Alex of Magpul PTS was kind enough to show off the Personal Defense Rifle (PDR) to myself and Alex (National Airsoft Magazine) when we popped by their booth at the Shot Show last week. I was sat there like a bear with a sore head suffering somewhat from the late night before . Micah had convinced me that “..the bar that looked like it was from Mass Effect” was a good idea. I can’t complain, the whisky was good!
The PDR is functional but not quite at the final production stage yet. That said the external body parts seen here are all pretty much final moulds, and not 3D prototype plastic.
It’s possibly worth remembering that the real PDR has not made it into production as the project has been shelved. Thus in relation to UK specific laws on import/export of airsoft Realistic Imitation Firearms (RIFs) as the real weapon doesn’t exist this is arguably not a realistic replica of a firearm. Don’t quote me on that though, consult your nearest shop for further advice.
Whilst this was seen last year at Shot Show 2011 further advances have been made and there’s now a working shell ejection area and we got to look inside at the now functional gearbox.
Inside you’ll find a custom gearbox shell with the motor in at an angle given the tight space and a 10 inch barrel. There’s room for a battery inside the front grip and (possibly) further room over the inner barrel if the design is changed a little. To get to the internals simply push both of the body pins out, remove the rear shoulder pad and rotate the upper forwards. Access to the hop unit is by a hole in the top.
It’s intended that the final production run will clock in at around 350fps, be serial numbered and that there will be a short p-mag in the box. Standard m4 magazines should also be compatible. It is expected to cost around 300USD when launched towards the Summer of this year.
The trigger is a two stage unit that will be familiar to any TM AUG user, pulling in slightly gives the user single shot, whilst pulling the trigger in all the way gives you spray and pray mode.
The PDR does somewhat remind me of the Bushmaster armpistol we saw in November 2002, obviously this is more polished design which could almost be the real world counterpart to the Zastaba Nosle CZN-M22 "9Weapon" from Ghost in the Shell.
The forward face of the fore-grip has the provision for a lamp/laser pressure switch to be installed. There’s talk of a grip extension to allow the use of a larger li-po style battery, but nothing has been confirmed.
