I've recently become a fan of Arsenal AKs.
Have one and it's a really nice weapon.

Immediately upon inspection, I had a few questions about the quality of the handguards. I know they have a steel liner yada yada, but plastic is plastic.

Recently found this:

AK47: Proof Arsenal is not Combat ready - YouTube

Has me second guessing the quality of these handguards. Worth replacing with wood? How realistic would 300 rounds in 10 minutes be in a raider - type scenario?

What do you guys think?

300 rounds in 10 mins is quite much,. I think you're ok, Arsenals do have a little heat shield. I preferred wood myself, I did melt my AK handguards before, and it was a mess... But wood still get's just as hot, if not hotter... they just won't melt all over the place...

 

yeah, they'll just start smoking.

300 rounds in 10 minutes is alot. most of us will never even fire ONE shot in anger. think about it......

 

I have used same arsenal thru multiple 1200+ round 2 day courses with no damage to hand-guards, or any other part of rifle.

If that's not "combat" ready for a infantryman level weapon what is.

 

Not a problem uneless you have a select fire weapon .

 

That dude is hard core anti-arsenal, latest vid is something about boycotting. Looking for youtube hits.

 

i go with aluminum... better heat transfer/dissipation and more open... you can put rubber ladders on the rails and wear gloves and push out quite a few rounds... i've put down 390 in quick succession before and still been able to hold it.

 

he really has a hard on for arsenal doesn't he?

 

the objective viewer disregards him immediately.

 

I'm freaked that the guy either shaves his hands and arms or had no hair on his hands and arms and they're oddly shaped for a dude.

 

yeah I really never saw any sense of melting that would cause a malfunction or failure. I just watched an actual training video of an AK and it had the same furniture on it as the arsenals

 

it's from exposure to the plastic fumes..

 

I've recently become a fan of Arsenal AKs.
Have one and it's a really nice weapon.

Immediately upon inspection, I had a few questions about the quality of the handguards. I know they have a steel liner yada yada, but plastic is plastic.

Recently found this:

AK47: Proof Arsenal is not Combat ready - YouTube

Has me second guessing the quality of these handguards. Worth replacing with wood? How realistic would 300 rounds in 10 minutes be in a raider - type scenario?

What do you guys think?

I wouldn't own one with plastic furniture personally. You think they get hot at the range. In combat the heat is at a whole different level. I am also a little old school. But If I needed more rails surefire makes the best hand guard rail system in the world. Krebbs puts them on his rifles at times. It's expensive though but I was told it doesn't get very hot as it's aluminum and it's very rugged and has a very functional heat shield.

 

Have wood on my 7.62 and hogues on my SAR-3. I noticed they heat up good either with 223 or 7.62. Looking at going to Midwest quad rails. Both of mine got very hot in the hand with just 4 mags in under 10 mins.

 

First, the guy in the video has been discredited several times over. There's a reason he has the comments now turned off on his video. It's because he got lambasted by people for making yet another bogus video trying to defame Arsenal. He obviously has an ax to grind with Arsenal.

The hand guards on the Arsenal are military spec. I have both original Bulgarian hand guards and I have Arsenal hand guards. You can't tell them apart, with the exception the Bulgarians are surplus and well used.

Secondly, I've fired 6 magazines back to back through one of my Arsenals for another test (testing the heat build-up between an Ultimak rail and a Midwest Ind. rail) and had no melting, even after doing this several times in a day (letting the rifles cool between strings). The rifle was so hot you couldn't comfortably hold it... but no melting.

Yes, AK's get hot. That's a design issue, they don't dissipate heat very well. It has nothing to do with Arsenal. I've destroyed the wood on an old pre-ban AK years ago after firing several magazines quickly through the rifle, and the wood got hot enough to boil the lacquer and permanently discolored the wood. A few more magazines and the wood would have burst into flames (I've seen that done too).

It's amazing how many times you see this video pop up. He's the only guy on Youtube I've found making these claims against Arsenal, yet everyone seems to take his hit piece as the gospel. It goes to show that people tend to focus on the negative and ignore all the positive. Arsenal is the AK of choice for many AK aficionados and is the benchmark by which all current production AK's available in the US are measured. There are countless videos out there singing the praises of Arsenal rifles yet this one video always seems to be floated as evidence Arsenals suck.

