Robinson Armament Early Production M96 Rifle in Detail

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  • Combloc

    Stop Negassing me!!!!!
    Nov 10, 2010
    7,212
    In a House
    Howdy! In this article we're going to take a detailed look at an early production Robinson Armament M96 rifle in 5.56mm. Designed as a modular firearm that could be reconfigured from a rifle with varying length barrels to a top feed automatic rifle with offset sights, to a promised but ultimately unrealized belt fed contraption, the M96 was built from 1999-2005. Exact numbers produced are unknown but guesstimated to be around 3500.

    Although the basic design remained unchanged throughout production, various parts of the rifle were upgraded/redesigned over time. Some early rifles ran perfectly and some had parts breakage and reliability problems. The general consensus is that not all of the various bugs were ever truly worked out and you either got lucky with a good rifle or unlucky with a bad rifle. Eventually, RA moved on to other designs and dropped the M96 from their catalog. Unfortunately, and much to the chagrin of M96 owners, RA stopped selling spare parts and servicing the rifles almost immediately after stopping production and replacement parts are all but nonexistent now. In early 2020, RA announced that they planned to do another small production run of the rifles using a mixture of NOS and new made parts but to date, this has been vaporware.

    As stated earlier, the example we are going to look at here is an early production base model rifle with a 20 inch, 1/9 twist, non-chrome lined barrel. I am told it was originally purchased by HP White Laboratory in Street, Maryland where it sat either unfired or fired very little until March of 2020 when it was sold off. It clearly shows evidence of being disassembled a number of times but I'd be surprised if it was fired other than initial testing.

    The reason I am writing this is because there is only spotty information on the net about these early rifles. Although there is a manual available for download, it is the 2002 version which covers none of the early features as found on this example. SO.... what we are going to do here is to first take a fairly detailed and dedicated look at this particular rifle from stem to stern. Then we will disassemble it piece by piece until it is fully field stripped and look closely at many of the parts. At that point, I will go over how to properly disassemble it for both a general and thorough cleaning. Finally, we will compare it to an earlier design that the M96 was loosely based on. This is going to take a number of posts stretched over a number of days so what do you say we get started?


    First up are left and right side views of the M96:



    Technically speaking, this is called the "M96 EXPEDITIONARY RIFLE" and all versions were marked the same regardless of how they left the factory. There was a 16" carbine version available called the "RECON" and a 17.5" version with no particular name. There were also 100 kits made that allowed you to temporarily convert your receiver to a top feed rifle with offset sights. Robinson said that a belt fed version was in the works but that never came to pass. That's unfortunate too because I think it would have been neat.


    Here we see the M96 with an AR-15 and AR-180 for size comparison:

    At about 39.75" and approx. 8.4 lbs unloaded, the rifle compares favorably to the other two. It's decently light if a little front end heavy and the controls are well placed. The trigger pull is about the same as a standard AR15 and it uses the same magazines too.


    Being manufactured during the 1994-2004 "Assault Rifle" ban, a flash hider was verboten! Instead, we have an integral 6 holed muzzle brake:



    Here's a closer look at the muzzle:

    This mass of steel at the tip of the barrel is a large contributor to the slightly muzzle heavy feel.


    Because the ban considered a threaded muzzle to be evil and profane, the muzzle brake is not removable and is machined as part of the barrel:



    The only markings that I am aware of on the barrel are found on top between the front sight assembly and the muzzle brake:

    "RA" obviously stands for Robinson Armament and I assume that they made the barrel inhouse. It has a phosphate finish and is unlined. I do not know if it is hammer forged or button rifled.


    Left and right side views of the front sight assembly:



    Notice that there is only a block of steel where a bayonet mounting point would be because the ban said such things were bad.
    The fluted cylinder sticking out the front of the gas block is the gas adjustment valve. We'll look at that a bit closer in a moment.
    The white steel wire underneath the gas valve is a spring used to hold the valve at whatever setting you have selected.
    Note that the front sight base is adjustable for windage. This is done using two hex head screws.

    Here is a left side view of the front sight assembly showing the head of the left side adjustment screw and the tail of the right side adjustment screw:

    Sorry it's a bit dark but it'll do. To adjust windage to the right, you back off the left side screw and tighten the right side screw. To adjust windage to the left, you back off the right side screw and tighten the left side screw.
    BE CAREFUL with these screws and DO NOT go gorilla on them or they will strip. Also, front sight windage is for gross adjustment only as the rear sight is windage adjustable too. We'll look at that later.
    Last thing to point out in this picture is how much material there is on the barrel at this point and how much purchase the two gas block mounting pins have. Nice.


