The Bushmaster XM-15 series (or XM15) is a line of AR-15 style

semi-automatic rifle A semi-automatic rifle is a type of rifle that fires a single round each time the Trigger (firearms), trigger is pulled while automatically loading the next Cartridge (firearms), cartridge. These rifles were developed Pre-World War II, and w ...

s and

carbine A carbine ( or ) is a long gun that has a barrel shortened from its original length. Most modern carbines are rifles that are compact versions of a longer rifle or are rifles chambered for less powerful cartridges. The smaller size and ligh ...

s manufactured by

Bushmaster Firearms International, LLC Bushmaster Firearms International, LLC, is an American firearm manufacturer and distributor. The company's product line revolves around semi-automatic pistol and rifle variants of the M4/ AR-15 design. It is currently in full operation and is ba ...

. Variants include the

Bushmaster M4-type Carbine The Bushmaster M4 or M4A3 is a semi-automatic or select-fire carbine size assault rifle manufactured by Bushmaster Firearms International, modeled on the AR-15. It is one of the Bushmaster XM15 line of rifles and carbines. Design The M4 Type ...

, Patrolman series, QRC series, Bushmaster XM15-E2S, and the

Carbon 15 The Carbon 15 is a family of lightweight, magazine-fed pistols, carbines, and rifles developed by defunct United States weapons manufacturer Professional Ordnance, with the design later picked up by Bushmaster Firearms. Overview The Carbon&nbs ...

line.

Variants

The standard XM-15 has a

forged Forging is a manufacturing process involving the shaping of metal using localized compression (physics), compressive forces. The blows are delivered with a hammer (often a power hammer) or a die (manufacturing), die. Forging is often classif ...

7075T6 aircraft-grade

aluminum Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

upper and lower receiver. Barrels of XM-15 firearms have a heavy profile and are hard chrome-lined 4150 alloy steel or 416

stainless steel Stainless steel, also known as inox, corrosion-resistant steel (CRES), or rustless steel, is an iron-based alloy that contains chromium, making it resistant to rust and corrosion. Stainless steel's resistance to corrosion comes from its chromi ...

. In Bushmaster's 2016 sales brochure, all new-production XM-15s are stated to be supplied with a 4150

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

barrel. The standard barrel has

rifling Rifling is the term for helical grooves machined into the internal surface of a firearms's barrel for imparting a spin to a projectile to improve its aerodynamic stability and accuracy. It is also the term (as a verb) for creating such groov ...

of 1 turn in 9". *E2S Series: The basic E2S is fitted with a 16-inch carbine-style barrel. **E2S Target - 20" heavy-barrel target rifle with A2-style stock and carry handle upper, also available with 24" and 26" barrels. **E2S Shorty - 16-inch version with a "shorty" handguard. **E2S Shorty AK - Shorty variant with 14.5-inch carbine SBR barrel with an

AK-74 The AK-74 ( Russian: , tr. ''Avtomat Kalashnikova obraztsa 1974 goda'', lit. 'Kalashnikov assault rifle model 1974') is an assault rifle designed by small arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov in 1974 as a successor to the AKM. While primarily ...

-style

muzzle brake A muzzle brake or recoil compensator is a device connected to, or a feature integral (ported barrel) to the construction of, the muzzle or barrel of a firearm or cannon that is intended to redirect a portion of propellant gases to counter re ...

permanently

welded Welding is a fabrication process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, primarily by using high temperature to melt the parts together and allow them to cool, causing fusion. Common alternative methods include solvent w ...

to the end to increase the overall length to 16 inches. **E2S Dissipator - Variant with a Bushmaster-designed 16-inch "Dissipator" barrel. This mounts a disused gas block with a front sight at the 20" position with the actual used gas block in the carbine position and concealed under a rifle-length 12" handguard allowing more forearm support and room to accessorize the rifle. *QRC Series: Formerly known as ORC ("optics ready carbine"), but now styled as QRC ("quick response carbine"), are flat-top rifles without iron

sights A sight or sighting device is any device used to assist in precise visual alignment (i.e. ''aiming'') of weapons, surveying instruments, aircraft equipment, optical illumination equipment or larger optical instruments with the intended target. ...

