WK180c Practical Review with Pics and Video

Not so much as that, but the bolt riding along the left lip of the metal (LAR) mag. The plastic or polymer mags were ok. Old school Colt 20 round mags were ok, but LAR mags caused issues. After contacting them they said to file my mags. I said screw you, they designed the gun after the 180b and when ArmaLite made the gun, there was no ####ing plastic mags then, so why should I need them now.
I detest plastic mags, I just seen someone drop on today at the range, and broke a lip and ammo went all over the ####ing place. I had my share of plastic mags when they came out in the army. Same ####. I have been using metal mags for many years, never ever an issue.
 
Mine is in the #250ish range. I should add that I changed out the mag release upon receiving the rifle with a Colt Canada/Norgon ambi right out of the gate - before even taking the rifle out shooting.
I can't imagine that could be an issue, but have you guys inspected the mag release on your rifles? Have you swapped them out?
 
beltfed said:
Mine is in the #250ish range. I should add that I changed out the mag release upon receiving the rifle with a Colt Canada/Norgon ambi right out of the gate - before even taking the rifle out shooting.
I can't imagine that could be an issue, but have you guys inspected the mag release on your rifles? Have you swapped them out?
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I did actually swap mine out with my Colt sp1.
I compared the 180c my Colt and even my norinco catches and they were all identical to the closest detail oddly

It did not resolve the issue unfortunately
 
SSG69 said:
Not so much as that, but the bolt riding along the left lip of the metal (LAR) mag. The plastic or polymer mags were ok. Old school Colt 20 round mags were ok, but LAR mags caused issues. After contacting them they said to file my mags. I said screw you, they designed the gun after the 180b and when ArmaLite made the gun, there was no ####ing plastic mags then, so why should I need them now.
I detest plastic mags, I just seen someone drop on today at the range, and broke a lip and ammo went all over the ####ing place. I had my share of plastic mags when they came out in the army. Same ####. I have been using metal mags for many years, never ever an issue.
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I'm the same as you. I don't know why but I hate plastic mags.
I've been using steel in my STANAG mag guns for years without experiencing a single issue until this damned thing.

Both my old 180b rifles took every mag and ammo combination that existed at the time. Even feeding sp. 223 rounds from a cqa norc carbine mag I still had and used.
 
Travis Bickle said:
Cyclone, I take it then that yours is also N/S with steel mags?
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I had two AR-180B's, so I thought I'd get two WK-180C's as well (one for me, and one for my brother). Unfortunately, I've yet to have a single metal LAR 10-round magazine feed normally through either WK-180C.


I haven't tried any polymer mags or any 5/30 mags (polymer or otherwise) with the WK-180C's, so I can't comment yet on that front.


I really want to like the WK-180C's; that's why I keep reading this thread and looking for updates. To me, reaming the chamber is a 2nd last resort, the last resort being selling with full disclosure and at a loss.
 
cyclone said:
If you had to speculate, would you say the Norgon piece made more of a difference than the chamber reaming?
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I swapped the mag release even before firing for the first time as I am a southpaw shooter. I don't know if it would have made a difference over the stock mag release as I never used it with the factory mag release. However the chamber reaming was the best thing as it was a jammomatic before that was done. Since the chamber ream not one jammed/failure to eject round in the 450-500 rounds fired since the chamber ream.

Mine was not extracting properly then would feed another round behind the one stuck in the chamber thus locking the upper and lower and not being able to remove the mag. Had to use my leatherman to slide the double fed round back into the mag so could drop the mag and open the upper to clear the chamber. But since the chamber ream it functions flawlessly. At least shooting 55gr PMC Bronze ammo.

Turn around time was quite timely dealing with Kodiak. They sent me a shipping label. Took a week to go from BC to Ontario with a week there and a week to come back. Might be a bit longer right now with the increased shipping times due to the holidays but my warranty experience with Kodiak was easy peasy and worry free. I just sent the upper. You might want to send upper and lower and they can see if that is an issue with the mag feeding.
 
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This is the first thread that I have really read that people are being honest enough about the 180C,and the on going issues. Personally I think this rifle was rushed a bit before all the little bugs got worked out. This reminds me of the BCL 102. I happy I held off on buying one, but I have my name down for a pre-order. ATT I'm on the fence whether or not to go ahead with it. Or try and find something else. But what else is there? I was looking at the RA XCR-L or the other option is ATRS Modern Sportser, but both of them come at a huge cost. I would like a NR semi that functions without going through s bunch of crap and sending it back to the company to get fixed. ####, our gun laws in this country suck which limits what is available on the market.
 