    The front sight post as seen from above:

    It is a square post and adjustment should be obvious. Please ignore the accumulated dust on the right sight ear. It's been sitting a long time.


    Front sight as seen from behind:

    This has been a standard US arrangement for many generations now.


    The gas valve is held on the gas block with a hex head screw and is click adjustable with 12 settings. Anyone who has experience with an FN49 or FAL will recognize this design immediately. It is shown here on the lowest/minimum gas setting:


    Here is the middle setting:


    And here is the maximum gas setting:

    Unlike an FN, this valve is not threaded to the gas block but will instead turn round and round. It is held on the block by the hex head screw at its front and is held at the desired setting by the spring underneath that we looked at earlier.
    I do not have a manual for this rifle. However, the 2002 manual (which covers a later version of gas adjustment valve) states that the gas is properly regulated when the ejected casings are consistently thrown 5 to 7 feet from the rifle. I recommend placing one round in the magazine and opening the gas setting to minimum. Then, fire the round and see where the casing lands while ensuring that the bolt hold open has engaged (the rifle has a last round hold open). If the bolt hold open has engaged and the empty casing has ejected 5-7 feet, close the valve one click and call it a good. If not, close the valve one click and repeat the test.


    We finish up the front sight assembly with a view showing the bottom of the gas block:

    Again, no scary bayonet mounting point. The only thing to see here is the hole created when they drilled out the gas port farther up inside the block.

    And with that, we are going to call it a night. I'll pick up next time right where we left off. See you then!
     
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    joppaj

    Sheepdog
    Staff member
    Moderator
    Apr 11, 2008
    46,452
    MD
    Very nicely written, thank you. I seem to recall that DD214 had one as well and I had never heard of them before he mentioned it. The company very briefly had a screen name here on the board but rarely posted.
     

    Combloc

    Stop Negassing me!!!!!
    Nov 10, 2010
    7,212
    In a House
    Thank you sir!!

    Moving on down the line, we come to to exposed front part of the gas tube up above the barrel:

    The very front of it is a larger diameter than the main body and it's beautifully welded to the main tube. It's knurled at the very front because you rotate the gas tube to remove it from the receiver. We'll get to that later. At that time, we'll also see that there is a sleeve extending from the rear of the gas block that plugs into the front of the gas tube.

    A top view of the gas tube showing two of the four gas vents:

    The extremely even and smooth finish gives the impression that it's painted but it's either parkerizing or melonite. I do not know if the gas tube is stainless steel or not. Maybe one of you guys who is more edumacated than me can tell me the answer to that.


    At the very front of the stainless steel receiver are both left and right side sling mounting rings. This is a nice touch:



    Looking at the left side sling ring from the rear, we can see that it's part of a larger reinforcement block welded to the front of the receiver:

    Again, notice the outstanding aesthetics of the weld. I dare say, as a whole, the welds on this rifle are some of the best I've ever seen on a firearm and I've seen some pretty nice welding over the years.

    Next up is the plastic handguard that covers the lower part of the receiver:

    You younger dudes call this polymer and RA calls it "fiber reinforced plastic". Whatever you want to call it, the fact is it's still strong after 22 years and shows no signs of aging so it must be made of decent stuff. It's attached to the receiver by the use of a single HK style pin. You might think that the use of a single pin would allow the handguard to wobble/rattle around a little but it's so well form fitted to the receiver that there is zero movement.
    Through the thirteen lightening/cooling holes in the receiver you can see the gas tube making its merry way back to the trunnion hidden deep inside the receiver. On top of the receiver, you can see a couple lugs with holes in them. In the rifle's current configuration, they are used to mount an optional picatinny rail. If the rifle is set up in the top feed configuration, the receiver is flipped, the front lug becomes the handguard mounting point and the rear lug goes unused. What?? It'll make more sense later when we have the rifle stripped down.


    In this left side view, we see that the handguard is designed to stand off the receiver. This allows air circulation to facilitate cooling:

    Also visible is the nonreciprocating charging handle. It is made of steel, not plastic.


