I had mentioned, a few posts back, that I impulse picked up a Poverty Pony lower that had been registered as an SBR by the Iron Mountain guys out in Potomac. Since I had a ‘wrist braced’ JAKL ‘pistol’, and the the JAKL uses a 95% (have to use a slightly modified bolt release paddle) standard AR lower, this seemed like a good opportunity to turn the wrist-braced-pistol into what nature and man intended it to be – a stubby carbine with a real stock. And thus, this happened:
Pretty cunning, innit?
The JAKL (and the AR-180) [and by extension the Sig MCX] are interesting guns from a survivalists perspective because the have almost all of the AR’s ergonomic benefits and modularity, while removing one of the AR’s (questionable) liabilities – the buffer tube making folding stocks impractical.*
Unless youre driving around in a GMC van with three of your war buddies, dodging the military police for a crime you didnt commit, the utility of being able to fire your carbine with the stock folded is something that doesn’t seem like a frequent need. Not saying it won’t happen…hallways and stairwells exist, but as a general sort of thing…not a frequent need. However, being able to reduce your carbine to a compact, easily storable, portable package…well thats a different story. This particular package will just barely fit, assembled and ready to shoot, in my Bag O’ Tricks ™ (admittedly not leaving me room for much else).
I'[ve become rather fond of SBR/SBS’s in the last year or two. Their compactness and handling of a short barrel, combined with the steadiness and rigidity of a ‘real’ stock (as opposed to wrist brace), just feels quite good in the hands. Obviously there’s a tradeoff with a shorter barrel, but for the distances at which such an arm could reasonably be expected to be employed the differences in exterior and terminal ballistics will be niggling.
First choice for running out the door when Der Tag kicks off? Nope. But when that time does come its a nice choice for keeping in the truck when quick handling goes from ‘nice to have’ to ‘best practices’.
And, as you can see form the picture, I’m starting to drop red dots on pretty much everything, although iron sights for backup are a non-negotiable.
*= Keywords here: impractical and practical.
That seems like a darn handy little carbine.
A bit of a niche item, but very handy within that niche.
In my old age, I find that magnification in my optics is a very good thing, Red dots for pistols, but magnification for rifle type items, I do have a couple of 1x or is it 0x ACOG style things on my 9mm AR and .450 Bushmaster AR, but for anything else, it is 4x, 3-9x, or even 4-12x. Plus back ups, Just FYI, at a couple of the “Bin Stores” in my area, I have found Magpul BUIS (actually plastic) and have gotten them for $3.00 per set, If you have the time, you can find some good stuff, But a lot of it is junk,
1x = no net magnification or reduction in apparent image size vs. what the naked eye would see. (Not all optics manage a “true” 1x but a little off in either direction isn’t usually an issue for most people.) Note that eye placement matters, e.g. you can still get “misalignment” between image fields with a 1x optic and both eyes open. (Think of this as an external equivalent of crossing your eyes.)
0x = left the lens caps on. 🙂
That is very cool. Very compact in size. A person could probably unzip a stadium seat cushion cover, remove the foam insert (or cut the inside of foam to fit the firearm outline and keep ring ) and carry that around with no one the wiser. It would gain little notice inside a vehicle trunk.
What does a unit like that weigh ? I’ve seen some side folder AKs similar in size, but the barrel length (I think) is longer. And substantially heaver I”m also guessing.
The JAKL is a bit heavier than a similar size AR15 with Direct Impingement but it is barely noticeable, I wouldn’t call it substantial. The adjustable gas system on the piston makes it a win all the way around IMO, especially for a 300BLK.
FWIW, my 8.5″ 300BLK JAKL has been flawless since round 1 with multiple ammo types in different roles and is a real pleasure to shoot. My expectations were high and they have been exceeded. It is now folded up in a backpack as part of my Gray Man kit, also on tap for CQB and PSD.
I really like the 3x prism sights from primary arms. Small, easy to use and they work well with my aging eyes sans glasses.