South African CR-21 rifle

[Ady]

The standard R4 receiver has been used for the CR-21. There are a few subtle differences which i will post later. Extra spaces have been machined into the bottom of the receiver to accept the trigger mechanism which differs from the R series rifles as the trigger now sits forward of the receiver.



Note the "T" in springbuck horns and "P" proof marks similar to those on the R series rifles.



The "T" in springbok horns is stamped on the barrel.



The rifle serial number is placed on the barrel, just behind the flash hider. The barrel twist rate 1:9 has been included. I have covered part of the serial number with the spacer which aligns the barrel when the rifle is assembled in the synthetic body.

 

[Ady]

Close up of the pin which holds the gas tube in place. The spring rests against the receiver once it has been installed. This stops the pin from falling out.



The hammer is the same as that found in the LM series rifles. The hammer is semi-automatic as it does not have the hook on the under side. Pictures of the automatic vs semi-automatic hammer can be found on the R series thread.





The sear is the same as the R series rifles, the trigger is different in that the trigger finger part has been removed. The trigger spring is the LM series (semi-auto) spring.



Close up of the trigger spring.



Assembled sear, trigger and trigger spring.

 

[lcastillo]

Great pictures Ady! I have learned so much about this CR-21 because of your thread. Congrats on your new toy, It seems to be an excellent weapon. Do you know the production date of your CR-21? Does it have any date codes stamped on the barrel? I don't take that you will be shooting any oversized prawns in the near future :0)

 

[Ady]

I don't know the name for this part, but it is essentailly the trigger. A rod inside the synthetic body runs from the trigger to the back of the rifle and sits inside this plastic part (trigger) which then fires the rifle. This part is fitted next to the sear.







The rod from the trigger is inserted into the hole in the plastic trigger adaptor.

 

[Ady]

Great pictures Ady! I have learned so much about this CR-21 because of your thread. Congrats on your new toy, It seems to be an excellent weapon. Do you know the production date of your CR-21? Does it have any date codes stamped on the barrel? I don't take that you will be shooting any oversized prawns in the near future :0)

Thank you Lou. I haven't shot her yet. I can't find any date codes stamped or numbers on the rifle. I only know a few were made in the 1990's. The CR-21 manual i have is dated 1998. As you know from past exeperience information on the R series rifles is scarce at best.

 

[Ady]

You can see the trigger adaptor installed in a new slot in the receiver. This slot is not present on R / LM series rifles. The U shaped hole in the receiver is where the trigger and sear sits and the square hole to the back is where the pistol grip on the R rifle would be fastened. The underside of the receiver has the holes machined into it where the magazine release and trigger gaurd would be attached. The firing selector of the R / LM series rifles has also been removed. The hammer and disconector have been re-installed.



The trigger and sear have been re-installed. Note the CR-21 also comes out with a buffer body in the rear of the receiver. This one has been replaced.



Top view



Top view with hammer cocked.

 

[Ady]

The underside of the receiver showing the trigger and plastic trigger adaptor. Note the holes for the magazine catch.



Everything re-installed in the receiver. The bolt is that same as the R / LM series bolts. This specific bolt uses the free floating firing pin.

 

[hagar]

Good heavens, what an ugly excuse for a rifle.. :devil And it looks like a rubber prop gun used in movies.

 

[WCC]

Congrats Ady and thanks for sharing all the pics and doing a detailed writeup.

What grief did CFR give you during licensing?

 

[Ady]

Good heavens, what an ugly excuse for a rifle.. :devil And it looks like a rubber prop gun used in movies.

Yho. They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Congrats Ady and thanks for sharing all the pics and doing a detailed writeup.

What grief did CFR give you during licensing?

Thanks WCC. CFR refused my license because i already have a LM5 licensed and they wanted to know why i couldn't use the LM5. I got the license in the end, thats all that matters.

I still have alot of pics to post.

 

[Ady]

The body of the rifle can basically be broken into two pieces. The main body that the rifle fits into and the top part of the stock section that has to be removed first to gain access to the rifle. This is the right hand side of the body which can be split in half and is held together with Torx screws. I did not split the body.



On the left hand side of the body you can see the big charging lever connected to the rod which pushes against the bolt carrier.



Close up of the charging lever



Close up of the trigger and safety. The safety does not work in the receiver like the R series rifles, but prevents the trigger from being pulled.

 

[Ady]

The charging lever rod which pushes against the bolt carrier.



The magazine catch is held in the body with a Torx screw.



Ports in the front end of the body. The port on the left is where the 3 gas ports in the gas tube are located.



The recess inside the stock is designed to house a cleaning kit for the rifle with a cleaning rod. These cleaning kits seems to be very scarce.

 

[Ady]

The rod located on the right runs from the trigger and will insert into the hole in the plastic trigger adaptor referred to above in post 24.



The trigger rod from above

 

[Ady]

Close up of the T piece on the picatinny rail.



The T piece on the picatinny rail fits into the matched T piece recess on the body.

 

[Ady]

At the stock end of the rifle body on the under side is a locking tab which works on a ratchet type system. This locks the two halves of the body together at the back. The front end of the top half of the stock clips into the lower half of the body under the T piece section.

 

[Ady]

The butt base on the R / LM series rifles which attaches to the rifle stock has been replaced with a plastic adaptor. I have removed the buffer body in these photographs.





The hole in the plastic adaptor secures the rifle to the body by using a retaining pin.

 

[Ady]

The retaining pin which secures the rifle to the body mentioned above. The pin has a sling loop which will be loacted on the left hand side of the rifle.

 

[Ady]

The butt and body fixing pin has been removed to replace the buffer body.



The underside of the receiver showing the plastic adaptor. The shiny square in the middle of the plastic adaptor is a spring which holds the retaining pin with the sling loop in place.

 

[Ady]

The rifle is semi-automatic only. The firing selector and the change levers are all made of plastic. The change levers are different sizes so that the left hand side change lever can only fit into the left hand side of the receiver and so on.

 

[Ady]

At first i thought i was missing some parts, but the R series receiver has two holes for the R series change lever assembly which the CR-21 does not use.



The left hand side change lever hole in the receiver