IWI Tavor with magazine release where it should be
I’ve always had a thing for the Tavor. But never really wanted to get one because it’s manual of arms is really different from an AR-15. And I always thought the lack of something under the trigger was disconcerting. But I stopped by IWI’s booth. Here’s some Tavors:
Here’s the Tavor’s innards:
And more innards:
And here’s one with the magazine release where it’s supposed to fucking be:
I talked to the rep and asked specifically about the lack of some sort of protection under the trigger. He said that it was because the Israeli folks wanted it to protect their hands. Seems they hit the deck a lot. He also went over how they trained and that made the grip configuration make sense.
April 13th, 2015 at 8:35 pm
Gah! The Galil was right beside it! I failed to get pics…did you get any?
April 13th, 2015 at 9:48 pm
Last year at NRAAM, my dad was pretty interested in the Tavor. One of there reps showed just to kick your firing thumb back and hit the mag release and some other high speed moves (looked like the guy had some real world experience with it). Dad had one in a week.
Looks like that move would be more natural than hitting a button on the right side of the mag well.
April 13th, 2015 at 10:32 pm
Implement Order 66.
April 14th, 2015 at 9:34 am
I’ve a Tavor and love where the mag release is. Much better, IMHO than the AR platform. Once you practice it a few times mag changes are much faster.
Every platform has different mag releases (in rifles) it seems. The M14 had different etc.
The only thing I’ve changed on my FDE-18 Tavor is the trigger to a Timney
April 14th, 2015 at 11:22 am
Seems as though the force necessary to actuate a mag release lever that long would defeat the purpose of having it there to begin with…
April 14th, 2015 at 2:15 pm
john,
By how much? What are your shot-to-shot reload times on each?
April 14th, 2015 at 2:25 pm
Video of it:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YgNjfXbjrk0
Seems like you may lose some time going back to hit the mag release but gain some hitting the bolt release compared to an AR. The key to the mag change speed is probably getting good at the mag release, although IIRC it takes a good anount of force on the bolt release
April 14th, 2015 at 2:59 pm
could one not use the hand holding the incoming mag to hit the release? More natural on this rifle than on, say, M1A.
April 14th, 2015 at 4:12 pm
you bump the mag release with the back of your shooting hand, mag drops free, whilst doing that you’re retrieving the fresh mag, push it in and hit bolt release. and yes you can use the hand with the incoming mag to hit bolt release. It’s very fast after a few practices. (i.e without live ammo) Magpul M2 pmags don’t really drop free from the Tavor but the M3 and GI mags do. (as well as the IWI mag they used to ship, now shipping M3 Magpuls.)
April 14th, 2015 at 4:21 pm
Yes, but what are your shot-to-shot times with both? You said it was “faster” with the Tavor. How much faster? .57 seconds? 2 seconds? A week?
(And with the AR you drop the mag with your shooting hand while reaching for the magazine with your weak hand and drop the bolt with the thumb of the weak hand as you seat the mag. I’m not seeing the difference between the two, hence my interest in raw times. There’s a lot of “Well, such and such *feels* better/faster/groovier” on the gunternet, but without timers and scoring rings, it’s all just hand-waving.
April 14th, 2015 at 5:23 pm
Meant to ask, “could one not use the hand holding the incoming mag to hit the MAG release? More natural on this rifle than on, say, M1A.”
and I’d rather not shoot dry and even need to touch the bolt release.
April 14th, 2015 at 7:04 pm
I’d rather have a gold house and a rocket car. 😉
April 16th, 2015 at 10:28 pm
IWI US really needs to get into the SBR market; having to mark a gun is a PITA, and kills most potential retail value.