Product Spotlight: Foxtrot Mike Slap Mod
Paul Noonan
one year ago
"It's more than just a gun. It's a whole vibe," says Caleb. Depending on your perspective, you might think it's genius OR an act of sacrilege. Wherever you stand on combining the AK and AR-15 platforms, Caleb's special guest, Paul Noonan from FM Products, tells us about an important solution to an age-old AK problem. It's something AR-15 shooters just take for granted: a reliable mechanism for locking the bolt open. But that's not even the fun part.....
After developing their Mike-102 AK-AR hybrid, Paul and his team came up with an MP5-style charging handle that locks back securely and reliably. You release it simply by..... slapping it. So they called it the "Slap Mod." Here's a mind-bender: doing the "HK slap" on your AR that uses AK mags! The key was engineering the parts correctly and making them out of suitably strong steel. How reliable is the Slap Mod? They didn't know it at the time, but attendees at a major firearm event in Texas did the "production testing" for FM. Despite being run hard, the Slap-Mod equipped rifles just kept on ticking along.
Good News: If you shoot left-handed, the Slap Mod charging handle can be swapped to the other side of the handguard in a minute or two.
More Good News: Everybody who wants a Gen2 Foxtrot Mike upper can get Slap Happy. The Slap Mod will be available on Mike-15 uppers as well. The AR bolt release will have to be removed, unless you don't mind hitting the bolt release with one hand and slapping the charging handle with the other.
Even Better News: What about the folks who already own a Gen2 Foxtrot Mike rifle? A Slap Mod upgrade kit is on the way. Installation is super-easy.
Caleb's imagination is running wild with images of a Slap-Modded Mike-102 in 5.45x39 or 7.62x39 with a 13.9" barrel and pinned-welded muzzle device. Paul cautions it may be a while before a 7.62x39 Mike-102 arrives because the cartridge requires a stronger bolt and barrel extension than a 5.56x45 or 5.45x39 chambering. The FM folks are determined to prevent premature bolt lug failure, the common problem of early 7.62x39 AR-15 conversions.