    A closeup of the handguard illustrating that it's made of a textured plastic to knock down on shine and give you a better grip when you have funky, sweaty hands:



    At the bottom rear of the handguard is a cutout surrounding the barrel release button; the use of which we'll cover later:

    We'll look at the inside of the handguard when we cover its removal later on.


    Alrighty, that's it for this installment. Next time we'll take a general look at everything between the handguard and the buttstock. I've got a busy weekend coming up so it might be early next week before I continue but I'll add a little more before then if I get lucky and have some spare time.
     

    babalou

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Aug 12, 2013
    16,017
    Glenelg
    Nice rifle! in 5.56, too. Thought it was like the CMMGMK47 or that other company MMX???? but those are AK/AR-ish. This is based off the Stoner 63...

    https://strikehold.net/2020/01/22/r...ng-back-their-stoner-63-look-alike-m96-rifle/

    Production of the M96 series stopped in 2012 and Robinson Armament Co. concentrated on its XCR modular rifle platform instead – which had been originally developed for the USSOCOM SCAR competition. The M96 series generated quite a bit of interest originally due to its visual similarity to the Stoner 63, but just like the 63 it found it very difficult to compete against the massive market dominance of the AR-15 platform. In particular, the modularity, customization and volume of accessories available for the AR platform are far outweigh what the M96 could do. The M96 did develop an extremely loyal following however, and its fans have been clamoring for Robinson Armament to restart production almost from the moment it ceased.



    It looks as if their prayers have been answered at last… Robinson Armament posted a photo on their Facebook page at the beginning of this week showing an M96 in the top-feeding “Bren Gun” configuration on display at the SHOT Show (Booth 20435). This immediately set their page alight with questions about whether Robinson was planning on bringing back the M96. The company has now confirmed that they will indeed be releasing another production run of the M96 in about another month, and that more information will be released soon.
     

    babalou

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Aug 12, 2013
    16,017
    Glenelg
    Love your detailed posts like these, my friend. Awesome. Now down the M96 hole I go. lol
     

    Boss94

    Ultimate Member
    Feb 15, 2013
    6,945
    Great write up !! Went looking for mine and haven't found it yet. but when time allows ill dig deeper for it I'm curious what the serial number is on mine ??
     

    smokey

    2A TEACHER
    Jan 31, 2008
    31,412
    Very nicely written, thank you. I seem to recall that DD214 had one as well and I had never heard of them before he mentioned it. The company very briefly had a screen name here on the board but rarely posted.

    I remember xcrmonger being at a couple of the early shoots, letting people give the xcr a crack. They're very cool rifles. Interesting historical info is they very well could have beaten the scar in military trials, but we're eliminated from consideration because someone forgot to toss the blank adapter in the box when they sent in the xcr for the trials.
     

    Jimbob2.0

    Ultimate Member
    Feb 20, 2008
    16,600
    Nice rifle! in 5.56, too. Thought it was like the CMMGMK47 or that other company MMX???? but those are AK/AR-ish. This is based off the Stoner 63...

    https://strikehold.net/2020/01/22/r...ng-back-their-stoner-63-look-alike-m96-rifle/

    Production of the M96 series stopped in 2012 and Robinson Armament Co. concentrated on its XCR modular rifle platform instead – which had been originally developed for the USSOCOM SCAR competition. The M96 series generated quite a bit of interest originally due to its visual similarity to the Stoner 63, but just like the 63 it found it very difficult to compete against the massive market dominance of the AR-15 platform. In particular, the modularity, customization and volume of accessories available for the AR platform are far outweigh what the M96 could do. The M96 did develop an extremely loyal following however, and its fans have been clamoring for Robinson Armament to restart production almost from the moment it ceased.



    It looks as if their prayers have been answered at last… Robinson Armament posted a photo on their Facebook page at the beginning of this week showing an M96 in the top-feeding “Bren Gun” configuration on display at the SHOT Show (Booth 20435). This immediately set their page alight with questions about whether Robinson was planning on bringing back the M96. The company has now confirmed that they will indeed be releasing another production run of the M96 in about another month, and that more information will be released soon.

    Combloc great write up! Im about done with modern stuff and even thinning them down but thats something that could bring me out of purchasing hibernation. I missed out in the day. I cant think of a single use for the bren configuration other than just the cool factor. Bet the MSRP is astronomical. Actually Robinson's website has a proposed MSRP north of $2500.........bet it comes out higher. https://robinsonarmament.com/m96/ Still might go for it, I cheaped out and didnt get one back in the day.
     

