B5 Systems offers a bewildering array of furniture and accessories for modern sporting rifles. Their gear was originally crafted to equip America’s most high-speed operators.
October 16, 2024
By Will Dabbs, MD
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B5 Systems was originally a manufacturing concern focused primarily on aerospace products. Around 2008, the Department of Defense (DoD) dreamt up a fresh new buttstock design for their M4 carbine SOPMOD kit. B5 Systems landed the contract to manufacture it. That contract ultimately took the company in some exciting new directions. SOPMOD is milspeak for Special Operations Peculiar MODification. Dating back to 1989, SOPMOD combined non-developmental items as well as commercial off-the-shelf accessories to optimize the performance of the DoD’s small arms. While SOPMOD was originally designed to turbocharge the M4 carbines used by U.S. Special Operations Forces, the associated gear eventually diffused throughout the Big Green Machine. The intent was to improve upon the duct tape and hose clamps that our door kickers had been using to strap cool-guy stuff onto their weapons prior to that time. If you have ever mounted a light, laser or tactical optic onto your favorite AR-platform rifle, that all started with SOPMOD, and the SOPMOD kit evolved extensively over time. The standard collapsible stock on the original M4 carbine was a minimally changed version of the original pioneered on the Vietnam-era XM177E2. Developed by a Colt engineer named Rob Roy in 1966, this sliding buttstock mounted over a modified M16 buffer tube. While this design reflected the state of the art during the Age of Aquarius, by the 2000s it was getting fairly long in the tooth.
B5 Systems Details B5 Systems cut their teeth making gun accessories for the best shooters on Planet Earth. That ethos now drives their offerings for the civilian market as well. B5 photos. B5’s SOPMOD stock featured a rubber buttpad as well as bilateral swells for an improved cheekweld. Additionally, these sponsons each included a threaded cap that revealed a storage area for spare CR123 batteries. Everything about this new SOPMOD stock improved on the GI originals. U.S. SOCOM (United States Special Operations Command) took a few examples, beat the holy bejeebers out of them and bestowed upon them a coveted National Stock Number (NSN). They then bought a zillion of them for their SOPMOD kits. In short order, these buttstocks were helping American warfighters spread freedom around the globe. Throughout it all, B5 Systems chugged right along, making aerospace components and similar stuff. Then somebody realized that building the buttstock that Uncle Sam used for his most high-speed weapons was a pretty big deal. That’s when B5 Systems expanded into tactical products for commercial firearms manufacturers and responsible armed citizens as well as the U.S. government.
Onward and Upward
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B5 broke the code on making military stuff. Relentless research and development followed by ruthless testing resulted in the gear that America’s finest warriors just couldn’t get enough of. That original SOPMOD buttstock became the go-to design for shooters looking for the best. An enhanced SOPMOD stock was followed by the Bravo Buttstock as well as a unique P-Grip 23. This eventually led to an entirely new product called the Collapsible Precision Stock and then the P-Grip 22. The Collapsible Precision Stock is adjustable in several directions and optimized for precision rifles. Uncle Sam ate that up as well, fitting it to the M110 SASS (Semiautomatic Sniper System). Government contracts like these don’t just happen. They are the result of tireless effort, incalculable bureaucracy and a whole lot of shredded gear. The end result, however, is the finest combat equipment mankind can produce. While these contracts were adequate to support some explosive growth in the company, that’s what also allowed B5 Systems to start selling stuff to us. That turned out to be a really good decision.
Outfitting Normal Folk B5 Systems gear makes good guns great. Nowadays, B5 Systems provides OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) furniture to multiple commercial firearms manufacturers. Their buttstocks and grips can be found anyplace gun builders want to include the seriously good stuff. We regular American shooters are the beneficiaries. B5 Systems is still a small, nimble company. They employ just less than 100 people, a great many of whom are military veterans. I have heard their business model described using a baseball analogy. B5’s commercial sales are like conventional runs. Success comes from relentlessly grinding away at the basics. Production for this market can wax and wane, but, for the most part, we gun nerds are pretty reliable customers. Then some new Bravo Systems product will earn its own NSN and further supercharge the company. This is the home run that provides the requisite resources to push innovation further and faster. The synergistic result keeps B5 Systems at the cutting edge of both development and materials science.
Color Coordinating our Tactical Iron B5’s product line is forever evolving. They consistently offer their gear in five different colors—Black, Flat Dark Earth, Coyote Brown, Wolf Grey, and OD Green. Additionally, they have become recognized masters at in-house hydro dipping. This process allows the company to offer its products in a bewildering array of colors and patterns. Making tactical gear for the weapons used by Delta Force is a pretty serious undertaking. However, the B5 Systems mob still clearly enjoy themselves. They regularly offer limited edition runs of their products in unusual configurations. A recent series in German flecktarn camouflage sold out immediately. Last Halloween, they even offered stock/grip sets molded in spooky glow-in-the-dark polymer. I doubt DEVGRU will slap luminescent furniture on their HK416’s anytime soon, but it would sure look cool smoldering in my gun safe.
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The B5 Systems latest SOPMOD buttstock offers a generous rubber buttpad, lots I landed a few representative samples to paw over. The obvious starting point was the latest SOPMOD buttstock. Mine came in a MultiCam camouflage pattern. The fit was perfect and the particulars sublime. The rubber buttpad is readily removeable if desired, exposing a nicely textured buttplate underneath. There are two linear slots to accommodate a conventional sling. The universal sling sockets are actually overmolded into the stock chassis during the manufacturing process. Nobody else does that. This process is more expensive, but you cannot rip the sockets loose without utterly destroying the stock. The tubular storage compartments on each side offer a splendid cheekweld. They are also sealed with O-rings to keep these compartments watertight. They are perfectly sized to accommodate CR123 batteries and will carry more than you might reasonably use. Should you feel really froggy, I suspect they would accommodate some emergency backup M&Ms, a miniaturized copy of your last will and testament, or some ChapStick medicated lip balm to help prevent unpleasant chafing in rugged spaces. I didn’t set fire to it or anything, but the B5 Systems SOPMOD stock appears indestructible to me.
The Bravo stock is basically the same thing without the storage compartments. It still offers a markedly superior cheekweld over more traditional fare. In addition to those five colors, these stocks are available in MultiCam, MultiCam Black, Woodland, and Vietnam-era Tiger Stripe camouflage patterns. The CAR15 LS2 grip mimics that of the HK416 and includes a storage compartment in the bottom. The P-Grip 22 is aggressively textured and features a 13-degree grip angle to help keep your strong-side elbow tucked in tight as it should be. Slap in a B5 Systems Grip Plug and you create a little storage compartment there as well. The P-Grip 23 offers the same features along with an extended tang that conforms to the web of your hand for a rigid firm interface between weapon and flesh even when sweaty or terrified. The B5 Systems Vertical M-Lok Grip is a minimalist foregrip solution that mounts directly to any handy standard M-LOK slot with two included mounting bolts. This stubby little grip is big enough for a firm grasp yet sufficiently small as not to snag on stuff. It can be mounted swept forward or aft and is textured on all four sides. This grip immediately found a spot on my standard home defense gun.
Given their GI pedigree, B5 Systems gear is also shockingly reasonably priced. A company rep explained that B5 is a business, but they are not really driven by money. The folks who run B5 are genuinely humble Americans who care about their employees and their customers. They take pride in their products and have fun making them. Everything they offer is made in America by Americans, and they have lots of cool new stuff in the pipeline. B5 Systems is the American dream.