, provided with a simple 1x20 red-dot optic. QRC is chambered in 5.56x45mm with a 1:8 twist

melonite Melonite is a telluride of nickel; it is a metallic mineral. Its chemical formula is NiTe2. It is opaque and white to reddish-white in color, oxidizing in air to a brown tarnish. It was first described from the Melones and Stanislaus mine in ...

coated barrel, M16 style

bolt carrier Bolt from a Karabiner 98k bolt-action rifle. Note the curved handle on the side for manual operation thumb"> Slide locked back on a Desert Eagle pistol, showing the gas-operated rotating bolt mechanism A bolt is the part of a repeating, b ...

group & mil-spec buffer tube. *Patrolman Series: - 7" or 10.5" barrel "pistol" version with a free-float handguard and no stock. Also available as a military or LE select-fire version. *Bushmaster M4-Type Carbine *Carbon 15 This AR-15 was found in classroom 10 after the shooting

This AR-15 was found in classroom 10 after the shooting

Notoriety

The Bushmaster XM15-E2S "M4 type" carbine first gained notoriety for its use in the October 2002

Beltway sniper attacks The D.C. sniper attacks (also known as the Beltway sniper attacks) were a series of coordinated shootings that occurred over three weeks in October 2002 throughout the Washington metropolitan area, consisting of the Washington, D.C., District of ...

. A Bushmaster XM15-E2S carbine was displayed in a February 2011 video message by

Caucasus Emirate The Caucasus Emirate (, IK; ), also known as the Caucasian Emirate, Emirate of Caucasus, or Islamic Emirate of the Caucasus, was a jihadist organisation active in rebel-held parts of Syria and previously in the North Caucasus region of Russia. It ...

leader

Dokka Umarov Doku Khamatovich Umarov (, ; ; 13 April 1964 – 7 September 2013), often known as Dokka Umarov, was a Chechen militant in the North Caucasus. Umarov was a major military figure in both wars in Chechnya during the 1990s and 2000s, before becom ...

. Bushmaster rifles were captured by pro-Russian forces during the

Russo-Georgian War The August 2008 Russo-Georgian War, also known as the Russian invasion of Georgia,Occasionally, the war is also referred to by other names, such as the Five-Day War and August War. was a war waged against Georgia by the Russian Federation and the ...

. A Bushmaster XM-15 was used in the December 2012

Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting On December 14, 2012, a mass shooting occurred at Newtown Public Schools, Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, United States. The perpetrator, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, shot and killed 26 people. The victims were 20 children bet ...

. Just before the second anniversary of the massacre, nine families of the 26 victims of the shooting filed a

class action lawsuit A class action A class action is a form of lawsuit. Class Action may also refer to: * ''Class Action'' (film), 1991, starring Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio * Class Action (band), a garage house band * "Class Action" (''Teenage R ...

in Connecticut against Bushmaster,

Remington Arms Remington Arms Company, LLC, was an American firearms manufacturer, manufacturer of firearms and ammunition. It was formerly owned by the Remington Outdoor Company, which went bankrupt in 2020 with its lines of business sold to several purchase ...

and others, seeking "unspecified" damages for the

defendants In court proceedings, a defendant is a person or object who is the party either accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case. Terminology varies from one jurisdi ...

' purported negligent entrustment and illegal marketing of the XM-15 rifle.

Plaintiff A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of the ...

s argued that both theories of liability fell within exceptions to the 2005

Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) is a U.S law, passed in 2005, that protects firearms manufacturers and dealers from being held liable when crimes have been committed with their products. Both arms manufacturers and dealers ...

