Stock Adapter Allows AR to Fire When Folded

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Stock Adapter Allows AR to Fire When Folded
Law Tactical's Gen3 Folding Stock Adapter gives any AR-style rifle the ability to shrink its size.
Law Tactical's Gen3 Folding Stock Adapter gives any AR-style rifle the ability to shrink its size.
Law Tactical's Gen3 Folding Stock Adapter gives any AR-style rifle the ability to shrink its size.

The Law Tactical adapter Gen3 FSA gives ARs the ability to fire with the buttstock folded. This allows you to keep an AR as a truck gun or tuck it into a bug-out bag and be ready to go.

AKs, FALs and even AR-18s have an intriguing aspect – the ability to be outfitted with a folding stock.

With recoil springs completely housed in their receivers, these rifles can quickly be reduced in size. But the same does not hold true for America’s rifle – the AR.

With its recoil spring housed in a buffer tube integral with the stock, there is little wiggle room in reducing the firearm’s size. That is until Law Tactical rolled around.

The Pennsylvania-based manufacturer claims to make the only folding stock adapter on the market. And recently, Law Tactical’s latest iteration of the accessory has taken the next logical step in its design, giving ARs the same ability as many of its semi-automatic cohorts.

The Gen3 FSA allows an AR to be fired while the stock is folded. This appears to be nifty modification, but it does have its limitations. The system only allows one round to be fired and does not cycle the firearm. But if the situation calls for it, the ability to get one round off is better than getting off none.

Law Tactical incorporated this feature in direct response to consumer demand, according to an article at the Military Time’s Gear Scout. But even with the ability to fire a rifle with the stock folded, the company still advises against it.

The new attribute of the Gen3 FSA is a function of its new, beefier construction. Where the Gen2 adapter had an aluminum body with a steel blocking finger, the Gen3 is completely made of CNC milled 4140 steel.

Now completely constructed of steel, the Law Tactical's Gen3 Folding Stock Adapter allows AR-style rifles to be fired with the stock folded.
Now completely constructed of steel, the Law Tactical's Gen3 Folding Stock Adapter allows AR-style rifles to be fired with the stock folded.

The utilization of new material has not changed the dimensions the accessory, it still only adds 1 3/8” to a rifle. But the steel does heap some extra heft with the Gen3 FSA weighing in at around 11 ounces.

Even with the added weight, going to all steel looks to has another benefit – a lower-profile hinge. In previous models, the hinge was a complaint about the system. It was taller, thus it interfered with the operation of the charging handle.

The Gen3 FSA should also win fans with the simplicity of its instillation. With the addition of O rings, the bolt extension can be added to the bolt carrier tool free. The adapter comes with a flange instillation tool and it has a set screw to keep it from backing out.

Shrinking an AR’s size, however, comes with a price tag. The list price of the Gen3 Folding Stock Adapter on Law Tactical’s site is $229. But for those who cannot live without it, it certainly is within reason.

A quick note: The Gear Scout article is worth a look for author Rob Curtis’ discussion about potentially adding the adapter to an AR pistol at the end. Interesting stuff.

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Elwood Shelton is the Digital Editor for Gun Digest. He lives in Colorado and has provided coverage on a vast spectrum of topics for GD for more than a decade. Before that, he was an award-winning sports and outdoors reporter for a number of newspapers across the Rocky Mountains. His experience has consisted of covering the spread of chronic wasting disease into the Western Slope of Colorado to the state’s ranching for wildlife programs. His passion for shooting began at a young age, fostered on pheasant hunts with his father. Since then, he has become an accomplished handloader, long-range shooter and avid hunter—particularly mule deer and any low-down, dirty varmint that comes into his crosshairs. He is a regular contributor to Gun Digest Magazine and has contributed to various books on guns and shooting, most recently Lever-Actions: A Tribute to the All-American Rifle.

2 COMMENTS

  1. If only LAW Tactical would allow those of us who were early adopters (which helped float this product design) a trade in allowance toward the “should have been all along” iteration….
    Having already spent that hefty price tag on “just” being able to stow the AR in a smaller area, it sure would be nice to know that the investment wouldn’t be trash can material due to an inadvertent discharge while folded.
    Great product, wish I would have waited about now.

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