FAB Defense has a long history of supplying military and police customers in Israel and around the world. Their gear is always solid and based on real-world user feedback. I had the chance to check out their new Core M buttstock, Gradus X AR Pistol Grip and Gen 2 5.56×45 30-Round Windowless Polymer Magazines over the past few months. Let’s take a look at what they have to offer.
GL CORE M CP – M4 Survival Buttstock
The CORE M is made to fit standard AR/M4 receiver extensions or any weapon system that uses that style of extension to mount a stock. It uses a forward-mounted adjustment lever that has a built-in anti-rattle mechanism. The rear is fitted with a rubber butt pad for comfort and to ensure the rifle stays in place on your shoulder. QD swivel slots are built into both sides of the stock. The CORE M will fit both MIL-SPEC and commercial tubes thanks to a provided adapter that comes with the stock. It’s made from a rugged fiberglass reinforced polymer composite and is available in FDE, olive drab or black color choices.
All of that is good but mostly standard stuff for a decent M4 buttstock these days. What makes the CORE M stand out is the built-in magazine carrier. The CORE M comes with a 10-round FAB Defense Ultimag Magazine. The mag carrier is located in the buttstock and has a left-side magazine release. While it will accept any AR-style magazine, the 10-round mag provided fits nearly flush in the stock and doesn’t add unnecessary bulk or weight.
The CORE M provides an easy way to keep some rounds readily available for a quick reload right on the gun. If you keep your rifle in the truck or tucked away on the corner and don’t want to leave a mag in it, this is one way to have some rounds readily available if you grab the gun in a hurry. It’s also a fast backup reload if you’re running your rifle with full-capacity mags but need a fast reload or have burned through the rest of your ammo load.
The CORE M is an evolution of the older GL-MAG stock. I used one of those on my patrol rifle back in the day. It held up well, and I liked knowing I had 40 rounds on tap if I just grabbed the rifle out of the trunk with a 30-round mag in place and the 10-round Ultimag available as a backup.
MSRP on the CORE M runs from $96.99 to $101.99 depending on color and it does come with a 10-round Ultimag. As of this writing the black stocks are on sale for only $63.04.
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Gradus X AR Pistol Grip
While I used the GL MAG stock on my patrol rifle for a number of years I’ve had less experience with FAB Defense pistol grips. I did use an AG-43 on my sci-fi build last year. I honestly initially chose it because it had the right look for that build but found that it was actually quite comfortable. When I first saw the Gradus X grip from FAB I wasn’t too sure about it. It has a little bit of an odd look to my eye, but thinking about my positive experience with the AG-43 grip I decided to give the Gradus a go and see how it worked.
The Gradus pistol grip is one of the products that resulted from listening to the feedback from FAB’s customers. It’s an ergonomic grip with a straighter profile that tends to work well with shorter stocks and holds closer to the body or when wearing body armor. That straight profile works equally well on long-range precision rifles that you’re shooting from prone or off a bench with a bipod, too.
The Gradus X has a 15-degree reduced grip angle that’s designed to prevent arm and wrist fatigue. It has a comfortable rubber texture and has an AR beavertail. It’ll fit on anything that will take an AR grip. Like the CORE M, it’s available in black, FDE or olive drab. MSRP is $19.99, although they’re showing a sale price of $12.99 currently.
Having grown up with A1 and then A2 grips I sometimes find the straighter grip angles look odd to me at first. I have to say though that once I got the Gradus X mounted to one of my rifles I can see the benefits of the design. It’s comfortable in hand, especially with my stock partially collapsed to keep the rifle in tight. It works equally well in either hand, too, when I did drills transitioning from my primary to off side, so it should work equally well for right- or left-handers. It’s very reasonably priced, too, so it’s worth taking a look at and seeing how it works for you.
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Gen 2 5.56×45 30-Rounds Windowless Polymer Magazine
The last thing I looked at was the new Windowless Polymer GEN 2 AR Magazines. These are 30-round 5.56×45 NATO (.223 Remington) STANAG compatible mags that will run in anything that takes an M4 mag. They lack the window to check the remaining ammo capacity that the FAB Ultimag 30R’s have, but they’re also a couple of bucks cheaper and probably a little stronger being one-piece designs.
The mags are made of a rugged lightweight polymer that’s impact and crush-resistant. It has a multi-textured surface to give you a positive grip when handling mags and doing reloads. The GEN 2 mags use a bright blue low-friction follower that rides on a hybrid AK-style spring that is supposed to prevent follower tilt. The internal design is supposed to provide for smoother, reliable feeding as well. The mags have an extended floor plate that makes snagging them from mag pouches easier, but they’ll still fit in two or three cell pouches without issue. They can be disassembled without tools, too, which is a nice touch when it comes to cleaning or drying out your mags.
I had a few of the GEN 2 mags on hand and used them on a few range sessions with multiple AR platforms. I can’t say I have extensive rounds through them yet, but so far so good. They seem quite solid and are easy to load. The outside texture is pretty nice and does give a positive grip when you’re doing reloads. Reliability has been perfect so far. No feed issues or malfunctions of any kind. I’ll keep using them to test their long-term reliability, but they look to be a solid mag choice, so I’m not expecting to run into any issues. Like the other FAB products, they’re available in black, olive drab green or FDE. MSRP is only $13.99, but once again these are showing on sale as of this writing for just $9.09.
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The FAB Choice for Your AR
Based upon my past experiences with FAB Defense products, I wasn’t surprised to see the new CORE M stock, Gradus X grip and GEN 2 mags were solidly built and well thought out. Being that a lot of FAB’s customers are using their products for real-world work and not just plinking on the range or posting pics on social media, it makes sense that they listen to feedback and make products that you can rely on. Don’t get me wrong, I mostly plink at the range and post pics on social media these days myself, but it’s nice knowing that if I’m running FAB Defense gear, it’s going to work if I ever do need it for anything more serious than that.
For more info on these products or any of FAB Defense’s other products check out their website at FABDefense.com.
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