I know the Ultimak wins the price war because it is considerably cheaper than the Troy scope mount. However, if you were in the market for a red dot optic mount for an AK, which one would you get between these two? Let's say the price was not an object.

Has anybody had an Ultimak before and switched to the Troy? Or, vice versa.

Thanks,
Shadow

The Ultimak tube is a high quality piece that has been around a long time and is very well proven.  That alone is reason enough for me to never consider the Troy piece.

I had a chance to check out the Troy gas tube rail in my LGS.  The way the Troy rail mounts up didn't inspire confidence in me.  The Troy was on sale for only 10 dollars more than the Ultimak and was right there in my hot little hands, and I still went home and ordered an Ultimak online.

It's hard to tell from looking, but does it just replace the gas tube? No other hardware installed like the U brackets on the Ultimak?

I love my ultimak, and I've had it for years now. Sure, removing it is kind of a pain, but that's the price for the mounting. I would worry the troy to would shift a little with no reinforcement.

Yes it just directly replaces the gas tube like the Ultimak does.  It mounts much easier/quicker than the Ultimak since it just screws into place sort of like a castle nut on an AR.  It *looks* to me like it would shoot loose and I am thinking loctite would break down pretty quickly with the amount of heat it would be exposed to.  Short version is - I think the Ultimak's mounting system is better.

I have the Ultimak upper mount on two guns and the lower on one of them.  They are a bit of an issue to fit with some handguards, but the reality is - as stated above - the things work very well, allow co-witness with several different red dot optics including the PWS optics and are very stable.   I still have not been able to buy into the dogleg or top cover mounts - even though many people have reviewed them and say they are stable and easy to rezero.  

The negative of the Ultimak is that they conduct heat and are heavy.  So, who knows what the long term effect of heat on your optic will be?  Mine don't seem to be effected.  The other issue is weight - especially if you use the upper and lower together.  They make the rifle pretty forward weight biased.   This doesn't bother me - but it is noticeable when you have to hold the gun up to shoot standing or unsupported.  

I would go with the Ultimak.

Cheers.

I have two Ultimaks and I've been happy with them.  There have been reports of the Troy working themselves loose when heated up.

Before settling for ultimak, I noticed that ultimak makes it easier to make sure that optics will be secure and solid without need for frequent zeroing in. Troy, based on what I see, is not secure because you can be off on horizontal degree due to the fact that there is nothing to make it go back to same setting after removal for cleaning while ultimak retains same position due to barrel clamps. But that's just my opinion.