BNTI Arms was one of the stories from SHOT Show 2017 that was interesting to us, in the fact they are a Jacksonville, Florida based company that has an export permit to sell firearms to “Vetted” African Governments, Military and Police groups. As has been the case for nearly hundreds of years, the continent of African is in a near constant state of war, rebellion and chaos. All of this makes it a perfect place for firearms manufacturers to ship their hardware to. The problem has been companies have had a hard time getting export permits to ship firearms to the right “good guys” and keep them from getting captured by the “bad guys”
Not much in known about the company aside from an address in a Florida strip mall, a few press releases, and a video release that is hard to get to be able to play. The company’s web site isn’t fully functional yet and there are scattered reports of new 9mm carbines and a new line of battle ready .308 caliber service rifles to be fielded presumably in Africa. What we do know about the BNTI Arms .308 comes from the company’s official press release from SHOT Shot 2017.
What we know about the new .308 Rifle from BNTI ArmsÂ
- Built in Jacksonville, Florida
- Mil-Spec 7075 T6 Aluminum receiver with integral quick detach sling mounts
- 16.5″ Match Grade 416R Stainless Steel barrel
- Rifle will have 1:10 twist
- Odin Works flash hider
- 13.5″ KMOD rail by Battle Arms Development
- 90* Ambidextrous safety
- CMC Flat bow trigger
- 4.5 lb trigger pull
- MagPul ACS Stock
To be brutally honest I’m not 100% sure that this company or line of rifles will take off and be commercially viable. There is little benefit from African countries trying to rearm themselves with anything other than AK47’s or other former Soviet COMBLOC weapons. There is a school of thought that more western friendly governments on the continent may be supplied or backed by NATO or United States governments and be more inclined use the AR-15 pattern rifle. When you take a few moments and consider the possibilities the problem with this whole thought process breaks down into two main points
- Most soldiers in Africa are already familiar with the AK47 and other Soviet Arms
- AK47’s can be purchased in Africa for roughly $50-100 much cheaper than new AR-10 pattern rifles
I’m not against the firearms manufacturing industry expanding and growing, but sometimes I just get the feeling that companies leap before they look. We have sent an email to the address listed on the companies web site asking for comments on their intended sales or countries they have worked with. As of yet these requests have not been responded to but BNTI Arms LLC. It strikes me as odd that with all the consolidation of firearms companies lately added to the very saturated AR-15 market that yet another company would spring up and let alone try to take on the African arms markets that are largely dominated by brokers from the former U.S.S.R countries. I’ll admit that I am not a Warlord or an International Arms Broker, just a guy watching the firearms market go through it’s natural ebb and flow. I could be completely wrong in my analysis, what do you think ?
Rick
Feature Photo Courtesy: www.armsvault.com
