The Meta Tactical Apex carbine conversion kit looks like it came right out of Battlestar Galactica. What exactly are you looking at? It’s a rifle made with a Glock at its core. It’s a carbine conversion kit that allows you to turn your Glock firearm into a rifle.
Not just Glocks. Meta Tactical makes this kit for S&W M&P pistols and P80-style Glock clones as well. The kit is a combination of the stock system mixed with a 16-inch barrel. The Meta Tactical Apex kit first premiered at SHOT, where it caught my eye. It looked downright neat.
Typically I have fun with these kits but don’t take them super seriously. In my eyes, they are usually range toys. But after spending a few weeks and sending a lot of ammo downrange, the Apex kit goes beyond a range toy.
Why the Metal Tactical Apex Kit?
I can hear the comments now, “But why?” Honestly, it won’t be for everyone. If you already dislike PCCs, then you can move on. For me, the biggest reason why is because PCCs in bullpup formats are not exactly common, and they certainly aren’t cheap. Admittedly, if you purchase a 500-dollar Glock and the 600-dollar Apex kit, then it doesn’t seem very cheap either. However, if you already have a Glock for handgun purposes, the cost of ownership isn’t bad. It’s cheaper than the Scorpion option and easier to find than the Jard.
Another reason is modularity. Who doesn’t love modularity? You can turn your handgun into a rifle and back again without much difficulty. Even though it is a rifle, it’s not much bigger than a braced pistol. The Apex kit is only 23.25 inches, with the stock fully collapsed, and 27 inches with the stock deployed. The weight of an Apex kit is 4.85 pounds with the Glock in place and unloaded.
Last but not least, Glock isn’t going to give us a rifle anytime soon.
Dropping In the Glock
This section will be nice and short because installation isn’t hard. First, swap barrels. Install the 16-inch barrel to your Glock. Open the rear of the weapon and ensure the safety is on and the weapon is unloaded. (The Apex kit has a safety, not your Glock.) Your firing pin is a cross bolt that is captive but needs to be slid out of the way.
Insert the Glock into the Apex kit. Push the firing pin back into the kit, and now close the rear of the gun. That’s really all there is to it. The kit is a drop-in and drop-out process. It’s very simple and takes about two minutes in total.
Breaking down the Apex From Meta Tactical
The Meta Tactical Apex kit sets itself apart from the Glock chassis competition. It is feature-filled and designed from a professional perspective. It has a push button safety that’s large and easy to engage. The charging handles are ambidextrous and nonreciprocating.
An M-LOK handguard at the front of the gun has plenty of room to mount all manner of accessories, like my Streamlight TL RM 2. A long optics rail across the top allows you to put just about anything on there, from 12 o’clock lights like the OWL to red dots, LPVOs, and even prisms.
The magazine release is kind of ambidextrous. The kit has a button on each side, but it’s not ambi unless your Glock is ambi. It is set up for reversible magazine releases for either left-handers or right-handed shooters. The stock has 6 positions for you to adjust the length of pull without issue. The kit comes in black, OD green, FDE, and gray. I have a beautiful OD green design.
Ergonomics Matter
One of the biggest issues with Glock chassis kits is that the ergonomics are often a compromise. It doesn’t necessarily feel that way with the Apex. It has a ton of high points and one point I’d consider somewhat low. The charging handle is huge, and it’s nice that it doesn’t reciprocate.
The handguard is polymer but heavily textured and easy to grip. The rear pistol grip is AR-compatible, so you can toss your favorite AR grip on if you so choose. The stock allows the gun to fit the largest of shooters. I’m a gorilla, and the longest position is too long for me. I like to keep it nice and mid-range. That stock provides a nice cheek weld at every position.
The magazine release is simple, but the big button sends the mag out the bottom with ease. Bullpup reloads can be slow, but the Apex kit makes it pretty intuitive. Reach back with a reverse grip and hit the release, and you’re golden.
The one downside is the slide lock. Part of the stock bar blocks access to the release unless it’s a few clicks out. If it’s on the first few settings, you can’t reach the slide lock/release easily. With the stock opened, it’s easy to access and drop the slide. Although, reloads are faster with the charging handle.
At The Range
None of the above matters if the gun doesn’t work, right? It would be easy to mess it all up by killing the reliability. Luckily Meta Tactical designed the kit well. It has a massive ejection port that ensures reliable feeding. I had zero issues with the Meta tactical Apex kit. I never had a failure in the reliability department. In fact, I only had an issue with one ETS magazine in which the follower kept getting stuck. That’s not related to the gun or kit, but to the fact I abuse this magazine all the time. The gun just eats and works without complaint.
Everyone has to be curious about the trigger. I thought it would be a weak point. However, I was pleasantly surprised that the trigger is fairly nice. Not great, but for a bullpup trigger that is connecting to another trigger, it’s impressive. It’s better than the Scorpion stock trigger if that says anything.
Most PCCs are direct blowback guns, and that creates a sharp recoil impulse. The Apex kit uses a Glock, and Glock uses a short recoil mechanism. That’s in play here, and it creates very little recoil and very little muzzle rise. It’s easier to control and softer shooting than most blowback PCCs.
What about accuracy? It was honestly impressive. I tossed a Holosun 510C on, and after a quick zero, I was impressed by how tight the gun shot. A one-hole-sized group at 25 yards is easy, and ringing a 4-inch gong consistently isn’t a problem. In fact, I backed off to 100 yards and had no problems putting 9mm into the A and C zone of an IPSC target in the offhand.
Downsides to the Apex
I don’t have many gripes. You can’t use a suppressor, but that’s really it. The Meta Tactical Apex kit is, without a doubt, the best Glock chassis kit out there. It’s impressive in its own right. The Apex kit is an awesome way to double the use of your Glock and is one of the best bullpup PCC options out there.
