TEXAS WEAPON SYSTEMS KALASHNIKOV HANDGUARD

We had done a few "tail checks" before I saw the items in Rafaga's backpack. The best way to describe the floor at SHOT comes from the words of Sir Alec Guinness playing Obi Wan Kenobi as he described the bazaar at Tatooine.

"Never has there been a more wretched hive of scum and villany".

Well...maybe not exactly like that...but the place is full of idea thieves.  Think of a "spook convention" at the height of the Cold War and you will have an idea.  It would not be a stretch to have some "eastern european businessman" or "asian entrepreneur" catch a glimpse of what I was now holding in my hands and have a knock-off made and for sale using slave labor and substandard materials before our plane touched down back in Phoenix.

Thus we took precautions.



The handguard is much more than that....it is a system, and unlike anything ever made for a Kalashnikov rifle before. It replaces the OEM gas tube with a precision made tube that is encased in the handguard chassis. Both units bolt to each other in a solid unmovable style. The lower handguard bolts to the barrel with a patented bushing design that will accommodate any thickness of barrel. The bushings also tension the barrel fore and aft, thereby improving barrel harmonics.



The handguard and top cover reach all the way to the gas block at the front totally covering both barrel and gas tube, and offering a modern and sleek high-speed look.

There are many handguards on the market these days ranging from stamped airsoft trash, to handcrafted olympic weight quality units that even Hulk Hogan would find challenging to shoulder.

The holy grail of these in the AR market for many years has been to make the rails optional and modular, and to make the units themselves as light as possible. But the AK market has gone the other way...making handguards that were so grossly oversized and overweight that they made the handy rifle into an ungainly beast.



Texas Weapon Systems has grabbed on to that holy grail and set the bar for AK rails as things stand today in early 2012. These will not be "cheap" by any definition of the word in either quality, or cost, but I do think they are the best, and the standard to which the industry will now aspire.

Available at One Source Tactical, and on TSD Combat Systems Rifles.

PRE-ORDER HERE FOR DELIVERY IN APPROXIMATELY FOUR WEEKS

Comments

[Jason]

Absolutely love them! Another home run for Texas Weapon Systems. I'd like to get my hands on some as soon as they are available. Any clue when he is hoping for a release date?

[Andy Quintana]

Looks good, really good. Will it fit milled receivers?

[Herk762]

Excellent! Now tall guys like me can shoot their AKs as comfortably as we shoot our ARs and FALs!

[Jake]

How does TWS compare to Midwest Industries MI-AK-SS and MI-AK-SS-X?

[Earl Edwards]

Could it work on a Saiga .308?