East Meets West: The Grand Power ARAQ Gives the AR Some AK Power

In recent years you may have noticed an increase in new guns chambered in 7.62×39, each made with more modern manufacturing techniques than Mikhail had available back in the 1940s. Guns with better ergonomics and an easier ability to mount optics, lights, and other accessories. Some of these are simply fun, while others may have already ended up in the hands of American “advisors” in foreign lands. But it’s also true that the 7.62 Soviet has a lot of fans, because there’s a lot to love about it.

While it’s not renowned for its accuracy, the bog-standard stuff eats through a great many intermediate barriers. And though it’s not as cheap in the States as it used to be, it’s trafficked globally. It’s still found in bunkers of former Iron Curtain armories in large quantities, and anywhere there is conflict, there is 7.62×39. If there are rebels, irregulars, cartels, or criminals, there are cans and cases of the stuff in caches. 

Naturally, people wanted a way to put it into an AR. Easier said than done, at least if you want it to run. And now Grand Power of Slovakia, best known for the excellent Stribog pistol-caliber carbine (especially the A3), has tossed their hat into the ring with the ARAQ.

After years of development in Europe, the ARAQ has finally been approved for importation into the United States. The one you see here on the page is actually the very first one to make it to the land of stars and stripes, and as such might be a little different than what hits the shelves of your local store. However, it’s largely representative of what you’ll be able to get.

Though the first AR models Eugene Stoner made were for the heavier 7.62x51mm cartridge, the M16/AR-15 was essentially designed and further refined for the intermediate 5.56mm round. While we’ve seen a ton of different ARs over the decades, sometimes when you start painting too far outside those caliber lines, things can get real weird (and real bad) real fast. 

7.62×39 in particular introduces many unique problems that need to be addressed, at least if the rifle is going to be a success. The extremely wide variance in ammunition quality requires close attention to the action and gas system. The curvature of the round means magazines, feeding, and ejection needs some overhaul. The larger rim diameter and different case materials necessitate an examination of the bolt and extractor. 

All told, over the years we’ve seen far more failures than not, and it’s one of those problems where an individual custom gun may run great — but a whole production run may not. There’s a running joke that .300BLK was invented not as a great suppressed shooting round, but just so we could have a 7.62×39 AR that actually works. 

The most reliable production 7.62×39 AR models that we’ve seen come from companies that spent a great deal of time re-engineering major components rather than searching for quick fixes. And with the design of the ARAQ, at almost every turn Grand Power took the harder row to hoe.

DESIGN

The base of the ARAQ is a large frame/AR-10 receiver set. The length of the x39 doesn’t require it (the overall length of a loaded x39 cartridge is slightly shorter than a 5.56/.223) but it did let them immediately address the magazine issue, because the width lets them accommodate surplus rock-n-lock AK magazines. 

While there are now reliable 7.62×39 AR magazines in the form of C-Products Duramags, surplus AK mags are everywhere. This makes double-sense when you think about where Grand Power is located. C-Products is an American company, and Grand Power hails from central Slovakia. 

Using a larger frame as a base also means a larger native bolt face right from the start, making it easier to adapt to the larger caliber. Grand Power further deviates from the AR norm with the ARAQ bolt, not only by smoothing out any sharp edges with nice radiuses, but they also went through the trouble of adding a second ejector plunger. If you’re going to make the extra effort anyway, you might as well do it right this time — hell yeah. 

We also note this level of detail goes further into the bolt carrier, evidenced by their spring-loaded firing pin design. 

Grand Power didn’t stop with the mags or the bolt, but also addressed the gas. The ARAQ has neither the direct-impingement system of a standard AR-15 nor the long-stroke gas piston of the AK-47. Here Grand Power instead opts for a short-stroke gas system where the piston is separate from the bolt carrier like most modern rifles. The roll-pinned and set-screwed gas block that houses the front of the piston is definitely AK-inspired; it’s a chunky affair with a 45-degree angled front like its father (and a bit of a shame it’s hidden under the handguard). 

The longer .308 bolt carrier is paired with a standard 3-ounce AR-15 CAR buffer and spring in a six-position receiver extension. Because the 7.62×39 round isn’t any longer than a 5.56mm, Grand Power didn’t have to do anything like use a stubby buffer or shorten the bolt in order to use a standard buttstock assembly (for AR-10 tuning troubleshooting, see RECOIL Issue 86). 

FURNITURE & CONTROLS

Because the ARAQ is an AR-based weapon you’d expect it to follow the basic AR-15 recipe of controls, and that’s largely the case. There are some quirks here, however. 

The ARAQ accepts standard pistol grips, stocks, and braces. There’s a 90-degree safety selector, mirrored and ambidextrous on this model. The handguard is custom to the model because it must accommodate the gas system, and it has a quick-disconnect lever, an initially curious feature we’ll detail later. 

