After reading a few of the ARAK threads and not seeing much in terms of personal experiences, I figured I'd ask. How are they? Are you enjoying yours? Is it reliable, etc..all the normal questions. I've seen a few channels on youtube enjoy them but I'd like to hear more personal experiences. Post your pics of your rigs if you have them, i'd enjoy seeing them.

I'm on the verge of ordering one as well... and would love to see some comments and pictures.

I'm especially interested in any comments people have on the barrels; that's what I'm hanging up on the most: which barrel weight to get.

I bought a used one the EE. It should be here Wednesday. I'll let you know how it is. If your left handed though there is one cheap on arms list.

I love my ARAK21. It has cycled everything I have put thru it. Low recoil next to a DI AR upper. After the first month of shooting the ARAK upper, I sold all of my other DI uppers. Cleaning is half the time and effort of a standard AR. The only downside so far is the front of the handguard gets hot after about 120 rounds or so, but nothing an AFG and some rail covers could not fix. Got my upper in OD Green, Ambi-eject, with 5.56 barrels in 16 inch and 12.5 (pistol) inch. The uppers break-down is super simple with no super small parts to watch for (like cotter pin). Because the top rail is .65 inch higher than standard AR, I put the Troy Micro Folding sights on it (they are a bit shorter than standard Troy sights). It is more front heavy than a standard AR upper, but not unreasonable. I left the MuzLok comp on the 16 inch barrel, but put a linear comp on the 12.5 for sound redirection. Two of my friends love shooting it so much, that they are going to get their own (one already has his ordered). One other kind of downside of the ARAK was the lead time on my order. From the day I put in my order, it was 10 weeks until I got my ARAK. In that 10 weeks I got only one e-mail about my order and it was the one sent to me the day I ordered. For something that much (ARAK 21 upper, 3 barrels and rifle case at just under $2K) I would expect a few more "order status" updates. But other than those few little things, the ARAK 21 is well worth it. My next purchase will be the Extended Handguard then an ARAK 31 upper.

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Got my upper in the mail a couple days ago. I placed it on a Seekins lower I had laying around for over a year. Found that I had to modify the plastic brass deflector on the left side. It was interfering with the Seekins bolt catch. It looks like a very nice upper. I plan on taking it to the range tomorrow and sighting in the iron sights I put on.

looks nice and i was debating getting one also, whats the set up you have on yours ? I like the forward hand guard you have on yours

My ARAK built on a home made lower into a Bullpup configuration.

Dude that's sick. Looks like a tavor. How did you do that

Wow.  What's she weigh?  How's the trigger, and would you mind posting a pic w/ the covers off?  

how's the accuracy?

that test is pretty revealing..thanks for the link

The front angle grip is the FAB Defense PTK &VTS combo. As far as I can tell, the ARAK is about the same accuracy as my AR uppers. I have never shot them side by side, my AR uppers collect dust in the time of ARAK. I just wish I had the skill to make my own bullpup lower. Also cant wait to see the rail extension come out, that should be sweet.

Here is my ARAK-21. Took it to the range last week and had a blast shooting it.

About 7 pounds. Trigger pull is about 4 pounds as the trigger is a CMC with a pull rod actuation,  the pull rod and a tiny spring to balance any friction adds about a .5 pound to the pull.  Three pins and the lower separates from the upper. I am not a manufacturer of serialized receivers so I can only make the one for myself. It is made on a milling machine from Delrin a hard polymer with good machine-ability and stability.

This an early metal version. There is a rod inside that tube that actually does the pull the tube just protects it from any inadvertent activation.

That's insane. You should sell the design or get your 02/07 and sell them.

Last I knew he was talking to Faxon regarding making something, IIRC.

I asked in a thread I made, but how hot do the hand guards get? I keep reading that is a concern.

I have not put a temp meter on it, but after 5-6 mags in a row the hand guard did heat up for sure. Mostly up front by the gas block.  I added Rail Covers and an angled front grip set up and it works great. Now I can still feel the heat up, but its not a bother to my hand. I also tried just ladder rail covers, which did not do the trick. But some magpul rail covers did work well if an angle grip is not for you.

I can feel heat by the gas block but it doesn't feel any worse than some of my other rifles. I do wear gloves quite a bit when I shoot and don't notice it.

Well I have had my ARAK 21 almost a year now with the 300 Blk stainless bbl. I love it... Then I decided for cheaper shooting I ordered the 7.62x39 bbl. My first mistake was ordering 1000 rds of  both Tulammo and Wolf WPA . What I have come to realize is that the ARAK 21 just does not like the steel case ammo. Tried all the gas settings and all steel case ammo had failure to extract issues. I had also purchased Tulammo 154gr softpoint and I have light strike issues with these. Since I have not found anyone talking about this, Im wondering if this is just a personal problem of mine. I have talked to Nathan at Faxon by email. and they claim they don't have any issues with the steel case ammo. I can only use this excess 7.62x39 ammo as single shot only till its all gone.

I have the ARAK 21 chambered in 7.62x39 and have the same problems with steel ammo i.e failure to fire, failure to extract e.t.c
I havent yet tried Brass but i just ordered a couple. How did you solve this problem? Any helpful hints?

Change your hammer spring?

I was wondering about getting a 7.62x39 set-up for my ARAK. Everything I have read says to drop in the extra strong hammer spring (like said above). Even considered a 2nd ARAK upper for just 7.62x39, but most likely will just go with a BAU kit. So after almost 5 months of shooting it, I have had (almost) zero problems with my ARAK. The one small problem I had was running low gas setting at high altitude (over 9K feet). Some rounds would cycle, some would not (American Eagle XM855). Fixed the user error by running the middle gas setting (5.56) and over 1000 rounds later not a single problem. I have only run 100 rounds of 300AAC (147 grain range ammo), but that cycled just fine on the high gas setting. I for sure need to test more kinds of ammo on both 5.56 & 300AAC (both 16 inch barrels). For now I am only running Irons on it. The Troy (HK type) Micro Folding sights work really well with the extra tall to rail, but I do want to try a set of standard height irons to see the cheek\chin weld difference. Every time Im at the local range I get a lot of questions about it from AR shooters, which is fun. Most AK shooters seem to it a "yea that's ok I guess" brush off. But in the end everyone wants to shoot it and I cant blame them. I will be getting a nice scope (the one in the above pic didn't work out) for the 300AAC to be used in next years deer hunting season. Over all my first 5 months of ARAK 21 have been great.