By Fred “Garfield” Rowland – SOFREP
“I like the way it shoots” Grandson #2, Vincent, was shooting the Frontline 16 on Range Day, banging the steel at 300 yards, and commenting to me about the rifle we were testing. At this point, we were nearing 1,000 rounds of ammo through the rifle, and we were almost done testing.
Two magazines later the count was 1,040 rounds, with no misfeeds, stovepipes, or malfunctions. While it’s not a torture test we gave it, the rifle survived and even thrived with the testing we did.
The first Range Day started with the 40-yard range and some basic drills to sight in the rifle and sort out the trigger and how it felt. The rifle came up and on target easily with two different optics and shot straight, can’t ask for much more than that. I moved to the rifle range and had no problems with 100 or 200 yards, in fact, it was rather boring due to the consistency of the rifle and ammo. I shot 600 rounds that day and enjoyed every minute of it.
The second Range Day was all rifle range, 200 and 300 yards with 440 rounds of ammo. This time I brought Vincent with me to get a second opinion about the Frontline 16, plus I like having him around.
The result was essentially the same, consistency in shooting and no malfunctions. Vincent found the gun easy to shoot, easy to stay on target for a follow-up shot, and was quickly able to master holding the trigger at the sear reset point making his follow-up shots even faster. Yes I was proud but it also shows the Frontline 16 isn’t a bargain basement rifle, it’s a well built quality rifle.
THE RIFLE
The Frontline 16 series of rifles are a derivative of Anderson’s Law Enforcement exclusive lineup, the Defender Series. Anderson Manufacturing collected all the data that was gathered from the rigorous training evolutions and tedious accuracy testing to compile this rigid, duty-driven rifle series for the civilian market.
THE TESTING
Rifle: Anderson Manufacturing Frontline 16 in 5.56
Ammo: Black Hills 62gr and 77gr, AAC 62gr and 75gr, PMC XTAC 62gr M855, PMC 55gr
Magazines: 2 Magpul (1 provided) 2 Hexmags
Environment: Outside range, multiple distances including movement drills
Shooting platform: Bench-Rest and 4Stable Sticks shooting sticks
THE RESULTS
Short answer, we liked it. It does what a rifle is supposed to do, shoots straight, shoots consistently, trigger is crisp and clean, the reset is easy to feel, the handgrip is decent and holds your hand, and the rifle can be customized to your personal taste with any number of after market accessories. And while it’s not cheap, it won’t cost you an arm and a leg to buy it at $850.
If there is a “dislike” it would be a personal one concerning the trigger, it’s a bit heavy. It breaks clean, as it should, and is crisp, just a little heavy for my personal test. Vincent however didn’t mind it, he was more concerned that it was clean and crisp and he could find the reset easily so obviously it’s not overly heavy or much of a distraction.
This rifle LOVED the Black Hills ammo, actually it performed well with all the ammo, especially the 75 and 77gr. But having the Black Hills ammo proved how consistent and straight shooting the rifle was. Having quality ammo for tests like this is essential in determining how good a rifle is out of the box and in this case there were no complaints for accuracy due to the gun’s or ammo’s performance.
BREAKDOWN AND CLEANING
The rifle had been broken down and inspected at a BBQ with my training group and they all gave it a seal of approval with words like; tight, well fitted, no rattles, nicely machined, good finish, decent handgrip, good handguard and stock. I oiled it well before the first range day but nothing else until after all the testing was done. When I broke it down last night I noticed the lower had barely any powder and/or oil residue on it re-enforcing the assessment that the rifle was well designed, machined, and fitted. The upper and bolt of course had oil and powder residue where expected but not so much that 1,040 rounds worth affected performance in any way.
CONCLUSION
Out of the box this rifle will perform for you, just add an optic and you are ready to go. You can then customize as your wallet allows and make it uniquely yours but to have a good straight shooting rifle you just need to open the box. And that’s the way it should be.
Garfield out.
