I bought an IWI Tavor 7 with 20″ barrel a few months ago. It was one of those embarrassing “this bid on Gunbroker could never win” moments, but I have to admit, I was sort of happy I did. I was an early adopter of the US version of the Tavor SAR, and it continues to be one of my favorite oddball rifles. I’ve been shooting it a bit lately, and the Tavor 7 feels like an upgraded version of the the original Tavor, and seems like the rifle the X95 should have been.

The T7 has the improved trigger, improved frontend with removable sleeve, swappable pistol grip, relocated magazine release, and relocated charging handle that IWI gave the X95. However, IWI gave the T7 some really slick improvements on top of that:

1. Switching ejection side without a new bolt
2. Quickly reconfiguring the charging handle to either side without ripping apart the whole gun
3. MLOK slots on the sides
4. A somewhat improved foregrip removal process (IMHO)
5. A simple HK-style bolt-hold open notch for the charging handle, which is tremendously convenient.
6. Adjustable gas block. This was a bizarre omission from the X95 given how over-gassed it was.

Of course, it’s all in 7.62×51 / .308 Winchester, which is a hard-hitting full-power caliber. This makes it somewhat expensive to operate, but as a reloader, it’s not out of this world, especially when re-using brass. Plus I’m not shooting a ton of it, so it’s manageable.

Really, the T7’s three biggest weaknesses are similar to the Tavor’s:

1. Weight – it’s a heavy beast
2. Accuracy – it’s not inaccurate, but it doesn’t measure up to a mid-tier AR-308
3. Dropping the bolt on reloads – hitting the “bump” in the back isn’t hard, but it’s not intuitive

I have my T7 configured with a Mepro MOR and the Mepro 4x micro magnifier. The MMX4 is basically the same as the Vortex micro magnifier (made in China), and while it’s not bad, it isn’t optically as good as the original Mepro MX3-F. The MOR, on the other hand, works really well, to include the slaved lasers (which are mostly in line with the sights at 50yds). I run it on a clone of the OMM mount (which works shockingly well so far), and the cheek weld is just about perfect. It’s basically set up as my “night vision battle rifle”, and I’m quite happy with it. About the only thing missing is an IR illuminator and white light – I’m thinking an Echo Arms MLOK dual light body and some clever switchology.

As a shooter, you’re never going to forget that the T7 is firing a full power rifle round, but the recoil is very manageable due to the weight, especially with a Lantac Dragon ASR on the muzzle. I didn’t find any functioning issues with the gas block in “full gas” mode with either my 125gr reloads or my somewhat-ancient 173gr M118 match ammo. (I was unable to run steel-cased ammo due to range rules.)

Testing at 50yds revealed the 2-3 MOA accuracy range I was expecting. It’s possible that I need to load up the right ammo for this gun to make the accuracy better, but it’s rare for me to shoot groups or greater than about 600 yards these days, so it’s not a priority. Besides, the Mepro MOR and magnifier are about a 300-400 yard solution in terms of aiming, which means this is fine. Again: if you’re trying to build an 800yd DMR, the T7 wouldn’t be my first choice.

For fun, I took it out a low light / night vision shoot. I was pleasantly surprised with the performance of both the Tavor and Mepro MOR:

You can see the rather spectacular light show with the rifle hits – those are from the 168gr Barnaul I was slinging down range. The T7 handles really well, and the controls were intuitive in the dark. I only had one failure to fire, which was a hard primer – the hit on it was pretty good, not a light strike at all. The weight wasn’t great, but it was manageable.

I think it should be clear at this point that I’ve got a really high opinion of the Tavor 7. Bullpups are not everyone’s cup of tea, and I think they suffer in certain areas (reloading being the biggest problem). However, the T7 is an apex bullpup design for .308, and perhaps indicates that there’s room left in the IWI bullpup line-up for a third-generation 5.56 bullpup rifle with the same improved features.