It’s almost prophetic as I re-read the following article which was written before the Bondi tragedy. In starting, I celebrated a strong and growing Australian firearms manufacturing industry, in a buoyant market seemingly recovered from its lowest ebb of the late 1990s, Port Arthur and the subsequent buyback. Little did I know that prior to going to print, this optimism would be turned on its head as we stare once more at a bleak and uncertain future. I was going to rewrite the following review but thought I should leave as-is, if for no other reason than to demonstrate how precarious our position can be and how we, as shooters, must remain united against the onslaught. At time of writing, the future of the rifle in question is now uncertain.
Stopped before it started
Daniel O’Dea on an all-Aussie success story, sadly now with an uncertain future
For someone who’s been in this business for a while and was around in the late ’90s when gun ownership here was at its lowest ebb and looking at a very uncertain future, it’s hard to believe I’m here today in a country with what seems to be an ever-growing market in Aussie-made firearms. Fifteen years ago, if memory serves, no-one was making firearms in Australia for the civilian market on any commercial scale.
In 2013 Lithgow Arms restarted civilian offerings with the LA101, Warwick Firearms introduced their WFM4 at much the same time for the Cat D market, followed not long after by their WFA1 straight-pull. Today we can add Southern Cross Small Arms, Wedgetail Industries, Oceania Precision and, more recently, Eureka Gun Company and Shawmac Industries, all producing various models specifically for the Aussie shooter.
And it’s at Shawmac Industries we find ourselves today, taking a look at their all-new Aussie Scrub Gun aka the ASG-9 rifle, a compact blowback lever-release offering, chambered for the ever-popular and affordable 9mm pistol round. It’s what might otherwise be referred to in some competition circles as a PCC or Pistol Calibre Carbine.
For those unaware, Shawmac Industries are a rather diversified company. Based in Nowra on the NSW south coast, owner Dan Shaw has an interesting back story. A pilot with a background in law, he cut his teeth in aerial shooting and training, as well as suppressor manufacturing and gunsmithing services. A theatrical armourer, he also has his name behind a growing number of productions for both local and international companies and streaming services. So you might ask, with so many strings to his bow already, why start making firearms? We put that to Dan and here’s what he had to say.
“The ASG-9 concept was born within our armoury services around a firearm we designed for a film. With an onset of interest by some for a retail option, we explored further development, setting a series of goals for the design which we’ve carried through to the present day. These were that the firearm firstly must be a ground-up build (not just a copy or modification of something else), it must be NSW-compliant for Category B, it would need to use readily available materials and, wherever possible, those materials must be Australian-made. We wanted the project to support as many Australian business as it could. Likewise, it had to be built simple but at the same time both strong and robust. It had to be easily serviceable and must be a multi-use platform.
“We took functioning concept examples to the SSAA Shot Expo in 2024 and asked for feedback – good, bad or indifferent. At the time we weren’t completely committed to taking the project forward and wouldn’t without market support. The level of interest from the SSAA event significantly exceeded our expectations, so we took onboard the feedback, redesigning the ASG concept rifle in line with all original goals to become the ASG-9, the current production design.
“The project has been guided by myself and close friend, engineer Brad Patton. The ability to cohesively bring together knowledge across firearms, law, operational use, the industry and advanced engineering has been instrumental. Wider support and input has come from Scott Warwick (Warwick Firearms) and Gideon Marshall (Marshall Armaments Research Services), whose knowledge and support have been significant.
“Staying true to initial goals, manufacture of the ASG-9 has been enabled by working partnerships with Australian industries and regulators including, but not limited to, NSW Police, Image Consulting and Engineering, Nowra Fasteners, Cleaver Firearms, DK Custom Parts, Hook ’n’ Bone Trading Co, Pattison Springs, Bughole Ballistics, Warwick Firearms, Integrated Solutions, Alcock & Pierce, Safari Firearms and many more. What we ended up with in the ASG-9 is a ‘multi-platform’ lever-release, blowback carbine, proudly built in Australia and successfully designed to be NSW-approved as a Category B rifle.”
This last point of Dan’s, although perhaps not overly importantly to those in other states, was pivotal in his home state of NSW which, due to strict interpretation of appearance regulation, has had its licensed shooters excluded from owning many other domestically manufactured Australian firearms.
The rifle comes supplied with a carbine rifle bag, two 10-round magazines, a chamber flag and bore snake. My first impression was a compact, nuggety firearm in the sense of being ‘stocky’ or ‘thick-set’. It feels solid and unbreakable, over rather than under-engineered and weighs a respectable 3.35kg though looks like it should weigh less.