Instead of a push-button AR magazine release, the ARAQ has the ambidextrous paddle of the AK. This lever is elongated and easy to hit, and if you want to use the new mag to slap out the old one you can do that one too. 

Missing is a bolt lock/bolt-hold-open. Of course, standard AK mags don’t lock the bolt back but there’s no manual bolt lock present either. Unlike an AK, the ARAQ uses a regular AR-style charging handle (and, in fact, any AR-10 handle can be used). 

Grand Power uses a captive trigger unit inside the ARAQ, held with set screws rather than standard pins. While you might be able to get away with other triggers, don’t be totally surprised if you have to mess around a little with hammer springs or other mucky muck for perfect reliability with cheap ammo if you do. 7.62×39 is most often made in countries where you wouldn’t want to drink the tap water, so it’s naïve to think a prissy Instagram trigger should instantly eat it. 

It’s worth taking a look at the ejection port door, or rather, the complete lack of it. This definitely adds to the AK aesthetics of the overall rifle, only enhanced by the angular exterior of the bolt carrier group.

The muzzle device is a flash hider/brake combination unit with a nice timing device behind it — a nice change of pace over the standard A2 flash hider. 

There are two initial ARAQ models; the standard with a 16.5-inch barrel and the ARAQ-S with a shorter 11-inch barrel (shown). The ARAQ-S will be available with a very usable brace or naked — and both are very easy to SBR for those who live in free states. 

OUTFITTING 

In the Grand Power product materials, they show ARAQ rifles with a set of fixed sights. However, our example came naked, and this is one area where we’re unsure what production models will have. We’re actually A-OK with guns coming in slick since options can be so personal, but if you don’t have a way to aim, you just have a cool noisemaker. So, the first thing we needed to address on the ARAQ was sights. 

Because it’s the 21st century, let’s talk electro optics first. 

The initial temptation was to mount a red dot more appropriate for an AK into the ARAQ-S. Something like the PK1 Obzor or 1P76 Rakurs-PM initially seemed perfect, but Eastern Bloc optics are ones where the cheap Temu knockoffs might actually net you a better product than the original — especially since the invasion of Ukraine. Hell, even Russian units that have a choice famously don’t use Russian optics, and that’s for a reason. 

First, we rolled with an Aimpoint Duty RDS MR. Aimpoint was an easy choice to keep it Euro, and AKs and Aimpoint Micros have always gone together. You can think of the Duty RDS MR like a regular Aimpoint Micro, but better. Instead of a dial on the side, this model has buttons, but importantly, the “MR” stands for “Multi-Reticle.” You can cycle through a 2MOA dot, a 65MOA circle, and a circle-dot combination — hell yes, and pass the pepper, please.

And then we tried the new Leupold LCO Pro F2, too. It came in while we were in the middle of the review, and it has a giant window constructed of flawless glass that we really love. Seriously flawless — no color rendition issues, no magnification or distortion. The LCO Pro F2 also has simple adjustments, selectable reticles (including the speedring circle-dot reticle everyone is now using for good reason), auto-on, and the rest of the stuff you want. 

Alright, irons. OK. Granted, you don’t really need iron sights, you just need an alternative sighting method but here they are always an enabler. So instead of keeping it slick with just a dot, we outfitted the ARAQ-S with an original FN SCAR rear sight paired with the very low Magpul MBUS Pro up front.  

For a white light, we returned to America and mounted a Valhalla Tactical Baldr SOL (Selectable Orientation Light) with ODA tail cap. This tough aluminum design is strong, simple, and reversible. The Vahalla Tactical Baldr is compatible with SureFire Dual Fuel Turbo heads (we have a PDG installed here), and the ODA tail cap is another standout. It’s omni-directional; you achieve momentary activation by nudging in any direction or click inward for constant-on. Exceptionally glove friendly. 

To make this plastic and aluminum rifle more closely resemble the wood and stamped steel of an AK, we turned to Woox. They know wood and, in fact, have replacement furniture and accessories for all manner of firearms. Here we went with a grip and rail covers (they also sent a buttstock replacement, which you may see in some photos depending on when it was taken — all depending on the NFA). The original plastic Grand Power grip had a hexagon pattern that worked well enough, but the Woox is much nicer. As a bonus, it doesn’t have a high backstrap, the bane of a high-holders existence.

The Woox stuff installs like you think it should. But for everything that goes on the handguard? Hot damn, man — let’s have an aside about this quick disconnect handguard for a minute. 

The initial reason for the QD handguard is for ease of cleaning after shooting ammo with corrosive primers (or any questionable ammunition). If you ever shoot some of this nasty stuff, and you care about the gun you’re using, you need to clean it off pretty quickly. Like that day, otherwise you can be in for a big mess. It’s not that hard, but it has to be done. There’s a lot of lore about using Windex because the ammonia in it neutralizes the salts or Ballistol in particular, but all it really takes is rinsing out the system with water (if you have access to a garden hose, perfect).

