Iron Hammer Armory .300 Blackout Upper Review

A couple months back I started talking with Iron Hammer Armory about the AK's that they have been producing and also the line of AR's that they have been working on putting out. There have been a lot of conversations between Martin and myself and I have come to really appreciate the information that I get from him whenever I ask questions. So when I was asked if I would be up for testing and reviewing the IHA .300BLK complete upper I told them heck yes, I would love to get my hands on any AR upper to take out and test anytime I can.

When I picked up the upper from a friend's shop I was really impressed with the way that it looked, with the Stainless Steel Barrel coming out from under a black hand guard it has such a cool look to it. What I thought was really awesome was that the Hand Guard was from ODIN Works which is another company whose products I have heard great things about and had hoped at some point I would get to check out in person.

While I personally prefer a longer hand guard on my AR uppers the 9.5" that the IHA is outfitted with does give it a very clean look since it allows the SS barrel to really stand out. I took some time to field strip the upper and give it a good cleaning and applied FIREClean to it like I do with all of my other firearms (yes even when I do testing for companies I still give it a good clean before and after shooting), this gave me the chance to check out the workmanship that has gone into the building of this upper.

First thing that I noticed was that there was not a single blemish to be found inside and out, and the BCG was staked correctly and everything fit together really well. It was very noticeable that there was great pride taken in assembling the upper. The laser etching on the receiver and the charging handle is a very nice touch and adds some character to the overall build also.

The ODIN Works hand guard is very sleek and very comfortable to hold since it is smooth on the sides with one small section of rail on the bottom side at the front. The rail matches up perfectly with the receiver and gives it a nice continuous look. The overall construction of the ODIN Works hand guard is really good, while being lightweight it did not feel cheap or flimsy like it could break at any second. Just from the short amount of time that I have had with it I have decided I will be using one of their longer hand guards on one of my future builds.

When I was able to take the upper out to the range it was both too windy and too busy for me to be able to setup the cameras to capture any good videos of me firing it, there was also the issue of the wind blowing down the target stand that I was trying to use to zero it in. So finally I gave up and just aimed for the steel plate that we had setup down range. Even though the scope I was using was garbage I was able to figure out where to place the reticle to ring the steel, and once that was figured out I can tell you the steel just kept ringing. 

Every shot that I was sending down range was hitting it's intended spot, and even though I did not have a paper target to measure exactly how accurate this upper is, the side by side and stacked marks on the steel were enough for me to consider this an accurate barrel and with a properly sighted scope and a worked up hand load it should be hitting Sub MOA (I am not an expert marksman but I have shot both well made and crappy made barrels and this is well made). 

While the price for the upper is still up in the air until IHA is able to get the production of them moving I will say that it is a very nice upper with some very nice features, I am sure that the price will contend with many of the other companies that are building uppers, and even if it is a little higher the quality and craftsmanship that is put into it shows. Below you will find a graphic that has the breakdown of the parts used for this upper, all of the parts are nice quality parts that should give you a long happy service life from it.

I would like to thank Martin at Iron Hammer Armory for allowing me the opportunity to take this upper out to the range and check it out, this was the first time that I have been able to test a new product for a company before it's release and I am hoping that I will get the opportunity to do that more often.

15" Midwest Gen-2 SS Free Float Hand Guard

When I started searching around and looking for that "perfect" hand guard to put on my first ground up build I had a few things in mind. First I knew that I was going to be putting a 14.5" barrel onto the build, and I knew that I would want to cover as much of that barrel as I possibly could with the hand guard. There were plenty of companies out there with 15" hand guards, and quite a few caught my eye, but not nearly as much as the Midwest Industries Gen-2 SS Series Free Float Hand Guard. When I first saw it I was immediately drawn to the fact that it is very sleek and simple, there isn't all the mess that you get with the typical railed hand guards. I knew as soon as I saw this one it was what I wanted to put on the build.

Now finding it was actually a lot easier at the time, we hadn't come into this crazy period of everything being sold out with unknown times of when we will ever see them again. It just so happened that a friend of mine who has his own business, came across one that a supplier had and he let me know what his price on it was and if I wanted it I could get it. Needless to say I quickly jumped on the opportunity and had him pick it up. When I met with him to pick up the hand guard I was surprised at how light weight it actually was, weighing in at 10.9 ounces it is very light for such a long hand guard.

Once I finally had all of the parts to build the upper I did a quick browse around the forums, google, and youtube to see if anyone had any issues with putting this on their builds. Quickly I found out that this was a very simple and straight forward design to install (much easier than most free floats out there), I needed to use supplied barrel nut and get the holes lined up for the gas tube, then simply just slide the hand guard into place and tighten the two set screws, it was as simple as that and I loved it.

Functionality:

This is a great hand guard, as I have said before it is a super simple design and if you want to keep you rifle on the light side this is a great way to do it. Even though there are not rails on the sides or bottom of the hand guard there are pre drilled holes where you can put "floating" rail sections on (3 with screws are included in the original box). Having the ability to move and remove the rail sections is really convenient, because it gives you the ability to add accessories to your rifle, without the excess weight that you would have with a full rail system.

With the hand guard being as slim as it is, I have found it very easy to wrap my hand around and get thumb over bore positioning without feeling uncomfortable.

Looks:

What can I say, I really like the way that it looks, I think it is very sleek looking. It has a very small profile when installed, actually slim enough that I have been asked if the Rainier barrel is a bull barrel because the hand guard doesn't have all of the typical bulk. 

Finish:

As with every other part that I have used from Midwest Industries the finish on the hand guard is top notch. When I took it out of the packaging I looked it over really well to see if there were any imperfections in the material or finish and I was unable to find any. Any edges that could have possibly been sharp have been smoothed out.

Overall I am completely happy with this hand guard, it truly fit the bill of what I was looking for, and the more that I use the rifle with it installed the more I like it. As I said earlier everything I have bought from Midwest Industries has been awesome quality and the attention to detail that they give their products is evident. 

I will fully recommend the Midwest Gen-2 SS Free Float Hand Guard series to anyone who is looking for a nice lightweight hand guard, but it still wanting the ability to add rails for accessories.