REVIEW: Plague CAR Stock

Magpul CTR Stock

       Those paintballers who know me on the internets as well as in real life know that I have beef with the fancy collapsing stock that comes with the Milsig Paradigm. It all stems from a bad experience I had with my first Milsig that had an air thru stock on it which utilizes a tube running along the outside of the gun. Long story short, this creates a few more gaps in the system that need some o-ring work to seal them up right. A lot of people have no problem with it, some do, I was one of those with a problem so the MATS stock on the paradigm was a blessing and a curse for me: on the one hand I hated the system plus the 120 shot capacity the tanks has (the aesthetics too!), on the other it was a 200$ part I could sell to help afford the Paradigm.

       After selling this stock, all that remained in my arsenal stock-wise was the Milsig Sniper Stock. I love it to death and hope never to sell it but it's a bit on the heavy side and for the Paradigm I was hoping to go for a minimalist assault rifle design and quite wanted a collapsing stock. I called paintballgear.ca and was told about one they carried in the system but wasn't listed on the website: the Plague CAR Stock. After a few fortunate discounts and a gift card acquired through a photo contest, I opted to take a chance and buy this stock I'd never heard of for about 5 dollars in the end.

       If you need a CAR stock, I highly recommend this one.

       First off, it's not your typical CAR stock, it doesn't look at all like the one on the Bravo One/Alpha Black or one on the real Colt M4, it's modelled after the Magpul Industries CTR Stock and functions the same way. I'll include right now my only gripe with it and that is that this one is three position where as most others are six position stocks. But back to the good! The stock also has a rubber butt included with it with the Magpul Industries logo on it but given the price of the stock before discounts, I suspect it is from the Magpul PTS line for paintball and airsoft rifles and not meant for the genuine article. Still not complaining though because the PTS line is pretty robust for civilian toys.

Rear Lever for Adjusting, Front Lever for Locking

       This stock also trumps a lot of others in that it has a metal tube which the collapsing butt slides along, not to mention the part that plugs into the back of your gun is metal as well which is sure to put your mind at ease if you're afraid of a stock breaking should you ever trip and land on your gun. The adapter also fits super snug in the gun but still manages to slide in with ease during installation and the only part which might make any noise due to being a little loose is the butt of the stock itself. This problem can also be solved by depressing a second tab, separate from the one used to adjust the stock,  and locking the collapsible butt in place.

The One Screw and Metal Collar. Quick to Disconnect

       The last thing about this stock that I'm going to rave about is how the stock is held on the adapter which plugs into the back of the gun by just one screw and a metal collar you tighten. The screw can be removed with the same size allen key as the one used to remove every other screw on a Milsig leaving the adapter behind, still plugged into the back of the gun. This is fantastic if you want to change your gun from rifle to CQB mode in between games, or given that its just the one common screw, you could even do it in game if you're entering a structure you plan to spend a good deal of time in.

       I have not yet battle tested the stock but given how much tossing around it's had while playing dress-up with my Paradigm in the last two weeks, I suspect it should hold up quite well. I'll throw up an addendum review once the snow melts off the local field in the spring.