 

It's amazing how many times you see this video pop up. He's the only guy on Youtube I've found making these claims against Arsenal, yet everyone seems to take his hit piece as the gospel. It goes to show that people tend to focus on the negative and ignore all the positive. Arsenal is the AK of choice for many AK aficionados and is the benchmark by which all current production AK's available in the US are measured. There are countless videos out there singing the praises of Arsenal rifles yet this one video always seems to be floated as evidence Arsenals suck.

Thanks.

For the record, I'm not taking it "as gospel". I paid about $350 more for my Arsenal that I have any other AK I've ever owned and I'm looking forward to doing it again. I believe in the guns.

- but melted is melted. The video clearly shows melting. Did the guy use a bic lighter to achieve that? Maybe, but I don't think so.

They are plastic and I have have seen my Arsenal heat up to to the point where I could not hold it, and smelled burning plastic afterward.
I attribute the smell to shavings left in the receiver from a Tapco mag.
But that incident further reinforces my questioning of anything plastic on these types of weapons.

As far as focusing on the negative - that's human nature. I could go on and on about the quality of my Ford and encourage you to buy one, but if you hear one or two reports about how they spontaneously catch fire (my Dodge did that :upsidedown: ) all the comments "great gas mileage" and "great power" won't mean a whole lot.

Again, I'm not questioning the gun but I am entertaining the thought of replacing the plastic with wood furniture.

 

AK47=wood
AR15=plastic

Maybe Im a purist, but if you want a plastic rifle please buy an AR. Thank you.

 

As hard as I have tried (and I have tried many times over the years), I have never seen or heard of a mil-spec M16 melting the hand guards just by firing it. I have seen flames come from the hand guard vents on several M16's and have even melted the BFA on a GUU-5.

 

Ugh I've seen this idiot video before. This kid needs to move out of his mother's basement and get some damn real world experience.

Want to see AK furniture melt? Get some of that cheap crap ATI plastic AK furniture that crap will melt to goo after few mag dumps.

K-Var AK furniture, made in the USA, is what is on the Arsenal rifles. The lower forearm on all K-Var product has a metal heat shield. The idea behind the heat shield is to protect your hand from the heat of the barrel.

Here's some facts of life and firearms.

Semi Auto firearms when shot quickly get extremely hot.
Shoot a semi auto firearm fast enough and plastic furniture touching the rifle will melt.

This moron keeps getting hung up on this "mil-spec" word.
MIL SPEC is a term used for AMERICAN MILITARY FIREARMS.

NOT COMMUNIST RIFLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The other thing that annoys me with this moron, is that some how "melted, melted, melted" will affect how the rifle functions.

It doesn't.

"This is toast, I wouldn't trust that..." MORON.

 

If it's a KVAR forearm, it doesn't get much better, mine has a metal heat shield also. An oven mitt or welding glove is your only hope now.

 

If you actually see yourself using it in a raider-type situation, 300 rounds in 10 min is not that much IMO. If you can pull the trigger once every two seconds for 10 min, you will have fired 300 rounds. If you have 10 pre-loaded mags, it is certainly possible.

Having said that. If you are in a 10 min sustained firefight, and are firing 300 rounds during that time, I think the last thing you would be concerned with is whether or not you're going to ruin your handguards.

 

It's inconsequential as the rifle this kid is reviewing is still fine. There is nothing wrong with his gun. A little plastic melt is not going to hurt it. It's not like the stock are dripping off the gun... yet.

I have seen ATI stocks drip off an AK. K-vars will go a little while longer. Shoot enough rounds fast enough to start wood or plastic on fire and all bets are off.

Spray some oil on the barrel (if you are worried about the finish) and keep trucking on.

Wear gloves or hold the gun by the magazine because, heat shield or not, that forearm is gonna be too hot to hold.

I like k-var stocks for the sleek lines. For ultimate heat protection to the hand a foregrip is the way to go. Either wood donkey **** romanian style or railed forearm with foregrip attached.

