In a move that has quietly happened it was announced that renowned maker of parts and rail systems for Kalashnikov Rifles, Krebs Custom plans to transition their products away the KeyMod platform. In a story that broke on Guns.Com the company is planning in the very near future to focus on manufacturing their rails that will feature the MagPul designed M-Lok system.
The Switch
Mark Krebs, the CEO of Krebs Custom has said that the first rail to start the transition will be the models designed to work with the VEPR FM-AK11. His quote perfectly sums up why he decided to take the company away from the KeyMod pattern and towards the increasingly more popular M-Lok. The company hasn’t officially said that they intend to stop production of the KeyMod rails all together, but if the KeyMod rails aren’t selling as well as M-Lok then capitalism will prevail and the company will most likely stop production of them all together. At the end of the day it’s about sales and profit margins.
“We try to upgrades as time goes on and make improvements,” Marc Krebs, Founder of Krebs Customs, told Guns.com in a phone interview. “The first M-LOK model is for the VEPR, then we’re going to be making (M-LOK) for rifles and then we’ll start switching models.”
New KeyMod Rail from Krebs Custom
Why the Change ?
Part of the trend about companies supporting the MagPul designed M-Lok over other rail systems has to do with cost savings. The other large part of that equation is the fact that in a recent side by side tests at the Crane Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center the M-Lok design crushed its competition including the KeyMod rail systems. The testing results, which will no doubt be just as controversial as every other military procurement trial were made public this past year.
The testing no doubt played a vital part in the thinking behind the announcement from the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) when they released their guidance on recommending adoption of the M-Lok system on all new military rifles. The move which should be phased in over the next few years was met largely with approval from Department of Defense insiders. Now the problem becomes procurement and the dog eat dog world of military hardware manufacturing.
If you are in the market for a rail system for your Kalashnikov based rifle, then things have just gotten a little better for you. Options are always a good thing for the consumer, and competition between Krebs Custom and it’s competitors such as Midwest Industries should drive the costs down a bit. We checked the Krebs Custom web site at it would appear that the new rails are already available on the company’s web page. The retail price for the new rails is $159.99, a price that I would expect will remain steady for at least six to twelve months if I had to take a guess.
New M-Lok Rails for VEPR
Who’s Side are YOU on ?
Who’s side are you on in the M-Lok vs KeyMod debate ? Now that Krebs Custom has said they are making M-Lok rails are you more inclined to give the company a look ? If you currently have Krebs Custom rails or accessories we would love to hear what you think of them. I have reached out to the company to see when M-Lok rails for other variants of Kalashnikov rifles will be available and if we can maybe get a sample to evaluate. We are keeping our fingers crossed, and if we don’t hear from the company by SHOT Show 2018, we will be stopping by their booth to get a better view of these.
