St. George Arms Leader 50 A1 Ultra-Lightweight, Compact Bullpup Semi-Auto .50 BMG Multi-Caliber Anti-Materiel/Sniper Rifle is Less than 40 Inches Long and Weighs Less than 18 Pounds!: Ultimate Shoot-‘n-Scoot .50 BMG Mega-Blaster for Military Special Operations Forces (SOF) and Civilian Tactical Shooters? (Photos!)

By David Crane
david (at) defensereview (dot) com

The following article is property of DefenseReview.com (DR) and is copyrighted material. If you are reading this article on another website other than DefenseReview.com, please email us the website address/URL (where the unauthorized DR article reprint is located) at defrev (at) gmail (dot) com. Thank you.

Photo(s) Credit: Oleg Volk, http://www.alloutdoor.com

August 19, 2014
Last updated on 8/19/14.

Well, this one’s pretty exciting. Reknowned gun designer Charles St. George has started his own gun company, St. George Arms, and their first product is the very badass-looking, gas-operated Leader 50 A1 semi-auto ultra-lightweight, compact bullpup .50 BMG/12.7x99mm NATO multi-caliber anti-materiel rifle. Now, DefenseReview readers may find the rifle’s name and physical appearance familiar, since we reported on St. George’s previous design, the Micor Defense Leader 50, apparently since renamed the “Gatekeeper 50”, back in June 2011.

According to St. George, the new Leader 50 A1 bullpup semi-auto .50 BMG/multi-caliber rifle sports a number of signficant internal changes, including a new telescoping bolt carrier assembly and new (and very different) trigger mechanism.

DR received the following press release from St. George Arms via email, which provides some details:

“Legendary Gun Designer Charles St George launches his all-new Leader 50 A1. His involvement with the original Leader 50 BMG was terminated 12 months ago and sources confirm that as yet, no prototypes of the previous design (re named Gatekeeper 50) have been built and that all the orders were cancelled and deposits returned.

The all new Leader 50 A1 is an entirely different highly advanced weapon, hosting numerous improvements such as:

– New telescoping bolt carrier assembly.
– New rear mounted retractable hammer.
– New extraction system.
– New narrower and lighter receiver.

It is the lightest and most compact 50 BMG semi automatic rifle in the world weighing in at just under 18 lbs (18 pounds) with an overall length of 39.5 inches (39.5″) and a barrel length of 24 inches (24″).

The sales and marketing is being organized by StGeorgeArms.com and the manufacturing and shipping is being done by K&M Arms in Arizona.”

MSRP  is currently $6,900.00 USD.

Being a bullpup, the Leader 50A1’s 24″ barrel constitutes almost 61% of the overall weapon length, which, again, is only a clamed 39.5″. THAT’s the advantage of a bullpup. Notice how in the photo at right, the Leader .50 A1 appears to be roughly the same length as a 20″-barreled AR-15/M16A2/A4 rifle. Apparently, St. George also performed some magic on the Leader 50 A1’s receiver design to lighten it up a bit. A sub-18-pound .50 BMG rifle/carbine is quite the accomplishment. Looking at the rifle, it would seem that 24″ is about as short as you want to go in a bullpup .50 BMG, and we’d ideally want to run the gun suppressed.

DR particularly likes the Leader 50 A1’s front-situated grip safety (a la Beretta M12S SMG fame) and large left-side-mounted charging handle. We also dig the fact that the Leader 50 A1 utilizes the very-plentiful and battle-proven 10-round detachable M82A1 box mags (magazines), and is also a multi-caliber platform, and will utilize a common receiver for the following calibers:

– .50 BMG/12.7x99mm NATO
– 416 Barrett
– .338 Lapua Magnum
– .338 Norma Magnum
– .308 Winchester/7.62x51mm NATO

Anyway, Defense Review is SERIOUSLY looking forward to getting our hands on some range video of the Leader 50 A1 being run in .50 BMG caliber. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait long.

