The M7A1 PDW stock (left) and the Tomahawk (right) from Troy Industries give you some great options for micro-sizing your AR.
To learn more, visit https://troyind.com/.
To purchase a Troy stock on GunsAmerica.com, click this link: https://www.gunsamerica.com/Search.aspx?T=Troy%20stock.
As the interest in AR-15 rifles continues to grow, so does the desire to customize the guns to better fit our needs. One of the first evolutionary steps taken with the AR-15 was to include a collapsible stock. This allowed the weapon to be more compact and also to be adjustable to individual shooters. Fast forward to today and the interest has been in many cases to put a little more “S” in your SBR (short barrel rifle), or simply shorten up your standard carbine even more. Enter the engineers and designers at Troy Industries. Long known for quality and innovation, Troy has presented two options for the serious rifle owner.
M7A1 PDW Stock
First up is the M7A1 PDW Stock. It is a hearty, solid six-position collapsible stock. This is a unique design that includes rails that travel down the side of the weapon’s upper receiver. This design provides shooters with the opportunity to collapse the buttstock almost completely to the back of the actual upper receiver. To achieve this and to shorten the buffer tube extension of the AR design, the M7A1 incorporates a unique bolt carrier group with an integrated buffer, weight and pad. This allows Troy to use an incredibly small buffer tube with the M7A1 PDW Stock and will shorten your firearm by 3 inches compared to an M4 stock. The stock was initially offered only with the Troy Defense PDW carbine, but demand for the stock drove them to market the kit by itself (priced at $499). It is light, well made and an evolutionary jump forward in stock design. It is designed exclusively for 5.56- and 300 Blackout-sized firearms.
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The M7A1 PDW stock has a shortened proprietary bolt carrier as part of the system.
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The M7A1 PDW stock allows you to drastically shorten your AR’s overall length.
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Tomahawk
While some would rest on their laurels after such a great product launch, Troy continued to work on the stock design and ultimately released their next evolution in PDW stocks – the Tomahawk (also available for .308 rifles). The Tomahawk takes everything good about the original M7A1 and expands on it. The new Tomahawk includes a polymer stock with integrated cheek weld plate. It is an ergonomic improvement and allows shooters to get a much more stable cheek weld on the gun. The Tomahawk is a four-position stock that includes a QD sling mount in the butt plate.
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The Tomahawk stock system employs a standard AR bolt carrier group, simplifying installation and lowering costs.
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Despite its use of a standard bolt carrier group, the Tomahawk still downsizes your AR’s overall length.
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One major difference in the Tomahawk is that it utilizes a traditional bolt carrier group (BCG). This allows those who are attached to their BCG to keep it in their weapon (and also keeps the price to a more affordable $299 price point). It also allows those who run a select-fire rifle the opportunity to use PDW-style stock on their weapon without losing the full-auto capacity. The Tomahawk kit comes complete with the stock, proprietary buffer weight and buffer spring. Even using a traditional bolt carrier group, the Tomahawk shortens overall length by roughly 2 inches compared to an M4 stock. Troy offers this stock for a variety of rifles that include 5.56, .300 Blackout and 7.62 carbines.
Kicking the Tires
Troy has earned a stellar reputation in the AR world for making solid, well-designed AR parts and accessories (as well as complete rifles).
Looking good and working good are two different things to serious gun owners so I secured each of the stocks, installed them and hit the range. First question that was put to rest circled around function and reliability. Both rifles ran as smooth as they had with traditional stocks on them. No malfunctions were noted and operations were just as they were every other day. The unique BCG in the M7A1 PDW Stock gave a noticeable pulse feel when the rifle fired but it was more of a curiosity as opposed to any type of hindrance. Both stocks were run in each position they offered and once again, everything ran fine. The place where a real difference was seen was when we ran vehicle drills. The ability to collapse the rifle into such a small package made maneuvering in and out of cars a dream. This was especially true with the Tomahawk on a full-auto gun that became possibly the slickest weapon I own now. In the end, both stocks were nothing but a positive addition to the rifles.
Innovative engineering (as shown with this M7A1 stock) keeps Troy ahead of the curve.
There are many things you can do to your rifle. From lasers to optics, the list is huge. I would suggest that you seriously consider either the M7A1 PDW Stock or their new Tomahawk Stock. The benefits of making your rifle more mobile and nimble are countless. Mix into that the quality of product coming from Troy and you definitely have a winner on your hands.
To learn more, visit https://troyind.com/.
To purchase a Troy stock on GunsAmerica.com, click this link: https://www.gunsamerica.com/Search.aspx?T=Troy%20stock.
The above comments missed the points of the writeup. The stock isn’t being “combat” tested, just tested as to it’s fit form and function. The stocks will perform fine but no, the stock will not find it’s way into a duty weapon. So buy it for looks and buy it for fun.
A veritable bargain at $450. Well worth that to knock off a few inches. I mean now a days you can build a cheap AR for that, but hey, shave about 2-3″ off? Awesome.
This article implies the M7A1 won’t support full auto, but Troy’s website says otherwise ?
While I can see the benifit for diehard gas impingement fans, it, will never achieve a shorter length then a folding gas piston systems that still allows the firearm to be fired. There is also the issue of strenth. Stock test right? Will it hold up to being “mortared” to clear a stuck case? You can simulate a stuck case with a 3/16 wide paper in the chamber an empty case and closing the bolt, FWD assist as needed. Cost of this upgrade, if added to the origional platform price may well have ended with a different weapon choice.
Gas piston guns also are widely proven to be unreliable.
Solution? Run these stocks AND gas piston on your guns for fun, but for true fighting guns keep them off for max reliability.