Page 22 - American Survival Guide - October 2017

To paraphrase Jane Austen, it is a truth THE ARAK SOLUTION
universally acknowledged that Mikhail The ARAK-21 XRS strives to meld the best aspects of the AR15 and the good stuff from
Timofeyevich Kalashnikov’s eponymous the AK47 into the optimal combat rifle. From nose to butt, here’s how they do it:
assault rifle is the most reliable combat The muzzle brake is a proprietary Faxon device that is tunable for shooter specifics.
arm ever contrived. While its 7.62x39mm Backing off a locking device allows the brake to be turned in whatever direction might
round packs plenty of close-range be desired to counteract recoil and muzzle rise. Barrels are 100 percent manufactured in
punch, and the gun’s long-stroke gas house for optimal quality control. They are button rifled 1/8 for maximal bullet weight
piston-driven action will suffer the most versatility and QPQ (quench-polish-quench) nitride finished inside and out. Barrels
egregious abuse, the AK’s ergonomics interchange easily with nothing more complex than an Allen wrench. Tubes are available
don’t fit any categorized form of human in a variety of lengths, as well as 5.56mm, .300AAC and 7.62x39mm chamberings.
anatomy. The charging handle is on the The gas system is readily adjustable with nothing fancier than a standard set
exactly opposite side that it should be, of fingers. The charging handle is reversible without tools and resides in the ideal
and the clunky ranch gate safety is as position alongside the forearm in the manner of legacy HK weapons. The upper
wrong as the “man romper.” Despite this, receiver is of a unique and aesthetically pleasing geometry. It also sports more railed
the AK is the gun that just won’t stop. real estate than you might readily use. There are cooling slots to help keep your nifty,
By contrast, Eugene Stoner’s Space new thunderstick from overheating.
Age AR15 interfaces with the human The action can be made to eject out either side by simply reversing the orientation of
form like a third arm. All the switches the bolt. The nature of the bolt carrier is such that it seals off the ejection ports on both
are right where they should be, and sides of the receiver without a dedicated ejection port cover. There are ejection pads
the gun rides at the shoulder, as if you bolted to the exterior of the receiver to keep empty cases from dinging up the receiver.
were born with it. While the direct gas- Faxon makes its own proprietary lower receiver, but the ARAK upper is plug-and-play
impingement system of operation was, with any MIL-SPEC lower. There are, naturally, several color options. I opted for green on
indeed, weird, simple and different for top and black on the bottom for a spot of chromatic dissonance. Oddly, my Faxon lower
its day, this is not the most reliable way will not accommodate an X-Products drum magazine.
to make a gun. (If only somebody could Everything else runs like a champ.
take all that is good and wholesome
about an AK and hybridize it with Mr.
Stoner’s cool-guy smoke pole.)
It turns out that the good folks at Faxon
Firearms have done just that.

GENESIS
The Faxon story dates back to 1978,
when dinosaurs roamed the plains.
Bob and Barry Faxon are professional
problem-solvers. In the three decades
since the company’s inception, the Faxon
boys have done more than 6 million hours
of machining and delivered more than
30 million parts. Their components have
operated on the ocean fl oor, accompanied
our warfi ghters downrange, kept our most
advanced aircraft aloft and rendered
splendid service on the surface of Mars.
In addition to their superlative engineering
and manufacturing skills, the Faxons are gun
nerds—just like us. When faced with what
they felt were some sub-optimal solutions
in the fi eld of combat fi rearms, they did
what they do best: They figured
out something better.

IF ONLY SOMEBODY COULD TAKE ALL
THAT IS GOOD AND WHOLESOME ABOUT
AN AK AND HYBRIDIZE IT WITH MR.
STONER’S COOL-GUY SMOKE POLE.

22 AMERICAN SURVIVAL GUIDE [OCTOBER 2017]

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