FTCS AK Handguard

Anyone wanting to attach accessories to an AK cannot avoid a good RIS on the fore-end. Our friends from FTCS from Poland have released such a handguard, and we have extensively tested it over the last few months, firing over 1,000 rounds with it.

The handguard is made of aluminum and comes with M-Lok slots. To prevent any shine, the handguard has been coated with Cerakote. First impression: everything is very well made.

Assembly

As an "AK Gunsmith", you can't do without a hammer, pliers, and sometimes a metal file. The latter was not needed. We also refrained from the clear spirit for fortification, at least before and during assembly.

You will need to disassemble your AK up to this point. So, completely remove the handguard.

Then you must attach this now very complicated-looking mounting block to your AK.

In this orientation, it goes on. It fits very precisely, and here the rubber hammer may be used briefly. By the way, the mounting block fits like a second skin on Polish WBP AKs. It may vary with other manufacturers, but it should fit on all.

It's best to tighten the screws on the underside well first. We pre-torqued them to 3.0 Nm and used thread-locker.

Next step: slide on the FTCS handguard and screw it in. Only then does the plate go in and will be screwed in. Again, we of course used thread-locking adhesive and pre-torqued everything to 2.5 Nm.

You must put the two screws for the plate into the mounting block before you slide the handguard over it. They will actually be tightened from below through two holes in the FTCS handguard. It should then look as shown in the picture. Also pay attention to the orientation of the plate.

The last assembly step is to add the small bridge to the front end, at least for the L model. This is also tightened and glued like the other screws. A plier was very helpful here, as it requires a bit of tension.

Now the AK is reassembled, and the FTCS handguard is ready for action. The special feature is that it is a free float handguard. The classic mounting clamp of the AKM is not connected to this handguard.

In Use

The FTCS handguard is super stable and offers plenty of space for accessories. Whether a forward grip, weapon light, or laser box, everything fits.

As mentioned at the beginning, we have fired well over 1,000 rounds with it without anything becoming loose.

We currently have the laser box mounted on a 45° mount, but there are plans for a mounting plate from FTCS to be released in the future, which will allow the laser box to be mounted between the gas block and front sight. However, it works surprisingly well as is. The laser box is the IRIS 3 from HOLOSUN.

Conclusion

The FTCS Handguard for AKs is a great success, in our opinion. Slim design, fairly easy assembly, super stable, and free float. The handguard is available in three lengths, and we tested the longest variant. Anyone looking to add a lot of tactical accessories to their AK will be very satisfied with the FTCS handguard.

The FTCS Handguard Large is available at TACSTORE or at SPECSHOP.PL starting from 256 Euro. The shorter variants are also available at these two shops starting at around 207 Euro.