Midwest Industries Mini Dot Mount seems to have its bugs worked out.

Surprisingly for MI's normal level of quality, they had a few tilting problems with their new Iron Dot style rear sight mount. They claim to have now fixed it. You can get an upgraded version if you already have one and if you are now interested in buying an improved one they are in stock.

Hat tip to Shooter521 at INGO.

They also have an interesting new flash hider that has TGI BART style spikes and they claim it reduces recoil.

Another Attero Arms Statement

I post this because this blog is one of the places that has most of the Attero Arms saga posted. Form your own opinions. However, I still will not be buying from them.

"Hello,
A brief statement regarding the ‘Twisterx44/Nate’ controversy:
This will be posted on all the ‘Twisterx44’ threads that we can locate.
Nate from Attero has been reprimanded for his blatant disregard for our honesty policy at Attero, as well as a lack of respect for the online firearms community. All of you deserve nothing but the truth. Subsequently, and effective immediately, he will no longer be speaking on behalf of the company on any internet forums. Additionally, he will be overseas shortly and will not have much involvement with the company during his yearlong absence.
We at Attero will be working hard to regain the trust and respect of the firearms community, particularly the online firearms community. We understand that a member of our team made an extremely poor decision, and we can assure you that it will not happen again, period. We do not expect an immediate withdrawal of the animosity that was generated from this incident. Just know that we will be dedicated to creating innovative and affordable products while delivering top-notch customer service. Additionally, we will be nothing but 100% honest.
On another note, it appears there is a general belief that the Attero AK SBR is overpriced. Our sales team and production team will be looking into the budgeting process to tighten up the MSRP to somewhere closer to what has been estimated to be a ‘fair price’. We value our customers’/potential customers’ feedback, and will adjust accordingly. Just keep in mind we have labor and some machining to figure in.
Thank you for your time. Rather than just apologizing repeatedly, let us show you why we deserve your business, even if it takes 15, 20, or 100 positive reviews from other satisfied customers.

-Attero Arms"

Jerking the Trigger's review of 762tactical's ChiCom chest rig

I missed it because I've been busy the last couple of weeks but Matt over at Jerking the Trigger has a review of the 762tactical modern ChiCom style chest rig. They have always had the reputation to do good work and be pretty affordable. I've almost bought one on several occasions. For me since I now have my Attack Rack V1, it is all I the chest rig I "need" (and I use need loosely, the first thing I would grab if SHTF is my Hawkepak's CDSK bag). But if you are shopping for a chest rig, I would check 762tactical out as well.

Military Arms Channel Innovation Arm's Wood stock review (Attack Rack V2 spotted in the wild!)

Looks like nice work with ComBloc refinished replacement stocks, refinishing services for your own, and IronWood Designs sets for 922r:

Note he is wearing a US Palm Attack Rack V2.

Also the Attack Rack V2 appears in this video too:

Colorado Guns M10 links

I noticed a lot of you are digging the M10-762. Here's some links that srice425 sent to me. My attempts to reach Colorado Guns on both info for the M10-762 and the M10-22 along with extra parts for WASR22s have not been replied to. The Tapco Razr flash hider is removable with standard AK 14x1mm LH underneath.

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_4_64/137863_Noob_question__School_me_on_this_rifle_M10_762_AK_47.html&page=1&anc=bottom#bottom

http://www.akfiles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=89909

http://www.sksboards.com/smf/index.php?topic=91366.0

Basically it is a WASR10 style receiver with a Draco gas block.

Also, IO Inc is importing these rifles and calling them "Hellhounds"

Colorado Guns M10 .22LR

Speaking of .22 LR AKs and Colorado Guns' M10, they have one in .22 LR. Centerfire systems has them in stock. Seems to be a WASR22 with a Draco Gas Block (but the gas block in this case isn't functional since .22 AKs tend to be direct blowback). If it is a new production WASR22 platform it could mean more spare parts for other WASR22 owners. Previously, the imported WASR22 were military surplus trainers and supposedly they had all dried up.

I will not be buying from Attero Arms.

I noticed this morning that a lot of the traffic lately has been from this thread at TheHighRoad.org where the Attero Arms interview and Twisterx44 statement is linked.

