Description

The Bushmaster M17S is a rifle that was manufactured by Bushmaster Firearms International from 1992 until 2005. The rifle was originally conceived by the Australian company Armstech to compete for the title of new standard rifle of the Australian Army during the early 1980s. That rifle, known as the C60R, failed to win the competition (to the Steyr AUG) and a few years later Armstech closed up business and sold the rights to the C60R to Edenpine, another Australian company. After a few improvements were made to the rifle, Edenpine sought a more lucrative marketplace to sell the rifle in and enlisted the help of Bushmaster Firearms International to finalize the model and sell it to the US civilian marketplaces. Bushmaster renamed the weapon the “M17S” and continued production from 1992-2005.

The M17S is basically a bullpup version of the AR18 rifle that is chambered for the 5.56x45mm round and is gas operated, magazine fed, and mostly ambidextrous when considering user controls and switches. The carrying handle on the top of the rifle is fitted with a Weaver accessory rail which allows the rifle to be set up in various configurations.