If the Leader 50 A1 works as advertised, it could end up being the ultimate shoot-‘n-scoot semi-auto .50 BMG anti-materiel/sniper rifle for military SOF (Special Operations Forces). Time and testing will tell.

On a side note, the St. George Arms Leader 50 A1’s manufacturer, K&M Arms, also manufactures the M17S556 semi-auto-only bullpup 5.56mm NATO (5.56x45mm NATO)/.223 Rem. tactical rifle/carbine. While the M17S556 may look very similar to the Bushmaster M17S tactical rifle/carbine, the M17S556 features internal and external modifications and improvements over the original  M17S design (which ultimately dates back to 1986), some of which you can see by just looking at the two guns side-by-side. The K&M Arms M17S556 looks more modern and visually appealing.

Company Contact Info:

St George Arms, LLC.
P.O. Box 1372
Murfreesboro, TN 37133
Email: stgeorgearms@gmail.com
Website: http://stgeorgearms.com

K&M Arms LLC. (Shipping Location)
2040 S Alma School Rd.
STE1 PMB197
Chandler, AZ 85286
Telephone: 480-406-0538
E-mail: ken.kmarms@gmail.com
Website: http://www.kmarms.com

K&M Arms (Factory Location)
291 E Ocotillo Rd.
Chandler AZ 85286

© Copyright 2014 DefenseReview.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without receiving permission and providing proper credit and appropriate links.

Related Articles:

MICOR Defense Leader 50 Ultra-Compact, Lightweight Bullpup Semi-Auto .50 BMG (12.7x99mm NATO) Sniper/Anti-Materiel Rifle and PNW Arms Weapons Science .50BMG Ammo at NDIA Infantry Small Arms Systems Symposium 2011: Potential Long-Range Lethality Game-Changer Combo for 21st Century Infantry Warfare (Photos and Video!)

Leader 50 BMG Revolutionary Ultra-Compact and Lightweight Semi-Auto Bullpup .50 BMG (12.7x99mm NATO) Anti-Materiel/Sniper Rifle for Military Special Operations Forces (SOF) and Civilian Tactical Shooters: Coming Soon to a Theater of Operations and Shooting Range Near You?

McMillan/TrackingPoint .50 BMG Precision Guided Rifle (PGR): Meet the Future 3,100-Yard “Super Gun” Sniper Rifle with XactSystem Smart Rifle Scope Technology

Desert Tactical Arms DTA HTI (Hard Target Interdiction) Sniper Rifle Chassis/DTA HTI Conversion Kit Modular Bullpup, Bolt-Action .50 BMG/.416 Barrett/.408 Cheytac/.375 Cheytac Anti-Materiel/Sniper Rifle System Goes Into Production for Civilian Tactical Shooters and Military Special Operations Forces (SOF) Tasked with Long-Range Interdiction Operations/Missions (Video!)

Desert Tech DT MDR (Micro Dynamic Rifle) Bullpup Carbine 16″and MDR-C (Micro Dynamic Rifle-Compact) 10.5″ Bullpup SBR Prototypes Introduced at SHOT Show 2014 (Video!)

Desert Tactical Arms Stealth Recon Scout-A1 (DTA SRS-A1) Rifle Chassis System: Compact, Modular and Super-Accurate Multi-Caliber Bullpup Anti-Materiel Sniper Rifle/Carbine

Desert Tech DT MDR and MDR-C (Micro Dynamic Rifle) Modular, Multi-Caliber and Ambidextrous Semi-Auto Bullpup Combat/Tactical Rifle/Carbine Systems for Tactical Ops

Israel Weapon Industries IWI TAVOR SAR Bullpup 5.56mm Tactical Carbine/Rifle Series: IWI TAR-21 Goes Semi-Auto-Only, Civilian-Legal and into US Production! (Video!)

Sero Gepard GM6 Lynx Lightweight Bullpup Semi-Auto .50 BMG Anti-Materiel Rifle: Meet the Hungarian Mobile Light Infantry Artillery Sensation

Meet the New Cobb FA50(T) ”Fast Action” .50 BMG Sniper/Anti-Materiel Rifle.