Skylerbone
Member
A few weeks ago I asked after opinions on the Tandemkross Kraken complete lower from any owners. If you have read that thread you will have seen the unboxing with close-ups which I will include here as well, but much of the following will be review which can be skimmed or skipped over to simply review the target pictures. I am frequently long winded, no need to endure that twice.
Greetings both ladies and gentlemen to my initial short review of the Tandemkross Kraken Lower for the Ruger Mark IV platform. [TK] has realized the first to market aluminum alloy frame available to replace the OEM plastic one shipped with every Mk IV 22/45, a configuration many shooters find preferable to the Lugeresque grip angle of the standard Mk Series.
Now that we know what it is, why all the fuss? Who would spend $600 for half a pistol when a factory configured 22/45 can be had for less? Surely aluminum is not by any degree so far superior to modern polymers as to warrant a premium by comparison while leaving the purchaser still short the whole way up top.
That would indeed be a fair assessment if the Kraken lower were only a direct replacement. What that extra money buys you however is more than $300 worth of replacement parts all neatly packed into a Cerakoted race ready package. Trigger job, done. Extended controls, done. Magazine disconnect, gone. Comfortable rubberized finger groove grips, high cut trigger guard, backstrap texturing, frame lock to eliminate potential upper/lower slop - check. Now that we know what it is let’s find out how it faired.
Tandemkross estimated a 3-4 week lead time to assemble my Kraken which was ordered on 4-7-2022 and received on the 26th, 19 days later. As there are color options for both frame and controls a number of combinations are possible which would make prebuilt back stock less practical given the 16 available combinations. My lower arrived in excellent condition, neatly packed and free of damage all within the given time frame.
After snapping the two halves together and tightening the the hex grub screw to lock things down what I held was an incredibly comfortable, weighty pistol that begged the question why would anyone forgo all of this for the more pedestrian version if they planned on any of the previously mentioned upgrades?
Performance on range day. How did it shoot? In a word, better than I could, given an RDS and my astigmatism. Having purchased an OEM take-off barreled receiver and complete bolt it is impossible for me to say what, if anything the Kraken contributed to accuracy. Of course the case for nothing is valid, given that the accuracy potential resides wholly with the upper, but having a light, crisp trigger release complimented by a flat faced shoe with overtravel screw aids in realizing that potential. In a word though it was fantastic.
Conditions were far from ideal and due to wind gusts in excess of 30 mph all shooting was confined to 15 yards to eliminate that variable. Targets below were shot using a combination of Federal AutoMatch and Aguila SuperExtra with the Aguila owning the smaller groupings.
Another typical Iowa weather day at the range. Windy with intermittent light to heavy showers and a tornado watch as we finished up.
All shooting was done seated from 15 yards using my small front rest for stability, hands not rested.
The view to targets from the 15 yard line.
Initial target with bore sighted impact high and left (the more solid group) and after adjustment those more centered shots.
A close up with my thumb for scale (as if anyone knows how big my thumb is). Realize the Vortex Venom’s 3 MOA dot covers a good deal of the red target center even before accounting for my astigmatism. So like, give me a break, man.
Same target with paster added and 1 Mulligan not ammo related. Right target using AutoMatch ammo.
AutoMatch
Aguila SE
I kept busy during the windiest moments shooting clays on the berm to avoid fatigue.
Was my shooting terrific? Ummm...no. Was it as good as I typically manage? And then some. While those targets are nothing to write home about I was pleased with the results and more importantly just smitten with the handling of the Mark IV as configured.
At just under $1k as shown it would be all too easy to suffer buyer’s remorse when considering any number of other possible purchases. Pitting it against a stock 22/45 with identical optic and a street price of $720 I consider it a bargain. All of that will of course hinge on what any given shooter thinks of rimfire and perhaps of the Ruger specifically but as for me, I have zero regrets.
Greetings both ladies and gentlemen to my initial short review of the Tandemkross Kraken Lower for the Ruger Mark IV platform. [TK] has realized the first to market aluminum alloy frame available to replace the OEM plastic one shipped with every Mk IV 22/45, a configuration many shooters find preferable to the Lugeresque grip angle of the standard Mk Series.
Now that we know what it is, why all the fuss? Who would spend $600 for half a pistol when a factory configured 22/45 can be had for less? Surely aluminum is not by any degree so far superior to modern polymers as to warrant a premium by comparison while leaving the purchaser still short the whole way up top.
That would indeed be a fair assessment if the Kraken lower were only a direct replacement. What that extra money buys you however is more than $300 worth of replacement parts all neatly packed into a Cerakoted race ready package. Trigger job, done. Extended controls, done. Magazine disconnect, gone. Comfortable rubberized finger groove grips, high cut trigger guard, backstrap texturing, frame lock to eliminate potential upper/lower slop - check. Now that we know what it is let’s find out how it faired.
Tandemkross estimated a 3-4 week lead time to assemble my Kraken which was ordered on 4-7-2022 and received on the 26th, 19 days later. As there are color options for both frame and controls a number of combinations are possible which would make prebuilt back stock less practical given the 16 available combinations. My lower arrived in excellent condition, neatly packed and free of damage all within the given time frame.
After snapping the two halves together and tightening the the hex grub screw to lock things down what I held was an incredibly comfortable, weighty pistol that begged the question why would anyone forgo all of this for the more pedestrian version if they planned on any of the previously mentioned upgrades?
Performance on range day. How did it shoot? In a word, better than I could, given an RDS and my astigmatism. Having purchased an OEM take-off barreled receiver and complete bolt it is impossible for me to say what, if anything the Kraken contributed to accuracy. Of course the case for nothing is valid, given that the accuracy potential resides wholly with the upper, but having a light, crisp trigger release complimented by a flat faced shoe with overtravel screw aids in realizing that potential. In a word though it was fantastic.
Conditions were far from ideal and due to wind gusts in excess of 30 mph all shooting was confined to 15 yards to eliminate that variable. Targets below were shot using a combination of Federal AutoMatch and Aguila SuperExtra with the Aguila owning the smaller groupings.
Another typical Iowa weather day at the range. Windy with intermittent light to heavy showers and a tornado watch as we finished up.
All shooting was done seated from 15 yards using my small front rest for stability, hands not rested.
The view to targets from the 15 yard line.
Initial target with bore sighted impact high and left (the more solid group) and after adjustment those more centered shots.
A close up with my thumb for scale (as if anyone knows how big my thumb is). Realize the Vortex Venom’s 3 MOA dot covers a good deal of the red target center even before accounting for my astigmatism. So like, give me a break, man.
Same target with paster added and 1 Mulligan not ammo related. Right target using AutoMatch ammo.
AutoMatch
Aguila SE
I kept busy during the windiest moments shooting clays on the berm to avoid fatigue.
Was my shooting terrific? Ummm...no. Was it as good as I typically manage? And then some. While those targets are nothing to write home about I was pleased with the results and more importantly just smitten with the handling of the Mark IV as configured.
At just under $1k as shown it would be all too easy to suffer buyer’s remorse when considering any number of other possible purchases. Pitting it against a stock 22/45 with identical optic and a street price of $720 I consider it a bargain. All of that will of course hinge on what any given shooter thinks of rimfire and perhaps of the Ruger specifically but as for me, I have zero regrets.