Let me give you some behind the scenes information. I was skeptical at first about the Twisterx44 reviews of course since they were plastered all over the gunboards. I contacted Attero through their contact page and Twisterx44 through private messaging on my local gunboards, INGO. I was also able to find through Google some background on Twisterx44. At one point on the night of the July 27th and morning of the 28th, Twisterx44 through PMs had me convinced that he was a young, uninitiated, local buyer of an Attero Arms SBR. He told me that he had made a mistake, was hurting Attero, and wanted me to edit my blog post. I also received an email from Attero Arms on the 28th stating:

"We have taken care of the issue on the majority of major forums. At this point, your blog post is sort of the only remaining controversy regarding the topic, so unfortunately I am going to have to ask you to at least remove the portion of your post regarding Twisterx44 or our involvement with it.

Thanks for your cooperation and your interest in the matter."

I was initially very angry about this email. However, I gave it some time and gave them benefit of the doubt. I also wanted to be as factual as possible and not inflammatory to a new company if they were actually on the up and up, so I did edit out a few lines that stated that some people would need more evidence to believe it. I now regret that edit as it makes me seem to unwittingly support a possible guerrilla marketing campaign. The whole time if I had just went back to that THR.org thread, I believe I would have seen the compelling evidence that I was looking for and has now been removed.

I now feel that there is enough coincidences and circumstantial evidence that I personally have made the decision not to buy from Attero Arms.

Please, make up your own minds if you are interested in their products. You may believe that Attero and Twisterx44 are one in the same or that they are as they have stated here separate entities. Even if you believe it was a guerrilla marketing, you may also have it in your heart to forgive what seems to be a new business ran by young people. If decide to buy from them let me know what you think, especially their mount. But I will be buying a Midwest Industries T1 mount instead and a Primary Arms micro red dot to go with it as soon as I can afford it.

I feel that I need to make a full disclosure to clear my name if possible. I understand that the similar I time restarted this blog may make it seem that if you believe Attero Arms was guerrilla marketing that I may have been part of their campaign. I mostly definitely was NOT a part of a campaign. I did at one point offer my blog as a place to get their statements out since it seemed Attero Arms specifically didn't have public statement out. I also offered for them to link any of my blog posts if they wanted. Other than the email exchanges for information on the situation and product offering, I have had no other contact with Attero. I was just trying to get out more information overall of what looked to be an interesting product. I feel that I may have been used to help their guerrilla marketing campaign in that process.

Unlike pages and forum registrations that have been disappearing after this incident, all of my forums registrations have been and will continue to be maintained as will my Photobucket account. I am MattCFII on most boards. If you've seen some of my pics that I've hosted through Photobucket you'll see that my account there is under Snake122 which may seem unusual. It was my flight sim username and the first google hit at glogster on that is not mine. However, just about anything else flight sim related that you'd find with that username is mine.

My real name is Matt. I live in Indianapolis, IN. I am married with daughters and in my 30s. I am not naive enough to think that someone could find out more about me but right now that is all the info I want to release. I have learned a lot with this incident and feel like I will be a better blogger because of it. I apologize for any offense I have caused my readers due to this controversy. Please feel free to air out an concerns you have in the comments.

UPDATE:

That thread has expanded and I think most people will now agree that Twisterx44 is Nate from Attero Arms. I have seen other evidence that completely convinces me of this as well. Again, it is a young soldier with a startup company that made a very bad decision. You may my be able to forgive him and try their products. Personally due to the ride he took me on, I cannot.

.22 LR AKs

Just saw today on a CDNN email news letter that the ATI/GSG AK47 .22 LR is going for $250 on sale. My biggest complaint about the GSG AK47 has been the cost so this is nice to see. If I had the cash and didn't already have a .22 LR AK, I could see myself spending that on one. Originally they were almost $500. Magazines are still a bit high were I can find them though. The posts that I've seen on boards have one have report good function.

The common options for .22 LR AKs is the GSG AK47, the Romanian WASR22/AKT98, and Armscor AK22. I've owned an Armscor AK22 and currently have an AKT98.

If you decide to go for an Armscor AK22, it is a decent option if you are on a budget. These guns are cosmetically modified Squires Bingham M20 rifles that Armscor has been making for awhile now in the Philippines. It is really a very basic tube receiver semi-auto blowback rifle at its heart. I have seen a lot of reports of good function on these, however mine wasn't the best. Like almost all .22s it was ammo sensitive. Mine was just too unreliable for me.

