The IWI Carmel was originally designed as an

assault rifle An assault rifle is a select fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge, intermediate-rifle cartridge and a Magazine (firearms), detachable magazine.C. Taylor, ''The Fighting Rifle: A Complete Study of the Rifle in Combat'', F.A. Moyer '' ...

capable of fully automatic fire, but the final design became a

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 ...

. It is manufactured by Israeli Weapon Industries, and exported by IWI US to the U.S. commercial and law enforcement market. It was first revealed at the LAAD Defense & Security exhibition in Rio in April 2019.

Design details

The IWI Carmel is a short-stroke, gas-piston operated rifle chambered in 5.56x45mm, similar to the CZ BREN 2 and the

FN SCAR-L The FN SCAR (SOF (Special Operations Forces) Combat Assault Rifle) is a family of Gas-operated reloading#Short stroke, gas-operated short-stroke gas piston automatic rifles developed by Belgian manufacturer FN Herstal (FN) in 2004. It is constru ...

. The

free-floating barrel A free-floating barrel is a firearm design used in precision rifles, particularly match grade benchrest rifles, to accurize the weapon system. With conventional rifles, the gun barrel rests in contact with the fore-end of the gunstock, so ...

is chrome lined and cold hammer-forged, with a 1:7 twist rate and available in a variety of barrel lengths: 10.5", 12", 14.5" and 16". The IWI Carmel features fully ambidextrous firing controls, an adjustable gas regulator, and a foldable polymer

buttstock A gunstock or often simply stock, the back portion of which is also known as a shoulder stock, a buttstock, or simply a butt, is a part of a long gun that provides structural support, to which the barrel, action, and firing mechanism are attac ...

. It is compatible with any

STANAG magazine A STANAG magazine or NATO magazine is a type of detachable firearm magazine proposed by NATO in October 1980. Shortly after NATO's acceptance of the 5.56×45mm NATO rifle cartridge, Draft Standardization Agreement ( STANAG) 4179 was proposed i ...

, and available in black or desert tan. At the

SHOT Show The SHOT Show, which is an acronym for "Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trade Show", is an American annual trade fair, trade show for the shooting sports, hunting, outdoor recreation, and firearm manufacturing industry (economics), industries. The ...

in January 2023, IWI revealed a variant for the U.S. civilian market, with a 16" barrel and a

M-LOK M-LOK, for Modular Lock, is a firearm Rail Integration System, rail interface system developed and patented by Magpul Industries. The license is free-of-charge, but subject to an approval process. M-LOK allows for direct accessory attachment ...

handguard replacing the original MIL-STD 1913 handguard. The overall length measures 37.25 inches (stock fully extended) and weighs 8 lb 2 oz unloaded. MSRP for the rifle is US$1,799.

References

Assault rifles of Israel Weapons and ammunition introduced in 2019 5.56×45mm NATO assault rifles {{Rifle-stub