Preview – 2Vets Arms 5.56 Bravo – When AR and SCAR Collide

Photography by Stickman and Nathan Murr

2 Vets Arms’ Side-Charging AR Blends Ambidextrous Ergonomics With Top-Shelf Components

“We’re trying to overcome the same problems the AK, MP5, FAL, and SCAR all had,” says 2 Vets Arms’ Dean Brandly of his side-charging Bravo rifle. “Oh, wait…They all work don’t they?”

The Bravo rifle is what Brandly calls an “M4gery.” Boiled down to the basics, it’s a carbine-length AR-15 with an A2 front-sight post — but there is a lot more to it, and not just the distinctive side-charging reciprocating bolt handle.

2 Vets Arms is aptly named for Mr. and Mrs. Brandly, both of whom are U.S. Army veterans. They’ve been around for less than two years, but have been making a big impression pretty much since day one. Dean is a former diesel mechanic and state champion archer who grew up on a farm in Oklahoma before enlisting in the Army and serving in Iraq. His last billet had him helping with sniper section train-up prior to deployment. Amber (the brains of the outfit) also grew up in small-town America, was an athlete in high school, and an intel analyst in the Army. Clearly, Dean married above his pay grade.

The Bravo rifle is not their first commercial offering. The SOPMOD and LRRP preceded it; the latter got them noticed, rather accidentally, by Bass Pro Shops. 2VA is heavily involved in veterans support organizations like Gallant Few, started when Dean built a commemorative mil-standard rifle for the son of a friend who was killed in action in Afghanistan.

“We didn’t plan on becoming a rifle manufacturer so to speak,” Dean says. “But after I built what was essentially rifle No. 1 and donated it through the Casualty Assistance Officer, it took off. Unfortunately, we had to build more commemorative rifles, and word got around. Eventually we built a 6.8mm for a deployed sniper as a favor.”

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