making up for legal shortcomings

Remember the U-15 stock workaround for AR-15s that I wrote about a while back? It seems as though they have some competition.

First, let me congratulate Exile Machine for designing the Hammerhead stock adapter to fill an obvious niche – the market for AR-15s in AWB-limited states has been increasing every year, and workarounds (such as these) for idiotic and poorly-written laws are quite needed. With this device installed, and with a stock installed on it rather than the AR-15′s bufffer tube, a resident of Kalifornistan could have the pleasure of removing magazines without having to use tools (even if those “tools” are just bullet tips).

Second, I am not going to authoritatively judge a product I have not even handled, but I do have some concerns. Unless one uses the Ace AR-UL stock in an upside-down configuration on the Hammerhead stock adapater,as featured on the Exile Machine webpage, the buttplate is a good 1-2 inches lower than where “standard” AR-15s have it. Its designers do a fairly good job explaining that distance as a good thing (as I would obviously expect them to – everyone’s X is better than everyone else’s X, or why else would you be making it?), but I still have some doubts… doubts that obviously are dependent upon me examining pictures and descriptions, not actual handling of the product.

Likewise, how does a solid block of aluminium “soak up recoil” – so far as I paid attention, a solid aluminium block is fairly non-elastic, so the only thing it would be adding to the equation is mass, which does, strictly speaking, reduce the felt recoil of a firearm by increasing the amount of weight that recoil has to move before it gets to you. But “soak up”? And “soak up” at the cost of nearly a full pound (400g) of added weight? Erf.

Third, a comparison to the U-15 stock would not be out-of-place – specifically, the distance between the trigger and the first spot where the stock starts a downward bend. According to the manufacturer, the Hammerhead’s length-of-finger-pull is about 3.1 inches – so measure from the intersection of your thumb and index fingers to see what that will mean fro you. For me, that looks to be just past my index’s second knuckle.

However, in addition to that concern, there is also the thought of how your hand is going to hold this now-somewhat-heavier rifle – with the U-15, I commented/complained how supporting the rifle with your grip more-or-less forced to a nearly-parallel-with-the-deck orientation was neither comfortable nor very well controlled, and it seems the Hammerhead could have the same issues. At least Exile Machine radiused the Hammerhead’s edges better than the U-15s were – those corners were not friendly.

Again, I will heartily congratulate the Hammerhead’s creators for seeing a need and filling it – idiotic-law-bypassing innovations like these hearken back to the spirit that originally drove the founding of our great country. Furthermore, being an ex-Kalifornistan resident, I will undoubtedly bemoan the ineffective and pointless laws that require kitbash solutions like the Hammerhead and U-15 in order to use rifles that are mechanically no different than thousands of other non-banned/restricted rifles. However, from a useability standpoint, I remain somewhat concerned about employing the Hammerhead for extended periods, both in terms of weight and in terms of unorthodox grip.

But, hey, if the Exile Machines folks want to send me a review unit, I would be more than happy to slap it on B.O.M.B.E.R. and put it through a few paces – thankfully, though, I escaped the clutches of governments that would require me to buy such a thing.

(Image blatantly stolen from Exile Machine‘s webpage.)