U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)- I have a friend that recently bought an AR pistol. I had a Bowden Tactical AR-chitect Direct Mount MLOK Micro-Handstop that I wanted to test out. I don’t have an AR pistol which to me is what you’d want to use a Micro-Handstop on so I had him come over and we mounted it onto his AR pistol. It is a super easy/fast installation and literally took about one minute.
Bowden Tactical AR-chitect Direct Mount MLOK Micro-Handstop
If you own an AR pistol I’d strongly, strongly recommend that you put a Bowden Tactical AR-chitect Direct Mount Micro-Handstop on it. Here’s why. If not there’s a real good chance that you’re going to shoot a finger off or at the least get a big-time muzzle flash burn.
I’m sure all of the road scholars sitting in their basement surfing the internet will haughtily declare no way but shoot a while and come back and see me in a couple of years.
Here’s the danger. If you‘ve been shooting guns all of your life then you’re used to automatically throwing up your rifle or shotgun and shooting. If you’ve been doing that for 50-60 years or longer it is an automatic reflex. And therein lies the problem. You do your normal reflex with an AR pistol and without even knowing it your finger will be dangerously close to the muzzle.
Let me explain. Years ago I had a Benjamin Woods Walker PCP .22 cal. pistol. They come with a carbine stock and when you mount on the stock it reminds me of an AR pistol. Well, one day I was out shooting ground squirrels. The shooting was hot and heavy. I’d switched over to shooting my Woods Walker. As I said, there were a lot of ground squirrels out and I was running through the pellets. Well, somewhere in the excitement I saw one and laid the Woods Walker onto a bipod for a shot. Due to how I was holding it on the bipod my finger got in front of the muzzle. Luckily the pellet passed through and went out the nail and just nicked the bone.
You can envision how this could easily happen if you didn’t know better. I got home and glued a piece of Emory cloth near the end so from there out I knew to not put my hand past the Emory cloth.
So, when I saw the Bowden Tactical AR-chitect Direct Mount MLOK Handstop I knew it was an item that I wanted to encourage everyone to buy if they owned an AR pistol. With a 5.56 the wound would be worse of course. Probably the best that you could hope for is a muzzle blast if the bullet doesn’t hit your finger.
You may scoff at the danger of a muzzle blast but I remember a few decades ago a buddy and I went on a backpacking muzzleloading elk and deer hunt. We were going to be eating backpacking meals for a week in the wilderness so when we ran across a grouse, fresh meat sounded good for dinner. I’ve shot a pistol since the 7th grade and never done this before or since but this time I mistakenly had my left hand somewhat near the exit end of the cylinder.
For the week I was digging lead/powder fragments out of my fingers. I can only imagine how bad the blast at the end of a 5.56 muzzle would be.
I’m warning you, spend a few pennies and invest in a handstop. That way even when you’re in a hurry and without looking you know where to place your off-hand. So, one last time, if you own an AR pistol, check out a Bowden Tactical AR-chitect Direct Mount MLOK Handstop.
The MSRP on the Bowden Tactical AR-chitect Direct Mount MLOK Micro-Handstop is $24.95 and as is usual, we will close with the specs.
- Our AR15 Direct Mount MLok Micro Hand Stop is American-made.
- American sourced 6061 aluminum.
- Hard Coat Black anodized finish.
- Perfect application for AR pistols.
- Reversible-use in either direction.
- Prevents your hand from entering the blast zone on shorter barrels.
- No additional Picatinny section required for direct mount.
- Slim, lightweight design.
- 5/8” wide; 1” tall; 1 ¾” long.
- Includes hardware for mounting.
- 100% Warranty against all manufacturing defects.
About Tom Claycomb
Tom Claycomb has been an avid hunter/fisherman throughout his life as well as an outdoors writer with outdoor columns in the magazine Hunt Alaska, Bass Pro Shops, Bowhunter.net and freelances for numerous magazines and newspapers. “To properly skin your animal you will need a sharp knife. I have an e-article on Amazon Kindle titled Knife Sharpening for $.99 if you’re having trouble.”
Hey Tom Claycomb, sorry that I missed you at the Dallas Safari Club convention, but It was a blast! Met Turnbull, KC Eucbio, and Jessy Harrison, and Krieger. Got some shooting faster with a red dot, tips.
Wild Bill-yes, I was looking forward to meeting you too. Yes, it was a great show. Seminar went well. Met a good Cajun guide I want to go fishing with. Running daylight to dark. Hopefully see you there next year!
I run an Arisaka MLOK finger stop on two of my AR pistols. They allow my to put my hand in the right position to activate the weapon lights that are also mounted. My third AR pistol has a 10.5” barrel and a 9” Troy handguard and, I’m not really worried about getting my hand that far out. I use the front back up sight as an index on that one. I’m a firm believer in hand/finger stops for really short barreled ARs. Now, on to one of my pet peeves. The picture in the email linked to this article… Read more »
My pics didn’t get published w/ the article. Not sure what pic you’re seeing but I’m assuming not one that I submitted w/ the article.
Thanks Tom for the recommendation, I’m ordering 2 today for my AR pistols. One little nit I must pick,sorry, the basement dwellers you mentioned try as they will, can become “road scholars” since that organization provides education travel programs primarily for the seasoned citizens demographic. I agree what you meant though, they could never become Rhodes Scholars. Just like all major foundations have done in the past 20 years or so, they abandon the original mission of the foundation. Cecil Rhodes was a Brit who set up the foundation back in the early 1900’s “to promote unity between English speaking… Read more »
Bigfootbob-thanks for your comments.