The Lockhart Tactical Raven is a rifle platform designed and made in Canada. It comes in 9mm, 5.56, and 308 sizes. Unlike 180’s like the WK180C or the WS-MCR, the Raven uses a gas tube instead of a piston. Whole rifles are around $2000, while builders kits can be had for $1300-1500. The rifle shown in this review is on loan for review from Gustavo Honzofo.
Specifications:
As this comes in a builder’s kit and has such compatibility with common parts I’ll be comparing this rifle as a modular builders kit. Note that there are some differences between the 9mm, 556, and 308 versions. I’ll show the 556 version options.
Compatibility with AR15 parts
The AR15 platform was a popular rifle in Canada before Trudeau banned them and the aftermarket parts available for it are incredibly extensive. So rifles that share some parts with the AR15 are easier to customize for your own ergonomics or style of shooting. The Raven works with:
- AR grip (beavertail or not)
- AR forends (big advantage over 180’s here, as most of them can’t use trimmer forends or they’ll hit the gas block)
- AR barrels of all lengths and gas port lengths (again, huge advantage here. Most 180’s can only take a carbine length gas port barrel)
- Carbine stock
- AR triggers (the basic factory one I tested was 7lbs, so maybe get a triggertech with the rifle)
- AR length trigger pins
- AR safety (some 180’s use the 180-specific safety, some use the AR15 one)
- AR bolt (but not BCG)
- To use an AR bolt release, you need to dremel off the top of the “ping pong paddle”
So what’s proprietary? The upper and lower, BCG, firing pin, rear charging handle, side charging handle, dust cover (if you want one), brass deflector (if you want one), the upper/lower/magwell retaining pins, and ambi bolt release. How does that compare with 180’s? Very well. See my table on AR180 parts compatiblity.
Removable magwell?
Because the rifle has a removable magwell, you can swap complete uppers & magwell combos. Using the same lower, you could attach and run 9mm, 556, 300 blackout, or 308 uppers.
Raven Gold vs Platinum
The Platinum version comes with ambi bolt release, ambi mag release, antiwalk pins. If you’re a leftie, that makes the Platinum the obvious choice. The rear charging handle and dust cover are options.
If you’re a rightie, you may still want the platinum version as the gold one does not come with a bolt hold open/bolt release. Or you could hack up an AR15 bolt release.
Raven Issues
The biggest issue was BCGs cracking on gen 1 of the skeletonized BCG. These have been fixed with gen 2 of the BCG.
Some users have been having undergassing issues and have drilled out the gas port to a larger diameter.
Some users have had issues with magazine compatibility. Not sure if anything has changed but the rifle I tested worked with all the mags I had.
Dust cover doesn’t lock in very firmly.
Raven vs the Competition
I kept away from buying the Raven because I wanted to see what kind of teething problems it’d have. New rifle designs in Canada have a horrible reputation for needing multiple revisions before getting things right (if they ever do).
After seeing a buddy get even more jams on my WS-MCR, it was time to upgrade to something more reliable. My use case is 3 gun competition shooting. I checked out:
- B&T APC223: $5k and mostly propriety parts. No thanks
- CZ Bren 2 MS (review here). Great rifle but pricey and only meme-length barrels are available at the moment. 8 and 11″ barrels on a 556 rifle are bad for competition shooting, which is my use case.
- Crusader Templar Gen2. Much cheaper but I’ve still seen lots of issues cropping up on Reddit.
- R18 mk2: heard good things but haven’t seen enough of them
- For various reasons, I did not consider the WK180 gen2, BCL Siberian, RDB, Tavor, X95, or HK SL8.
Ultimately, I decided to purchase the Raven Gold builders package. I don’t care about rear charging handle vs left side and I’m a rightie so I think I’ll be fine? I’ll hack in a bolt hold open/bolt release.
I have a bunch of AR parts that are nicer than what you usually find on built rifles that I wanted to use. I have a very nice barrel, forend, stocks, triggers, etc.
Once I have the builder kit, I’ll update this article with any new information I find.
