The New SCSA Taipan X: Pump-Action, AR Style Rifle

A new AR-15 that brings the 'Thunder from Down Under'

October 18, 2025 By Will Dabbs, MD

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The Taipan X from Southern Cross Small Arms is a radical departure from your typical modern sporting rifle. A pump-action, spring-assisted design chambered in 5.56x45mm, the Taipan X is roughly the same size and weight as a typical AR-15 rifle. However, the gun is indeed manually operated. As a result, it is legal in all fifty American states, even the ones with ridiculously draconian gun laws.

For my put-upon brethren who, for whatever reason, live in such freedom-averse locales, that’s legitimately great. The Taipan X is accurate, reliable, and fun. However, the gun has appeal in the free spaces as well. Offering sort of an arithmetic mean between a rapid-firing semiauto AR and a traditional pump-action hunting rifle, the Taipan X discourages profligate ammunition expenditure while still offering all the firepower you might reasonably desire. Running the gun on the range is a fresh, new experience. Curiously, the Taipan X is made by our friends in Australia.

Origin Story

I actually spent some time in Australia back in the 1990’s on Uncle Sam’s nickel. I got tagged to deploy to a place called Rockhampton on the northeast coast of Queensland as part of Operation Tandem Thrust. Our objective was to conduct joint operations with our Down Under counterparts to vanquish evil or some such. While there, I met some fascinating folks and saw some amazing things.

Everything in Australia wants to kill you. It’s just not like the rest of the world. Australia seems not yet quite domesticated. From the dinner plate-sized spiders to the meanest, nastiest, most venomous snakes on Planet Earth, you’re seldom more than one step away from something that wants to eat you for dinner. Australia plays home to crocodiles that could pass for dinosaurs and the scariest sharks. Amidst all of that rugged manliness, Australians have curiously castrated themselves as regards gun laws.

Right side view of Taipan X — The Taipan X from Southern Cross Small Arms is a reliably different pump-action .223 modern sporting rifle imported from Australia. (Photo provided by author.)

It began as it always does. In 1996, a perennial loser whose name doesn’t deserve to be spoken opened fire on tourists at an historic site at Port Arthur, Tasmania, with an AR-15 and an L1A1 FAL. When the smoke cleared, 35 innocent people were dead and a further 23 injured. Of course, all of that could have been avoided by a single good guy with a gun. However, this horrific event understandably left a deep scar on the Australian national consciousness.

Prior to that time, the Australian gun culture was not fundamentally dissimilar from our own. Semiauto sporting weapons were freely available, and Australians living in the great expanses of wilderness that make up their sprawling nation were fairly well-armed. Then they passed the National Firearms Agreement (NFA), and everything changed.

Left side view of Taipan X — (Photo provided by author.)

After the passage of the Australian NFA, semiautomatic rifles and shotguns, as well as all fully automatic weapons, were banned with few exceptions. All firearms were licensed. Anyone applying for a firearms license had to complete firearms safety training courses. Applicants had to demonstrate a legitimate reason for possessing a firearm, such as club membership or hunting. There was also a 28-day waiting period built into all gun purchases along with fairly strict secure storage requirements.

Prior to this time, gun ownership in Australia was quite widespread. Most of the Australian Army officers with whom I served had owned firearms. Following the implementation of the NFA, Australia carried out a massive mandatory buyback program wherein the government confiscated banned weapons from their owners in
exchange for a stipend. The Australian government removed some 650,000 firearms from the civilian population. [EDITOR’S NOTE: Australia destroyed many
of the firearms with a program whereby an enclosed trailer, pulled by car or truck, would show up in Australian neighborhoods on a given day. Inside the truck were metal cutting disc tools which a government worker would use to cut the banned firearms in half. Residents would line up on the street to have their firearms destroyed.]

Taipan compared to AR15 — The Taipan X is an effective weapon for recreation, hunting, and home defense. It is also legal in all fifty American states. The rifle occupies about the same space as a comparable AR15. However, the pump-action design circumvents a lot of regional gun control laws. (Photo provided by author.)

I was in Australia in 1997. I recall driving by several recently-closed gun shops. This legislative initiative toppled the sitting Australian government, but the damage was done. The guns were gone. Some three decades later, the Australian state of Victoria just recently passed legislation outlawing machetes. It really never stops.

The success of this disarmament movement has been widely touted by American gun control advocates as a template for use on our side of the pond. However, there is a minor issue of scale. There are currently 26.6 million people living in Australia. There are 340 million Americans. We own more than 400 million guns. We buy 1.4 million new weapons per month on a slow year. Red-blooded Americans purchase more guns in two weeks than were confiscated in the entirety of Australia.

As a result of the Australian NFA, the market adapted as it always does. Like some bizarre game of whack-a-mole, politicians make restrictive new rules, and gun manufacturers design products that remain in compliance. In Australia, the end result was the Taipan X. This radically unconventional repeating rifle will find a welcome home in places like California, Illinois, and New Jersey that eschew personal freedom in our own great country. It remains simply great fun in the free states as well.

Details

The Taipan X is built around an anodized aluminum frame. The stainless steel barrel is chambered in .223 Wylde and rifled 1-in-8 twist rate to stabilize most any bullet weight. The bolt and bolt carrier assembly are also environmentally-resistant stainless. There is a full-length Picatinny rail up top for optics and plenty of M-LOK space for accessories. The Taipan X features a familiar M4-style rotating safety lever and feeds from standard M4 magazines. The gun comes with an adjustable cheek riser. In general layout, the rifle feels quite a lot like an AR.

