Bushmaster Firearms International

Bushmaster Firearms International, LLC, based in Madison, North Carolina, United States, is a manufacturer and distributor of firearms. The company's product line revolves around semi-automatic pistol and rifle variants of the M4 / AR-15 design.

History
In 2002, the company was the target of a civil lawsuit involving one of its rifles. In 2004, Bushmaster Firearms agreed to contribute $500,000 to a $2.5 million settlement along with co-defendant Bull's Eye Shooter Supply, paid to some victims and families of victims of the 2002 Beltway sniper attacks. A Bushmaster-manufactured .223 caliber rifle was used in the attacks. The company cited mounting legal fees as the reason for settling. The company became part of the Freedom Group, owned by Cerberus Capital Management, in April 2006. In December 2012 Cerberus Capital Management announced its intention to sell Bushmaster's parent company, Freedom Group. In December 2010, Freedom Group announced that operations at the Windham, Maine, facility would cease as of March 2011.

Cerberus Capital Management announced in a December 2012 press release that they would "retain a financial advisor to design and execute a process to sell [their] interests in Freedom Group" (Freedom includes the former Bushmaster company). Cerberus indicated that the decision to sell the company stemmed from publicity surrounding the use of one of its guns in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. According to the company: "It is apparent that the Sandy Hook tragedy was a watershed event that has raised the national debate on gun control to an unprecedented level."

Products
Bushmaster's firearms are typically offered in a 5.56 NATO chambering with forged aircraft-grade (7075-T6) aluminum receivers. Most Bushmaster barrels are 4150 steel, offered in 1:9 twist rate, and chrome-lined to increase durability. Some barrels are available with 1:7 rifling, on special order. Stainless steel or chrome molybdenum barrels are available on certain models. Their name is not related to the Bushmaster autocannon. Bushmaster Firearms originally produced their 'First Generation' rifle using an aluminum lower receiver paired to a stamped steel upper receiver. This first generation model used the AK-47 gas system and the recoil spring is located within the upper barrel gas system as compared to the AR-15/M-16, where the recoil spring is located within the butt stock. Originally marketed for police and the military, Bushmaster later changed its unique hybrid version AR-15/M-16 to the standard Colt/Armalite design. The First Generation rifles were chambered for the 5.56mm round. Bushmaster First Generation rifles are very rare and are collectibles.

In late January 2008, it was announced that Bushmaster had signed a licensing deal with Magpul, granting Bushmaster the rights to produce and distribute Magpul's Masada rifle, renamed the Bushmaster ACR. According to the company in 2010, Bushmaster it began making the ACR available to the civilian market, posting it on its website.

Carbon 15 is a lightweight AR15 available as rifles or pistols. It saves weight by using polymer instead of the traditional steel or aluminum in the upper and lower receivers. Some models also remove the forward assist and the dust cover, and use a thinner barrel design to save additional weight.

The Bushmaster Dissipator combines a longer sight radius with a shorter barrel to allow more effective use of the iron sights. Similar modifications sometimes suffer from reliability problems due to the close proximity of the gas port to the muzzle, which throws the timing of the weapon's gas system off and makes it more sensitive to gas port diameter and port pressure variables introduced by the ammunition. Bushmaster's solution was to use the front sight tower/gas block in its regular, long sight radius position as for the M16, and then fit a second, "shaved" gas block at the normal position for the carbine-length barrels such as the M4 or CAR-15. This second gas block is completely covered by the standard full-length M16A2 handguards, which may be used without further modification.

Discontinued
The Bushmaster M17S is a semi-automatic bullpup rifle that was manufactured by Bushmaster from 1992 until 2005. The BAR-10 was meant to compete in the .308 market against Armalite's AR-10 series rifles and Springfield Armory's M1A Rifle by offering a .308 rifle that could accept the relatively inexpensive metric and inch pattern FN FAL magazines. In 2005 Bushmaster discontinued the BAR-10 line of rifles.