, which affords broad civil immunity to gun manufacturers. The case was dismissed in superior court and was appealed to the

Connecticut Supreme Court The Connecticut Supreme Court, formerly known as the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors, is the supreme court, highest court in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It consists of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices. The seven justices sit i ...

. In March 2019, the Connecticut Supreme Court reinstated the

wrongful death Wrongful death is a type of legal claim or cause of action against a person who can be held liable for a death. The claim is brought in a civil action, usually by close relatives, as authorized by statute. In wrongful death cases, survivors are ...

lawsuit, holding that the plaintiffs successfully pleaded a cause of action for illegal marketing. Remington

appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which Legal case, cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of cla ...

ed to the United States Supreme Court, which denied review on November 12, 2019. On February 15, 2022, Remington Arms insurers settled with families of Sandy Hook victims and agreed to pay a total of $73 million to families. XM-15 rifles were also used in the 1997

North Hollywood shootout The North Hollywood shootout, also known as the Battle of North Hollywood, was a confrontation between two heavily armed and armored bank robbers, Larry Phillips Jr. and Emil Mătăsăreanu, and police officers in the North Hollywood neighborho ...

(illegally converted to full auto), the 2018 Nashville Waffle House shooting, and the

2022 Buffalo shooting On May 14, 2022, a mass shooting occurred in Buffalo, New York, United States, at a Tops Friendly Markets supermarket in the East Side neighborhood. Ten people, all of whom were black, were murdered and three, one of whom was black, were inju ...

. An XM15-E2 was captured from

Islamic State The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS ...

fighters in

Sinjar Mountains The Sinjar Mountains (, , ), are a mountain range that runs east to west, rising above the surrounding alluvial steppe plains in northwestern Iraq to an elevation of . The highest segment of these mountains, about long, lies in the Nineveh Gov ...

Peshmerga The Peshmerga () are the internal security forces of Kurdistan Region. According to the Constitution of Iraq, regional governments are responsible for "the establishment and organization of the internal security forces for the region such as p ...

during the Iraqi Civil War.

Legality

As of October 2, 2000, California has banned the Bushmaster XM15 by name in the '' Kasler v. Lockyer'' Assault Weapon List, among other AR-style rifles by

Armalite ArmaLite, or Armalite, is an American small arms engineering company, formed in the early 1950s in Hollywood, California. Many of its products, as conceived by chief designer Eugene Stoner, relied on unique foam-filled fiberglass butt/stock fur ...

, DPMS, Colt, and

Eagle Arms Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila''. Most ...

, to name a few. As a result of the Sandy Hook school shooting: * New York State banned the Bushmaster XM-15 series and

assault weapon In the United States, ''assault weapon'' is a controversial term applied to different kinds of firearms. There is no clear, consistent definition. It can include semi-automatic firearms with a detachable magazine, a pistol grip, and sometime ...

s in the January 2013

NY SAFE Act The New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act of 2013, commonly known as the NY SAFE Act, is a gun control law in the state of New York. The law was passed by the New York State Legislature and was signed into law by Governor of N ...

. * The XM-15 series is among over 100 named firearms added to the Connecticut state assault weapon ban list in an April 2013 amendment, passed in the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting.

Users

* :

Federal Police of Brazil The Federal Police of Brazil () or Department of Federal Police () is a Federal government of Brazil, federal law enforcement agency of Brazil and One of the most know nationals Polices forces of the Executive Power of Brazil. Besides with Políc ...

* : New Zealand Police * * : Used by

JW GROM The GROM Military Unit (Polish: ''Jednostka Wojskowa GROM''), is a Polish special forces unit and forms part of the Special Troops Command of the Polish Armed Forces. It is believed to consist of around 250 operatives plus support personnel. GR ...

Non-state actors

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS occupied signi ...

References

External links

* {{ArmaLite AR-10 derivatives 5.56 mm firearms 5.56×45mm NATO semi-automatic rifles ArmaLite AR-10 derivatives AR-15 style rifles Bushmaster firearms Semi-automatic rifles of the United States