Mako Group - GL-Shock stock

[Baga]

Mako Group sells this stock called a GL-Shock (manufactured by FAB Defense). Anyone have or heard of this stock? Or how about this company? Not tyring to put down this company, I just want to make sure this company sells true AR parts, not 'Airsoft' items.

http://www.makosecurity.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=GL-SHOCK&Category_Code=_stks

[dieselpower]

mako is the US distributor for FAB, along with CAA and other groups. Its Israels version of Magpul. They make high end, low end gear for real guns and also fake gear for the Airsoft crowd...the same as Magpul.

magpul founded on concepts of a US Navy SEAL officer
fab founded on the concepts of a IDF / Mossad officer

Please read on to see why my comments were edited.

[mlevans66]

Oh wow that look pretty cool. I'd have to say it looked FAB-ouolus! Get it and give us a range report, killa.

[TKM]

I have a Mako stock on my single shot AR receiver. It's got a Ferret 50 stuck on top. No issues so far.

Not that exact model though.

[dieselpower]

the only face palm from FAB was the Glock pistol VFG mount for the AR15...that was pure mall ninja idiot cake.

[killshot44]

Hmm, I wonder how it can take both Comm'l and Mil-Spec sized tubes and not move?
Well-done vid, though...
Priced right.

[Army]

Hmm, I wonder how it can take both Comm'l and Mil-Spec sized tubes and not move?
Well-done vid, though...
Priced right.

It showed a tab on either side that takes up the play between the two diameters.

[dieselpower]

I would think the tab would need to be longer. I would not buy a commercial sized one for the unlikely chance I need to use it on one.

Look at the price of the stock. For that cash, if I had a commercial sized tube, I would be replacing the tube with a mil-spec one.

[ZX-10R]

I have FAB/ MAKO handguards for my WASR...Well made and tough. Lots of dremel work to make it fit on my WASR though.

[MakoDefense]

A few things about this stock:

It fits both MIL-SPEC and commercial tubes. Fit is best on true MIL-SPEC tubes, though, especially since commercial tubes are longer, so the stock won't go into the fully collapsed (against the receiver) position.

Also, some commercial tubes are a better fit than others, with some Chinese-made buffer tubes and some Tapco buffer tubes not fitting at all.

Some MIL-SPEC tubes are not really, and will allow a small amount of slop.

The Mako Group is the US representative of 4 Israeli military and security industry companies: FAB Defense weapon accessories, Front Line holsters, Meprolight optics, and Sansolo EOD and breaching equipment.

FAB Defense is a top-tier manufacture of weapon accessories and manufactures most accessories used by the Israeli military, along with many other militaries around the world. FAB also manufactures OEM parts for firearms manufacturers, such as SIG.

FAB Defense is not associated with CAA (Command Arms/EMA/TDi/First Samco/Mission First Tactical) or with Fobus, or any other low-end consumer-oriented manufacturer. If there are products that these companies offer that look identical to FAB products, I can tell you that FAB did not copy their products . . .

Also, despite claims by some other companies, including some US companies who have duplicated our products, our products are the ones used by the IDF.

FAB Defense only manufactures high-end products targeting military use. Sales in the US civilian market are secondary. For example, FAB Defense spent over a year developing a gas piston system for M4/AR-15. After extensive testing and comparison to most other gas piston systems, it was determined that, while it is probably the best gas piston system developed for that platform to date, it could not be proven to offer any increase in reliability, or any other advantages that would justify the cost and installation, and the project was shelved. The system would sell very well in the US, but FAB's philosophy is that they won't build an unnecessary product just to get sales.

Many discussions about our products come around to the UTA (carbine attachment for Glock), which generally brings universal derision.

What you need to understand is that FAB Defense is not like American companies. In the US, companies like Magpul and others design and build a product which is then pushed on the end users, in hopes for sales. In Israel, the products are pulled by the end users. The end users contact FAB Defense with a problem, which results in a product designed to solve that particular problem for that particular end user. The product is then tested by the end user and revisions made. Therefore, not all of our products are a good fit for everyone. Some like the UTA, are very specialized, and people would be willing to accept the fact that just because they don't have a personal need for a product it is not necessarily a bad product.

