WK180-C range review. Update Post #2

You payed $1000 for a non-restricted .223/5.56 semi-automatic rifle...

?

One out of an initial batch that has a bad trigger. Big deal. Get it fixed. You didn't buy a friggen mass produced rifle from a multi-million/billion, multi-national manufacturer with the green-backs for extensive R&D. Get a grip.

Not sure why you are being so hostile, I swapped the trigger out.

People wanted a review, and one of the things that stood out was the trigger.
 
It sounds like those of us that want to polish the trigger have our work cut out for us if it has burrs etc on the components, which I feel it would have if it is really tough and gritty. Oh well. I'm still crossing my fingers I am on this upcoming Fridays batch.
 
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Mine will be coming with a Geisselle SSA-E. hopefully it is awsum. Nothing is worse than a trigger that you go to pull and you wonder if the safety is still on.
 
As much as I appreciate the effort by Wolverine and Kodiak, I had concerns before this rifle went into production as I was surprised by the presumably small and most likely insufficient number of prototypes involved in testing and evaluation. Through the course of development, designers and manufacturers would usually make quite a number of prototypes from the initial function test unit to the point of design/tooling freeze, as they kept improving the design and ironing out problems. Then the first batch of products are usually kept by the manufacturer for further testing in order to spot the (often inevitable) issues incurred during the transition from small scale prototype building to order-filling mass production. I do agree that Wolverine is one of the best in customer services and they are actively dealing with the problems that had been reported so far, however, I believe costumers and end users should be delegated as little (involuntary) R&D responsibility as possible.



Yes, your are right. Having only 2 or 3 for testing before production has likely caused the problems we are seeing.

Somehow I must have missed something posted in this thread, what problems so far?
I've seen one guy who's rifle doesn't feed well from a few magazines he has that work in other rifles, other than that just some heavy gritty triggers. What did I miss?

I don't think they really needed to make a lot of prototypes and spend thousands of rounds testing since they're copying an already proven design. They may have got the tolerances off a little on the magazine catch on a couple but it sounds like most so far are fine.
As for the heavy gritty trigger, it's a milspec unit and that's how they are typically, I bought a Daniel Defense LPK a couple years ago and the trigger in it was disgusting, it was terrible so I swapped it out with and ALG ACT.
If people expect them to install something that feels like a Trigger Tech then the price goes up to $1500 and it starts getting out of reach of some guys.
These are not precision rifles and were never intended to be. If people try to turn them into a precision semi you're going to end up with $2000+ tied up in your $1000 rifle and probably should have just bought something else like an HK SL8 that comes with a better barrel than most will be able to buy for these rifles.
Changing the trigger is not going to shrink your groups in half when shooting off the bags, it will definitely feel better but it's not magic.
For the guys wanting to keep costs down try an ALG ACT trigger set, ALG is a child company of Geissele so you know the quality is there and they're just over $100, I have two rifles with one and they're great bang for the buck.

I'm also going to suggest that other than the shoe string type trigger break in guys don't take the triggers out and polish parts, it only takes a very small amount of material being removed or an angle changing slightly to ruin a trigger and make it unsafe. Remember that the parts are surface hardened and that only goes a thou or two deep, once you break through that it will wear very quickly and could become unserviceable. There's more to a proper trigger job than watching a youtube video and buying some files and stones.

Remember what you bought, you don't buy a Honda Civic then try to mod it to compete with a Corvette. It will end up costing you more in the long run and you'll probably never reach your goal.
 
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Mine will be coming with a Geisselle SSA-E. hopefully it is awsum. Nothing is worse than a trigger that you go to pull and you wonder if the safety is still on.

Lol my sd9ve is exactly like this. First time using I pull and nothing happens. Where’s the safety? Can’t find, google says there is none. Pull harder, bang. Now to get on paper at 3 yards. Only took about 100 rounds to do that.
 
What I would like to know from the guys that have them is:

Is there an adapter on the rifle that allows the ar stock to be attached or is it integral to the rifle? I would like to know if a stormwerkz adapter would work or not.
 
What I would like to know from the guys that have them is:

Is there an adapter on the rifle that allows the ar stock to be attached or is it integral to the rifle? I would like to know if a stormwerkz adapter would work or not.