SSG69 said:
This is the first thread that I have really read that people are being honest enough about the 180C,and the on going issues. Personally I think this rifle was rushed a bit before all the little bugs got worked out. This reminds me of the BCL 102. I happy I held off on buying one, but I have my name down for a pre-order. ATT I'm on the fence whether or not to go ahead with it. Or try and find something else. But what else is there? I was looking at the RA XCR-L or the other option is ATRS Modern Sportser, but both of them come at a huge cost. I would like a NR semi that functions without going through s bunch of crap and sending it back to the company to get fixed. ####, our gun laws in this country suck which limits what is available on the market.
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If I had my way I'd be rocking an ak74 with 10 crates of comm bloc 5.45x39.....but this is canada :(
 
Travis Bickle said:
I'll let you all know what kodiak says.
I sent a detailed email to them re this issue now.
I may need some of you to contact them as well as I mentioned quite a few people have been experiencing this exact issue.
MTF
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I'll tell you exactly what Kodiak will say:

Send the rifle in (pay your own shipping) cause it's your problem not theirs

They will say they will go over the rifle, but just stare at it and do nothing, then they will tell you that an individual magazine you are using is the culprit, so as stated above, Just about every single magazine that we can get our hands on in Canada is faulty and suspect

But the types of magazines they are using magically work and function flawless (they will name 5 different mags that work)

They will send you a little bag with a new O ring in it, and also say that any other issues you are having are just cosmetic and normal wear and tear and suggest you file down your mags cause they are not seating ( ya ok I'm gonna start filing down my surefire mag 5/100s ) 4 of them cost the same amount as the WK

GFYS KODIAK
 
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What's with Canadian gun manufactures anyway? The only "Canadian" gun that I have ever used (work) and also have is Colt Canada. All the rest have had issues up the wazoo. I'm really getting tired of this ####. Can any of them stand up to the plate and produce something that "won't be your fault" for their poor QA/QC and oversight on sub-system compatibility on a simple thing such as a magazine.
 
SSG69 said:
What's with Canadian gun manufactures anyway? The only "Canadian" gun that I have ever used (work) and also have is Colt Canada. All the rest have had issues up the wazoo. I'm really getting tired of this ####. Can any of them stand up to the plate and produce something that "won't be your fault" for their poor QA/QC and oversight on sub-system compatibility on a simple thing such as a magazine.
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That's why I'm going back to Communist hardware brother! lol
 
Hey all,

We have been following this thread and wanted to chime in on the issue and what RWA is doing.

Without going too much into the geometry of the issues, it boils down to the interaction of the carrier, and the bolt catch to the magazines. With changing the design of the upper away from the Armalite AR180B design so that AR15 barrels could be used (and changed), the carrier has to change as well.

The bolt catch on the Armalite 180B has always been an issue for reliability. When we designed the current RWA 180B (with using the Nodak Spud lower), we beefed up the bolt catch and wanted to ensure that it worked reliably, even after the rifle had been used for a while.

The problem that it creates is the bolt carrier riding too close to the lip of some magazines. Those can be worn in to work...however, we realise this is not an acceptable solution going forward, and we have been working on a redesign of the bolt carrier and bolt catch to fix the issue. These are running in the shop right now.

These are the carriers that will be included on our rifles and uppers going forward.

Anyone that has already purchased a rifle or an upper from us will be contacted, and sent a replacement at no charge, regardless of whether or not they are having any issues.

If they aren’t having issues, then they get a replacement backup at no charge.

To date, we have only been made aware of one rifle with issues on some mags.

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to shoot us an email at info@rangewarrioraccessories.com
 
Hey guys,

Kodiak makes quality firearms and we stand behind them. As we've said before: if you have a problem with your rifle please contact us at Service@KodiakDefence.com and we'd be thrilled to fix anything that is mechanically wrong. Everyone makes mistakes (us included) and as far as we're concerned, the measure of a company is how it fixes them. We have heard much positive feedback from our warranty work (though there have been some grumbles about having to pay for shipping them to us.) We will perform the required work at no cost and we pay return shipping. While we can't make specific promises as to warranty timelines, we have had most back in the mail the same day or the next day after receiving them and we haven't yet had one in the shop more than a week.

