Factory-Installed FRS Ships Standard on One Horse's Retro Sarge and Archie
One Horse, the Indiana manufacturer, released the Sarge rifle and Archie SBR on November 8, 2026, days before Veterans Day. Both sit in the Express Series and ship with factory-installed Atrius Forced Reset Selectors (FRS). Both chamber 5.56/.223 and both borrow the look of Vietnam-era M16s and Colt Commando carbines. The guns run on modern internals, though. Launch pricing runs through November 10, and One Horse will send 5% of November gross sales to a volunteer group that flies a Vietnam-era Huey.
Key Details
The line includes two rifles, each in black or a limited Tiger Stripe Cerakote finish. Here is what each gun carries:
- Sarge: 20-inch pencil-profile barrel, rifle-length gas system, triangular handguards, A1-style fixed stock with trapdoor, A1 rear sight, A1 forward assist, and A2 flash hider.
- Archie: 11.5-inch barrel, round carbine handguards, B5 CAR15 collapsible stock, and A2 forward assist. It is an NFA short barreled rifle.
- Shared specs: chrome-lined 4150 CrMoV barrels with 1:7 twist, forged receivers, B5 Systems CAR15 LS2 grips, M16-profile bolt carriers, A2-pattern lowers, and polymer magazines.
- Finishes: standard black, or Tiger Stripe Cerakote limited to 100 examples per model.
- Launch prices: Sarge black $1,749; Archie black $1,349; Sarge Tiger Stripe $2,249; Archie Tiger Stripe $1,799.
- Regular MSRPs: from $1,549.99 (black Archie) to $2,449.99 (Tiger Stripe Sarge).
- Transfer: the Sarge transfers as a conventional rifle. The Archie requires an approved Form 4.
- Sales channel: direct from One Horse at launch. Dealer availability is expected in January 2027.
- Warranty: limited lifetime warranty on One Horse-made products.
The rifles honor real people. The Sarge recognizes Don Morgan, an Army Vietnam veteran from the Brownstown, Indiana, area. The Archie honors an assistant gunner who served alongside Carl J. Vondielingen, also from Brownstown. CEO and co-founder Jeremy Hammons said the company wants the guns to spark conversations between generations so those stories get passed down. The 5% donation goes to Columbus Indiana Huey, which flies a Bell UH-1 Iroquois to air shows and veterans' events. Founder Jim Ogilvie says the group has flown more than 7,000 people and has supported disaster relief.
Background
The November 8 date has a combat anchor. On that day in 1965, soldiers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade fought through Operation Hump near Hill 65 in Vietnam. Nearly 50 American soldiers died in that fighting. Army medic Lawrence Joel kept treating wounded men after he was wounded himself, and he later received the Medal of Honor. Neither honoree on these rifles fought there. One Horse chose the date to honor the Vietnam generation as a whole.
The retro look traces back to the Colt M16 family and the Commando carbine. Colt's short-barreled Commando gave the Army a compact option during that war, and modern makers have built a steady market on that design language. The FRS is a newer feature. Federal regulators have long treated forced reset triggers as machine guns under the National Firearms Act, and the legal fight over that classification is still running in court. The Supreme Court's 2024 decision in Garland v. Cargill struck down the bump stock ban. That ruling showed that ATF reclassifications can fall when the statute does not clearly support them. It did not settle the FRS question.
Why It Matters for Gun Owners
Anyone buying an Archie needs to plan for the NFA process. An approved Form 4 means a waiting period, fingerprints, and the $200 transfer tax that applies to short barreled rifles. Buyers in states with strict NFA or forced reset rules should check local law before placing an order. Some states restrict these triggers outright, and some restrict short barreled rifles as well. A factory-tuned FRS is a selling point. Most owners who have fought an FRS through a tuning session will tell you the parts need careful fitting. One Horse says it handles that work at the factory, and the limited lifetime warranty is a real hedge against a bad trigger group. Still, a warranty does not change the legal status of the selector in your state.
Watch the timing. Introductory pricing ends November 10. Dealer stock arrives in January 2027. Tiger Stripe buyers have only 100 slots per model, so expect those to move fast. Keep your transfer paperwork, your Form 4 approval, and your purchase records together from day one.
DownRange Analysis
Bruen asks whether a regulation fits the nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation. The FRS fight is not really about that test. It turns on the statutory definition of a machine gun, which asks whether a gun fires more than one shot by a single function of the trigger. Gun owners will argue that every FRS shot requires a separate trigger pull. Regulators will argue the reset does the work. Courts will decide the statutory question, not the Second Amendment question. Until they do, the FRS is a legal gray zone that a factory cannot erase.
The market side is simple. Factory-tuned FRS guns at under $1,800 will pull in buyers who would otherwise avoid the tuning headache. The retro styling, the Tiger Stripe limit, and the veteran tie-ins all push demand up. What should you do right now? Confirm your state's status on FRS and short barreled rifles before you buy. If you want the Archie, get the Form 4 started with a dealer who knows the process. If you want the Sarge, it is a conventional transfer, so skip the NFA paperwork. Either way, keep your receipts and your approvals. The paperwork will matter more than the marketing.
