Review: Enfield Arms Genesis One straight-pull rifle

The Australian-made Enfield Arms Genesis One is a highly-specialised, high-precision rifle, a straight-pull bolt-action unlike any other, and it’s built like a battleship.

On a hunt in Queensland back in 2019 I paid a visit to my good friend Ron Owen at Owen Guns in Gympie. He showed me the prototype of a tactical-style, straight-pull rifle that he’d designed and manufactured in-house. It has taken him a few years to perfect the design, but it is now available in gun shops.

Enfield Arms Genesis One review — The light-barrelled version of the Genesis One is by far the easiest to use offhand

I received two for review, one with a heavy barrel and the other a light barrel, carrying low serial numbers —120 and 139.

Ron, the head honcho of Enfield Arms, has spent a lifetime studying firearms, their design and functionality. He set out to address the shortcomings of the many tactical-type rifles he’s seen and used in creating a rifle which has precise tolerances where it needed them as well as room for dust to migrate, allowing it to function in the severest conditions.

The result is a high-performance rifle with a quality build that is totally reliable and has increased accuracy.

Ron chose the name because it heralds the beginning of a new generation of firearms, produced in Australia.

Ron conducted extensive destructive testing of the rifle and is extremely confident of its strength and durability. The tests included firing massive proof loads with no damage to the rifle, and machining back the locking lugs so that they were only 1.6mm (1/16”) thick, which produced an excessive amount of headspace. When the rifle was fired, no gas escaped (there’s a gas shield behind the bolt head), the cartridge case split but was easily extracted and the rifle was undamaged. Once a new bolt head was fitted the rifle was as good as new.

The Genesis One consists of only 54 parts, all of which are machined with the finest tolerances on multi-axis CNC machines, auto-feed CNC lathes and other high-tech machinery. Enfield Arms makes 80 percent of its parts in-house — an almost unheard-of number in the AR world, as most US makers usually make only a few key components, which means they are really more assemblers than manufacturers.

The company also Cerakotes receivers, forearms and scope bases in-house.

The Genesis receiver is machined from round hollow bar of Grade 1075 fully heat-treated, medium-carbon steel that will not fracture under pressure (880Mpa) and has a wall thickness of 5mm per side. An integral Picatinny rail attaches to the top of the receiver with four M4/10 screws to lock it down.

The receiver has been machined to house a six-lug rotating bolt, whereas most rifles of the AR-type typically have three-lug bolts.

All highly stressed parts — bolt head and carrier, firing pin, striker and sear, extractor and ejector — are made of the best quality material, high-grade 4140 HT steel.

The bolt head is shaped, heat treated and then machined again. It completely shrouds the head of the cartridge. The extractor is totally recessed into the bolt head and is surrounded by a ring of steel, doing away with the need for cutting a slot in one of the locking lugs. The plunger-type ejector, too, is built into the bolt head, leaving the rim of the counterbore in the bolt face unbroken.

Another important feature: most plunger ejectors are prone to jam if a small piece of debris or carbon residue enters the hole, but the Genesis One’s ejector is struck by an ejector plate in the bolt carrier as it travels to the rear to eject the fired case through the ejection port. This is just one of the many unique features of this Aussie-made rifle.

The bolt carrier is a one-piece module and, unlike other straight-pull or semi-autos, the Genesis One has no hammer or hammer mechanism. The compact firing mechanism (striker and spring) stays clean and safe, being housed within the bolt carrier.

The rear of the bolt carrier, together with the firing mechanism, fits inside the return spring, which is entirely enclosed in the butt tube.

A two-stage trigger is attached to the underside of the steel receiver module and only the sear projects up into the tubular receiver in a way similar to the majority of bolt-action rifles.

By function and appearance, then, the Genesis One bears some resemblance to a pair of original military straight-pull rifles — the Steyr Model 1895 and the 1889 Schmidt-Rubin — with the main mechanical difference being that the bolt is closed by the return spring.

All you have to do is pull it to the rear to extract and eject the case and then let it go to load a fresh round and be ready to fire.

The smooth-bodied bolt glides in the steel receiver, guided by a sturdy pin attached to the ample cocking handle which runs in a raceway in the side of the bolt carrier. The cocking handle is located on the left side of the receiver and has a serrated knob.

The bolt can be locked open by pulling it to the rear and pushing it into a recess. It is spring-loaded and can be released quickly.