The specific complaint about magazines failing to feed has come up before, though rarely. When we examined those rifles, each time they fed fine using a fairly wide variety of magazines and we determined the specific aftermarket magazine to be at fault. That isn't to say that we don't take complaints seriously, just that we had to refer to customer to the company that made the defective product in those specific cases. Again, we'd be thrilled to take a look at any problem you encounter with any of our products; please get a hold of us.

We are a little confused as to why the manufacturer of a different rifle posted their unrelated problem here, but that's the internet. Our bolt catches function well, our carriers are well-designed to work in the WK180C and in any event, neither are related to the question at hand. I cannot recall receiving a single complaint about either, but again: if you do find that yours isn't working please drop us a line; we'd love to sort it out. On the other hand, if you are in the market for a rifle at more than double the price, maybe give them a call.

Yours,

The Kodiak Defence team
 
SSG69 said:
This is the first thread that I have really read that people are being honest enough about the 180C,and the on going issues. Personally I think this rifle was rushed a bit before all the little bugs got worked out. This reminds me of the BCL 102. I happy I held off on buying one, but I have my name down for a pre-order. ATT I'm on the fence whether or not to go ahead with it. Or try and find something else. But what else is there? I was looking at the RA XCR-L or the other option is ATRS Modern Sportser, but both of them come at a huge cost. I would like a NR semi that functions without going through s bunch of crap and sending it back to the company to get fixed. ####, our gun laws in this country suck which limits what is available on the market.
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I have a Rob Arms XCR-l as well. I had issues with that one that runs fine now after warranty work. Any firearm even expensive ones can have issues. Warranty through Wolverine was hassle free in that case as well.
 
KodiakDefence said:
Hey guys,

Kodiak makes quality firearms and we stand behind them. As we've said before: if you have a problem with your rifle please contact us at Service@KodiakDefence.com and we'd be thrilled to fix anything that is mechanically wrong. Everyone makes mistakes (us included) and as far as we're concerned, the measure of a company is how it fixes them. We have heard much positive feedback from our warranty work (though there have been some grumbles about having to pay for shipping them to us.) We will perform the required work at no cost and we pay return shipping. While we can't make specific promises as to warranty timelines, we have had most back in the mail the same day or the next day after receiving them and we haven't yet had one in the shop more than a week.

The specific complaint about magazines failing to feed has come up before, though rarely. When we examined those rifles, each time they fed fine using a fairly wide variety of magazines and we determined the specific aftermarket magazine to be at fault. That isn't to say that we don't take complaints seriously, just that we had to refer to customer to the company that made the defective product in those specific cases. Again, we'd be thrilled to take a look at any problem you encounter with any of our products; please get a hold of us.

We are a little confused as to why the manufacturer of a different rifle posted their unrelated problem here, but that's the internet. Our bolt catches function well, our carriers are well-designed to work in the WK180C and in any event, neither are related to the question at hand. I cannot recall receiving a single complaint about either, but again: if you do find that yours isn't working please drop us a line; we'd love to sort it out. On the other hand, if you are in the market for a rifle at more than double the price, maybe give them a call.

Yours,

The Kodiak Defence team
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We only chimed in because one of our customers mentioned in this thread he was having issues with LAR magazines in our rifle, and we wanted to state how we are addressing the issue. We never mentioned any issues with the WK180c, or did we mention Kodiac in our post but we apologize if you took it personally. Our reference was to the original AR180b. When it boils down to it we are all Canadian gun owners and we all want what is best for Canadian shooters.

Have a Merry Christmas Kodiac and we wish you all the best in the new year.


Cheers.
 
This is an open discussion thread so I don't see why it matters at all who chimes in period.
Anyhow,

Kodiak,

What is the solution if I send you my rifle again at my expense now for the second time, with my steel mags that do not feed because they all sit too low?

The issue may have come up rarely simply because most people having the issue simply buy new mags (I had to) to find ones that work. We're Canadians. Most of us are too ####ing polite for our own good even when we shouldn't be but I digress. ...
It's a clear and existing problem from this thread alone.
So again, what will the solution be if I have to spend another $50 to ship my rifle across the county to you just to "prove it"? At this point I'll be out $200 + between mags and shipping not counting time and frustration.

I'm not going to lie, seeing RWA manning up and admitting they messed up and offering a properly machined lower receiver no questions asked makes me wish I had paid twice the price at this point.

Instead I'm stuck with a defective product and a manufacturer telling me essentially I have to pay out of my pocket for the third time now to remedy it which implies it's my fault essentially by default.
My patience is wearing thin.

What say you?
 
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