A look at the unusual Benelli MR1 rifle (VIDEO)

The very shotgun-ish Benelli MR1 isn’t used by the military of any country but it is a very interesting semi-auto rifle that uses AR magazines and looks nothing like an AR on the inside.

The neat-o carbine uses Benelli’s Argo E-System short stroke piston system and is actually a downsized variant of the Italian company’s R1 big game rifle or a redesigned Benelli M4 shotgun depending on how you want to look at it. The MR1 accepts (most) AR-15 magazines.

Still in active production, Ian with Forgotten Weapons looks at one of these rarely encountered rifles, made in 2009, up for grabs at Rock Island (bundled with a .22LR Colt Tactical Rimfire).

His take: “It seems to me that the purpose of the MR-1 is to grab that slice of the 5.56mm modern rifle market which is populated by sport shooters who are being dragged towards ARs by all the popular media surrounding them.”

Either way, it’s a curious design.

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