POTD: Grand Power ARAQ-S - Pop the Hood
Every truck guy knows someone who dropped a Cummins diesel into a Chevy just to see the look on people's faces at the gas station. Grand Power of Slovenská Ľupča, Slovakia, has pulled off the rifle equivalent of that swap. But what is it?
From across the parking lot, the ARAQ-S looks like almost any other AR15/M4, complete with forward assist, case deflector and a free-floated M-LOK handguard that comes off without tools. Pop the hood, though, and the bolt feeds 7.62x39 from regular AK47/AKM pattern magazines, through either an 11” or 16.5-inch barrel. Hmm, is that why the magazine looked a bit bent?
Our shooter in today's TFB Photo of the Day seems perfectly relaxed about the whole thing. The comment section might look different (it’s what you make it). American readers will ask why anyone would put AK mags in an AR, while somewhere in Eastern Europe a reader opens a cellar door to reveal forty years of steel magazines nobody remembers buying.
So, is this an AR with a big-block swap, or an AK that finally bought a nicer suit?
Images by: Grand Power USA
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Ex-Arctic Ranger. Competitive practical shooter and hunter with a European focus. Always ready to increase my collection of modern semi-automatics, optics, thermals and suppressors. TCCC Certified. Occasionaly seen in a 6x6 Bug Out Vehicle, always with a big smile.
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I wonder if it uses an enlarged bolt face like the CMMG mutant, or a standard AR one with more material removed.
Colt did this decades ago, and in the post AWB market there were more than a few offered.
Just one of who knows how many links to bolts on the market: https://vtsupply-com.3dcartstores.com/Faxon-AR-15-762x39-Type-1-9310-Bolt-Nitride-AR15-AK-762-AK47_p_4553.html
The trick is to cut away enough of the overly long mag well and getting the factory AK mags - which work better than any converted AR version - to lock in. The result is a slightly more powerful .30 in an AR, something the .300 Whisper was trying out in the late 90s. And that renamed became the .300 Blackout, which is interchangeable. The AK round tho? Ammo supply is slowly drying up and at present not dirt cheap like in the old days as Russian made isn't directly importable. With the move to the AK-74 the older .30 cal is fading away.
The ballistic advantage is a lot more bullet weight, but not better range, and at its limit bullet drop isn't easy to calculate quickly, any more than .375 Socom. Nonetheless, its a lot cheaper.
Hmm, anyone thinks that this might be a good alternative to soldiers used to AKs?