New Magpul AK furniture

[Gunsmith45B]

I thought I would post a review of the new Magpul furniture for the AK platform. I will say Magpul puts out a good product that I tend to like but am not means a fan boy of any company. This will be my first review so let see how well it goes. For this review I will be using a WASR 10. This review is for the Zhukov-S folding stock and Zhukov hand guard Installation of all the parts was easy. I would say it took an hour to put all three parts on the firearm. With the styling of the furniture Magpul went in a new direction and I think it helped keep it from looking like someone slapped AR15 furniture on it.

I will start with the grip. Compared to the factory original, a massive improvement. Being wider than the original grip it fills the hand better and does not beat up the web between the thumb and index finger. It has the same storage capabilities as other Magpul grips. The texturing is the TSP, Same on some of the 1911 grips and vertical grips. The front and back faces are horizontally lined. They are deep enough to provide grip but not too deep or sharp to be uncomfortable. The fit is wonderful . The grip is tight to the receiver and trigger guard with no gaps. I wall say this will be the grip going on all AK pattern rifles I get.

Now to the butt stock. The Zhukov-S is a right side folding stock that is length of pull adjustable. Being a right side folding stock ms great if you use an optics mount that uses the receiver rail on the left side. It is designed to fire with the stock folded for anyone wondering as I was till I got my hands on one. Magpul really seems to have thought this one out very well. The stock is tight in the receiver of both rifles I have put one on. It uses the tang and stock screw holes with no modifications. It has a rear screw and wedge that is used to tighten the stock to the receiver the works great. Once installed there was no wiggle or play in the stock. The length of pull goes from 12" to 14.5" with 5 settings. the lever for adjusting the stock is rotated down pulling the latch out of stops. In all of the settings the stock the adjustable parts is very solid. one issue I found was with one rifle the charging handle does just hit the stock, I am going to say it is due to differences in AK manufactures and tolerances. The other rifle worked just fine with not problems. To fix this I just need to remove a bit of metal from the bottom of the handle. The stock changes how the rifle shoos for me, in a marvelous way, the top line of the stock is in line with the top of the receiver. Getting a good check weld on an original stock for me was nearly impossible, with this stock it is the Complete opposite. you can get risers for it but they are not necessary for me. I absolutely enjoy this stock.

Finally the hand guards. This was not very surprising for me. The hand guards are similar to other Magpul hand guards. I like the longer styling and extra hand space the Zhukov gives me, I like my hand where the odd one ended and got burned a few times. Installation of the hand guards requires the removal of the front hand guard cap. I did this with a Dremel. After that is just screws together. Very easy to do, though it is a permanent modification. I like the hand guards they work well for me but I did find some issues with it. After five magazines of slow aimed fire the heat shield seems to transfer the heat in to the plastic. It was the first time in a while that I used gloves. I had a buddy touch the plastic after continuing to shoot. He was very surprised by how hot it got. I know AKs got hot but I never had a problem with the wood getting hot. With the plastic sliding on and mounting to the heat shield this was a problem I saw from the moment I opened the box. I am going to see what I can do about keeping the heat away from the plastic. The second thing I found is not such a problem but I will keep an eye on it. On some AKs they are on the tube itself facing an upward angle, this one they are facing to the side two ports on each side. There is some discoloration from this but no damage yet. just somthing to keep an eye on for now.

In all I am pleased with the new furniture. Even with the problems I found I would still change to the Magpul furniture. If anyone has any questions let me know I will happy to answer them.