I’m no stranger to using railcovers and handstops. I’ve experimented with a bunch over the years, and have found features that I like, and dislike. I was doing some browsing during the sales from Memorial Day earlier this year, and stumbled upon the Strike Industries Link Cover & Anchor handstop, and decided to give them a try. How do they perform, and are they comparable to their competitors’ offerings?
While this is a single article, I will be reviewing both the Link Cover, and the Anchor. The Link Cover is a rail cover, while the Anchor is a handstop. Both are sold separately, but feature the same attachment method, and have the same texture and materials. Speaking of materials, both products are made of industry standard heat resistant polymer. The screws are metal, and can be flipped to work for either M-LOK, or Keymod.
The Link Covers provide coverage for one M-LOK rail section, and come in packs of five sections. The Anchor covers two full M-LOK sections when mounted. I did not test the Link Covers or Anchor on a Keymod rail, as I don’t own any Keymod.
The MSRP of the Link Cover is $15.95, and the Anchor is $14.95. Pretty good price, given that the product is good. Are they good though?
Mounting the Link Covers & Anchor wasn’t that hard, but it was not as easy as I expected. I found that I had to play with the depth of the M-LOK nut more than with other rail mounted components. I also found that the polymer bosses molded into both components required a real tight squeeze to pop into the rail segment. This is mostly a non-issue, and should help to keep the parts in place.
Fundamentally, the Link Covers do a good job at keeping your hands from burning while shooting, and providing some grip on the gun. However, I found that I really, really dislike the texture on the Covers. The ribbed sections are nice, but due to the giant raised section where the screw mounts, it is lacking in comfort. Is it terrible? No. However, it seems like a flaw to me. If I had to fix this, I would make the rail sections cover more space, such as 3 M-LOK sections. This would spread out the screws more, and would make them more comfortable. The second fix would be for the rail sections to sit taller off of the rail, so that the Cover sits at the same height all of the way through.
On the other hand, the Anchor is actually pretty good. The texturing is great, the angle is good for indexing, and the Anchor is durable. It uses two screws to mount, and doesn’t seem like it will shear off after a hard impact. There’s not a ton to say here; it just works.
I will not recommend the Link Covers, but I like the Anchor enough to recommend it. My biggest gripe is that the Covers are far too pricey for what they are. You only get five M-LOK rail sections worth of cover, and the railcovers are not comfortable. I think that if you want to spend a little less, the BCM railcovers are much nicer. If you want to spend a little more, but get amazing railcovers, the Railscales are still a better buy.
The Anchor is a good handstop for just shy of fifteen bucks, and is something that I can see myself still using after the review. It is comfortable, feels well made, and seems durable enough. It is no Karve-P, but it is still pretty good.
So a swing and a half-hit from Strike Industries. Their products are very hit and miss, and these are no different.
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