    Combloc

    Stop Negassing me!!!!!
    Nov 10, 2010
    7,212
    In a House
    As promised, we're now moving on to the main part of the receiver. We'll start with a general look at the left side:

    While this may look like one large part to you, it is actually three subassemblies pinned together to make one. As we delve deeper into this rifle this will become clear when we disassemble the various bits but for now, just accept it when I tell you that we have the the receiver proper, the lower receiver, and the magazine well. holding all of this together are three pins which I will call the "front", "middle", and "rear" pins. All of these pins are removeable without the use of a special tool. In fact, all of the pins on this rifle (there are two types) are designed to be removed with a cartridge or by simply unscrewing two halves.

    Most of the markings on this rifle are on the left side:

    "SLC" is short for Salt Lake City and all rifles were marked "M96 EXPEDITIONARY RIFLE" regardless of the configuration it came in. In the logo is the Latin phrase "AUT PAX AUT BELLUM" which translates into "Either Peace or War". All markings are stamped into the metal and are extremely crisp.

    Also on the left side is the serial number:

    The "HP" prefix tells us that the receiver was partially manufactured by another company, which I'm pretty sure has not been identified, and then finished up inhouse by Robinson Armament. Later rifles had an "RA" prefix meaning it was entirely manufactured by Robinson. "99" is the year of manufacture and the rest is the actual serial number. HOWEVER, Robinson started their serial numbers at 500 which means that this is NOT the 1396th rifle but rather the 896th one made. Got it? I hope so. Above and below the serial number are two of the welds holding the machined trunnion into the stamped receiver. Again, just beautiful welding.


    Here, we see the charging handle and bolt pulled to the rear exposing the long stroke gas piston:

    We will look at all of this much closer once we've disassembled the rifle.


    On the right side of the receiver, we find the ejection port:

    In front of the magazine release button we see ".223 REM" as the caliber. Although it's not marked anywhere, my understanding is that you can also use 5.56 NATO rounds without a problem. You have to remember that this was made during the Slick Willy ban years so marking them as being capable of shooting a NATO round may draw unwanted attention from libtards and idiots.
    Also notice that there are "F" and "S" markings but the safety is not ambidextrous. There is a tick mark on the safety axle though so that you know whether you are set to "Fire" or "Safe".


    Looking at the bottom of the pistol grip, we see that it's hollow and held on by a button head socket cap screw:

    Before you go meddling with this screw to change out grips, be aware that I'm pretty sure this also holds the spring and detent for the safety in place so if I were you, I wouldn't go screwing around with this! <----- See what I did there?


    Sitting atop the receiver is the two position, flip rear sight protected by two ears. It's shown here flipped forward to the 100 yard setting:


    Flip it back and your are on the 500 yard setting:


    Although the front sight is windage adjustable, that is only designed to initially zero the rifle. At the range or in the field, practical windage adjustment is done using the rear sight. This is acomplished by using the windage knob on the right side of the sight:

    This looks to me like it's taken straight off of and interchangeable with an AR15A2 rear sight but I may be wrong. It sure wouldn't be the first time! Anywho, each click clockwise should move the point of impact to the right approx. 1/2" at 100 yards.

    On the rear sight base are a number of hash marks and a corresponding mark on the flip sight when set to the 500 yard setting:

    When initially zeroing the rifle, the idea here is to first align the mark on the rear sight with the center hash mark on the base. Then, using the front sight screws, adjust the windage so that the shots are centered with respect to left-right on a target setup at 100 yards. Then flip the rear sight to the 100 yard setting and adjust the front sight post up or down until the shots are centered on the target. Done.


    Here, we see the left side of the rear sight assembly:

    The slotted screw is the head of the windage axle. Don't mess with that. Forward and rear of this screw are to round thingees that look like wheels on a toy car. These are the pins that hold the rear sight assembly on the receiver.

    A left side detail shot of the rear pin:

    This is a two part pin that is designed to simply unscrew for removal. Unfortunately, both of the pins on this rifle have seized with age so I can't remove them to show you. I've tried penetrating oil but that hasn't worked. I'm sure I could go all bubba and use pliers to remove the pins but that would no doubt destroy the fine fluting we see so we're just going to leave these little pins alone. They've been happily doing their thing for 22 years now so I'm just going to channel my inner BoB RosS and leave this happy little accident as it is.

