(Travis Pike for TTAG)

Bushmaster was once lost in the debris and destruction caused by Cerberus and the Freedom Group. Yet, like a Phoenix, Bushmaster has risen once more. Bushmaster is under new ownership and is no longer on the East Coast. The new Bushmaster is attempting to revive the classic brand. While it remains to be seen where Bushmaster stands, you can’t say they aren’t trying. Bushmaster has returned to the classic drawing board and is now producing an awesome retro rifle called the XM15A2.

The gun was a real smooth shooter (Travis Pike for TTAG)

As A2 would imply, it’s a classic replica of the A2 rifle minus the three round burst, it’s like a kit car, an AR 15 kit if you will. The XM15A2 comes complete with a 20-inch barrel and rifle-length gas system. Across the top is a fixed carry handle with A2 iron sights. It stays faithful to the classic A2 design with its plastic furniture and stock that’s just hair too long. This was almost an exact match for the rifle I used in boot camp…except they still have their finish. I was more than excited to shoot this rifle, and it was the first rifle I fired at the Industry Day At the Range.

The XM15A2 – A Classic Reborn

Too many people have spent their lives never shooting a proper AR-15 with a rifle-length barrel and gas system. It’s remarkably smooth and overall an excellent experience. The gun barely moves between shots, and it’s just smooth all the way around. The XM15A2 is exactly that. The range only went out to about fifty yards, but I had no problem reaching out and hitting that small steel target over and over again.

Retro rifles rule (Travis Pike for TTAG)

Using those classic irons is a great way to be reminded of how far we’ve come. Still, they are more than competent, and the long sight radius makes placing accurate shots easy. The XM15A2 is a return to tradition the industry needs. As much as it makes me feel like an old man to have the rifle I fired in boot camp be considered retro, I’m all about embracing the old and introducing it to the next generation.

While I can’t tell you that Bushmaster is back to its roots, I can say this gun makes it seem like they are off to a great start.

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32 COMMENTS

    • Yeah, I had one of these bushmasters ‘A2s’ 30 years ago.

      Imagine my disappointment when I remove the newfangled round hand guards and discovered the heavy barrel was a fake.

      Just like their ‘man card’ bullshit, they knew their market very well, appealing to the masculinity-challenged incels that populate TTAG, those interested in style over substance

      • Back in the 90s there was the A2 HBAR and the A2 Government. The latter had the A1 profile barrel under the guards and the thicker section between the front sight and the flash hider. Just like the issued M16A2.

        The thicker barrel section was to stop the barrel bending when troops used them as improvised crowbars.

        • Yep, I’ve seen people stick the barrel under the steel banding on crates and twist them to break the strapping.

          But the Hollywood heavy barrel doesn’t help, the barrel just bends between the receiver and the start of the heavy portion out by the front site.

  2. Many years ago Peter Kokalis wrote an article for SOF magazine. It was titled “Bushmaster Builds a Better AR-15”. Well, I don’t know what better was supposed to mean, but mine was a decent semi-auto replica of an AR A-2. Nothing special. Most AR’s aren’t.

    • That is right. Nothing special about most ARs. Seen one, seen them all. Just meh. It is like getting excited over a base model Toyota Carola or Honda Civic.

  3. I asssembled an AR very much like that last year. The only thing I did was have triangle hand guards instead. I realize that’s probably not “proper” for an A2, but I also need to turn the barrel down to pencil profile as well.

    Stoner really knew what he was doing quite honestly. The ergonomics of the basic rifle are spectacular as-is.

  6. Since the pricetag isn’t mentioned, I doubt it is in the affordable class.
    As a matter of preference, I do like the longer barrel and fixed stock.
    Iron sights are not a bad idea ad should be standard for any intermediate range rifle. Powered optics or scopes are nice, especially for tired old eyes, but will fail at some point. Solid open iron sights are less prone to being damaged or power failures at the worst moment. Murphy has a habit of showing up and joining the F**K Up Fairy just when you don’t need them.

    • It’s likely going to be pretty close to the PSA retro with chromed barrel, I’m sure sub 1k. Bushmasters have never been absurdly priced.

  7. I liked my SP1 for it’s design elegance. It wasn’t perfect but it had everything it needed and nothing it didn’t.

    The A2 had better sights, but when set up correctly the A1 sights were more than good enough, although the front sight was a “Mars Bar” (local chocolate bar) being wider than a Figure 11 target at 200m.

    It was a good representation of 1960s to 1970s service rifles.

  8. I bought a Colt HBAR 20″ to try irons again at age 65. I immediately put a scope on it. Good luck to Bushmaster in 2024. Tough market to be in.

  9. I’ve used Bushmaster components in early builds, at one time they were the one stop shop, hopefully they kept the original receiver logo. The rifle pictured sounds like it should satisfy someone after a Colt. The one thing my builds have in common with the rifle pictured is all have fixed stocks, A1 length of course.

    • Depends on your build. While I used the A1 length stock it always felt a little short for me. The A2 felt better (I had a few opportunities to fire A2s. While the stock and heft felt better, I still preferred the A1 grip without the finger rest. The handguards I was indifferent about.).

      I am a large solid build who needs 2XL shirts at least.

        • Walt Kelly’s Pogo was a progressive antiwar environmentalist liberal, a hero to all freethinking people everywhere.

          “As a Cold War liberal, Kelly also satirized communists by portraying two beatnik cowbirds as fellow-travellers constantly revising the party line “from the Boss.” There was also an appearance by Khrushchev himself as a pig in pirate gear.”

          Pogos most famous observation would apply directly to today’s conservatives:

          “We have met the enemy, and he is us”.

          I also found his plea for the rights of the homeless especially on point,

          “Everybody gotta be someplace”.

