The Armaspec XPDW ™ stock is an aluminium 5 position stock with hardened steel rods. It incorporates an ambidextrous switch so the stock positions can adjusted from either side. The XPDW™ is designed to mount directly on a standard mil-spec buffer tube.
As soon as I saw these little guys come into the shop I quickly grabbed one up to do a review on it. I am a HUGE fan of the Troy PDW, and I love the slimmed down butt stock look. I have a pretty simple AR, personally, I’m not huge on full blown mall ninja ARs. I have kept my rifle mods to a minimum, focusing on function over form. I am a firm believer of balling on a budget so I really only drop a ton of coin on parts that I feel matter for how I use my rifle. So lets get down to the install and specs of the starting rifle.
DPMS Oracle:
SPEC CHART
| Caliber | Weight (lbs) | Length | Barrel | Upper Receiver | Twist |
| 5.56 NATO | 6.4 lbs | 32.5″/ 36.5″ | 16″ Lightweight 4140 Chromemoly | Forged 7075 T6 A3 Flattop | 1×9 |
| Lower Receiver | Stock | Fire Control | Handguard | Pistol Grip | Front/Rear sight | Flash Hider |
| Forged 7075 T6 | Pardus, Comm. Tube | Bang Switch TiN | carbine quad rail | A2 | Flip up front and rears, co- witness thru Red dot | A2 Birdcage |
Now that we have that down lets get into the tear down and install. By the way, if you already have a mil-spec stock then skip ahead to step 6 , I didn’t, so I included the steps to replace it in the install.
Install:
Technical Rating: Basic knowledge of AR15 is a plus, but you can find a number of videos on YouTube, if need be.
Tools needed:
Ar15 Armorer’s tool, Flat head screw driver, assorted small punches ( or something to press stuff down with), Vice /w mag block (not essential, but looks cool and makes things easier)
1. Separate the upper and lower, you won’t be needing the upper for this so set it aside.
2. Locate buffer and spring retainer, press it down. Remove buffer and spring. Set it aside, you will need it later. (side note, buffer and spring fly out like those can o’ snake toys, make sure you are holding the buffer and spring while you depress the pin.)
3. Locate the castle nut on the buffer tube and unscrew that all the way to the ends of the thread. While doing this keep in mind that your back plate hides the spring for your take down pin, as soon as you get the chance, pull your back plate out and remove the spring and set it aside. ( they kink easily, be careful and go slow.)
4. Push down buffer and spring pin, unscrew buffer tube. Buffer pin is under pressure so make sure you capture it before it launches out of your rifle to never be seen again.
With a vice step 4 is quite simple, without a vice step 4 includes placing the lower between your knees while in a seated position, depressing the pin with one hand and unscrewing the buffer tube with the other, this is how I use to do it before I was given nice things. If you lack the testicular fortitude to pull off such a maneuver, have a friend help, place the lower on the table with the buffer tube hanging over the side. One of you pushes the pin while the other one unscrews the tube.
5. Reinstall your mill spec tube, and reassemble the buffer tube assembly on the lower. Below is a picture of a mill spec and commercial tube.
6. Back out 5/32 hex screw on XPDW stock and slide it over mil-spec tube so that it sits flush with the buffer tube back plate and castle nut.
7. Tighten 5/32 screw , it should go into one of the holes in you buffer tube that your original adjustable stock locks in. This locks the assembly in place.
That’s all there is. There is a spot for a QD attachment in the stock, so you can attach it to a single or 2 point sling. Here are a few shots of it on my finished rifle.
Collapsed the rifle is 32″ and extended the rifle is 35″, so we did loose a little bit of length after the install, which was surprising since the mill spec buffer tube I had was actually longer than my commercial one.
Review:
Some of the problem spots that I found were fitment issues after I placed the upper on the rifle. I ended up having to replace my ambi attach back plate on my buffer tube since the stock couldn’t collapse fully around it. I replaced it with a Guntech QD mount which for some reason sat high on my lower making it come in contact with my charging handle. After filing it down a little it cleared fine. The XPDW stock takes some slight encouragement to sit flush on the back plate. Again I had to do a little filing on the Guntech QD mount to get it to work with the system. If you have a stock back plate this won’t be a problem for you, that worked great when I put it on.
While the stock is on the longer side of the PDW style stocks on the market, it does let you retain your stock buffer tube and spring which means that you can still have a full auto gun if desired, and you can put in any style buffer and bolt carrier group you want. With the Troy style stock you are married to their special bolt and spring, also you aren’t able to have a full auto set up, and there are mixed reviews on it cycling with a suppressor.
The price point on the XPDW is great for what you are getting. The stock feels solid in the hand and has enough room to get a solid cheek weld for long distance shooting. The butt plate is made out of billet aluminium and fits well on your shoulder with or without a carrier rig on. I would recommend this to anybody that wants to have the look of the PDW stock but still be able to tinker with their system. You do loose some length so I would say that it is a viable way to shorten the rifle, but it’s not the shortest system on the market.
Over all I am quite happy with it, and I look forward to a long term test with this product.