rat.bastard.reviews: JMAC CUSTOMS (JMAC)
"THE CURSED REVIEW"
Disclosure: Oh man, before I start incessantly bitching and moaning I need to thank JMAC Customs (JMAC) for providing this splendiferous product to me for review. I approached JMAC when I was just starting out in an attempt to get my hands on something worthwhile to review. And despite me only having maybe 700 followers on the page at the time they were kind enough to work with me and send me the LAF-14! Free of charge, blind trust, super fucking rad dudes over there. Unfortunately the WORLD was against me doing this review and I was met with unforeseen obstacles the entire time; which put it off for probably about 9 months. UNTIL NOW! So to that I say, you know the fucking drill: The product being reviewed by myself today was provided to me free of charge in order to reach the mostest shitheads I can, with a fair and critical review. Despite how much of a fangirl I am over JMAC though, my analysis will not be effected by receiving this item free of charge. ESPECIALLY since I'm pretty sure they thought I just ran off with their muzzle brake and will likely never agree to work with me again. If you're new here and you don't believe that's truly how it goes on rat.bastard.reviews I insist you take the time to read some of my older reviews and then I urge you to come back here and suck my dick from the back. We don't shill here, we don't play favorites, anything goes; Lets Roll.
L.A.F (LOUD AND FLASHY) or LOUD AS FUCK depending on your caliber and barrel length. When I approached JMAC I had a plan truly, I was going to receive the LAF-14 and throw it on my new M10P Romy import however that had to be sent back in to M+M after a long argument about my bolt carrier having been over hardened and cracking, I received it back from them after over a month and found that they had replaced the entire firearm; this time sending one with damaged muzzle threads. They had dodged me so much with trying to fix the first Issue I just decided to cut my losses and sell. Sell I did and in turn bought a Polish kit from Arms of America, The plan had shifted! Build the Polack and slap the LAF-14 on it for a super high end build with a super high end muzzle brake for testing; no big deal! I waited for a few months for it to be head-spaced and shipped, then sent to my secret seafloor lair, where upon receiving it I contacted M13 for the assembly, and they were kind enough to build it; But it took time as there was a line longer then the one for the creampie gangbang in your mom's shitbox. When I received the rifle I was concerned there had been an issue or mistake made during the build because my new rifle was throwing showers of sparkles like a gay wizard at a bachelorette party, and I needed to bring my build to an ole' shade tree Kalash-chanic I know. After holding on to the rifle for a few weeks he couldn't find anything wrong, but I had already made the decision to purchase a NAK-9 Romy pistol to just get on with the testing already. I get the Nak-9 Home and guess what I find out? Buds gun shop had the wrong generation listed what I got was 1/2x28 and not 14x1 LH so I purchased an adapter and crush washer and gave myself a hemorrhoid the size of a grape trying to time this fucking Brake correctly before I could actually start testing. The good news is now that I've been through hell and back I've tested the shit out of this brake with 300 rounds of Wolf steel case 9mm and 250 rounds of steel cased 7.62x39 ammo to include Golden Tiger, Red Army Standard, Wolf military classic and Wolf Polyformance.
Breakdown: This bitch is solid steel boys! You could put this bitch in a tube sock and dome an intruder boys! You could put this bitch in a slingshot and accidently kill the neighbors dog boys! The quality on the LAF-14 is honestly laughable, it SO overbuilt and I don't want to say that its Unnecessary and give JMAC any ideas because this thing is just perfection. I wouldn't change a single thing! the lines are attractive, the design is effective, the quality is INDUSTRY LEADING, and the finish is damn good too! You can tell there was a lot of thought put into the product and the decisions made around the extremely effective design. I don't see a lot of marketing for these and I'm assuming that's because of 2 reasons. Reason 1, its an "In the know" item and I don't think explaining it would do it justice to someone who has already looked at it and decided they don't like it and Reason B, Its practicality is debatable but we will get into that further down Jacob's ladder.