The problem with standard foregrips is they can get in the way of fast mag changes. Krebs solved that problem by making an offset foregrip that mounts to the side rail of a railed forearm.
http://www.krebscustom.com/RawPhotos/1-20-08/gripadapter.jpg


Fact is if you are aiming your shots and not spray and praying. This whole thing is inconsequential.

300rds fired really fast:

 

Plastics melting point can vary anywhere from 150 degrees to 600 degrees. Wood will burn at around 570 degrees. So unless you are using some cheap ATI handguard, I wouldn't worry about it too much.


hick

 

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop or how many full auto rounds does it take to melt a M16 barrel?

These tests have been done:

http://www.texassmallarmsresearch.com/TechInfo/DestructionTest/FireToDestructionTest.pdf

Rifles were fixture mounted and fired full auto till destruction.

Bump fire, full auto, and fast semi auto shooting is fun but there are consequences and aimed fire has the purpose killing what you are shooting at.

 

Ive seen M2 barrels at night,GLOWING orange and you could see the rounds going down the barrel. we sprayed them down with WD40 and when the flames went out resumed fire, maybe you need one of these if your catching your hands on fire.

I cant imagine this is a serious problem anyone's having. 350 rounds in 10 minutes, is pulling the trigger every 1.7 seconds for ten minutes. not to mention reloading times for 12 mags. If someones in IT that DEEP I dont think you'll even notice yourself on fire.

I have seen PKM's with really chard front hand guards, but a AK is not a S.A.W.

 

How are the Hogue Overmolded AK stocks I have an AK47 Yugo U/F that I want to replace the cheap Century foregrip The pistol grips just need replacing anyway, even on the Arsenal ''top dollar'' AK's Shame they dont make a plum replacement thats better for the wifes one

 

This is my Romanian Sar-1 that was refinished and threaded by Krebs Custom back when they still did custom AK work.

It has an early Krebs tri-rail forearm.
Krebs Peep Sight.
Krebs muzzle brake.
Fore Grip is TDI.
Buttstock is K-Var Nato Length.
Upper forearm is also Kvar.
Pistol Grip is a Tapco Saw grip.
Optic is a Russian Kobra red dot.

Idea behind the railed forearm is it offers the ultimate heat protection to the hand and allow mounting of a flash light.

The Tapco Saw grip is ugly but functional. It really fills the hand well.

I've refinished a number of Romanian Laminate stocks with donkey d*ck foregrips and have a set that I will probably put on this rifle to go with my other home built AK's. The other thought is to ditch the railed forearm and add a std K-var forearm.
The standard just looks better to me at this time... I've changed stocks on this gun at least 3 times already.

 

This is my Romanian Sar-1 that was refinished and threaded by Krebs Custom back when they still did custom AK work.

It has an early Krebs tri-rail forearm.
Krebs Peep Sight.
Krebs muzzle brake.
Fore Grip is TDI.
Buttstock is K-Var Nato Length.
Upper forearm is also Kvar.
Pistol Grip is a Tapco Saw grip.
Optic is a Russian Kobra red dot.


Idea behind the railed forearm is it offers the ultimate heat protection to the hand and allow mounting of a flash light.

The Tapco Saw grip is ugly but functional. It really fills the hand well.

I've refinished a number of Romanian Laminate stocks with donkey d*ck foregrips and have a set that I will probably put on this rifle to go with my other home built AK's. The other thought is to ditch the railed forearm and add a std K-var forearm.
The standard just looks better to me at this time... I've changed stocks on this gun at least 3 times already.

How much does she weigh drobs? :thumb:

 

AK47s get hot... Wood may not melt... But it sure will cetch on fire.

 

I have the donkey d*** on mine and it works pretty well at keeping my hand cool, but it feels uncomfortable. I would much rather use the standard grip, but it gets way too hot. Is there any kind of middle ground, or is this one of those damned if you do, damned if you dont kinda situations?

 

Ak's get hot. Plastic melts. Nothing I saw on that video prevented the firearm from functioning as it was designed.

Also, Arsenals have a paint over park finish. The paint bubbled up. That's all. The park is still fine.

Hmmm...heat paint and it burns....revolutionary!