Well, I finally made to the Dark Side 2...

I am waiting on delivery of my Lancaster tactical and would like some opinions.

Grip.... Leave the grip that it came with on, or Buy the Tapco Saw Grip, or the CAA modular grip??? Both of the 2 choices look very comfortable, but which one and why?

Optic... I am looking at gettting the Larue AK irondot.... Who has one, and where else besides LaRue do they sell them? Should I go this route, or leave the iron?

MAYBE, somewhere down the road, upgrade the rails to an ULTIMAK, what do you think?

I have a few mags, 2 NIW Bulgarian, and 2 Bulgarian bullet marked poly's. I was thinking of gettting a few of the Tapco's and also some 20rd Hungarian I found from one of the vendors.... SO yay/Nay??

What else? It is coming with slant brake, certified, etc... I have a good amount 2k plus ammo, and a nice bag.. What else for it if anything? Not into laser or lights etc.

Lancaster has a good reputation, although there seem to be alot of complaints about how long it takes to get them delivered. I have handled a few and was very impressed with the fit and finish, but have never been able to shoot one yet.

Grip - So far, the Tapco saw grip is the only Tapco piece of furniture I like on my rifle. It is very comfortable and fits nicely in your hand. The Tapco stuff is inexpensive, but you can tell when you hold it and look up close at the quality. None of my Tapco furniture has broken so far, just the KVAR and other stuff out there is much nicer.

LaRue Iron Dot - No experience with it and interested myself. Waiting to here what others say in this thread. There are a few other threads floating around on that piece, and it seems most reviews are very positive.

On the mags - The Bulgys with the bullets on them have a bad rep. I hear alot about them cracking. I would only use the Circle 10 Bulgy Polymer mags if you want Bulgy polymers. Tapcos also get a bad rap BUT I have three of them and have run about 1200 rounds or so through them combined with 0 issues. The price is right. Not sure if I would use those for ready mags or not, but great range mags to decrease the wear on you ready mags. I picked up a few com-block steel mags recently for 12 bucks a piece and they are great. The shop said they were Russian but I highly doubt that (probably Hungarian). You are going to have to try a few varieties of mags and see which fit your gun best and then stock up on those.

With Ultimak, I would say figure out the Iron Dot thing first, but you said you're not much into lasers or lights, so scope or red dot I guess.

The most important thing I would say you are missing is a good sling and a smart way to mount it. Unless it is a safe queen or range gun only it should have a good sling setup. I just spent alot of money and alot of time on slings, mounting systems, etc.
Finally, got some great advice from another member on a way to mount sling swivels that was perfect... but I'm left handed. Check out the thread title LEFT HANDED handguard retainer in the optics, accessories, etc board - if you are left handed. If not you'll have to sort through the massive amount of choices out there. I would recommend a simple two-point sling with a decent material and whatever attachment type you prefer.

Hope this helps a bit as I sorted through all these same questions when I got my first AK a few months ago.

id leave it as is and after you get good with the irons, ak irons take some getting used to, then add the iron dot.  I warmed up to the standard grip real fast, now i prefer it.

So for the grips, since I get a factory style, what say you regarding likes/dislikes about the CAA and the TApco?