When examining the black rifle market, you basically have two receivers. You have a standard 5.56mm lower receiver, which has multiple calibers it can host, but you are limited based on length and width of that magazine well. The next is the .308 lower receiver, which is limited to basically 6 calibers. What about some more full power rifle calibers? One company has tackled this dilemma, Noreen Firearms, out of Belgrade, Montana. Opening their doors in 2007 by Peter Noreen, the company set out to build .50 BMG caliber single shot rifles. At the time, there was a rather large market for them. Prior to opening a gun manufacturing company, Peter was a machinist who owned his own tool and die company. When getting into the gun business, he already had the machines necessary to build all, but the trigger group of the ULR or Ultra Long Range 50 caliber rifle.
For the first two years the company consisted of just Peter building the rifles. In 2009, Peters son, Phil, joined the company. Since its start in 2009 as a one man operation it then grew to 14 by 2013. Noreen Firearms is a family owned business that has most of its ranks filed with veterans. Proudly, Noreen Firearms claims that more than 85% of their rifle is manufactured right in Montana. With the introduction of more specialized weapon designs, Noreen Firearms has added several machines to increase both quality and speed of production. The company is in a constant state of research and development. In 2010 Noreen Firearms introduced their second product to the market, "The Bad News," which is a semi automatic AR-platform 338 Lapua caliber rifle.
In November of 2012, Noreen introduced their most popular rifle to date, the BN36. This is a semi-automatic rifle based on the AR10, which fires the very popular 30-06 Springfield cartridge. Since the M1 Garand, there has only been a handful of semi-auto 30-06 rifles. These would include the Remington model 742 and the Browning BAR MKII. There has been no modern sporting rifles....until now. I was invited by Phil Noreen to visit his factory and test out some of his rifles. Setting foot into his assembly area, one can easily see they are always in high speed R&D mode.
For the first two years the company consisted of just Peter building the rifles. In 2009, Peters son, Phil, joined the company. Since its start in 2009 as a one man operation it then grew to 14 by 2013. Noreen Firearms is a family owned business that has most of its ranks filed with veterans. Proudly, Noreen Firearms claims that more than 85% of their rifle is manufactured right in Montana. With the introduction of more specialized weapon designs, Noreen Firearms has added several machines to increase both quality and speed of production. The company is in a constant state of research and development. In 2010 Noreen Firearms introduced their second product to the market, "The Bad News," which is a semi automatic AR-platform 338 Lapua caliber rifle.
In November of 2012, Noreen introduced their most popular rifle to date, the BN36. This is a semi-automatic rifle based on the AR10, which fires the very popular 30-06 Springfield cartridge. Since the M1 Garand, there has only been a handful of semi-auto 30-06 rifles. These would include the Remington model 742 and the Browning BAR MKII. There has been no modern sporting rifles....until now. I was invited by Phil Noreen to visit his factory and test out some of his rifles. Setting foot into his assembly area, one can easily see they are always in high speed R&D mode.
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