A couple of years ago, I purchased a Smith and Wesson VTAC M&P15 from a coworker. It became one of my favorite rifles pretty quickly. The rifle was spec’d by Kyle Lamb, head dude in charge over at Viking Tactics and is street ready.
A few months ago, I walked into my local gun shop and they had a VTAC 2 in stock. I handled the rifle, and after some internal debate, I became the new owner of the VTAC 2.
I won’t go into the differences of the VTAC 1 and 2 but I will say that are significant. The VTAC 2 comes standard with a Troy VTAC 13 inch rail system, a Geissele “Super V” trigger system, a VLTOR IMOD stock, a padded Vikings Tactics sling, a VTAC front sling adapter, VTAC light mount and all necessary hardware to mount it all up.
To sum it up, the rifle is short the Surefire Fury, Aimpoint T1, a set of iron sights, and magazines from being the complete street ready semi-custom rifle.
My initial impressions of the VTAC 2 showed the same quality that Smith and Wesson rifles are known for. My initial impression of shooting the rifle were even better. I have long been a bit of hypocrite as it comes to the “custom” AR triggers. A little custom work smoothing out a pistol trigger is ok, but if you couldn’t shoot a stock AR trigger you are some kind of girly man. The Geissele Super V changed that. I noticed compared to some of the other “speed” type triggers, that the Super V gives the shooter something to prep into. Thus, making the shots faster, and more accurate. Right before I began writing this article, I changed out the brake that comes on the VTAC 2 for a Surefire SOCOM. At about 80 yards, I fired 20 rounds in about 10 seconds at a standard popper from standing. I saw dirt fly on only one round and the rest hit the popper at that speed. Color me really impressed.
For a police officer who trains, and could milk the rifle for what it is worth, it is a great value. The thing that stuck out to me is that for the $1600 or so that you can find these guns for, when you add up the accessories, you can’t build one yourself for that price. It is a great value for a street rifle. The other potential advantage is the ability to have a semi-custom rifle as being “factory” to satisfy department regulations for some officers.
The rifle currently has about 3,000 rounds down the pipe. About half that was put down range by a student at a class after his rifle went down hard.
I am really impressed with the VTAC 2 and would recommend it to anyone who wants a bit of custom tweaking in a factory, street ready rifle. I ditched the A2 pistol grip and charging handle for a BCM, added the Magpul trigger guard, and gave it a coat of Aervoe. While the changes were not necessary to have a great rifle out of the box, I like the ability to have minor tweaks to make a good rifle better. It is now my primary training rifle. I’ll check back in around the 5,000 round mark.
I bought the original S&W VTAC and have been very pleased with it – it served me well in carbine classes. I agree that the VTAC 2 is a great deal. It truly is a lot of rifle for the money when you take into account all the features.
Can you comment on the reliability of the gun? Have u had any malfunctions and how’s the gun holding up? I’m looking at picking one up because it will meet dept regs as being factory.
Thanks