When first looking at this handguard I couldn't find much online in terms of reviews and when I asked about it I got few replies. So with that in mind I've come to sing its praises...

I love this piece of kit!!! I picked up a SLR-106FR recently and went about making the standard changes. When it comes to upgrading and modernizing my AK's I'm always trying to keep the classic lines of the rifle as much as possible and the Manticore ALFA rail looked very promising. I got lucky in that the vendor I ordered from sent me the top rail as well. I suspect this was a mistake on their part as I didn't order the upper since I generally use Ultimak gas tubes and the price was only $119. Anyway, I went with the standard length 'transformer' model since I use M-Lok over Keymod despite almost never hanging anything off the handguard itself. The rail arrived in a standard cardboard box and is well made without any sharp edges. As advertised it is extremely light and while I didn't weigh it, it is certainly comparable in weight to the OEM polymer handguard. It comes with 6 'frag' pattern grip panels, 3 black and 3 brown. These are extremely comfortable and complement the look of the handguard well. Installation is fairly straight forward but does require a rubber mallet as it fits very tight. The gas tube cover is much easier to install and sits very low. I don't know if it sits as low as the Ultimak, but it sits low enough that I decided to leave it to try out. It’s also interesting to note that there are installation holes in the handguard that go back past the trunnion and look like it might be comparable with the Zenit topcover rail, or possible be intended for a similar product from Manticore in the future... It’s an exciting possibility.

I got to the range and sighted in the irons with a replacement Krebs fast aquisition rear sight leaf... This was a bit frustrating as my groups were bigger than I was comfortable with and never really did all group in the zero circle. I don't have a red dot for this rifle yet so that never came into play. After sighting in I went thru 150 rounds of 5.56 in fairly fast but controlled fashion. I wasn't wearing gloves and the handguard never got hot enough to be uncomfortable, much less too hot to touch. The handguard ventilated extremely well. I do assume the original Keymod rail will stay cool better as there are more vents. Still I'm impressed.

On a side note, I will probably trade the gas tube cover out for the Ultimak as originally intended. I like the extra rail length for mounting a light and while I know there is a bit of debate over whether the Ultimak increases accuracy, I found with the stiffing of the barrel due to the clamps, it does on my SGL-21. At worst it won't hurt anything.

Kudos to Manticore on producing a great product!

I’m at NTC for a couple more weeks... I’ll see what I can do when I get home.

So I went to order another rail for one of my other AK’s only to find it sold out everywhere. I emailed Manticore Arms asking when they might be doing another run. They replied saying that it had been discontinued.

It looks like another quality option has fallen by the wayside because it didn’t find enough of a market.

Sad too cuz this is the best rail/handguard I’ve ever found.

Amen to that, Gerry!

I was looking to pick up two of these when they came back in. Bummer.

I have many of manticores products.  Their alpha rail for the mini draco and several nightbrakes just to mention a few.  All are extremely well made.  I met sven at their bullpup shoot which was a ton of fun by the way.  I would absolutely LOVE it if they came out with an alpha rail for the yugo and (sven will remember this from our recent conversations) an alpha rail for the vepr fm.  My life would then be complete LOL!

Heres a pic of a mini draco with alpha rail

That looks rad. I hope the redesign has M Lok. I'ma be needing one...