The new Australian-made Eureka Stockade lever-release rifle is a few steps closer to completion, with the first pre-production models, if not the first customer rifles, expected to be assembled this month.
Eureka is now at the point where it can assemble five of the gas-operated bolt-action rifles, according to Bastian Green of Australian Sporting Agencies, the distribution company behind the new rifle.
One of them will undergo what Bastian calls “torture testing” while the other four will be shown to influencers and dealers in the lead-up to the Stockade going on sale.
Eureka is still waiting for delivery of the barrels, which it is sourcing from overseas, and has in the meantime been completing background work: dealing with import paperwork, setting up CNC machinery and the like.
“We have received the sample fore-ends and they were amazing,” Bastian says.
“We’ve redesigned the receiver to make it more slick and also more functional, to address some of the issues we’ve found during the testing period.”
The factory is expected to be able to produce 400-600 receivers by the time the barrels arrive, at which point assembly of rifles can begin.
Once initial orders are filled, production will settle at about 200 rifles a month, limited by the capacity of the CNC machines.
Bastian foreshadows an update to the website which will allow buyers to customise their rifles prior to purchase, specifying various options such as butt, grip and fore-end.
There will also be bundled packages available with a range of optics and other accessories.
While orders and payments are completed online, the official transfer and pick-up of each rifle will, of course, have to happen at a licensed dealer’s premises, as per Australian law.
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