          The right wing conservatives of today would skin him and stretch this hide on the side of their jacuzzi.

      • The Fed Gov had to sue a state because they were interfering with Puppet & Co. opening the border, excuse me boarder, as you guys have been saying. But the boarder is closed, right Miner? (as they cut down the fencing)

        • “But the boarder is closed, right Miner?“

          Yep, the Biden/Harris Administration has been much more effective at stopping the flow of illegal immigrants:

          “According to new data published last month, the Biden Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has removed a higher percentage of arrested border crossers in its first two years than the Trump DHS did over its last two years. Moreover, migrants were more likely to be released after a border arrest under President Trump than under President Biden.“

          https://www.cato.org/blog/new-data-show-migrants-were-more-likely-be-released-trump-biden

          If the conservative rank-and-file ever actually paid attention to the facts, they would learn they have been hornswoggled by Trump and the neocons.

        • “Yep, the Biden/Harris Administration has been much more effective at stopping the flow of illegal immigrants”

          Wow Miner. Are you really that slow, or are you just evil? If a person has to constantly lie to prove their point, then they never have a valid point. I seriously want to know if you’re really that dumb, or if you are completely devoid of morality. Is it time to embrace the power of and?

          1. The data is from Cato which provides talking points for open border policies. It was founded by Charles Koch. You guys used to demonize him because he was funding your opposition for awhile. Then Trump came along. Now you guys are on the same team. You’ve quoted them before when you were desperately searching the net for something that agrees with your bias. Their propaganda works on the low IQ sheep like you who don’t know how to use their brain to actually read the data.

          2. The data shows the two last years of Trump contrasted with the two first years of the Puppet. I don’t know what the first two years of Trump look like. We’ll eventually be able to compare their four year terms. People with an IQ above 70 already know the answer.
          Total encounters Trump (2yrs) = 1,365,529
          Total encounters Puppet (2yrs) = 5,022,027!!!

          What happened? Why did the total encounters increase nearly fourfold?
          Gee, I don’t know. You’re saying the border is closed. Is that your proof? Are you really that big of an idiot? Are you really fooled that easily, like a child? Or are you a vile liar who doesn’t care about the truth? Which is it, Miner? (Embrace the power of and?)

          3. Your BIG REVEAL is that Trump released “a higher percentage” than Puppet & Co. Not total numbers, but percentage. What are the number of this massive difference, Miner?
          Per your linked data (1st 2 yrs of Puppet vs last 2 yrs of (Trump)
          Puppet: 2,440,145 released
          Trump: 712,930 released

          That does not include ‘gotaways.’ Because the border is wide open, and the Puppet Admin is incentivizing people to come here, there have been nearly 2 million gotaways since the Puppet assumed office. We’re looking at around 9 million people who have entered illegally since Jan 2021. How does that happen with a closed border? Why wasn’t that happening pre-Puppet era? Do you have anything else to say for yourself, clown?

          P.S. You owe me $20 for that bet you lost, liar.

        • Cato institute a liberal big government open borders group?

          Hilarity ensues.

          “You’re saying the border is closed“

          Nope, I’ve never claimed the border was ‘closed’.

          “How does that happen with a closed border?“

          Ain’t no such thing, no border is closed, it’s just not possible given the massive length of the US southern border.

          Not even the Berlin wall, with search lights, pillboxes and guard dogs was a ‘closed’ border. Thousands escaped East Berlin before the wall, like all walls do, fell.

          Really, if communists could not secure a 96mile actual wall with shoot on sight ROE how feasible do you think it is to ‘close’ the 2000 mile southern border?

        • You’re playing a semantics game. I get it. You aren’t a serious, ethical, honest person. You’re for this mess, so why don’t you come out and say it? Why do you keep playing these games like you’re ashamed of your chosen positions? If you’re for open border policies, then be proud of the nine million illegals invited into our country over the past three years. That happened due to intentional policies by the Puppet & Co.

          Hopefully you’ve opened your home and your wallet to them. If we’ve learned anything, it’s that all Democrats lied about wanting to be a sanctuary for illegals. The truth is, they want places like Texas to be a sanctuary, but Dems don’t want them in their backyard.

          “Nope, I’ve never claimed the border was ‘closed’.”

          I said the first thing Biden would do in office was open the border, and flood the country with illegals. You said that wouldn’t happen. You asked me to bet on it. We bet on it. I’ve been proven correct, and you’ve been proven to be a lying weasel. They are literally cutting the border fence down. That is literally opening the border.

          You’re obviously for this. Why are you so ashamed of your policy positions? Why do you feel the need to play games? Be honest for just one day. I dare you.

        • Minor, the Berlin Wall was 170km or 110 miles long.

          The Inner German Border between East and West Germany was 1381km or 858 miles long.

          While officially called the “Anti-Fascist Protection Barrier” it was more like a concentration camp fence to keep the slaves, err people, in.

        • “Minor, the Berlin Wall was 170km or 110 miles long“

          Really?

          “The Berlin Wall was not one wall, but two. Measuring 155 kilometres (96 miles) long and four metres (13 feet) tall, these walls were separated by a heavily guarded, mined corridor of land known as the ‘death strip’.”

          And a 14 mile difference is immaterial, the point is, the wall was ineffective at stopping the movement of people, even with the shoot on sight ROE:

          “It was under the constant surveillance of armed East German border guards who were authorised to shoot anyone attempting to escape into West Berlin.
          By 1989, the Wall was lined with 302 watchtowers”

          https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/what-was-the-berlin-wall-and-how-did-it-fall#:~:text=The%20Berlin%20Wall%20was%20heavily%20guarded&text=Measuring%20155%20kilometres%20(96%20miles,as%20the%20'death%20strip‘.

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