Welcome back to another TFB review. Over the last few years, we have covered the various generations of BRN 180 rifles from Brownells. Brownells recently released the newest generation of the BRN 180 and I’ve had some time with it and after several hundred rounds, I have a good feel for where this rifle is at. Brownells certainly made a number of big changes to their BRN 180 lineup in order to modernize it and allow for the platform to be suppressed more easily. Let’s take a closer look at Brownells Gen3 BRN-180.

The newest variant of the BRN 180 has the goal of modernizing for shooters today bringing Eugene Stoner’s original AR180 design into the 21st century. Older generations had a reciprocating charging handle on the right side similar to an AK platform, as well as other features that have been updated recently. The biggest change with the newest generation is the fact they moved the charging handle to the left side of the rifle and made it nonreciprocating. This allows you to easily charge the rifle without having to twist the rifle like you would with an AK platform.

The other big change on the newest generation of BRN-180 is the full top rail along with a modernized handguard and new adjustable piston system that allows for the rifle to be suppressed easier than the models offered before. The internal piston system has a setting for suppressed as well as unsuppressed allowing you to easily switch between the two settings. Just like the previous generations, all the BRN-180 new models have their recoil system internally housed in the upper receiver allowing for the user to install a folding stock or bufferless system.