If you're looking for a folding option go see the boys at Tier One, they have the HERA Arms hinge in stock, I have one and they are very solid when locked.
 
If you're looking for a folding option go see the boys at Tier One, they have the HERA Arms hinge in stock, I have one and they are very solid when locked.

That's a good option, however ideally I would like to fit an AK folder adapter so I can get an akfx stock on it. I think if I am patient enough we will see a large market for aftermarket parts made in Canada. Just gotta wait...
 
That's a good option, however ideally I would like to fit an AK folder adapter so I can get an akfx stock on it. I think if I am patient enough we will see a large market for aftermarket parts made in Canada. Just gotta wait...

I like the looks of those but they sure don't look like a comfy cheek weld.
Not something I'd personally put on a rifle with an 18.6" barrel, seems like a step backwards. Be interesting to see it though.
If it's for weight savings I think the weight will be off the wrong end and make it feel more muzzle heavy. For weight savings I would try to find a lighter barrel made by a reputable manufacturer, if it's properly stress relieved it will be more consistent than the factory barrel even if it's skinnier.

Did these end up with a carbine length gas port?
 
I like the looks of those but they sure don't look like a comfy cheek weld.
Not something I'd personally put on a rifle with an 18.6" barrel, seems like a step backwards. Be interesting to see it though.
If it's for weight savings I think the weight will be off the wrong end and make it feel more muzzle heavy. For weight savings I would try to find a lighter barrel made by a reputable manufacturer, if it's properly stress relieved it will be more consistent than the factory barrel even if it's skinnier.

Did these end up with a carbine length gas port?

Yes.
 

So pretty much zero options for a factory built aftermarket barrel unless you have an op rod custom made.

On the + side to that a custom barrel cut from a match blank while costing you $500 will allow you to address the gassing and tune the rifle perfectly if you have access to a quality drill set with very small increments between bits. This is how I tuned my NR ACR 300BLK barrel, I had my barrel maker/machinist drill a tiny hole then tested and used my drill press to open it up a little at a time till it cycled my supersonic and subsonic loads perfectly.
 
I wonder what the LOP would be like with that adapter and an ARFX stock on the wk180?

I think they make them in two different lengths so if you got the shorter one it would likely work best.

Yup carbine length gas system. It's good if you want to change to 300blk because that is the typical gas length.
 
I wonder what the LOP would be like with that adapter and an ARFX stock on the wk180?

Doesn't matter, it's all about how it looks :p

I think they make them in two different lengths so if you got the shorter one it would likely work best.

Yup carbine length gas system. It's good if you want to change to 300blk because that is the typical gas length.

Which is exactly what I would do if I bought one of these, my ACR 300BLK barrel would find a new home, at least until I had a new 223 barrel built.

RWA has also stated in another thread that they will be building custom length op rods for people so you should be able to use any barrel as long as things are interchangeable.

Do these have a 3 piece op rod like my 180B-2? That would make it even easier.

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So pretty much zero options for a factory built aftermarket barrel unless you have an op rod custom made.

On the + side to that a custom barrel cut from a match blank while costing you $500 will allow you to address the gassing and tune the rifle perfectly if you have access to a quality drill set with very small increments between bits. This is how I tuned my NR ACR 300BLK barrel, I had my barrel maker/machinist drill a tiny hole then tested and used my drill press to open it up a little at a time till it cycled my supersonic and subsonic loads perfectly.

If I still had my WK180-C, I would consider retrofitting this. It shouldn't be that hard.

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Damn those original 180b rifles are ###y. I kind of wish they went simple and sold em with a polymer handguard.

The only mod I've done to it is to swap in the ALG ACT trigger, if you look close you can see the nickel boron coated trigger.
The factory trigger started out gritty and heavy but was getting to be pretty decent after 1000 rounds but the ALG is crisp and clean right from installation. With these available for just over $100 I don't know why someone would spend $400 on a trigger unless they were putting it into a target rifle or competing with it.

Even though I've got the QD rail I rarely put a scope on it. It gets a scope when testing ammo for accuracy but the rest of the time I just use the irons. Simple, lightweight, and accurate enough.

Just for comparison, my luggage scale says it's 6.8 pounds empty.
 
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