The WK181 is a Canadian-made, 180-variant that takes AK mags and fires the 7.62×39 cartridge. It uses a new, stronger gas piston setup and a non reciprocating side-charging handle that is MUCH better than the original Gen 1 charging handles. I fired 700 rounds through this rifle as part of a larger 10,000 round test.
What I liked
- The redesigned piston system doesn’t break. Finally.
- The gen 2 side charging handle feels robust and is easy to use
- The AK mag latch is very secure and easy to use (but you can’t easily hit it with a mag to release the mag, tactical style)
- The bolt hold open switch is a nice touch
- The forend mlok slots are . . .soft to the touch? I think they chamfered them really well and the forend feels really nice.
What I didn’t like
- The back of the rifle is still really chunky and doesn’t look great
- I think a gun made for 7.62×39 should use more chrome lined parts so it resists rust better
- The extractor broke on me. Running 7.62×39 on an AR bolt face removes a lot of material, so these can end up being a bit thin
- The included trigger was bad
While I like the redesigned piston and charging handle that eliminate 2 common failure points, I don’t know who the typical buyer of a rifle like this would be. It’s cool that you can easily mount optics, but the large 5/30 mags are going to necessitate a big chest rig. The mag size and cartridge are not practical at all for most action shooting competitions (can’t run steel core at some matches). If you shoot corrosive ammo, make sure you take down and clean the rifle thoroughly as nothing is chrome lined and everything will rust.
