Shark Coast Tactical Penny 5.56 NATO 16" 30rd Rifle

Shark Coast Tactical builds the Penny on a standard AR-15 pattern and then finishes it in a custom Cerakote treatment, which is the whole point of the gun. Mechanically it is a straightforward 16" carbine: a melonite treated barrel, an A2 flash hider on a threaded muzzle, and aluminum upper and lower receivers with a full length Picatinny rail across the top for optics.

The handguard is M-LOK, so accessories mount where the hand actually goes instead of where a plastic clamshell allows. Furniture is Magpul, with an MOE SL collapsible stock and an MOE pistol grip. It feeds from a 30rd magazine in 5.56 NATO, which also means 223 Rem runs through it without complaint. Melonite is a nitride process rather than a coating, so the bore surface will not flake or wear off the way a plating can under sustained fire. The rest of the rifle is commodity AR-15: the trigger, the bolt carrier group, the buffer and the magazines all come off any shelf, and a replacement part is a phone call rather than a project. For a shooter who wants an AR that is not another black rifle on the rack but still wants standard parts and standard controls, the Penny hits both marks.