ATI AR-15 Strikeforce Stock
Lewis Creek Shooting School 11.02.12
For several years, I’ve been using the ATI adjustable Akita shotgun stock. Looking like a regular stock with an elevated cheek-piece, the Akita is adjustable for length of pull and comb height and works really well on my youth trainer Remington 870.
I’ve really gotten into AR-15s in the last couple of years, though, and I recently decided to try their Strikeforce M4-type adjustable stock. At first glance, the Strikeforce looks like almost every other M4 stock, but closer inspection reveals a couple of refinements. First, there is an adjustable cheek piece that allows the shooter to tune the stock for proper stock weld with higher-placed optics. This can be a real issue for getting on the sight really quickly and the adjustment is simple and reliable using four Phillips screws that grip the stock to the grooved surfaces. There are four height settings with movement of about a half inch. If the shooter wants a lower position, the elevator can be removed completely for another quarter inch.
Installation is simple and covered completely in the four-page instruction sheet that comes with every stock. There are six different-length detents, giving a length of pull from a minimum of 10.75” to 14.5”. There is also a removable butt pad that provides a tacky surface for the shoulder and some softening of recoil. A QD swivel stud graces the very rear of the stock.
I found the stock both comfortable to use and appreciated the adjustable cheek piece and additional length. I find the normal M4 stock a little short for scoped use in the prone position and the extra length was enough to make things more comfortable. Mounting the scope further forward helps with this, but requires a forward mount and then the eye relief is too long for standing. The extra length on the Strikeforce handled this problem nicely.
Dick Jones is an award winning outdoor writer and a member of the Southeastern Outdoor Press Association Board of Directors. He writes for four North Carolina Newspapers as well as regional and national magazines. He’s hunted and fished most of his life but shooting has been his passion. He’s a former High Master, Distinguished Rifleman, and AAA class pistol shooter. He holds four Dogs of War Medals for Team Marksmanship as shooter, captain and coach. He ran the North Carolina High Power Rifle Team for six years and the junior team two years after that. Within the last year, he’s competed in shotgun, rifle and pistol events including the National Defense Match and the Bianchi Cup. He’ll be shooting the Bianchi, the NDM, the National High Power Rifle Championship, The Rock Castle AR15.com Three Gun Championship and an undetermined sniper match this shooting season.
He lives in High Point, North Carolina with his wife Cherie who’s also an outdoor writer and the 2006 and 2011 Northeast Side by Side Women’s Shotgun Champion. Both Dick and Cherie are NRA pistol, rifle, and shotgun instructors and own Lewis Creek Shooting School.