The QD handguard means that you get access in seconds to the whole gas system. You can pop it out as a captive unit and give it a rinse no problem. But it also makes using M-Lok nuts a ton easier. Anyone who has attached more than a handful of accessories knows that if you’re putting something on with more than a single M-Lok screw it can be a real righteous pain in the ass. The ability to take off the handguard reduces this pain a little, because you can more easily get a backer on that T-nut so it doesn’t rotate. 

To take off the QD handguard, you first must depress two buttons located on either side, then the lever can be rotated 180 degrees, and the entire unit slides right off. Underneath you’ll find the piston system and the longest barrel nut we’ve ever seen. And for something we initially scoffed at, exactly how helpful it has been to have the ability to take off the handguard easily over the course of the review cannot be overstated. 

ON THE RANGE

We set out to the range with two main questions: Will it run all the mags, and will it run all the ammo? Some of the other x39 ARs that eat from AK mags really need an asterisk attached, because they only run from a limited number of AK magazines — sometimes only reliably from one kind of AK magazine. The folks at Grand Power assured us they were as annoyed by those rifles as much as we were, so that was high on the list to test. 

Similarly, the quality level of 7.62×39 around the world is incredibly variable, and while it would be ridiculous to expect the ARAQ to run on bootleg Afghan ammo, testing functionality with a wide variety of factory loads seems prudent.

Surplus mags were no problem; cheap commercial magazines that are no longer made were no issue either. So, of course, the best AK mags ever made, genuine Circle-10 black Bulgarian waffles, ran great. 

Insofar as ammo, we didn’t see the point in performing formal accuracy testing with a preproduction gun, double-so when testing rounds that you can’t even import into the United States anymore like Norinco steel core and old corrosive East German stuff, but we did shoot some of it to simply see if it would run — and it did. It gobbled 123-grain Wolf FMJ, chewed through old lacquer coated Tula 154-grain soft point, ate zinc-plated 124-grain Silver Bear 8M1 “Effect” ammo with the weird nipple tips equally well. And of course, the brass-cased S&B and PMC Bronze like the indoor ranges probably make you use worked well too. 

7.62×39 performs ballistically well from short barrels, and 10 to 11 inches is not a bad place to be; just a touch longer than our preference for the caliber. For American ammunition, if you’re going to be using this rifle for anything outside of plinking, take a good look at Hornady SST and Fort Scott/Maxim Defense TUI. For surplus, the Yugoslavian M67 ammo is excellent (and a bit corrosive — remember that QD handguard). 

It’s here that it’s important to say that the ARAQ feels like an AK in some way. Maybe it’s the slightly more-forward balance due to the curved magazine or extra gas piston parts up front, but somehow in the hands and on the range, you know it’s not a basic Cabela’s carbine. 

You’d expect the recoil to be heavier than a 5.56mm, and you’d be right. (It’s a short 7.62×39, not a feather duster!)

The recoil is sharper than a normal 5.56mm AR, but it has a shorter impulse than an AK. An AK uses an extremely heavy bolt carrier riding on a rail, while the advantage of the short-stroke piston on the ARAQ is immediately obvious. 

Since the ARAQ eats from AK mags, the bolt doesn’t lock back when empty. Like a Kalashnikov, hearing or feeling a click lets you know that mag has to go. You can use AK mags with bolt-hold-open followers to get a different indication (we tested them and they work on the ARAQ), but the bolt will just go forward when removed. Sure, this isn’t exactly ideal, but it’s also not the huge deal that people sometimes make of it either. 

What’s more maddening is then having to use the standard AR charging handle every time you reload. The last 25 years or so of individual combatives training has spent a lot of time and energy on how to avoid such a situation with an AR, and this rifle forces you into it. You avoid this by having a good ammunition management strategy, which is a fancy way of saying you swap to a fresh mag when you get the chance before you go empty. Or by not worrying about it all that much — not every gun has to go to war with you. 

LOOSE ROUNDS

The ARAQ is a lot of fun, and that means a lot in a world that sometimes seems to move toward a form of bland homogenization where everything is a Glock 19 and a mid-grade Toyota.

The integration of the AK magazine on the ARAQ is the best we’ve seen yet. The controls aren’t exactly what we’d expect, and some of that can be chalked up to cultural differences in how our guns are run. Something we’d like to see on future models is some form of gas adjustment, though the system can still be balanced with buffers and springs like any other AR. 

There are still places where things are done little differently and you can travel different ways. Even with an American gun like an AR, Grand Power put in some of that Slovakian DNA. We look forward to seeing more. 

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