A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… I owned a VFC 416 with a PTS MOE pistol grip and stock.

It was love at first sight, instantly I fell in love with the aesthetic and feel of Magpul designed products and it’s something that’s never gone away.

Unfortunately, real AR15 pattern grips are not generally compatible with Airsoft replicas and therefore don’t tend to be something I can find a use for. PTS made pretty good copies of the Magpul furniture but it wasn’t 100% the same, plus… their designs were limited and didn’t quite hit rust magic spot in my heart.

However, a few years forward and I’d made the jump to another 416… This one made by WE and a gas powered model, whose sole benefit as it turned out was that you could stick on real AR15 pattern pistol grips. I promptly went out and stuck a Magpul MOE K on it… A very cool looking grip with some interesting ideas behind it, but not much use unless you’ve the hands of a five year old girl.

It wasn’t until a recent facelift of my Tokyo Marui MWS that I decided to once again move from the standard colt pistol grip design, with a function before form mindset I’d already been looking for something with a more upright profile.

The two main choices I could think of were either the BCM Gunfighter Mod 3 or the Magpul K2, having owned the BCM Mod 3 (reviewed here) I thought it would be a good time to trial the other option that was open to me, the Magpul K2.

The first thing you’ll notice with most Magpul products is the smart yet spartan brown cardboard box they come in, small accessories aside… the majority of Magpul products I’ve owned have come in this same type of packaging.

A small mounting bolt and washer are provided, although for my metric Airsoft rifle I’ll be using the original Marui bolt and washer as it’s a direct fit. The grip itself will slide directly onto the lower receiver, then simply hand tightening up the bolt will result in a firm and secure fit with no trace of wobble or movement whatsoever.

The main feature of the Magpul K2 grip is it’s rather vertical design, this is rapidly becoming more and more popular with businesses trying to provide a grip that is a comfortable whilst the user is in a modern “plate forward” shooting position. This position generally means that the shooter is standing square to the target with feet apart, with the front plate of their armour system facing the primary threat. This does mean that the risk of serious injury is decreased, but it can also be incredibly difficult to shoot a shouldered rifle from.

Many shooters compensate for this by pulling the stock into its shortest position and therefore cramping their hand into an unnatural angle which is less than comfortable and can translate into poor shooting performance. In order to combat this, the K2 (like the MOE-K before it and the BCM Gunfighter) has a steeper angle which allows the hand to relax and form a much more comfortable grip.

The second thing you’ll notice is it’s enlarged blackstrap design, much like the BCM Mod 3 it’s designed to not only be a more comfortable grip than the standard “A2” type pistol grip but also place your hand in an optimal position each and every time you hold the weapon.

The sides of the grip are textured in what Magpul call a TSP pattern (Trapezoidal Surface Projections) which feel incredibly grippy, but at the same time not overly aggressive like some home made “stippled” grips can be.

The front and back have well defined horizontal lines that help with the grip whilst making it easy to move your hand around the grip when performing tasks such as reloads or stoppage drills.

The front and back of the grip are noticeably straight in their profile (compared to the BCM) with the back having a large rounded groove at the top of the back strap for the web between your index finger and thumb. The ergonomics don’t appear to suffer and I actually found this slightly more comfortable than the Mod 3.

On the bottom of the grip sits a black plastic cap, this acts as the cover for a small storage compartment within the grip itself.

Magpul MIAD grip cores will fit for a more bespoke storage solution, these range from battery storage for AA or CR123 cells and gun-oil bottle cores through to cores for spare bolts and firing pins and also one company (Samson Manufacturing Corps) going as far as making a bespoke survival tool that fits inside the grip!

With regards to comfort, the grip is well designed in my humble opinion. The angle, texture and fullness of the grip combine to provide the shooter with a comfortable and adaptable shooting position, even whilst firing from non-traditional shooting stances.

Would I recommend this grip to a friend? In a heartbeat. Magpul are in my opinion the foremost furniture manufacturer around, always developing and refining their products. Structurally this grip is solid as a rock and should serve you for years to come.

This item was bought from Brownells UK but be aware that due to the limited market for firearms parts in the UK, brownells will drop ship from their US warehouse which can take a few weeks, should you need it quicker. Check with the UK/EU based tactical and shooting stores such as Tactical-Kit.co.uk and Blackrifle.co.uk