IWI ACE

The IWI ACE (formerly IMI Galil ACE) is a family of rifles developed and originally manufactured by an Israeli firearm manufacturer, Israel Military Industries (IMI) of Ramat HaSharon, though it is now produced by Israel Weapon Industries (IWI) (IMI privatized their small arms division, called IWI), and also produced under license by Indumil, FAMAE, RPC Fort and Z111 Factory. It is produced in three different calibers; 5.56×45mm NATO, 7.62×39mm and 7.62×51mm NATO.

The ACE family is based upon the mechanism of the IMI Galil, but using a modernized design and materials to increase its accuracy and lower its weight, while maintaining the Galil's ergonomics, ease of maintenance and reliability under battle conditions. Emphasis was placed in particular in increasing its reliability and accuracy under adverse or battlefield conditions.

It is the main standard-issue assault rifle of the Chilean Army, of the People's Army of Vietnam and of the Colombian Army and Colombian Police.

Weight reduction
The original Galil had weighed up to 9.6 lb, depending on its variant, and this weight was criticized by the Israel Defense Forces. The heavy weight was a result of IMI having built the Galil rifle from a machined all-solid steel billet action in order to increase the structural integrity and survivability of the weapon.

The ACE has a significantly reduced weight. IWI redesigned the action to integrate the steel with polymer, which is much lighter than the fully steel receiver of the original Galil. While the upper receiver is machined steel and the receiver top features a MIL-STD-1913 Picatinny rail, polymer has been introduced to the lower receiver of the weapon to reduce the gun's weight.

Port sealing
IWI have sealed the internal mechanism of the gun, by the addition of a sliding vertical cover. As a result, the internal mechanism of the ACE is sealed and protected from the accumulation of dirt or sand.

Accuracy
According to American Rifleman: “Although this rifle is clearly based on the AK design, it demonstrated a superior level of accuracy potential compared to several of its cousins. The best single group of [5 rounds at 100 yards] of 0.83″ and five-group average of 0.98″ was produced using the Federal Premium 123-gr. [123 gr] Power-Shok soft-point load” (testing done using 7.62×39mm 16-inch barreled variant).

Gas tube
The gas tube, unlike the AK-47 system, is mounted on the rifle via a dovetailed slide machined on the receiver upper-front block. This avoids any movement of the gas block influencing barrel vibration, which would degrade accuracy.

Long-stroke piston system
The rifle uses the Galil's long-stroke piston system. The long-stroke system is found in the M1 Garand, AK-47 (upon which the Galil's internal mechanism design borrowed heavily) and more recently in the IWI Tavor.

Barrel
The barrel is chrome-lined, cold hammer-forged, with a 1:7″ twist for 5.56×45mm NATO, 1:9.5″ for 7.62×39mm and 1:12″ for 7.62×51mm NATO.

Trigger
The ACE adopts the Galil Sniper trigger instead of the original Galil trigger, in order to improve accuracy compared to the standard Galil. This is a two-stage trigger, which IWI have modeled on the two-stage trigger of the M1 Garand.

According to American Rifleman, the two-stage trigger is “clean and smooth with a 4 lb. 13 oz. [4.8 lb-f] trigger pull according to a Lyman digital trigger gauge”.

Last round bolt catch
Another addition by IWI to the original Galil is the last round bolt catch (for variants of the ACE in 5.56×45mm NATO only). The bolt hold-open feature is a common request of military customers, to reduce reloading times during combat.

Sights
The ACE has a fully adjustable iron sights with tritium front post and two dot tritium rear aperture. It also features a Picatinny rail for mounting various optical sight.

Stock
The standard buttstock found on the ACE is a six-position telescopic stock that can be fitted with an optional cheek-piece to improve the sighting of the weapon when using an optical sight. An optional right folding version of the standard buttstock is also available.

The forearm consists of MIL-STD-1913 Picatinny rails on all 4 sides for mounting accessories such as aiming optics. The side forearm rails have central grooves to provide routing channels for electric wiring used by pressure switch activated accessories. The forearm comes with quick detachable polymer covering panels that can be mounted to protect the rails when a side or bottom rail has no accessories mounted to it.

Variants
The ACE is available in three calibers with multiple barrel lengths for each type:

At some point, the ACE 52L was removed from production.

Users



 * 🇨🇱: Selected as the Chilean Army's new 5.56 mm standard-issue rifle. In 2014, the ACE began to be deployed in the Chilean Army.
 * 🇨🇴: Is the new standard-issue assault rifle of the National Army of Colombia and National Police of Colombia. Manufactured actually by an agreement between Indumil and IWI for export markets in Colombia.
 * : 3,000 ACE 31s used by the Guatemalan Police.
 * : Used by certain Haitian police officers.
 * : ACE 21 used by the Honduran Army and Air Force.
 * 🇲🇽: Used by certain personnel of the Federal Police.
 * : Used by the special forces of the Paraguayan National Police against insurgents in the north and in major drug operations on the Brazil–Paraguay border.
 * 🇵🇪: The Peruvian government has plans to produce the ACE under license, establishing a factory to produce up to 2000 rifles per month.
 * $\phi$: San Juan City Police uses the ACE 21.
 * 🇸🇸 South Sudan: Used by the South Sudanese Armed Forces.
 * 🇹🇭: Royal Thai Army & Royal Thai Police
 * 🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago: Used by the Trinidad and Tobago Regiment.
 * 🇺🇦: Produced under license since August 2014 by RPC Fort; ACE 22 as the “Fort-227”, ACE 31 as the “Fort-228”, and ACE 52 as the “Fort-229”.
 * : ACE 31 and 32 have been selected as the standard-issue assault rifles in the People's Army of Vietnam, to gradually replace their current AK-47-derived weapons. IWI has established a $100 million factory in Vietnam, to produce an unspecified number of Galil ACE assault rifles for the People's Army of Vietnam.
 * : ACE 31 and 32 have been selected as the standard-issue assault rifles in the People's Army of Vietnam, to gradually replace their current AK-47-derived weapons. IWI has established a $100 million factory in Vietnam, to produce an unspecified number of Galil ACE assault rifles for the People's Army of Vietnam.