Hands On With New Magpul Products at the NRA Show

Magpul announced a slew of new products last week, and I had a chance to examine them firsthand at the NRA show in Houston, Texas. Probably the most notable were the MBUS Pro backup sights made of metal, not Magpul’s signature polymer.

Magpul MBUS Pro rear sight

At first I wasn’t sure why the MBUS Pro needed to exist, but I will say that they’re impressively small and low profile. In fact, they put a lot of “low profile” backup sights to shame, and they could fit under a lot of different optic mounts – Magpul said it was possible to fit the rear under a standard riflescope in a medium or even a low set of rings.

Given the rail height of the AR relative to the stock, I don’t know that many people will choose to utilize that setup, but it’s nice to have the option of such a small sight. Also notable was the width of the rear sight, which significantly reduced interference with a standard charging handle. This small size, however, means that they aren’t the easiest sight to deploy. However, if you want a small and light iron sight set which will stay out of the way until you decide to use them, this might be a good option.

Another interesting product line was the Magpul MOE AK 7.62×39 magazine and grip. They aren’t on sale yet, but they’re coming. Of course, Magpul’s focus on AR mags as well as their impending move to an as-yet-undetermined state has had an effect on production speed.

Magpul MOE AK magazine and pistol grip

The display magazine 
was a very nice rapid prototype, not a production example, but it looked quite nice and locked into place very well. It has features similar to that of the M3 PMag, including a dot-matrix pattern at the base of the mag for end-user numbering purposes. The MOE version is all-polymer, but there’s another steel-reinforced product that will sit at a higher price point. Good news for AK fans is the price: between $12 and $16 for the MOE example.

Last but not least, there was also a rapid prototype model of a Magpul light mount on display. Available in right or left handed versions, as well as versions for the Surefire Scout light and standard 1″ lights, it puts the light fairly close to the top rail when mounted to the right or left side.

So far, Magpul has offered the most exciting new products at the show, but there’s more to come.

EDIT: Contrary to what I was told, the AK magazine on display was not a rapid prototype. Here’s a better photo, and another shot of the pistol grip.