[MakoDefense]

Better photos and info about the GL-Shock stock are available on our new website: http://www.themakogroup.com/ProductD...ode=GL%2DShock

[MakoDefense]

For the rails on the WASR - the polymer AK rail system is designed to fit very tightly so that mounted optics can maintain zero. In order to accomplish this, it has to be made so that it will need slight fitting on many AK variants. Because there is so much variation between rifles, especially in the US, to make it a drop-in fit on all would make it way to loose on most. In Israel, where most AKs are Russian-made, it is a drop-in fit on most, but even on those it drops in on it generally needs gentle encouragement from a mallet.

I just had a call from a guy who, with a background as a dental tech, came up with an idea for fitting them. He dipped the end just for a couple seconds in boiling water, which makes the polymer just flexible enough to go on without making it soft.

[dieselpower]

A few things about this stock:

It fits both MIL-SPEC and commercial tubes. Fit is best on true MIL-SPEC tubes, though, especially since commercial tubes are longer, so the stock won't go into the fully collapsed (against the receiver) position.

Also, some commercial tubes are a better fit than others, with some Chinese-made buffer tubes and some Tapco buffer tubes not fitting at all.

Some MIL-SPEC tubes are not really, and will allow a small amount of slop.

The Mako Group is the US representative of 4 Israeli military and security industry companies: FAB Defense weapon accessories, Front Line holsters, Meprolight optics, and Sansolo EOD and breaching equipment.

FAB Defense is a top-tier manufacture of weapon accessories and manufactures most accessories used by the Israeli military, along with many other militaries around the world. FAB also manufactures OEM parts for firearms manufacturers, such as SIG.

FAB Defense is not associated with CAA (Command Arms/EMA/TDi/First Samco/Mission First Tactical) or with Fobus, or any other low-end consumer-oriented manufacturer. If there are products that these companies offer that look identical to FAB products, I can tell you that FAB did not copy their products . . .

Also, despite claims by some other companies, including some US companies who have duplicated our products, our products are the ones used by the IDF.

FAB Defense only manufactures high-end products targeting military use. Sales in the US civilian market are secondary. For example, FAB Defense spent over a year developing a gas piston system for M4/AR-15. After extensive testing and comparison to most other gas piston systems, it was determined that, while it is probably the best gas piston system developed for that platform to date, it could not be proven to offer any increase in reliability, or any other advantages that would justify the cost and installation, and the project was shelved. The system would sell very well in the US, but FAB's philosophy is that they won't build an unnecessary product just to get sales.

Many discussions about our products come around to the UTA (carbine attachment for Glock), which generally brings universal derision.

What you need to understand is that FAB Defense is not like American companies. In the US, companies like Magpul and others design and build a product which is then pushed on the end users, in hopes for sales. In Israel, the products are pulled by the end users. The end users contact FAB Defense with a problem, which results in a product designed to solve that particular problem for that particular end user. The product is then tested by the end user and revisions made. Therefore, not all of our products are a good fit for everyone. Some like the UTA, are very specialized, and people would be willing to accept the fact that just because they don't have a personal need for a product it is not necessarily a bad product.

Nice to know. So you are Publicly stating for the record "(Command Arms/EMA/TDi/First Samco/Mission First Tactical) or with Fobus" are NOT distributors of any FAB products and YOU Mako are the only true US source from FAB.

I am asking this because there are other websites claiming a link between FAB and those companies.

Respond please.

http://www.isayeret.com/guides/contractors.htm TDI is shown as the main competitor to FAB and we all know both companies sell what appears to be the same product. Are you telling us as a distributor for FAB that in fact the companies do not get the same item and re-brand it.

That is what most of us think. It would be nice to get a real answer with a solid who makes what and where. Are there two different places stealing ideas from each other or is there in fact one company selling to two different companies.

[MakoDefense]

Nice to know. So you are Publicly stating for the record "(Command Arms/EMA/TDi/First Samco/Mission First Tactical) or with Fobus" are NOT distributors of any FAB products and YOU Mako are the only true US source from FAB.

I am asking this because there are other websites claiming a link between FAB and those companies.

Respond please.

http://www.isayeret.com/guides/contractors.htm TDI is shown as the main competitor to FAB and we all know both companies sell what appears to be the same product. Are you telling us as a distributor for FAB that in fact the companies do not get the same item and re-brand it.

