RED CELL TACTICAL AK
RED CELL
TACTICAL TACTICAL aUTO UTOMAT MAT KALA ALASHNIKOVA SHNIKOVA IN THE LAST ISSUE OF AIRSOFT ACTION RED CELL TOOK A LOOK AT SOME TRULY “KLASSIC KALASHNIKOVS” AND THIS TIME THEY’RE BRINGING IT HOME, AS THEY CHECK OUT SOME OF THEIR FAVOURITE “MODERNISED” VERSIONS TO SEE WHAT MAKES THE PERFORMANCE CUT!
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et again, it had to be a day where only a handful of Red Cell could actually meet together but this time we did it in shifts with those already vaccinated against the C-Virus in place, whilst others visited in timeslots. Sadly, this meant that not everyone got to shoot everything but it did give members of The Cell enough time to check out the models that they really wanted to see! Things are getting better here in the UK though, and later this month a group from The Cell are getting together for a game (YES! A real game of airsoft!) and will be putting a selection of the models we’ve liked best over the course of the last few months to work “in the wild” and oh boy, are we looking forward to that! For now though, when it comes to the AK it’s true that we can now unashamedly put the word “tacticool” alongside them, as this is what they have become - with an emphasis on the “cool”. The day of the “classic AK” is far from over as it will always be the favoured tool of the OPFOR player worldwide, just as the real “47s and 74s” are used by irregular forces. But it’s not the “classic AK” that Red Cell looked at
this month as many manufacturers actually make very good ones already (as we showed in the last issue), nor is it strictly the “FSB-inspired” models. Although some, like the “12s” from both LCT and Arcturus had to be included, it’s actually not the “military AK” at all that we’re looking at but more Kalashnikov-based creations that have the look of something that you might see coming from the workbench of Jim Fuller of Rifle Dynamics, or Marc Krebs from Krebs Custom in the USA, the sort of thing that we discuss on “AK47 Chatterbox” or that you might see being torture-tested on “AK Operators Union”! If you look around the real firearms industry nowadays, everyone and their dog has “tacticool” bolt-ons for the AK platform… Magpul? Check! VLTOR? Check! Daniel Defense? Check! Knights Armament? Check again! In fact, virtually every firearms accessory manufacturer worth their salt has recognised that those old “import AKs” are getting a whole new lease of life… that’s just good business! And that is making things a whole heap more interesting for players, like me, that want something
“IF YOU LOOK AROUND THE REAL FIREARMS INDUSTRY NOWADAYS, EVERYONE AND THEIR DOG HAS “TACTICOOL” BOLT-ONS FOR THE AK PLATFORM… MAGPUL? CHECK! VLTOR? CHECK! DANIEL DEFENSE? CHECK! KNIGHTS ARMAMENT? CHECK AGAIN! ” 46
JULY 2021
