforcement.

FN Herstal

FN Herstal was only present at Enforce Tac with the new SCAR-L and SCAR-SC (Sub Compact) with updated keymod handguard with keymod mounting slots at 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock, slightly shedding weight.

The SCAR-L was shown equipped with an Aimpoint Micro with the 3x magnifier. This configuration won the contract with the Bavarian police as their patrol rifle.

The SCAR-SC rifle is now offered in both 5.56x45mm NATO as well as .300 Blackout. It features a 7.5-inch cold hammer forged barrel, and with the stock collapsed, it is only 21.1 inches long and weighs under 7 pounds unloaded.

Beretta

At the enormous Beretta booth at IWA, the company announced the new 92X Performance 9mm competition pistol. This is, for the first time in over 10 years, that Beretta has reintroduced a frame-mounted ambidextrous safety for the 92 series. The pistol features a Vertec frame made of steel as well as a thick Brigadier slide. It has more aggressive checkering on the front and rear of the slide as well as on the front of the grip and on the backstrap. It has a standard fiber optic front sight with adjustable blacked-out rear sight. The trigger is fully adjustable. The take-down lever is extended and can function as a “gas pedal” or thumb rest for your left thumb. Even with a manual safety, the 92X remains a double and single action with added cocked-and-locked feature. Interestingly, it has an extended beaver tail that curves downwards. The slide and frame have a nickel or satin finish; however, the barrel and controls are black. We can only assume this is a cost-saving measure.

We noticed that the wide safety, while easy to engage, is actually in the way of your right thumb when you try to hit the slide release. We wish Beretta would take note and offer a different sized safety and slide release to remedy this issue, as many competition shooters prefer to hit the slide release button for quicker reload instead of moving their hands to rack the slide. In addition, the adjustable rear sight is sitting further back which makes it difficult for the user to cock the hammer.

There is no official pricing or ETA for the North American market, but the 92Xs are expected to be available after June and are expected to be around $1500 retail.

We were told this will become a new series of pistols designed for competition, with the 92X Performance designed for the Production division of IPSC and USPSA; future models will be for Standard and Open divisions. This will be an uphill battle since the 92X is not optic ready due to the lack of room to accommodate a red dot on the rear of the slide. It has been 10 years since Beretta released the 92G Elite II for competition shooters.

Beretta also announced its 1301 Comp Pro 12-gauge, gas-operated semi-automatic shotgun designed for competition shooters. It features a synthetic stock with a recoil reducing Kick-Off Plus System, which it claims reduces up to 40% of recoil. The synthetic forend is also rubberized for enhanced grip. The 1301 Comp Pro also features extended charging handle and bolt release. Like all Beretta shotguns, it has a cold hammer forged barrel with an extended forcing cone for less recoil and enhanced durability and accuracy. It comes with Optima extended chokes in black finish.

Unlike the Benelli M2, the 1301 features a 3.5-inch receiver with a 3-inch chamber which offers a larger loading port for faster reloading.

The receiver is finished in the signature anodized blue. Overall, the gun is well thought out and offers out-of-the-box performance unrivaled by other manufacturers. Naturally, shotguns are Beretta’s strong suit.

Chiappa

At the Chiappa booth, the Black Rhino CBR-9 9mm carbine or PDW (Personal Defense Weapon) in semi-automatic form was unveiled. It has a 9-inch long barrel and only weighs in at 4.8 pounds. It fires from a closed bolt and is a blowback design similar to the CZ Scorpion Evo. The upper receiver is made of aluminum and features a Picatinny top rail with built-in fiber optic sights. The Rhino CBR-9 has a collapsible stock for the European market; however, Chiappa is working closely with the ATF to get this firearm approved as a pistol with a pistol stabilizing brace.

The Rhino features an extremely low bore-axis similar to the Rhino revolver. Unlike most traditional firearms, the hammer is upside down. It has a polymer lower receiver that accepts patent-pending, double-stack polymer magazines in 15-, 18- and 30-round capacities. This magazine design is unique in that it is double stack but necks down to a single-stack feed which the manufacturer claims reduces fatigue on the feed lips.

Spuhr

Spuhr was present at both Enforce Tac and IWA, showcasing its new MP5/HK33/53 stock assembly. It is a 6-position collapsible stock with a removable cheek piece. It is designed to be used in conjunction with mounted optics. The company recently won the Dutch police contract, and it supplied them with 500 MP5 stock assemblies, which can be seen being used during the tram shooting in Utrecht.

Spuhr also continues to introduce more models in its hunting series of scope mounts and scope rings. Now available for scopes with diameters of 1 inch, 30mm, 34mm, 35mm and 36mm for Blaser and Sako / Tikka.

SHOW MASTER INFO: IWA Outdoor Classics

Location

Nuremberg, Germany

Exhibition Venue

Messezentrum Nuremberg

Website
iwa.info

Contact

IWA

General Inquiries

info@iwa.info

 For Media Inquiries

Guido Welk, Ariana Brandl

phone            +49 9 11 86 06-82 85

fax       +49 9 11 86 06-12 82 85

press@iwa.info

Next Show

March 6-9, 2020, Messezentrum Nuremberg

Focus

While Enforce Tac presents military and law enforcement small arms, optics, clothing and gear, the IWA Outdoor Classics showcases all outdoor products including firearms, optics, clothing and gear.

Dress

Business.

Show Food

There are plenty of food and snacks at the show. In addition, organizers have several spots for food trucks inside the courtyard. Keep in mind that the food at the show can be quite expensive.

Hotel Hints

Exhibitors usually book their hotel one year in advance. The author suggests that you try to book at least six months in advance. Airbnb is available for more reasonable prices but can be further away from the venue.

Power & Plug Types

230 volt/50Hz. Germany uses the standard European two prong outlet.

Country Warnings

No warnings at time of writing, but visitors should be aware of their surroundings in tourist and public areas.

Tipping

It is generally not required to tip in restaurants and bars in Germany. Tipping is for excellent service.

Currency Type

Euro (EUR, €). Check the currency exchange rate at www.xe.com.

A majority of hotels, restaurants and other venues will take credit cards, but having some cash in local currency is always a good idea. Personal checks are not used.

Getting Around

The subway is the main public transportation to and from the show. Uber is not available but there are taxis available in the city. Taxi drivers understand English even some of them may not be able to speak fluently. Most taxis accept credit cards but they may ask for cash if it is a short trip.

You can use Taxi app called “MyTaxi” to request for a taxi or call mytaxi.com/de.

Tourism

Nuremberg offers a wide variety of restaurants, bars and shopping for both men and women. Brands such as Hermes and Michel Kors have their own stores in the shopping district of the city on Kaiserstraße.

There is the St. Lorenz Church in the city center. Reichsparteigelande (Nazi Party Rally Grounds) is another famous location for tourists.