That is what most of us think. It would be nice to get a real answer with a solid who makes what and where. Are there two different places stealing ideas from each other or is there in fact one company selling to two different companies.

Understand that I will be careful with my answers as our company policy is to avoid attacks on other companies, even if those companies are not concerned with integrity themselves.

FAB Defense was established in 1962 and has been manufacturing equipment for the IDF and others since then. FAB Defense products are designed and built by FAB Defense, except for a few cases in which a product was designed by FAB Defense for another company, (often the molds would be built by FAB, but the product manufactured by the other company), a product and molds designed and built by FAB, but the product manufactured by a third party due to contract requirements, or a product designed by another company, but built and branded for them by FAB. In the last case, some of these products are sold only by the company that designed them, while in others, the product is also marketed by FAB. (Examples are the new Glock magazine floorplates with glass breaker, which are marketed both by the designer and by FAB, the cases for the Springfield XDm, which are built exclusively for Springfield, the short-lived RSR holsters built exclusively for RSR to their specs, or certain SIG 55X furniture or accessories, some of which are standard accessories marked SIG, others are slightly redesigned for SIG's look, while others are specific to SIG carbines.)

FAB Defense does not copy other companies' products. There are many companies that copy FAB Defense's products. There are companies in Israel that made exact copies of FAB Defense products. Some of the early copies even used the same model numbers. These copies are built of consumer-grade composites and plastics, not the high-end materials that FAB Defense uses. The products are built mainly for export, since they are not of interest to the IDF, and appeared in the US long before we began to bring FAB Defense products to the US.

Unfortunately, due to the lower quality of the other companies' products, poor business practices, and the fact that they stole product designs from American companies, these companies ruined the reputation of Israeli-made products. When we arrived on the scene in the US, our largest challenge was, and still is, to convince the American market that we are not CAA, and that our products are at a totally different level quality-wise.

Because CAA was in the US for years before FAB Defense, and were connected with Fobus, who has a long-established market here, CAA has vastly more marketing resources and dealer networks. In other words, while FAB Defense concentrated on military and LE sales, CAA took the civilian market around the world, selling far more products than we do.

CAA has had legal issues with US companies that understand the US market and are more proactive in protecting their patents, and has reinvented itself as EMA and MFI, among others, but those companies are all the same company, and are a totally separate entity from FAB Defense with their own manufacturing facility. FAB and Mako do not now, nor ever did, have any connection to CAA, except that certain personnel worked for FAB before CAA was started. There is more that I could say, but I want to keep it as polite and professional as possible.

Even with products that look identical, you can see the differences in the quality of the materials used if you lay the products next to each other.

Also, there are several US companies that have basically knocked off some of our products, with one company even selling a knocked off version of our IDF pistol grip as the actual grip that is issued to the IDF. (Theirs is made from PVC and I assume made in China, based on price.) I think that this is because they feel safer knocking off an Israeli company than a US company.

So FAB Defense weapon accessories are a line of military accessories built of materials that meet or exceed MIL-SPEC requirements. Some of the polymers used are among the most advanced in the world and are sourced from Switzerland, even though it would be easier to use more readily available polymers. The products belong to FAB Defense and are mostly patented, even though others copy them.

A couple products were designed and built by FAB for a third party, or designed by the third party and built for them by FAB. Some of these products are sold to other companies by the third party, who sell them as well. There have also been a couple products designed by FAB Defense that were manufactured by TDi due to contract requirements.

FAB Defense also builds molds for other companies in Israel (notice that Springfield XD and 1911 mag pouches, loaders, and holsters are built in Israel, but not by FAB).

Remember that isayeret.com is much like any other online community (afrcom, lightfighter, etc.) and info will be of varying levels of accuracy and influenced by financial supporters.

Incidentally, we have the same issues in marketing Front Line holsters in the US, since the reputation of Israeli holsters was wrecked by the cheap molded plastic Fobus holsters. Fortunately, when we sell a holster, the buyer usually returns to buy more, and his friends will order some, so we know the word is slowly getting out.

Hope this helps.

[dieselpower]

Understand that I will be careful with my answers as our company policy is to avoid attacks on other companies, even if those companies are not concerned with integrity themselves.