Disassembled Tiapan — Nothing about the Taipan is intended to be disassembled at the user level. However, once you get into the gun’s entrails it is indeed a cool, fascinating space. (Photo provided by author.)

The pump action includes a generous spring-assist feature. That means you can manually cycle the action open, and the return spring will close it automatically. This makes the gun lightning fast in action. No kidding, it’s not semiauto AR fast, but you can see it from here.

In addition to the manual polymer pump forearm, there is also an optional charging handle that can be installed on the left side of the rifle. Thusly configured, the gun becomes a straight-pull manual action. That is handy when running the gun off of a bipod for precision work.

Pump action forend — It takes about 30 seconds to master the pump action on the Taipan X. (Photo provided by author.)

There is a nifty crossbolt built into the back of the receiver that locks the action open for servicing. The manual claims that disassembly for cleaning is neither necessary nor recommended. The Taipan X comes with a ten-round Magpul M4 magazine that secures the bolt to the rear on the last shot fired. The bolt then flies forward of its own accord once the mag is removed. Any standard M4 feeding device to include 100-round Beta mags will run just fine.

Accessorizing

The Taipan X accepts the same sorts of cool-guy stuff any AR might. I mounted up a top-end Trijicon MRO (Miniaturized Rifle Optic) along with a corresponding 3X pivoting magnifier. The MRO is available in a wide variety of finishes and configurations.

Trijicon MRO with magnifier — The Trijicon MRO with its associated pivoting magnifier represents the top of the heap in rugged military-grade red dot sights. (Photo provided by author.)

There are certainly cheaper options. However, what you get with the MRO is some preternaturally perfect glass along with that legendary military-grade Trijicon toughness. The MRO will run for more than two years on a standard CR2032 button cell. It is also made in America and has a Bible verse on the side. If that doesn’t resonate with you, then you might want to hand over your man card for a while.

The tactical light comes from Streamlight. The Protac rail-mount HP-X Pro long gun light comes with a remote pressure switch as well as a their unique Jack-Cap tail switch with TEN-TAP programming. The Protac can be readily configured in three different operating programs and reliably controlled even in hard dark. The thing runs off of a rechargeable lithium ion battery pack or a pair of CR123A disposable batteries. It will all but burn your face off it is so bright.

Streamlight light attached — The Streamlight Protac HP-X Pro is tough, lightweight, and blindingly bright. (Photo provided by author.)

SilencerCo quiets everything down. The Velos LBP (Low Back Pressure) can is 3D-printed out of Inconel and unkillable. This advanced design helps minimize gas blowback and is widely customizable. SilencerCo offers mounts and endcaps to suit both your mission and your mood. The Velos LBP is sealed and welded for legit hard use. In a crowded field of rifle-rated sound suppressors, this is as good as it gets.

Trigger Time

Running the Taipan X is a fascinating experience. All tricked out the gun is portly, so recoil is a non-event. Follow up shots are quick and intuitive. The spring-assisted action keeps things spunky. It’s a manually operated firearm, so it was naturally reliable with everything we shoved through it.

Accuracy is comparable to any high-end AR. Do your part, and this gun shoots plenty straight. The trigger is exceptionally crisp and diaphanous. I would put it in the same league with a high-end aftermarket AR trigger.

taipan10 — I shot these 35-meter groups to get-acquainted groups off of a simple rest. (Photo provided by author.)

Magazine changes are similar to those of your favorite M4, except that you drive the action manually. The Velos LBP sound suppressor excises the muzzle chaos, while the Trijicon MRO drops your rounds right where you want them from across-the-room distances out to the limits of the cartridge. The Streamlight Protac keeps your prickly at 0200 when you hear glass breaking downstairs unexpectedly.

Ruminations

When I was in Australia, I was walking through a military motor pool and encountered a small innocuous-looking snake. My Digger buddy suggested we give the little guy a wide berth. He said that, in addition to packing a most deadly neurotoxin, this little reptile had an exceptionally aggressive and unpleasant disposition. Australia is full to bursting with malevolent creatures of that sort. One of the nastiest is the Taipan.

The Taipan snake grows to a whopping nine and a half feet and features a neurotoxic venom that clots your blood and disables your nervous system. The taipan is considered one of the deadliest snakes in the world. It seems a proper name for a sleek black pump-action repeating rifle that you can legally own most anyplace.

Data chart for accuracy — (Data provided by author.)

California has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the country. However, Californians still buy a bit north of a million guns a year. Roughly 14% of the population is armed. Anyplace traditional semiauto AR rifles are banned, the Taipan X offers nearly the same performance without all of the Imperial entanglements, to paraphrase Star Wars.

Even if you live in one of the blessedly free states, the Taipan X remains a splendid sporting rifle. For hunting, target shooting, or recreation, a pump-action, magazine-
fed, functionally-recoilless varmint gun has a natural niche. There is also a need for this type of rifle for those who live in free states. If you live in a free state and like to travel by car or RV, having a Taipan rifle is a great way to take along a defensive rifle you can go anywhere with — even ban states (but first check with transportation laws in those liberal states). Even for a guy with a calloused trigger finger like mine, the Taipan X is a fun new shooting experience. It’s the thunder from down under.