Magazines can be hard to find but I got some directly from the Armscor USA distributor. You can get some 10, 15, and 25 round magazines. The 10 and 15 rounders are the best magazines and are actually M20 magazines with a cosmetic body. If you are looking for an AK style plinker for cheap, it can be a good option. However, it has a few training issues if you are trying for full 1:1 training features of a centerfire AK. First its magazines aren't rock in and out like a normal AK, also the mag latch is on the magazine body. Unless you own a milled AK, the stock angle if a little off and length of pull are off from a standard AK. I had to modify an airsoft AKM/74 style stock to get the feel of my stamped AKs. The safety is definitely takes less effort to use than a regular AK, but it does do a good job replicating it other than that and comes with a bolt hold open notch.

The Romanian WASR22/AKT98 is has some very good and very bad points. The good thing about it is that it is built on a centerfire AK receiver which means many interchangeable parts, like furniture and safeties But it takes a lot of tweaking to get running reliably. Also it has a tendency to blow out the extractor system parts when it has a out of battery detention. Luckily, a .22 LR Ka-Boom doesn't really hurt a shooter with proper eye protection nor does it hurt the gun, save the extractor system. Finding replacements for the extractor, extractor spring, etc. can be extremely difficult and there are many otherwise perfectly good WASR22 platform guns that just need an extractor. Unfortunately, there is no one that is making new production replacement extractors.

There has been talk of a third party bolt, first by Black Dog Machine and now by an AK machinist that goes by TurboThis. The bolt would use commonly available 10/22 extractor and save many of these rifles from the brink.

The blown extractor problem can be prevented by using round nose ammo that fully feeds into the chamber and by overall tweaks like the extractor tension, plugging the non-functional gas tube, and changing to a standard AK dust cover.

Overall though if you want a true .22 LR AK, this is the way to go. I am pretty happy with my AKT98. It is actually the AK I shoot the most since my local range doesn't allow centerfire rifle cartridges. Since they are so close to regular AKs and are no longer imported into the United States, they tend to be somewhat expensive. Expect to spend $350-$500 for a functional rifle. Magazines can be pretty affordable. The Black Dog Machine 30 rounders are $25-$30, 10 rounder metal shell mags for $10-$25, and short 10 round polymer for $12-$18.

I feel that these three are really the best options for .22 AKs. I 'm not a fan of the Krinker Plinker 10/22 conversion due to cost plus the non-standard AK safety and rear sight. The Saiga .22 LR may finally be imported someday and blow the rest of these out of the water, but it hasn't happened yet.

Military Arms Channel Ammo Coating Test Preview

Sturmgewehre over at Military Arms Channel is working on a polymer vs. lacquer vs. zinc coating test. Here's some preview pics:

US Palm Cage Pictures

Armed and Christian's comment on the MD mags made me want to share these

You can see the metal rear lug and the metal cage in the mold holes.

Metal on front lug

More pics of the cage inside the mag.

The line is the approximate location of where the cage stops (no metal feed lip support)

For reference, this K-Var pdf details their metal parts on the Bulgarian Circle 10 waffle mags.

Note the extra metal in the front strap, floorplate area, and lips in the Circle Ten. US Palm's response would be that it just adds weight and their mags are strong enough without it due to their design.

US Palm's lug cage goes all the way around where the Circle Tens don't. It wouldn't surprise me if US Palms were stronger in the lugs than Circle Tens. Of course, the US Palms might be weaker in the lips. I think if there are no defects, the US Palm "floorplate" is stronger, but if you are the type that likes to pull your floorplate, the Circle Tens are the way to go. But for the most part, besides for me being a US Palm fanboy, I think they are equally good in both theory and my experience. "They are both equal and it is purely a personal preference."

I have both and they are both my "first line" magazines depending on which gear setup I use. The Attack Rack has the US Palms, the Hawkepaks Civil Defense Survival Kit Bag has the Circle Tens. Unless it is a 40 rounder or 20 rounder, ComBloc metal are generally kept around as bench warmers.

Now if the MD Arms Quad Stacks are as good as Mike says, the others might become second string. If you guys want a magazine depth chart I can make you one (I must be excited the NFL is coming back with all these roster references).