Review / First Impressions of Hogue AK Handguard

[Ol'Sarge2K]

Review / First Impressions of Hogue AK Handguard

http://www.hoguestore.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=656

There's a new offering in AK Handguards. The long awaited Hogue AK Handguards are shipping!



They are available to fit standard AK 47's and 74's as well as Yugo AK's. The Hogue AK handguards are available in FDE (pictured,) green, and black.

Opening the box, one immediately notices the rubber overmolded lower. In a neat plastic package are the optional side and lower picatinny rails and the associated nuts and bolts. There are two plastic upper handguard pieces – one with a picatinny rail, and one without. Also included is a complete and well written two sided instruction sheet in English! Everything is molded crisply and of visible quality.





The entirety lower handguard is overmolded with Hogues trademark rubber gripping area. Providing a comfortable non slip, even tacky, surface. Two areas along the side the lower handguard have additional pebble texture for increased control.....





The lower handguard features a more pronounced palm swell than the standard polymer AK handguard.




Back.


Front.

It is also fitted with a metal heatshield.



There are two cooling slots per side on the lower handguard. Rubber plugs are provided for those that desire to fill them. The cooling slots also allow the mounting of the two included side picatinny rails.



Mounting the lower picatinny rail requires making small holes in the overmolding on the bottom of the handguard.

The handguards mount easily enough. The instructions are clear and helpfully warn you to clear the weapon first to avoid inadvertent self face shooting. The lower handguard had some play on my Bulgarian weapon in the vertical plain when first installed. The upper handguard was also somewhat loose on the gas tube. But when the tube was installed on the weapon, finishing the installation, they locked up tight together.

Visually the handguards look good. They have a smooth modern look to them.

The supplied side rails also mount easily and provide a means to easily mount the pistol light, rifle light, or butt plug looking camera of your choice.

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In the below picture you can see the Hogue overmolded FDE is a good match for the Magpul AR handguard and Tango Down/US Palm AK grip in color. The Cav Arms AR pistol grip never matches anyone in color.....

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All and all, a nice, ascetically pleasing, and practical piece of furniture that counts as an American part for 922R.

Now, all things made by man can be improved, and these were my minor gripes....

1. Plastic upper handguard and rails did not match the lower in color.

I corresponded with Hogue and they are changing the upper color to match the lower.... either black, green, or FDE.

2. The side rails stick out way farther than they need to do. I know this allows maximum compatibility with different lights, sling mounts, etc., but it seems carried to an extreme here. It increases the likely hood of attached gear catching on equipment or the environment. Also, it looks like ass. Also, my thumb isn't that long.

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Compare and contrast the MI rail on the MOE vs. the rail on the Hogue offering.

3. The little retaining tabs on the metal heatshield are a little frail. I removed the heatshield as per the instructions to install a side picatinny rail. I managed to bend two of the tabs back "onto" the shield when attempting re-install. They were easily bent back and the heatshield reinstalled successfully. I could see them snapping off however if someone liked changing the rail configuration a lot

4. I would like to see a forward lip molded at the front of the handguard like the modern Polish ones. This would look good and be an extremely practical mod. Ever touch the barrel and gas tube of an AK after a good string of fire? It sucks.


So those are my initial impressions of the Hogue AK Handguard. Updates will be added after I get to the range, etc.

 

[Anchor Zero Six]

Re: Review / First Impressions of Hogue AK Handguard

Never thought I would like anything they made but that looks well thought out.

Any idea if it will work with an Ultimak rail? From the pics it looks like the heat shield comes up a bit higher than the Arsenal heat shield.

 

[Ol'Sarge2K]

Re: Review / First Impressions of Hogue AK Handguard

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Anchor Zero Six</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Never thought I would like anything hey made but that looks well thought out.

Any idea if it will work with an Ultimak rail? From the pics it looks like the heat shield comes up a bit higher than the Arsenal heat shield. </div></div>

I'm thinking yes.... but some modding will be required on certain AK's.



As you can see, the front metal fitting in the lower handguard is shorter in the vertical plain then on the Bulgarian handguard. On my Bulgarian weapon it made the Hogue lower handguard wobble up and down with the Bulgarian upper handguard. When I fitted the Hogue upper handguard the whole assemble locked up tight. So I think you would need to put a shim in some lower handguard front retainers to run the Hogue lower handguard with an Ultimak upper rail. I say "some" because I think Hogue designed the metal fitting like that for a reason... there is so much variation between AK's from different countries.

You are right though..... the heatshield may or may not have to be trimmed down to work with the Ultimak...

 

[Saito]

Re: Review / First Impressions of Hogue AK Handguard

I was going to pick one up last night but the website sucks my balls. Couldn't find pics of what I was looking for, only a description. Low speed if you ask me. Sucks cuz I like hogue. Did you say that they were making the whole package the same color? And it comes with 2 tops right, 1 with a rail and 1 without?

