Have you ever purchased a good gun with terrible furniture? That happened to me when I purchased the Chiappa RAK-9. It’s a cheap, blowback-operated 9mm AK that uses Chiappa’s proprietary magazines, or you can swap magwells to use Glock or Beretta magazines. The included AK furniture was god-awful, so I started shopping around and settled on Magpul.
Customizing an AK with Magpul
The RAK-9’s stock is a terrible thumbhole design, doing its best to imitate a Dragunov stock. The handguards blocked my ability to use the rear sight, so it all had to go. There are plenty of options on the internet, but I had some specific criteria. First, this was a cheap gun, and I wanted to keep it a cheap gun.
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I didn’t want crap, either. I wanted to outfit the gun with modern, high-quality furniture. I also wanted a nice, short length of pull (LOP). The included stock was in excess of 14 inches, and to hell with that. I like a shorter LOP, and so do my wife and kids, who enjoy shooting 9mm PCCs, especially when they are suppressed.
So, I landed on Magpul’s doorstep. Magpul makes a ton of different options for the AK, including the affordable MOE and the pricier Zhukov furniture. I kept it simple and snagged a Magpul MOE handguard, stock, and K2 pistol grip.
Since the rifle is imported, I had to follow the dreaded 922r. Well, I did, because I’m throwing this thing up on the internet. My parts included the Magpul pistol grip, the Magpul stock, the handguard, and a USA-made magazine, which gives me three parts.
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The Magpul AK World
First off, AKs are fun to accessorize. If you’re used to the AR, you’re likely used to a standard where AR parts fit ARs. The AK isn’t always that easy. Some small differences can make accessorizing difficult, especially when you’re trying to toss AK furniture on a non-standard AK platform like the RAK-9.
To get everything to fit right, it took a good degree of filing and unbending some parts on the RAK-9. It took about an hour with a hand file to get the handguard to fit. I also had to remove the metal heat guard inside the handguard for it to work on the RAK-9. The MOE stock and grip went on with little drama.
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A tap from a mallet was needed to get the stock to sit far enough to attach. Magpul’s attachment method for the stock is smart. It’s attached through the receiver trunnion tang and then through a wedge block that bolts into the stock. It’s clever and extremely secure; it doesn’t budge once attached. The LOP is a little over 12 inches, so it’s quite short and comfy.
The K2 grip is one of my favorites. It’s slim, trim, and angled to work with shorter LOP stocks. It’s a pistol grip that is comfy, well-textured, and even allows for storing Skittles in the bottom. I don’t have much else to talk about there.
Rocking and Rolling With Magpul AK Furniture
The stock is quite nice; it’s short, light, and comfortable. It uses the A-frame design we see with a lot of Magpul’s AR stocks. This stock does not fold or adjust; it’s one size and stays one size. The stock integrates a grippy rear recoil pad and the Magpul rollover toe.
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The rollover toe helps make it easier to shoot in kit or to swap shoulders without anything gripping your gun as you move it. It’s a nice feature, and as someone who does PCC competitions every so often, I do like a smooth transition from shoulder to shoulder when the stage calls for it.
The cheek rest portion opens up to reveal a storage compartment inside. You can fit small batteries, a cleaning kit, a tool, Skittles, etc. You can also replace the included cheek pad with a higher one. That’s nice because with AK scope mounts, the optic sits fairly high, so with a standard AK stock, you’re reduced to a chin weld rather than a cheek weld. A high riser gives that nice cheek weld back.
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We get two sling ports that are ambidextrous. There is a QD cup on each side of the stock, as well as a loop for open webbing if you take that route. It’s a lot more friendly than classic AK sling mounts, especially if you use a modern tactical two-point sling.
Overall, it’s a fantastic stock. Sure, it’s simple, but ultimately it is very comfortable and easy to shoot with. It fits me and most of my family, making the RAK-9 accessible to everyone. I’m planning to add a cheek riser to the gun, making it a bit more accessible with the optic I have mounted.
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Getting a Grip
The handguard is standard AK in shape and size. The Zhukov is a little longer, but the MOE was fine for my PCC. The Magpul handguard, of course, comes with M-LOK slots. We get a bottom row and a row on each side. Magpul produces two models: one for a front loop sling and one for AKs without one.
Both offer plenty of room for accessories, as long as your accessories are fairly small and you only need three of them. On a PCC, I don’t need many accessories, but I might add a vertical grip because I find them more comfortable.
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With the 9mm AK, removing the metal heat guard wasn’t an issue. I dumped a Magpul D-50 drum through the gun, and the handguard didn’t get too hot to handle. I found it to be quite comfortable, and it now allows me to use my rear sight, even though the gun is rocking a red dot now.
Going Magpul
The Magpul AK furniture has taken the RAK-9 from an unergonomic, ugly gun to a much handier and better-looking rifle. Sure, I could shoot the RAK-9 with the stock furniture, but the Magpul setup is much more enjoyable. For about a hundred bucks, the RAK-9 became a much better gun overall. I think Chiappa could team up with Magpul to make a much more accessible gun, but that’s just my opinion.
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