    A detail shot showing the right side of the pin:


    An finally, the front pin in situ:



    That's it for tonight. Next time, we'll look at the butt stock. Until then, have some fun, turn off your TV, and play with your Dog instead. You'll be glad you did, I promise you!
     

    Combloc

    Stop Negassing me!!!!!
    Nov 10, 2010
    7,212
    In a House
    Time to take a look at the buttstock. Here it is:

    Next up is.......nah, just fooling about. Of course we're going to take a close up look at it. It's plastic, or as RA calls it, "Fiber Reinforced Plastic". That makes is sound more exotic, doesn't it? It's just plastic but it seems to be pretty sturdy so I'm assuming it's made of good quality stuff.

    As you can see from this rear view, it's fairly slender but the dimensions are right because it shoulders nicely and your your eye goes right to the sights:

    The picture makes it look like the rifle is bent, the stock is wonky, and the rear sight is crooked but that's an illusion created by my poor photographic skills. In truth, everything is straight and true.

    Here's a left side oblique view showing the ribbed plastic butt plate and the pressed steel sling mount:


    And the right side showing that the sling mount extends all the way through the stock:

    Part of the reason for the sling mount passing all the way through the stock is reinforcement but the main reason is so that it can be switched from side to side to suit the owner's preference.

    All you need do is pull out the pin at the rear of the stock:


    Pull the sling mount out of the left side:


    Stick it back in the right side:


    Push the pin back in and BLAMMO, you're done:



    Here's a closeup of the components:

    Notice that the pin looks very much like an HK pin.

    In fact, it's a direct copy with regards to design:


    Dimensionally, it's a larger diameter and longer than an HK handguard pin but smaller in diameter and shorter than an HK stock pin.

    To remove the butt plate, pull out both the pin and the sling mount. Then, the butt plate pops right off with minimal effort:

    You might think that the butt plate would wobble a bit but that's not the case. Everything is a tight fit when assembled. Not that it matters but the butt plate has an up and a down side. If you try to install it upside down, the sling mount won't fit so it's pretty much idiot proof.

    The stock is completely hollow:

    All you can see up in there is a single nut that holds a steel reinforcing plate in place where it attaches to the lower receiver. We'll see that plate in a bit. The smooth shiny plastic creates a funhouse image of the nut.....neat!
     
    Last edited:

    Combloc

    Stop Negassing me!!!!!
    Nov 10, 2010
    7,212
    In a House
    Alrighty, it's time to start taking things apart. Since we're back here already, we'll start with removing the stock. If you remember the beginning of this article, I said that the M96 was designed to be modular. One of the modular design features was the ability to switch out the solid stock for a folding one although I'm pretty sure one was never actually offered. But hey, it's designed to come off so we're going to take it off.

    You start by removing this pin:


    Looking at the top front of the stock, we see that it has a steel tongue sandwiched between the rear wall of the lower receiver and a bar which is also part of the lower receiver:

    You have to disengage the steel tongue and you do so by pushing the front stock down about a 1/4":

    Be aware that the stock is a vert tight fit so you may have to use a mallet, at least I did. DON'T BEAT ON IT and DON'T USE A HAMMER!! I placed a folded up cloth on the top front of the stock and used a rawhide mallet to GENTLY tap the stock down.

    Next, you swing the stock upwards.....:


    And away from the lower receiver:

    When you put it back together, it'll fit between the ears at the back of the lower receiver easy enough but you'll most likely have to use the mallet again to GENTLY tap the stock upwards into the seated position. Tap at the front bottom of the stock until the holes line up and then reinsert the pin from either side. One of the problems with these rifles is that the pins are very tight when new and you will probably need to use a punch or some similar object to remove and replace them until they wear in. If you are careless about what that object is, you'll mess up the finish on the pin heads. As you look at the various pictures of this rifle, you'll see just what I am talking about. Clearly, someone in the past was a little careless when removing some of them. Don't be that guy.


    Here is the steel reinforcement plate at the front of the stock that we talked about earlier:

    On the other side of this socket head screw is the nut we saw up inside the stock.


    With the stock removed, we can see the rear of the lower receiver:

    Note that the ears the stock fits between are two layers of laminated steel for strength.