FAB Defense was established in 1962 and has been manufacturing equipment for the IDF and others since then. FAB Defense products are designed and built by FAB Defense, except for a few cases in which a product was designed by FAB Defense for another company, (often the molds would be built by FAB, but the product manufactured by the other company), a product and molds designed and built by FAB, but the product manufactured by a third party due to contract requirements, or a product designed by another company, but built and branded for them by FAB. In the last case, some of these products are sold only by the company that designed them, while in others, the product is also marketed by FAB. (Examples are the new Glock magazine floorplates with glass breaker, which are marketed both by the designer and by FAB, the cases for the Springfield XDm, which are built exclusively for Springfield, the short-lived RSR holsters built exclusively for RSR to their specs, or certain SIG 55X furniture or accessories, some of which are standard accessories marked SIG, others are slightly redesigned for SIG's look, while others are specific to SIG carbines.)

FAB Defense does not copy other companies' products. There are many companies that copy FAB Defense's products. There are companies in Israel that made exact copies of FAB Defense products. Some of the early copies even used the same model numbers. These copies are built of consumer-grade composites and plastics, not the high-end materials that FAB Defense uses. The products are built mainly for export, since they are not of interest to the IDF, and appeared in the US long before we began to bring FAB Defense products to the US.

Unfortunately, due to the lower quality of the other companies' products, poor business practices, and the fact that they stole product designs from American companies, these companies ruined the reputation of Israeli-made products. When we arrived on the scene in the US, our largest challenge was, and still is, to convince the American market that we are not CAA, and that our products are at a totally different level quality-wise.

Because CAA was in the US for years before FAB Defense, and were connected with Fobus, who has a long-established market here, CAA has vastly more marketing resources and dealer networks. In other words, while FAB Defense concentrated on military and LE sales, CAA took the civilian market around the world, selling far more products than we do.

CAA has had legal issues with US companies that understand the US market and are more proactive in protecting their patents, and has reinvented itself as EMA and MFI, among others, but those companies are all the same company, and are a totally separate entity from FAB Defense with their own manufacturing facility. FAB and Mako do not now, nor ever did, have any connection to CAA, except that certain personnel worked for FAB before CAA was started. There is more that I could say, but I want to keep it as polite and professional as possible.

Even with products that look identical, you can see the differences in the quality of the materials used if you lay the products next to each other.

Also, there are several US companies that have basically knocked off some of our products, with one company even selling a knocked off version of our IDF pistol grip as the actual grip that is issued to the IDF. (Theirs is made from PVC and I assume made in China, based on price.) I think that this is because they feel safer knocking off an Israeli company than a US company.

So FAB Defense weapon accessories are a line of military accessories built of materials that meet or exceed MIL-SPEC requirements. Some of the polymers used are among the most advanced in the world and are sourced from Switzerland, even though it would be easier to use more readily available polymers. The products belong to FAB Defense and are mostly patented, even though others copy them.

A couple products were designed and built by FAB for a third party, or designed by the third party and built for them by FAB. Some of these products are sold to other companies by the third party, who sell them as well. There have also been a couple products designed by FAB Defense that were manufactured by TDi due to contract requirements.

FAB Defense also builds molds for other companies in Israel (notice that Springfield XD and 1911 mag pouches, loaders, and holsters are built in Israel, but not by FAB).

Remember that isayeret.com is much like any other online community (afrcom, lightfighter, etc.) and info will be of varying levels of accuracy and influenced by financial supporters.

Incidentally, we have the same issues in marketing Front Line holsters in the US, since the reputation of Israeli holsters was wrecked by the cheap molded plastic Fobus holsters. Fortunately, when we sell a holster, the buyer usually returns to buy more, and his friends will order some, so we know the word is slowly getting out.

Hope this helps.

This helps in a HUGE way. I can not verify if you are, who you say you are, but you really need to get this info out to the US market.

When people hear FAB and Mako they think of CAA and Airsoft toys. A good analogy of that is saying when I say Magpul, people think UTG, Tapco.

You guys need to fight this. I retract my statement about the products being the same. I knew FAB was high end stuff, I just didnt realize they were not a supplier of CAA.

I will add TDI is also a good company. I have no info that would cause others to think if they(TDI) supplied CAA that those items were not high quality either.

We just need to separate the 4 companies, FAB, Mako... TDI, CAA.