A percentage of the weight of course is taken up in the bolt assemble, as the action is effectively straight blowback with no locking mechanism, so relies on sheer bolt mass and the recoil spring to delay breech opening. This is a common and proven operating method for pistol calibre firearms as used in other platforms, many of which are historically renown.
The bolt moves back and forth in a channel machined in the upper receiver, with a guide rod extending from the rear into the bolt, orientating the recoil spring. A buffer subdues any excess energy once the bolt reaches the full extent of its reward travel. The lower receiver is somewhat of a clamshell affair, where two halves bolt together with the fire control group sandwiched between. One half includes the rear tang and stock stub, the other acting like an oversized side-plate.
Everything, and I mean everything, is held together with hex bolts, which kind of reminds me of my 1964 Nuffield Tractor (in a good way). If you owned a set of imperial spanners there wasn’t a part you couldn’t remove, only with the ASG it’s hex keys, not spanners. It’s nice to own something that’s fully serviceable without special tools, albeit I’m sure full disassembly is neither required nor recommended.
It features an A2-style pistol grip which, being compatible with any MSR (AR-type) grip, means swap-out options are endless should you choose to customise. Grip, safety and trigger all have that similar MSR orientation, which seems to be the ergonomically accepted benchmark these days. On the right side, a rounded protrusion which can be operated with the thumb acts as the bolt release.
The magazine housing forward of the trigger guard has a push-button release to the front right and accepts Gen 3 or newer 9mm Glock pattern magazines. A spring-loaded cocking handle to the left of the upper receiver draws the bolt and operating parts back when and where required. Forward of that is a generous M-Loc machined alloy handguard which, when combined with the upper, provides a continuous full-length PIC rail, all combining for more than ample real estate for sights, optics and accessories.
So how does it work? Operation is as follows: With safety engaged and all protocols applied (muzzle direction etc), use the cocking handle to draw the bolt back, both cocking the hammer and locking the bolt to the rear, now automatically held by the bolt release. Now load and insert a magazine. Pushing the bolt release does exactly that with the bolt riding forward, stripping and chambering a round from the magazine.
Pressing the trigger lets the hammer fall, striking the firing pin and igniting the cartridge. Recoil or blowback energy now forces the bolt to the rear, ejecting the spent case, where upon the bolt is caught by the release and hammer by the trigger sear, competing the cycle of fire. To go again the release must be pressed and cycle repeated.
The rifle I received for testing was from their early production, reported to have had 6000 rounds through it in testing and demonstration. As a good sign it showed little evidence of excessive wear. It’d been fitted with both flip-up sights and H2 Aimpoint Micro (red dot) and I used it as-is for testing. The rifle comes with an MDT tube-type stock with cheek piece adjustable with a hex key and is finished with a rubber recoil pad.
The stock tube is held in place by a castle nut, an ambidextrous sling plate located between it and the receiver stub. So you’re good out of the box for a single point sling rig, though will have to be creative outside of that. Worth noting is the ASG has an ARCA rail machine into the receiver just forward of the magazine housing if you want to bipod or tripod-mount the rifle.
I tested it with multiple 9mm ammo types and all shot well, clustering nicely at 25m. The rifle was sighted for 50m so typically 25-50mm low at 25m. I centred four out of five in the 1” ring of a 6” Glow Shot target at 50m, while at 100m had projectiles landing about 150mm low. 100m target groups were about 4 MOA for me, which I though was good when shot with a 2 MOA red dot, though would undoubtably be better with a magnified optic.
So where does the ASG-9 fit in? Despite its Australian Scrub Gun acronym, I think most will find a home on the range in competition disciplines such as IPSC. That aside it’ll make an excellent fun plinker for anyone looking to step up from a .22LR. For ethical hunting of small to medium game, 9mm with the right ammo choice will do just fine with proper bullet placement and ranges kept below 100m, beyond which significant drops in velocity and energy occur. Think like a bow hunter with emphasis on close stalking, knowing your trajectory and bullet placement.
Based on early interest the ASG is set to be a popular new market edition with strong pre-sales already registered. More at www.shawmacindustries.com.au/asg-9-rifle
Specifications
Rifle: ASG-9
Action: Lever-release
Trigger: Single-stage
Cali Calibre: 9mm (9×19)
Capacity: 10-round (Magpul GL9), two supplied
Barrel: 16” (420mm) chrome moly
Twist rate: 1:10
Weight: 3.35kg
Muzzle: Threaded ⅝x24
Sights: (Nil) full-length Picatinny rail
Butt stock: MDT
Overall length: 865mm
RRP: About $3799