As you all may recall, I wrote about the U15 stock replacement for any AR-15-style riles, for those people who are unfortunate to live within the People’s Republic of Kalifornistan. Basically, it removes the pistol grip of the AR-15 (the sticking point with the Kalifornistan laws) as well as whatever stock it might have had, and replaces it with this more-non-”assault”-rifle-like stock. It does leave the buffer tube exposed (which can be covered in a foam sleeve, if you so desire) which is kind of a bad thing, at least from my viewpoint, and, more importantly, allows the rile to use removable magazines within the bounds of Kalifornistsan, which is definitely a good thing for those people interested in AR-15 weapons here.
Well, when I went up to one of the few remaining gun shows here in Kalifornistan today, I had the opportunity to manhandle an AR-15 with a U15 stock installed on it. Oddly, there was only one instance of it available at a gun show that was larger than anything I ever went to in Florida… one would think something this revolutionary would have attracted a little more attention than just that. Granted, not many of the stocks have been made yet – it just got out of the testing phase – but I was still vaguely surprised that there was only one copy of it at the show, and there was almost no publicity about it whatsoever. It was just laying on a table, along with a few other fixed-magazine AR-15s, with no posters or explanations or webpage addresses or anything.
Moving on. First off, it gets the job done. The rifle is usable with the U15 installed, and it meets the letter of the idiotic law. That said, it is uncomfortable as all hell. Now, I have never particularly been a fan of the AR-15/M-16 family of rifles… The lead they sling is too small, they are too prone to jamming, there are too many moving parts, and they just feel cheap (though, I admit, the Kel-Tec SU-16CA I handled felt even cheaper… scary, eh?). But, if you say that in public, you are likely to be flogged by all the fanboys out there, so I shut my trap while I was at this particular display (hell, I am likely to be flogged here too), and tried on the firearm. The first impression was that it was uncomfortable. The second impression was that padding the buffer tube is an absolute must, since that is where your cheek or chin is going to be resting when you shoot the rifle. The third impression was that it was uncomfortable as hell.
The AR-15 body was designed to be supported by a person holding a pistol grip. This system takes the grip away, and while you can still hold the rifle easily with this U15 stock, the weight of it just rests funny on your fingers/hand, there are edges that were not meant to rub on your fingers that suddenly do, and the trigger is sufficiently far from where your hand naturally rests that it is almost annoying. The entire system makes it feel like you are stretching, while supporting more weight than you should naturally.
Do not get me wrong… this is an ingenious and impressive work-around of a joke of a law. Unfortunately, it does not work nearly as well as the original design of the weapon. Your mileage may vary, but if I had an AR-15, I think I would just put it up until I made it out of Kalifornistan… Not that I would have an AR-15… That M1A SOCOM II is still on my list, and after handling the II variant at the show, it is definitely at the top.
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