The round-bodied receiver sits atop a lower section, a one-piece foundation platform of moulded polymer which forms the trigger housing and magazine well. Thus, the Genesis is not a chassis gun. Having a firm gun platform, there’s no chance of the action rattling around in the chassis when the rifle fires because the Genesis One has no chassis.

The barrel, forearm, magazine well and stock are all attached to the robust receiver.

Genesis One uses an MDT polymer magazine which doesn’t protrude far beneath the magazine well and holds 10 rounds in a single column for centreline feeding. The magazine release is located in a protective pocket in the rear of the magazine housing where it is easy to reach and activate.

The controls, including the safety and magazine release, are bilateral to suit both left- and right-handed shooters. The trigger guard is moulded integrally with the lower polymer platform but the rubber-coated AR-15 type grip is an insert.

This rugged straight-pull rifle features an easily removable telescoping butt module with five positions that can be used to set length of pull to suit shooters with different builds and — together with the adjustable comb and cheekpiece — to suit different shooting styles. Even the cant of the butt pad is adjustable.

The butt module includes the rear collar, the butt tube and polymer butt with ridged rubber recoil pad. It can accommodate many types of fixtures to fit rifle slings.

The butt has a large castle nut attached which is threaded into the rear of the receiver. The butt tube is the same diameter as the AR-15 buffer tube (there is no buffer) so that other proprietary brands of buttstocks may be interchanged with the one supplied.

The end result is a system that is robust. The hand is comfortable and an adjustable cheekpiece helps a shooter line up with an optic.

To remove the stock, simply press the disassembly button (at the rear of the scope base), loosen the castle nut and spin the tube out of the receiver. You can leave the return spring with the butt and then remove the bolt carrier in one piece for cleaning.

Everyone is rail-crazy these days. A feature of Genesis One is the huge 1913 mil-spec rail mounted on the receiver. Stretching the full length of the receiver, it allows easy mounting of thermal or night-vision devices for those who like to hunt at night.

The handguard surrounding the barrel has four integral Picatinny rails to attach bipods, flash lights, infrared illuminators, lasers, red dot sights, or sling swivels. They also keep the shooter’s leading hand further away from the barrel and dissipate the heat over a much greater surface area.

Barrels are made by Maddco from 416R stainless steel and have a full 5cm (2”) of barrel thread for maximum strength. Barrel collars lock the barrel rigidly into the steel receiver.

The barrel is fully free-floating, the easiest way to improve accuracy. Its heavy profile will definitely help accuracy, too.

We obtained two sample rifles chambered in .223. One was a standard model with a 16-inch (41cm) barrel with a diameter of an inch (25.4mm), and weighing 4.9kg (10½lb). The other had a light 16” barrel and weighed 4.2kg (9¼lb). Longer barrels are an option; the baseline length is 16 inches but longer barrels up to 32” (81cm) are available on special order at extra cost.

The two-stage trigger is a Mauser 98 type which is very reliable and resistant to mud and dirt. Two-stage triggers work well on rifles that you are trying to get superb accuracy from as well as rifles or carbines that are precision-type guns.

The triggers on both test Genesis Ones delivered a consistent 1.8kg (4lb) pull after the initial amount of take-up, a clean release and no over-travel. Stock AR triggers normally leave a lot to be desired — usually very safe but with a heavy, draggy pull weight.

The firing mechanism, being enclosed in the back of the bolt, is protected against any crud and debris and has a much faster lock time than any AR or AK swinging-hammer type.

The bolt cycling and function on both rifles was smooth and clean with reliable no-flaw extraction and ejection.

The Genesis One is innovative, safe, versatile and speedy. And it’s consistently accurate to boot. The rifles shot consistently for this type of arm. Accuracy results are listed in the table.

Initially, it is chambered for the two most popular calibres: .223 Remington and .308 Winchester. Enfield Arms lists 6.5 Creedmoor and .300 ACC (Blackout) as future calibres and Rons spoke to me of possibly .243 and the new, hell-raising .277 Fury.

Genesis One rifles are a rugged, high-precision design constructed from high-quality, high-tech materials. This modular rifle can also be disassembled and reassembled and is incredibly safe and strong. You get a rifle that handles well and shoots fast.

What is more surprising, these rifles are not all that expensive and if you have a liking for a tactical-style rifle then the home-grown Genesis One has to be a top choice.

Don’t let its short barrel fool you in terms of its performance — these rifles are totally reliable and capable of making hits at any reasonable hunting distance.

SPECIFICATIONS