Looking at Three Ambi Magazine Releases

[Duffy]

Norgon will need to do something to compete with these copies. Even more than interference with the bolt catch and hard to press lever, which to me are but minor annoyances, its price is probably the biggest reason some folks are put off by it.

Even if they reduce the price by 50%, it'd still be more expensive. I'd never buy a copy/clone of anything, I don't take kindly to people copying my IP, patent or not, so I will not support it with my wallet.

[KDV]

Thanks for the comparisons.

I went through this same thing until I settled on a combination that was comfortable for me.

I personally like a Strike Industries Enhanced Bolt Catch and a High Velocity Arms Ambi Mag Release.

The HVA is a bit pricey, but the depression pad is bigger than the Norgon so that it's easier to manipulate.

It's still much cheaper than a full ambi billet lower

[TMS951]

Even if they reduce the price by 50%, it'd still be more expensive. I'd never buy a copy/clone of anything, I don't take kindly to people copying my IP, patent or not, so I will not support it with my wallet.

You know I often echo this sentiment. But at 80$ a pop I just can't. Norgon got my 80$ for 4 of them, thats enough. It was their design and they had a monopoly on it. In 20 years (clearly enough time to recoup development cost) they did not find a way to lower price, or more likely chose not to. Maybe because they have an NSN and uncle sugar coughs up the 80$ a pop.

Now you can buy one made in the same country for 25$ or less. So this is direct evidence production cost does not justify an 80$ price tag. If the knock off turns out to be any good I will order 6 of them at 20$ a pop delivered and put them on all my other lowers. Thats 6 for the price of 1.5 originals.

Competition is a beautiful thing.

[jerrysimons]

I like the Troys button placement best, little interference with the bolt catch, but I have reservations about its build quality. You can see it is three pieces and I have had a Troy break on me. The mag catch side with the ambi-button attached separated from the threaded-shaft that the standard right-side-button and spring go on - while I was assembling it into the lower. It nearly put my eye out shooting under spring tension the right-side-button threaded onto the separated shaft out of the receiver and hitting my face below the eye (derp, derp didn't have safety glasses on). That left an impression but I have another on my beater rifle that hasn't given me any problems.

I am looking forward to what Roger comes up with!

[Korgs130]

26, thanks for the great review. I have the Troy ambi on all of my rifles. Like seb5, I've had the pin work it's way out on one of my rifles. Fortunately, I was able to find the pin and the lever. Other than that, no issues.

[26 Inf]

26, thanks for the great review. I have the Troy ambi on all of my rifles. Like seb5, I've had the pin work it's way out on one of my rifles. Fortunately, I was able to find the pin and the lever. Other than that, no issues.

After those heads ups I'm going to grab mine and my son's rifles and expand the ends of the roll pins with a taper punch.

I haven't had the pin problems as of yet, so good to know.

[Duffy]

Clearly Robert needs to update Norgon's business model, if I were him, I would have started the new model a year ago, now it's catch up time and he's behind the curve, I hate to see this happen.

Norgon didn't have the market cornered, it had competition before which undoubtedly took some market share, but the extent of lost of market share is nothing compared to direct Ambi-Catch copies, now we have close to an apple to apple comparision. The high price of the Ambi-Catch filters out many potential customers that heretofore wanted the Ambi-Catch but might have settled for something else, now they can have it at a fraction of the price. Whether the copies are up to par with the genuine article is something I can't speak to, but I think many would simply take the gamble at these low prices.

EMR-A has been in the works for a long time. From the start, it was designed to be low profile enough to have little interfere with a factory bolt catch's lower paddle. With a new generation bolt catch like the ABC/R, the low profile lever matters less, but many users still have factory bolt catches. The lever is quite large, even on the standard lever (more so on the extended lever).

I'm not a fan of simply making something larger and calling it "enhanced", it's probably the laziest thing I can think of. The larger paddle is multiple contoured and provides a natural index point, with positive traction.

EMR-A will ship with a spring with 30 to 35% more spring rate, we'll get into the reasoning for that later, but I think I have already divulged a bit on why in previous posts

Shown here is a modified lever/paddle, it's about all we can share for now.

[tarkeg]

Roger, I look forward to seeing this. I'm sure it'll be a hit.

And man, that old Bushy gets all the press!

[militarymoron]

Good post/review. I've found that it's definitely personal preference when it comes to ambi mag releases; mostly due to finger length. I'm a lefty and have ambi mag releases on all of my lowers. I have short fingers and the Troy was a bit of a reach for me. The KAC was unusable for me; the pad is much too far to the rear, and having to bend the index finger to position it on the pad was very unnatural feeling. Out of the three, the norgon worked the best for me as it's the same position as the pad on the right side. Having the pad very slightly further back like the AXTS ambi lower works well for me, too.

[Duffy]

I'm also of the opinion the KAC ambi mag catch places the paddle too far towards the shooter, forcing most users to curl their finger to access it. Ideally, it should mirror the location of the right side mag release button, which the Norgon does very closely.