BETA PROJECT
TACTICAL AK
Beta Project is relatively new to the airsoft market, and not known for producing
AEGs. Its Tactical AK is a collaboration with Magpul PTS – but is it any good?
Ratty gives it the once over
C
ue naked man sitting at an
organ and the immortal words
of Monty Python: “And now
for something completely
different!”
Over the years airsoft players have pretty
much split into two main camps: those who
own and love M16/M4s, and those who
don’t. For a long time those on the ‘other’
side were limited to what they could do
to accessorize their ‘fill in the blank’ rifle.
Either you didn’t bother or, by the time you
had spent a fortune on your after-market rail
systems and other bits and hacked them
around to fit properly, you were sick of the
sight of it after the initial “Look what I’ve
accomplished”. But despite that you couldn’t
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February 2012
sell it on as everyone said, “Well I really like
this bit, but don’t like that bit,” and so on.
Nowadays things are a little different.
Various companies offer versions of
non-M4 based rifles already with rails and
alternative stocks and what have you. But
it is a relatively new company in the airsoft
market that has grabbed the proverbial bull
by the horns.
Beta Project has collaborated with
Magpul PTS; the result is the Tactical AK.
I know that AKs aren’t to everyone’s taste
and I suppose this will be a bit of a Marmite
gun – you’ll either love it or hate it.
As I said, Beta Project is relatively new
on the airsoft scene, and there is not a huge
amount known about them. The Hong Kong-
based company has been manufacturing
magazines (again Magpul PTS based) and
other accessory items for a short time now,
and its airsoft gun rack has been described
as the best gun rack on the market.
Some of you may have already heard
the Beta Project name, with regards to its
M200 (Cheytac) spring sniper rifle. A good
friend recently purchased one of these,
so I am intrigued to see how he gets on
with that. However, this seems to be Beta
Project’s first AEG to hit the market. Magpul
PTS (as we all know) has been around for
some time now, and seems to be going
from strength to strength. It has been (and
indeed still is) on the cutting-edge of airsoft
with its innovative and functional products.