Plug plug pluggity plug.

I am ashamed to admit it, but I get jealous of other bloggers sometimes. They got promo stuff from companies, or they get people reaching out to them directly making them offers, or just get more attention. What do I get?

But I mostly do this because I want to, not for glory or recognition or free stuff.

Yesterday, I noticed that one of the bloggers I read regularly was contacted by a certain company looking for a plug for their review. I admit, I did feel a certain twinge of jealousy, but not too much: this is a blogger I owe a favor to, so I wasn’t too upset.

Then I got an email from the same people, asking for a plug for the same review. And they were nice about it, so why not?

Widener’s has posted a review of the IWI Camel. I feel like there’s at least one person in my audience who will be interested in this, as the Camel is an ambidextrous battle rifle in the same vein as the SCAR, brought to you from the people responsible for the Uzi and Galil.

There are so few rifles on the market today that are fully ambidextrous. In the last decade, I’ve met more left-handed shooters than I can count. I feel for so many of them who have to manipulate the gun uncomfortably. The IWI Carmel rifle has an ambidextrous safety, magazine release, bolt catch, and non-reciprocating charging handle.

It uses AR mags, and the author says it shoots sub-MOA groups even with a suppressor.

The Carmel comes at a higher price point with all these amazing features. The Carmel’s MSRP is $1,799, which might seem high, but it’s on par with a customized AR-15 (minus the AR having ambi controls). To put the price in perspective, a quality AR-15 will cost anywhere from $1,000 to $1,500. It likely won’t have an ambidextrous safety, magazine release, or bolt catch. You can purchase an aftermarket ambidextrous safety and install it, but that can run another $50 and more if you need a gunsmith to install it.
An adjustable stock such as the LUTH-AR MBA-3 Carbine Buttstock costs north of $200 but allows you to set an AR-15 up to you. You can also change your AR-15’s gas by installing an adjustable gas block. However, this adds to the cost and potentially requires a gunsmith to install it.

As someone who has heard a lot about adjustable gas blocks recently (NOT that I’m BITTER or ANYTHING: no, seriously, I love my friends), this is good to know. And $1,800 compares favorably with the SCAR.

My only complaint with this review is that I can’t find a total round count in it. I’d like to know how many rounds they fired in testing.

If the Camel sounds like your cup of tea, check out the review at Widener’s. And thanks for thinking of me, guys.

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