More Bolt-On Crap You Don't Need

I've just seen this in the Airsoft International Facebook feed. It's a product made by LaRue Tactical which has already been cloned by the Chinese and is up for sale at ebAirsoft. It's called the POD (Prone Optimization Device) and apparently 'Converts your Magpul CTR into a precision-rifle stock'. Really? Surely it's just another piece of bolt on crap that people will buy to make their rifle look cooler. I know that's where it'll hit the airsoft market, definitely. For US$89 for the original and US$15.48 for the Chinese repro version, plus the cost of the Magpul CTR stock you'll have to have to fit it, will it make a significant improvement?

A couple of years ago, someone said to me that I had too much tech bolted on my rifle. I couldn't agree more now. Since then, all but one of my airsoft guns have undergone a pairing back process where I am slowly removing all un-necessary bolted on tat. My M14, even though it only had a scope rail has had that removed. My L119A1 has been rear-wired, removing the necessity for a PEQ box to put the battery in. Only the 10" CQB M4 still has a whole mess of tat attached, hopefully, I can do something about that in the near future too.

I get the whole accessorisation thing. It appeals to the geek in me. More stuff on your gun = cool gun? Not necessarily. There's a fine line between having loads of cool stuff on your gun and having loads of crap bolted onto your gun that you don't need. The POD is a prime example of this. Many moons ago when I rode and lived for BMX, the bike company GT produced a whole range of freestyle accessories and marketed them under the tagline 'bolt-on is better'. I fell for this hook, line and sinker much to the chagrin of my mates who renamed this marketing ploy 'bolt-on is bigger'. The same can definitely be said of much of the airsoft and active/tactical shooter market at the moment.