 

[Ol'Sarge2K]

Re: Review / First Impressions of Hogue AK Handguard

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Saito</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I was going to pick one up last night but the website sucks my balls. Couldn't find pics of what I was looking for, only a description. Low speed if you ask me. Sucks cuz I like hogue. Did you say that they were making the whole package the same color? And it comes with 2 tops right, 1 with a rail and 1 without? </div></div>

There's only pics for the standard black one......

http://www.hoguestore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=656&products_id=6679

It does come with two top covers - 1 with rail, and one without.

I would call to order to confirm it's currently shipping with a color matched upper if that's important to you.....

http://www.hoguestore.com/index.php?main_page=contact_us

"Please Note: We are aware that many of our products, as yet, do not have photos. We are in the continuous process of photographing and adding product photos. Thank you for your patience."

 

[Ol'Sarge2K]

Re: Review / First Impressions of Hogue AK Handguard

Attaching the lower rail.....

Remove the metal heatshield from the lower handguard. Looking down into the handguard, you will see where you need to create small holes in the overmolding to accommodate the screws for the lower rail.

 

[Ol'Sarge2K]

Re: Review / First Impressions of Hogue AK Handguard

Going to school for a couple weeks. Hopefully someone can try this out with an Ultimak and post about it.....

 

[Ol'Sarge2K]

Re: Review / First Impressions of Hogue AK Handguard

Back from School.....

The design of the front fitting allows the Hogue handguard to fit and lock up tightly on an AMD 65. This would obviously work with an UltiMAK M7-B. With it's folding stock, this is a nice little package.

 

[DWood]

Re: Review / First Impressions of Hogue AK Handguard

I'm liking this as an option, but the rails do stick out too far for me. I have been look to mount an IWC cantilevered light mount on my standard lower, but this may just work out without a lot of modding. How rigid is the lower behind the slots? I'm looking to mount something like this combo to get the light further forward and closer in.

 

[jbgleason]

Re: Review / First Impressions of Hogue AK Handguard

"Side rails stick out too far". You have a gift for understatement. Wow! I was going to fire up the credit card from the first pictures but that part was a buzz kill for me. I have been wanting to mount a white light on my truck gun but there's just no way that set up works. If you have contact with the company please pass your thoughts on that set up back to them. I don't see any good reason to have those rails that high profile. I would assume they are just sourcing the rails from someplace and they came that way. Please post a pic if they mod the part and/or could you show a pic of them off the handguard? I am wondering if there is an accessory rail out there that could be put on in place of the ones they provide.

 

[Anchor Zero Six]

Re: Review / First Impressions of Hogue AK Handguard

JB Gleason,

I agree the side rails are too high but the product is a handguard and grip first and a way of attaching stuff second.

There are several viable options for mounting a light to an AK. Use a Vltor scout mount on the top rail, a barrel mounted tri rail just to name two offhand.

IMO what this product offers is an improved grip design, should be able to check one out in person this week so more on that later. All I'm saying is buying or not buying it based on the side rails sort of overlooks what its actualy improving, think the rails were an afterthought (and it shows).

 

[Briggs]

Re: Review / First Impressions of Hogue AK Handguard

I would be surprised if that top rail integrated into the plastic handguard would hold zero with a forward mounted red dot. But if you don't care about optics and all you wanted was to mount the a light with the offset scout mount it should work fine.

 

[Flatland308]

Re: Review / First Impressions of Hogue AK Handguard

The furniture looks sharp and I do like the overmold it has a good feel even when wet or cold. I agree that the rails are way too high and I am also concerned about contacting the rails after you have been rocking your AK. My Ultimak gets war and the side rails would be suspect to me.

 

[Flatland308]

Re: Review / First Impressions of Hogue AK Handguard

Also the price isn't ridiculous like it would be for AR mods which I dig as well. That is nice to see.

 

[DWood]

Re: Review / First Impressions of Hogue AK Handguard

AZ6, when you get to check the handguards out can you see if a top mounted light with an offset mount would interfere with the MI mini red dot mount you are installing?

 

[6.5mmman]

Re: Review / First Impressions of Hogue AK Handguard

That looks awesome! Does the Hogue rubber not get nasty/greasy/black and grimey from handling it?

 

[akflier]

Re: Review / First Impressions of Hogue AK Handguard

These do look nice. I can say after many rounds and much training with a Hogue forearm equipped Rem 870 that the Hogue rubber is extremely durable and doesn't gall up. Not sure how it will do with heat, but I can say the rubber stays soft and comfortable down to -40*F, making it much easier to grab with gloves than any plactic piece. This won't be important to most, but up north it means a lot.

 

[BBJones13]

Re: Review / First Impressions of Hogue AK Handguard

Hmmm. It looks like if you trimmed the heatsheild flush it would work with an Ultimak. However, I am guessing the rubber would melt if it contacted an Ultimak that was screaming hot. I am guessing the lock up wouldn't be very tight either.

Bummer.

 

[JCARL]

Any chance the slots are mlok compatible?