Bottle ends jammed into my shoulder, butt plates and other
Marker Setup:
Tippmann A5
PE Remote w/ Slide Check
PE 20 Bottle
Tac Cap
OpsGear G36C Grip, Rail and Stock
Bushnell 1x30mm Trophy red dot sight
Seals Action Gear single point sling
Strengths:
Comprable price to other stocks
Folds out of the way when not needed
Looks cool
Weaknesses:
No sling lug (very minor complaint)
Slight interference with mask (see review body)
Review:
If you're in the majority of woodsballers, you like messing with your marker. Hey, I'm not judging; I'm exactly the same way. Hell, the main reason I picked the A5 was because of the vast number of mods you can mount on it.
The G36 Stock, as the name implies, takes it's design from the Heckler and Koch G36C, the carbine variant of the German army's battle rifle.
With the exception of the pivot pin and spring, the entire stock is made of a high density plastic, and mounts in a minute or so. Like just about every aftermarket stock for the A5, it mounts directly onto the two rear strip pins that hold the stock end cap. I've heard a lot of complaints about aftermarket stock having some wobble to them once they're mounted. Not true of the OpsGear G36 stock. It sits flush and tight all the way around with no wobble.
The ergonomics of the stock are very sound. From a slung position, the folded stock can be kicked with your thumb into position while releasing your marker's safety with your index finger, and made ready and brought to bear in seconds. Chances are pretty good that when the horn sounds you're going to have it unfolded and ready to go in the first place, but you never know.
If you're like me and play the occassional game of speedball, the folded stock keeps the marker very compact without having to take the stock right off, and while not an ideal solution, it allows you to play with a much smaller profile marker that plays closer to the body if you're headed with some buddies to a tourneyball field.
I have only two things that may (I emphasize may) be issues to take into consideration when thinking about buying this stock for your A5. The first is the he A5 doesn't have a sling attachment point other than the stock end cap. It would have been nice to see an eyelet or other mounted on it out of the box, but this may be of minor concern to some.
Second, depending on your mask and marker set-up, there maay be some intereference with your mask. I play with an Elite Headshield, a big monster helmet and the lower portion of the mask hits just as my eye comes to my sight, which is not much of a concern to me, but my sight is mounted on an elevated accessory rail, so thisis something to that may affect folks who mount thier sights to the A5's top dovetail.
Conclusion:
All in all a very sound product, one I would recommend to any woodsballer who wants to add a little fashion with their function. It's minor flaws are nothing that detract significantly from the stock as a whole. The only reason it receives a 9 is because nothing in this world is perfect.
