CZ 600 Trail Rifle ($1,155)

With little question, CZ’s new 600 Trail Rifle might have been the hottest new rifle released at this year’s IWA Show in Germany. Just like carry pistols, rifles continue to trend toward reduced size and overall more compact platforms. The new Trail Rifle nears the perfection of this evolution. An all-aluminum chassis, short barrel, and a trick 1.3 to 3-lbs adjustable trigger are only the beginning of what the Trail Rifle offers.

This lightweight, compact rifle features AR-15 magazine compatibility in both .223REM and 7.62×39 (the latter uses Bren 2 mags) and ambidextrous magazine and safety levers that will feel intimately familiar to AR-15 shooters. The PDW-style telescoping stock is extremely quick to deploy and stow, allowing the platform’s overall length to shrink down to a very portable 27-inches. The cold hammer-forged barrel is a quarter-inch over 16-inches, and the muzzle is threaded, to which we’d immediately mount a QD suppressor device — this platform begs for it. Overall weight is a very packable 6-lbs. Add a lightweight LPVO optic or big-screened red dot sight, and you’ve got yourself a very versatile platform. For more information contact CZ USA; Tel.: (800) 955-4486; Web: www.cz-usa.com