I’ll say it up front: I’ve never been a bullpup guy. I’m Lance Rankin, and I’ve spent most of my career as a gunsmith building and tuning AR-15s at Western Sport here in Roanoke, Texas, so a rifle with the action behind the trigger has always felt like an answer to a question I wasn’t asking. The review above of the Desert Tech Wolverine Micron made me reconsider a little, and it’s worth your time before you read my take.
Full credit where it’s due: the testing here is theirs, not mine. The crew in the video put over 2,000 rounds through a Wolverine Micron that Desert Tech sent them for review. They’re open about that relationship, and they’ve been rough on Desert Tech’s earlier MDR and MDR-X rifles in the past, which makes their praise for this one carry more weight.
What they found
The short version: the Wolverine fixes most of what the MDR got wrong. The three chronic bullpup complaints are the trigger, the reloads, and the noise next to your face, and by their account Desert Tech addressed all of them. The trigger got the most praise, breaking clean at around 4.5 pounds with a short reset. For a factory bullpup trigger, that’s genuinely rare. Reloads were straightforward, with a usable bolt release and an ambidextrous mag release, though they found the release a bit stiff and wished the safety levers were longer.
On the clock, it held up. They ran Bill Drills well under 1.3 seconds, with one 1.05-second run. Out at distance, the 4150 CMV barrel with a 1:7 twist put 77-grain Sierra MatchKings on steel at 300 and 550 yards. And with the adjustable gas system, it ran suppressed without fuss, even with low-backpressure cans.
Why compact matters, and where I land
The whole argument for a bullpup is length. Move the action behind the trigger and you keep a full barrel in a package shorter than a G.I. carbine, shorter than an MCX Virtus, shorter even than an MP5 in their side-by-side. That’s real velocity from a rifle you can work around a vehicle or through a doorway.
Here’s my counterpoint as the guy who’d be working on it. The AR solves the same problem a different way: a 10.3-inch upper gives up some velocity but keeps the manual of arms, the parts supply, and the aftermarket that fifty years of AR production bought you. When a Wolverine needs a part, you’re calling Desert Tech. When an AR needs a part, I have it on the shelf. If compact is what you’re after, my MK18 buyer’s guide covers that route, and my AR pistol guide covers the no-tax-stamp version of it.
That said, I think their conclusion is fair. For vehicle work or genuinely tight quarters, the Wolverine is a legitimate answer rather than a novelty, and it sounds like the platform has finally matured. They called it a buy. Coming from reviewers who panned its predecessors, that means something.
The part everyone should take home
The video ends on the point I make at my counter every week: the platform matters less than the practice. A shooter who trains with a plain-Jane carbine will run circles around a guy with a safe queen exotic. Buy what fits your actual use, then go shoot it.
If you’re weighing a compact rifle build and want a second opinion, or you’ve got a bullpup that needs work, call me at 817-393-4000. I’ll give you a straight answer even if it costs me a sale.
Lance Rankin is the owner and Chief Gunsmith of Western Sport, a family-run Type 07 FFL and Class 3/SOT dealer in Roanoke, Texas, serving shooters since 2007. Born and raised in Texas with over 50 years of experience handling firearms, Lance purchased Western Sport in 2017 and turned his lifelong passion into his profession. He specializes in AR-15 and AR-10 platform rifles, manufactures Western Sport’s own AR-15 line under the Rankin Industries brand, and runs the shop’s in-house Cerakote coating operation. When he’s not behind the counter or the workbench, you’ll find him on his ranch deep into the night, hunting coyotes with an AR-15 and thermal optics. Lance holds an MBA and personally shoots and tests the products Western Sport sells.