    Next time, we'll remove the lower receiver and check it out a bit. See you then!
     

    hoppes-no9

    Member
    Nov 17, 2014
    19
    Great stuff, thanks for posting.

    I’m a huge fan of the XCR but never did pick up M96 due to scarcity of parts
     

    jrumann59

    DILLIGAF
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 17, 2011
    14,024
    I saw this rifle being discussed by that Ian Guy (I think that is his name) he showed how it could be Carbine, Rifle, and Beltfed.
     

    Combloc

    Stop Negassing me!!!!!
    Nov 10, 2010
    7,212
    In a House
    I saw this rifle being discussed by that Ian Guy (I think that is his name) he showed how it could be Carbine, Rifle, and Beltfed.

    I think you're thinking of the Stoner 63 he did a piece on. Some think that this rifle is a "clone" of the Stoner and while the Stoner was the inspiration for the M96, they are not the same as we will see in an upcoming post.
     

    Combloc

    Stop Negassing me!!!!!
    Nov 10, 2010
    7,212
    In a House
    I'm happy you are enjoying it Dave!


    In this installment, we're going to remover the lower receiver and take a look at it. Before we do that, we have to charge the rifle to cock the hammer which would seem straight forward BUT READ THE FOLLOWING FIRST.

    The safety can be applied regardless of whether or not the hammer is cocked. YOU MUST NEVER PULL THE CHARGING HANDLE TO THE REAR IF THE HAMMER IS NOT COCKED AND THE SAFETY APPLIED. If you do try to pull the charging handle to the rear with the safety applied and the hammer is not cocked, you will meet strong resistance after just a short distance. If you continue to pull the charging handle to the rear by forcing it you WILL BREAK THE TRIGGER. You may pull the charging handle to the rear without damaging the rifle with the safety applied and the hammer is cocked. If you are unsure whether or not the hammer is cocked and you wish to pull the charging handle to the rear, make sure the selector is set to the "F" (FIRE) position. My personal recommendation is that you err on the side of caution and charge the rifle only when the selector is in the "F" (FIRE) position.

    Alright, with that sufficiently beat into your head, let's begin. To remove the lower receiver:
    1. Set the selector to the "F" (FIRE) position.

    2. Pull the charging handle fully to the rear and release it.

    3. Set the selector to the "S" (SAFE) position. <----- THIS IS IMPORTANT. DO IT.

    4. Remove these two pins. If they are tight, use a nonmarring tool such as a wooden dowel rod to press them out:


    5. While supporting the rest of the rifle, pull the lower receiver down and to the rear, separating it from the rest of the rifle:



    The lower receiver shell is made of two stamped stainless steel halves which are then welded together. Here, we can clearly see the weld seam in front of the trigger guard:

    If you look closely at the above, you can also see the seam between the trigger guard and the trigger. The trigger guard is a separate stamped part.


    Looking down into the lower receiver we can also clearly see where the two halves meet:

    The reason it's so much easier to see from the inside is because it was welded from the outside and then (I assume) ground smooth. Or maybe the weld is just that good, I don't know. Whatever the case, it's extremely well done.

    Let's talk about the finish on this rifle for a second. Robinson Armament lists the finish as "Hard Matte Black" which doesn't really tell you much. My research has come up with varying and sometimes conflicting answers as to the finish so I'm not going to say what it is......because I truly don't 100% know. Some of the parts appear to be phosphated and some of them look to be blued. But the large majority of the rifle has an extremely tough matte black and smooth finish that reminds me of the ferritic nitrocarburizing used on older Glocks. That finish is also known as "tenifer" and "melonite" among other things and I HAVE read that it was the finish used on the M96 but I cannot claim that to be a fact. So, I'll just leave the judgement as to what it really is to others and describe the finish as matte black, smooth and extremely durable.

    Earlier, I pointed out the importance of applying the safety before removing the lower receiver. That's because pulling the trigger and allowing the hammer to fly when the lower receiver is removed WILL damage the rifle. Take a look at this picture:

    What you are looking at is what the hammer uncocked and resting against the front face of the lower receiver. The hammer spring has quite a bit of force and slamming the hardened steel hammer into the thin stainless steel receiver shell repeatedly will eventually either crack the shell, snap the hammer off where it impacts the receiver, or end up doing both. The moral of this story is, don't dry fire an unassembled M96 rifle. On a positive note, notice how nice and neatly welded in place that little square piece of steel is.


