NRAAM - IWI

I met up with Daddybear and met Drang for the first time (now added to my blogroll accordingly), and we headed out on the floor.

First stop: IWI.

I had to handle the Tavor X95 SBR.

To say it fits me like a glove is an understatement. It balances very well, comes up very instinctively for me and has a 13 inch barrel in a very compact package smaller than AR pistols with much smaller barrels. The trigger is very nice for a bullpup, not a match trigger by any means, but very off-the-shelf good AR like, and definitely serviceable and smooth.

I will be ordering one forthwith. Unfortunately, I expect the Form 4 processing will be long and tedious but such is the current state of affairs.

Daddybear was also successfully marketed to, and his awesome Irish Woman has granted her conditional approval for him to buy one as well. There was much rejoicing.

Meanwhile, Drang decided that 5.56 was potentially insufficient and handled the Tavor 7 in 7.62 with aplomb.

It's heavier than the standard 5.56 Tavor by a noticeable amount but again it handles very well and is well-balanced.

He also admired the IWI Galil Ace pistol with shoulder brace.

Lots of great products at IWI.

NRAAM - IWI Galil Ace

I toured the IWI booth at the NRAAM.

First there are the Galil Ace models.

The Galil Aces seemed very well built, with a lot of nice features. The fit and finish are very impressive and there is no appreciable gap for the operating rod, yet it operates and functions incredibly smoothly for an AK variant. The safeties are ambidextrous and easy to use. There's a nice top rail on the rifles. Flush fit rail covers are nicely fit to the rails on each sides so that they look like regular handguards.

There are pistol models that come with and without the stabilizing arm brace, and you can do the paperwork to SBR them accordingly.

In addition to 7.62x39, there are also Galil Ace models available in 7.62x51 (7.62 mm NATO) caliber.

MSRPs range in the $1,700-1,800 range which make them on the high end for AK variant rifles. In the late 80s, prior to the bans, Galils had MSRP's at about $900. An inflation calculator shows that is $1,820 in today's dollars. Like the Australian AUG, they've stayed rather stable price-wise when taking inflation into account.

IWI At NRAAM

Finding the IWI display at the NRA Annual Meeting proved a bit of a challenge. For some unfathomable reason, most likely an oversight, the IWI display was not listed in either the printed maps nor the NRAAM mobile app.

With perseverance and asking multiple others at the show we finally found it.

First there was a nice assortment of the new Galil Ace rifle and pistols, including a pistol ACE with an arm-brace attached.

The Galil Aces all felt solid and the fit and finish seemed excellent. Much nicer than any other AK variant that I saw on the floor. If you're looking for what will most assuredly be a rock-solid reliable AK-type action rifle, the Galil Ace is for you.

Of course there were Tavors on display.

Most impressive were the Tavors and Micro Tavors that had the happy-fun switch. Sadly I couldn't take any home with me as they're Law-enforcement only sales. There were also full auto Uzis on the same table.

Just holding one of the micro Tavors was happy-making.

Sadly we can't buy them, nor did the lights at the show go out permitting a clean getaway.

But, one of the reps told me a civilian-legal SBR Tavor design is in the works, albeit without the happy-fun switch. Yes, I can see a tax stamp transaction for an SBR-Tavor in my future. These small Tavors simply rocked.