This week on #SundayGunday, we’re checking out the Fightlight Industries Herring Model 2024 Lever Action. A modern take on the classic western design, the Herring Model 2024 is almost like a combination of lever action and AR-platform rife, and there’s a reason for that. Designed to leverage the huge aftermarket in AR parts, the Herring utilizes off-the-shelf AR bolts, barrels and barrel extensions, and of course, magazines. That’s a pretty neat feature for a gun designed for the modern range rider.
From the factory, the gun comes with a comfortable polymer stock with QD cups for a sling inset on either side, and a rubber recoil pad. The Pistol grip is well textured for purchase, and sits behind a big-loop lever that actuates smooth and easy, thanks to a 6-to-1 mechanical advantage. The lower receiver is where the gun really starts to transform, with roots in the Fightlight SCR. This makes the lower receiver a close cousin of a standard AR, and even uses many similar components in the lower. It feeds, of course, from the aforementioned AR pattern magazines, available in all sorts of capacities. The magazine release sits in the standard spot, and in place of a selector switch, a crossbolt safety resides in front of the trigger guard.
The upper from the factory has some nice, proprietary touches, such as a seemingly extended shell deflector and no forward assist, which would be useless on a lever gun, but neater still is that any standard AR upper can be swapped on and used. That said, you will have to swap out the bolt carrier group. While the bolts are the same between platforms, a shortened carrier group and linkage is needed to allow the manual lever to cycle the rotating bolt. The top of the upper receiver is a full stretch of Picatinny rail, which runs into the full length rail on the free-floated handguard. This, along with M-Lok slots down the sides, makes it easy to attach any sights, lights or lasers one might desire. The barrel is 16.25-inches, and the muzzle is threaded to 5/8x24 TPI for the easy attachment of a suppressor or flash hider. While the gun can be easily converted to a whole host of chamberings, such as 6mm ARC, 450 Bushmaster, .22LR, 9mm, 45 ACP and 5.7x28, it currently comes in either 5.56 NATO, and .300 Blackout.
For more information on the Fightlight Herring Model 2024, visit fightlight.com. And of course, to help in the fight to keep our 2nd Amendment rights, click the join button in the upper lefthand corner to pick up an NRA membership.
