Oh California, you’re a great place to live but also a horrible one too. Good weather, beaches, mountains, forest and deserts all in one state. Great food, jobs and Disneyland too. If you’re a gun owner however, it’s a nightmare. Magazine capacity restrictions, pistol rosters, outright bans and now the recent “assault rifle” ban have been the bane of any law abiding Californian gun owner.
The recent assault rifle laws that went into effect are a big blow to California gun rights. Owners of AR-15s, AK-47s and other semi-auto rifles and pistols that California deems to be “assault weapons” have three options. Register them with the state of California as an assault weapon, which is a big no go for many (as it should be). Use a part that locks the magazine into place and requires the rifle/pistol’s upper or dust shield to be opened each time the user needs to reload. Or go featureless.
What is featureless? It means to remove the evil features that California’s lawmakers consider the parts that make an assault weapon. These features are a flash hider, pistol grip, forward vertical grip and adjustable buttstock. Lots of companies have stepped up to the plate and produced products specifically for the Californian market to help gun owners stay in compliance. One of them is Survivor Systems, Inc.
The Option Zero stock from Survivor Systems is a replacement featureless stock that helps knock off two features from California’s evil features list, the adjustable buttstock and pistol grip. If your AR also has a forward vertical grip and A2 birdcage flash hider you’ll have to remove them as well. Many ARs on the market come with the standard A2 birdcage flash hider, if yours does then just swap it for one of the many AR-15 muzzle brakes on the market to bring it in compliance. You’ll also get a flatter shooting rifle with less recoil by switching over to a muzzle brake, for some reason “flash hider” sounded scary so California added them to the list of features that makes an assault weapon.
The Option Zero CA Compliant Stock is super easy to install, take off your ARs scary collapsible stock and pistol grip then slide the Option Zero stock right on. It took me less than five minutes. The one I received was for Mil-Spec buffer tubes. California says pistol grips are a not allowed anymore, so how can you shoot your AR-15 without a pistol grip? You can’t really, but the workaround is a fin behind the pistol grip. This makes it so you cannot fully wrap your hand around the grip. It’s ugly, but it works.
If you can’t have an adjustable/collapsible buttstock then how do shooters with longer or shorter than average arms comfortably hold their AR? The Option Zero CA Compliant Stock has three included spacers that you can remove to adjust for your length of pull.
Another cool feature of the Survivor Systems Option Zero stock is it has a spot for an extra AR-15 magazine built right into the stock. Since Californians are limited to only 10-round magazines having a spare mag readily available is a nice touch. The stock also has two sling mounting points, one of them being a QD socket.
Along with the Option Zero Stock I used the Survivor Systems Paddle Shifters. They’re an ambidextrous AR-15 selector switch made specifically for for featureless build ARs. Like we said above, featureless ARs can’t have a pistol grip. Using the grip with a fin makes it so you cannot fully grasp the grip and wrap your thumb around it. To help with this Survivor Systems developed their Paddle Shifters. It features an extra wide grip area and a 45° angle when the selector is switched from safe to fire. This gives the user an area to place their thumb while using their featureless rifle.
So how is it to shoot with the Survivor Systems Option Zero CA Compliant Stock and Paddle Shifters? It’s actually not that bad, it’s no where as comfortable and ergonomic as a standard AR-15, there’s no beating that. But it makes shooting a featureless AR-15 doable.
Final Thoughts
If you’re stuck behind enemy lines in California and need an option for a featureless AR-15 build I’d say consider the Survivor Systems Option Zero CA Compliant Stock along with the Survivor Systems Paddle Shifters. It’s easy to install, easy to use and it has features like the spacers to adjust the length of pull and a spare mag holder. I used the stock for many range trips over the past few months and it’s held up extremely well.
The only downsides to this setup is the fact that shooters in California need to use it at all, but having a company like Survivor Systems step up to the plate and provide an option for those in CA is what I love about this industry. We’re all gun enthusiasts who just want to exercise our rights and companies like Survivor Systems are making it easier for those in states like California.
The Survivor Systems Option Zero CA Compliant Stock is available in either black or FDE and has an MSRP of $149.99. The Paddle Shifters have an MSRP of $59.99. They’re both available at survivorsystems.com.
The Options Zero CA Compliant stock is also available at Botach.com for $139.99.
Check out all our past reviews on our Reviews Page.
Curious
While I would never live in that state
Could they not have made that ridiculous pistol grip extension a soft squeezable addition to still be in compliance but still be able to grip?
Also
Wouldn’t making it a belt fed semi automatic prevent the need for a mag restriction?