    Here, we see the front of the hammer in the cocked position:



    And here is the rear of the hammer uncocked:

    You can see a seam line telling us the part is either cast or forged. Personally, I don't like to see stuff like this, preferring machined but I didn't build it so I don't get to make that call. The square block sticking out the side of the hammer is where it's grabbed by the sear and disconnector.


    A detail shot with the hammer uncocked showing the trigger/sear and disconnector:

    Front is to the left. Notice that the hammer and trigger employ separate springs.
    On the right side directly behind the hammer spring is the sear which is cast/forged as part of the trigger. When you charge the rifle, the hammer presses on this sear which slightly rotates the trigger from the resting position thus moving the sear out of the way. As the hammer passes the sear, the trigger spring rotates the trigger/sear back to the resting position thus holding the hammer in the cocked position. This slight rotation is exactly why you cannot have the safety on when you charge an uncocked rifle because the safety locks the trigger tight preventing any rotation. So when you gorilla the charging handle to the rear without the hammer cocked and with the safety applied, ALL of that force is being placed on that tiny little sear surface. I guarantee you that even the weakest of us can pull the charging handle back harder than that sear can take.

    In this shot, we see the sear and disconnector from a slightly different angle:

    Front is in the upper left hand corner of the photo. Again, we see the sear directly behind the hammer spring but from this angle we can see the beveled surface that the hammer presses against as it rotates to the rear. Behind the sear, we see the disconnector. It shares the same axle pin as the trigger/sear and you can just make out the disconnector spring at the rear of the disconnector.


    Here, we see the selector drum set to "S" (SAFE):

    Front is at the top of frame. On the left side of the drum, you can see a slot machined out of it. This interacts with a bar projecting back from the rear of the trigger. Pulling the trigger rotates the bar upward. In it's current position, the selector drum slot is out of alignment with the trigger bar so the trigger cannot be pulled. When the selector is set to "F" (FIRE), the slot on the selector drum is in proper alignment with the trigger bar and so the trigger can be pulled. Simple mechanics.
    In the center of the selector drum, you can see a shallow channel with a detent projecting into it. This is detent is spring loaded and held in place from below by the pistol grip screw. It's purpose is two fold. First, it limits the travel of the selector drum. Second, it locks the selector drum into whichever mode you select, SAFE or FIRE.


    And with that, we are finished with the lower receiver. Now you know the basics about how it's made and how the fire control group on an M96 works. I could completely rip the thing apart and go into outlandish detail about every little aspect of it but I really don't feel like doing that and I get the feeling that almost nobody out there wants to plod through all of that anyway! So, bye for now and we'll take a look at the magazine well next time.
     

    Combloc

    Stop Negassing me!!!!!
    Nov 10, 2010
    7,212
    In a House
    Next up is the magazine well. On the M96, it's removeable. It's removeable because the rifle was designed to be modular and a belt feed mechanism was planned. In belt fed mode, the receiver was flipped upside down a magazine well sticking out of the top of your receiver kinda' gets in the way of a belt feed mechanism. But, as already stated, Robinson never offered that setup and so, for all practical purposes, there is never going to be a reason to remove your magazine well. Just the same, it comes off so we are going to remove it. Let's have at it, shall we?

    This is dead simple. The first thing you need to do is remove these two pins:



    Next, you simply pull the magazine well down and away from the receiver:

    The magazine well can be removed with or without the lower receiver in place.


    Now that we've removed the magazine well, let 's examine it a bit. Like the lower receiver and the receiver proper, the majority of it is made of stamped stainless steel components. There is also a machined steel component that serves both as the rear wall of the assembly and as the mounting point for the bolt hold open and ejector.
    Here is the left side of the magazine well:

    it has reinforcing ridges stamped into it for rigidity and they do their job because the body of this thing will not flex no matter how hard I squeeze it.
    The horizontal bar you see about midway up is the magazine catch.
    Above the rear of the magazine catch, you can see something sticking out. This is part of the machined component and it houses the spring loaded ejector. We'll look at that a bit closer in a moment.
    There is a button weld seen at the bottom rear which holds the sheet steel to the machined component. It's also welded in front of and behind the ejector housing.


