I was bummed whenSIG dropped the 556 platform. Now I see The Galil Ace 556 may be the better version. Costly I know.

You can see the list of users here.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IWI_ACE

I have both the 7.62x39 and 7.62x51 versions, and think they are pretty much just overpriced and somewhat heavy AKs.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Dwill104,

IWI just isn't in the same class as IMI. Not even close.

The quality and engineering of firearms coming out of IWI just aren't what they could've been. In fact they're clearly conceived by a team of clueless, third rate decision makers. Compared to the original Galil, the Galil Ace is what I would describe as a pile of design/engineering atrocities. It's such an abomination that Galil himself would be rolling in his grave knowing this thing bears his name.

Many of the engineering mistakes are downright cringeworthy to any designers/engineers worth their salt, the mistakes are so elementary that even a second rate company wouldn't make, let alone a supposedly world class arms maker like IWI.

Here's but just a few examples:

The Galil Ace series, for some reason, do not have as much parts commonality as you may think between different caliber models (5.56mm, 7.62x39 and 7.62x51)

For example, the hand guard assembly, despite having identical appearance, does NOT interchange between 5.56 and 7.62. Why? I have no clue. In fact, the rail COVERS do not interchange. This makes ZERO sense.

Not only that, the handguard assembly is held in place with Allen key screws, which are also different between calibers. WHAT? This not only means you'll now need to account for different screws, more loose parts (they're not captured!), you'll also need special tools for maintenance. What happened to the simple locking lever design that has worked so well on the AKs and the original Galil for the better part of the century?

The same thing applies to the buttstock. The hinge piece is affixed to the receiver using 2 pins on the 5.56, and 1 pin on the 7.62. The stock assemblies are otherwise identical. This means there's at least two stock SKUs, with the only difference being the pin holes. Again, WHY? To make it worse, all the early 5.56 models in fact do use the 1 pin design, so at some point some bean head decided that it's a good idea to make them different.

The Galil Ace uses a plastic lower receiver housing that serves as a magazine well and the pistol grip. If you remove this piece, you'll see that underneath it it's basically just a standard Galil receiver. What this means is that is is basically an unnecessary part that simply adds to the parts count, weight and take up more room.

But wait, surely there's a reason for having this removable housing design, right? for example, you can change the different magazines that the rifle may accept, such as between original Galil type and stanag magazines by simply swapping out the housing.

Indeed, IWI could've done that, and it would make 100% sense, but WRONG, the receiver mag well is in fact, machined differently still, rendering the replaceable lower housing concept completely worthless. In fact, with this design where the pistol grip is integral to the housing, this completely eliminates the potential for replacement grips that can suit individual end users. You're stuck with that they give you. And what they've given you is shit.

In other words, If you have a 5.56 model that takes AR mags, you cannot make it accept Galil mags, they specifically machined the receiver with "denial islands" inside the receiver opening to prevent the end user from doing this. Why? again I have no clue.

What's even more mind boggling, is that the pistol grip itself, is actually shaped/textured differently between the calibers. Did someone at IWI just got out of bed one morning and decided that...OK for the 5.56 model we will give them a grip that is cosmetically different than the 7.62, just because. Unbelievable.

The rifles itself may be a great performer thanks to it's AK/Galil lineage, but in the end, it's a AK, a design while tried, but is also tired. It tries to pay homage to the AK concept then immediately gives it a big middle finger: streamlining of parts logistics, simplicity of use, economy and ease of manufacturing...etc, none of which defines the Galil Ace. It tried to take ideas from both traditional and modern approaches, and failed miserably at both.

Look at the list of users and you'll see that it consists of mostly third world nations and armies ran by people who are just as clueless as IWI. Heck, Israel is not even on that list.

IWI has a poor track record and everything they've produced so far since the original Galils and UZIs are failures that do not stand the test of time.

Looking at their other "star product", the Tavor, a bullpup rifle that was conceived after it is widely considered by most military that bullpups are obsolete. In fact the designers came up with the exterior design before they figured out the internals, that's just plain stupid and ass backwards. The user is forced to adapt to the awkward shape and angle of the gun. Fielded only in 2001 and already phased out, and replaced with the X95, which in itself despite still being considered as part of the Tavor family, is essentially an entirely new platform with again, no parts commonality to speak of (even though the gas system is so similar, they could've easily made it so), except the magazine. Not to mention the x95 has a slew of it's own design problems.

IWI US only offered the Tavor SAR for about 2 years before they announced it's discontinuation earlier this year, that alone is more than telling of how poorly designed IWI products are.

I would not recommend any IWI products to anyone that intend on putting it through serious use.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: darkest2000,

darkest2000 - you're making me happy I spent the money on an original Galil 7.62.

I was looking at the ACE but it just didn't seem right. I had no idea about all the stuff you mentioned.

I love my IWI X95 and will certainly buy another one.

I looked hard at the Galil Ace in .308 and really liked the rifle. I would have purchased one if it had a last round bolt hold open, but passed since it didn't.

For 5.56, I'd look at the X95.

I'm also looking forward to the CZ Bren 2. It might be a while until it gets to the states, but that looks awesome. The Bren 1 is a great rifle too, but the 2 is even better.

quote:

Originally posted by darkest2000:
In other words, If you have a 5.56 model that takes AR mags, you cannot make it accept Galil mags, they specifically machined the receiver with "denial islands" inside the receiver opening to prevent the end user from doing this. Why? again I have no clue.

That's silly. Nobody wants an ACE as a modern combat arm, AKs suck at that. They just get heavier and no more accurate no matter how much of the CAA catalog you throw on it. An AK will never be a modern monolithic receiver rifle like the SCAR or XCR.

While I can see that polymer “lower” is needed to provide the magwell depth to accept side latching AR mags (including the SR25 mags in the .308 version), it is completely unneeded in the 7.62x39 version. In fact, the added depth prevents some AK mags from fitting, and it makes mag insertion angle less forgiving than on a flat bottom AK receiver.

quote:

Originally posted by esdunbar:
I'm also looking forward to the CZ Bren 2. It might be a while until it gets to the states, but that looks awesome. The Bren 1 is a great rifle too, but the 2 is even better.

We wont really know if the 2 will be better until it get here ... we thought the SiG 556 was going to be the shizzel too ... until it finally arrived.

I hate to say it though, I do have a bit more confidence in CZ's follow through than I do in SiG's now days ... unfortunately.