Does it look dumb? yeah kind of but I have a soft spot for it, I LOVE it on the NAK-9, I dig it on the PAK-9, I appreciate it all around on an AK Pistol like a standard Draco or similar sized Variant. BUT in my humble and quite possibly savant opinion it has a complete drop off aesthetically on a full sized rifle. It still does it's job and it's still going to piss people off at the range, I just think because it is so large and absurd it's suited best with its aesthetic polar opposite; think if it's small it looks better with the huge brake, if its big maybe not so much.....But I've never seen one on an RPK or PKM so maybe the other far end of the spectrum would also work, with it being complimentary? The slotted ports on the top of the muzzle device match very nicely with the Hungarian lower handguard seen on the old AMD's as well as the Khyber Customs slotted upper handguard, which is the combo I decided to go with. The all steel look screams Combloc utilitarianism and reminds be of an SMG they would give a tanker on the Eastern front, all the lines are similar all the ports and holes are very similar; all being, simple, elegant and effective. There are certain build where this brake just absolutely shines and I feel like this is one of them. I do have other things I want to do for this build including a plastic delete for the magazine adapter and adding the CNC Warrior folding AK brace but that will come in time. Honestly I'm kind of glad that this review has worked out the way that it has because I would probably have never waited to buy the NAK-9 for this review if it weren't for the constant delays. It has ended up elevating this brake for me in my personal experience; Yes it is fun, Yes it is effective but after finding a niche little scenario where the brake kind of makes the build I feel like I'm working towards what might be my new favorite AK. If you had told me that 6 months ago I would have laughed in your face honestly.
I'm going to be completely honest I did not like the LAF-14 when I first saw it, I used to be very much a purist when it came to the AK and I still am in some regards but man, It has grown on me like a tumor and made me really appreciate not only more modernized AK's and AK furniture But genuinely appreciate companies like JMAC Customs. JMAC is so involved in the gun community and events and spends so much time spreading information and innovating new furniture and accessories for the AK, I just have so much respect for those guys. However, I don't think I started to enjoy the look of the LAF-14 until seeing it on the "Mini Monster" builds (which is also what I call me peeny) and eventually I saw what @badelementlabs and @w.a.s.woodtworks were doing with these super small builds and massive brakes, and I just knew this is where the LAF-14 would shine the most. Since then, I have become addicted to the aesthetic of this brake and I think others have as well since I'm starting to see it around more on Instagram.
Performance: I'm going to start with the 7.62x39 Polish build and say it is in fact both loud and flashy. You're slinging some decent sized fireballs from it; I've seen WAY bigger online (that's what she said) and I'm assuming that's because this is on a full length barrel and like I said it seems to be perfect for a pistol variant which will have a shorter barrel. It is still very loud, and one thing I've noticed not many people seem to talk about is the redirection of energy. Those two massive ports on the side are redirecting all that energy in those directions which could be super annoying to anyone on the side of you while shooting or in a lot of cases can even be disorienting if your counting on that guy in an actual firefight. HOWEVER, that is a trade off for some very good advantages to having those ports. In the Polish build there was minimal muzzle rise and the recoil was heavily reduced, although it did take longer to focus my eyes back on target due to the increased muzzle flash. This wouldn't be as big of a deal in CQC/CQB but I don't believe that was the intended scenario for this muzzle device. Moving on to the NAK-9 Draco, My dude's you want to talk about a match made in heaven, Because of the 9mm cartridge paired with the weight of the all steel firearm AND the LAF-14 there is NO recoil. I'm not even shitting you, there's none, and the muzzle rise is the same its so negligible I'm officially calling it 0. This firearm paired with the LAF-14 would be the perfect candidate for A full auto SMG hands down "The Uber-NAK" (UBERNAK), especially with the shortened action. The muzzle flash and eardrum splitting sound waves are severely reduced once again thanks to it being 9mm and the square shape of the muzzle device allows for very convenient shooting from cover and concealment. I think this is where that argument we talked about earlier would come into play because although I agree this was likely designed for effect Its is still extremely competent at doing a job, and pairing that with a cartridge like 9mm you could sling some serious dick, this is super effective for close range. Hell it could even be used effectively for PSYOPS in compact areas like buildings; with some small unit tactics all that extra flashing and noise could for sure breed some uncertainty and confusion into opposing forces.
Final Thoughts: Would I recommend this product? Shit Yeah, the LAF-14 Sucks dick in a good way! I am super stoked I got to work on this review even though It didn't quite turn out the way I planned it DID turn out a way I'm happy with. JMAC Customs is a great company to buy from with superior quality goods and a team behind the logo that actually cares about the firearm community and seems to know what they are doing. Please do go check them out they are putting out new innovative products all the time without dropping the quality on the goods they have become known for. JMAC is also a great place to look for small hard to find odds and ends like adaptors, proprietary products and sweet Collab items. They make some of the sickest looking stocks and muzzle brakes in the game as well. Now If I could take a second to address the most beautiful, genderless, inanimate, business in the room; JMAC, I hope I didn't hurt your feelings baby, you know I'd never want to hurt you; We can take things slow and just see where thing end up going, just....don't leave.
-Rat Bastard
@jmaccustoms
https://linktr.ee/jmaccustoms