    Here's the right side:

    Other than the magazine release button, there isn't much to see here. Although the button may look like plastic, it is metal. Notice that there is no bolt release. While the rifle does have a last round hold open, the only way to release the bolt is to pull the charging handle to the rear with either a loaded magazine inserted or no magazine at all. Later versions of the rifle did incorporate a bolt release.
    The two weld marks in front of the magazine button and below each of the reinforcement ribs are button welds attaching the sheet metal to the machined steel component.


    The front showing a reinforcement rib:

    About midway up, you can see the "U" shaped extension which serves as the mounting point for the front pin. It's welded to the magazine well along all three sides of the "U".

    Here's an oblique view of the extension which should make what I'm describing above a bit more clear:



    Rear view of the magazine housing:

    Starting at the bottom, we see a little piece of sheet stainless welded in place to act as a stiffener and dust cover. When assembled to the rifle, the front of the lower receiver plugs into the magazine well and the bottom of the lower rides along the top of this stiffener/dust cover. Although I didn't take a picture of it, this bit curves under the magazine well assembly and terminates where it meets the rear of an inserted magazine.
    Continuing upwards, we come to the magazine release spring wound around the magazine release transverse bar.
    Above the magazine release spring, we come to the machined component. As we will see in a moment, this part runs the entire height of the assembly.
    Sticking out the left side is the roughly triangular ejector housing. Notice that the machined component has two roll pins. One holds the ejector in place and the other holds the bolt hold open in.

    Here's an oblique rear view that should add clarity to the above description:



    Looking down into the rear of magazine well from above, all of the "machined component" talk should now make perfect sense:

    It's one part that serves multiple roles. It's the rear wall of the magazine well and it's a solid bit perfect for attaching the spring loaded ejector and bolt hold open. But perhaps it's most useful role is that it adds rigidity to the entire assembly. Everything is essentially built around this part.


    A rearward looking photo showing the front of the ejector and the bolt hold open in the down position:

    The ejector is spring loaded and is forced down into its housing by the bolt carrier as it rides home.

    Rear detail shot of the ejector:



    Empty magazine in place illustrating the bolt hold open in the up position:



    Bottom of the receiver with both the magazine well and lower receiver removed:

    Front is to the left of frame. If the top feed configuration was used, this would become the top of the receiver. The magazine well would still be used in the same place but the new offset rear sight would be pinned in place where the lower receiver had been. On what would now become the bottom of the receiver, the now useless rear sight would be removed and the lower receiver pinned in its place. Groovy, huh?


    The last thing I want to talk about in this installment is one of the downsides of the M96. That is the fact that pinning everything back together can get fidgety real fast.
    Take a look at this picture:

    What we are looking at is the intersection of the receiver proper, the rear mounting hole on the magazine well, and the front mounting hole on the lower receiver. All of these things need to lone up perfectly or that pin just is NOT going to go in. You can't have the holes oversized or the various parts will rattle around and it'll pall apart in use. Now I've handled a Stoner 63 and it can be a little bit of a pain lining this stuff up too but it's WAY easier to get together than this thing. The good thing is that it does get a little easier with familiarity and use but it's never going to be as slick as an HK or the MarColMar CETME L. To be honest, the way the various parts pin together cheapens what I otherwise consider for the most part to be a very nicely built rifle. I mean it feels like five miles of gritty road pushing these pins home. I know it can be done because the Stoner pins glide in like butter.


    The front pin is even more fun because we've added another thing that needs to be lined up (barrel release button) and it's even spring loaded as a bonus:

    Here, the pin first passes through the mounting lug welded to the receiver, then through the front hole on the magazine well, then through the barrel release button, and into a hole bored through a lug on the bottom of the trunnion before exiting out the other side through the same components in revers order. Why they didn't put a non-removeable sleeve in there to keep the barrel release button permanently affixed to (and thus aligned with) the lug on the bottom of the trunnion I'll never understand. But I guess it's kind of a mot point because, as I said earlier, there is no real reason to ever remove the magazine well because Robinson never made the belt fed bits.


    That's it for now. We'll remove the handguard and look at it next time. See you then.
     

    Ikaros240

    Member
    Aug 11, 2020
    76
    Seems like Robinson arms is going to start up a limited batch of new m96s, would you recommend this gun over others at $2.5k?
    Kinda tempted since i like how it looks
     

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