Dark Star Gear 360 Kit Adapter Review [2025]

Last year I wrote a quick piece announcing the release of the 360 Kit Adapter from Dark Star Gear. Over the past several months I’ve had the opportunity to work with my personal sample in both live and dry fire. How does it stand up to time on the range?

Design of the Dark Star Gear 360 Kit Adapter

The 360 Kit Adapter from Dark Star Gear is surprisingly simple in design. It’s a hard polymer replacement buttpad for the Magpul SGA series of stocks. To add this to your gun, simply remove the spacers and recoil pad from your SGA stock. Then simply slide the Kit Adapter into your SGA in the void left from removing the spacers, and use the provided screw to lock the Adapter into place. For this review I mounted mine of my old Mossberg Maverick 88.

Smooth polymer texture avoids unwanted grabbing on clothes or gear, allowing for a smooth mount. Slight texturing at the top and bottom of the Kit Adapter help prevent slipping under recoil. This smooth texture pairs excellently with the significantly reduced length of pull offered by the Adapter.

This product is designed for uses where the shooter needs shorter than usual length of pull. Think along the lines of law enforcement wearing armor, or cold environments where layers start adding up. Smaller statured shooters may also find the Adapter especially useful, even without layers or armor.

Range Time

Dry practice can help us get an idea of how things work without spending much money or leaving home. That said, I was very curious to see what I thought of the 360 Kit Adapter in live fire. With this in mind I headed out to the desert to send some rounds down range.

Starting out, I loaded my Mossberg Maverick with some mild Federal Top Gun #8 birdshot. With this I ran through some “up” drills on a steel silhouette at 15 yards, dialing in my mount on the gun. The significantly shorter LOP took some getting used to, but I started getting the hang of it surprisingly quickly. You’ll definitely want to square up to the target with your shoulders, which may take a little effort if you’re someone who finds themselves blading their body when shooting.

Next I moved over to Winchester Super-X slugs. These are full power slugs, coming in at 1600FPS, giving me the opposite end of the recoil spectrum compared to the previous birdshot. Stepping up to my paper silhouette, I expected to get a little rattled by these next few rounds. The lack of a rubber recoil pad tempered my enthusiasm to press the trigger, but eventually things went bang. Surprisingly, the 360 Kit Adapter felt pretty okay under the recoil of the slugs! While I could certainly feel the thump of the gun, my shoulder was no worse for wear during or after my range time.

Length of Pull Considerations

I want to reiterate that the 360 Kit Adapter is short. Length of pull with it attached to a Magpul SGA stock is about an inch or more in my measurements. Most shotguns typically have an LOP of 13 or more inches, with 12-inches often being considered a sweet spot for defensive shotguns. I stand at just over six feet tall and have slightly long arms for my height. Shooting during the early Spring in Nevada, I found myself wearing just a sweater and undershirt on the range.

It was a little awkward to use the 360 Kit Adapter initially, but over time I began to get more familiar with it. While not ideal for my situation, I could make this work, so long as I put in a little bit of work to tune up my mount. If you’re taller, or don’t find yourself regularly wearing gear, you won’t be completely out of luck with this addition on your gun. The Kit Adapter certainly allows for a wide variety of shooters, or someone varying their clothing/gear to use the same gun without frequent modification.

Your form will play a bigger role in your success with the gun. Don’t sweat a gun that’s shorter than normal.

Final Thoughts on the Dark Star Gear 360 Kit Adapter

Overall I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the 360 Kit Adapter. Between my size and the Adapter’s lack of recoil pad, I was less than enthusiastic when I first acquired my sample. Live fire helped to inform my opinions, and I’ve come away far more happy with it than I expected. I don’t know if I’ll keep the Adapter on my Maverick, as I don’t regularly wear armor or thick layers, but I’m certainly not opposed to shooting with it again.

If you’re someone who is looking for a way to reduce your shotgun’s length of pull, give the 360 Kit Adapter some serious consideration. You can pick one up from Dark Star Gear now. MSRP is $47.99 as of this writing.

You can get yours directly from Dark Star Gear >>HERE<<

You can also train with Ashton at 360 Performance Shooting >>HERE<<

Author’s Note: This 360 Kit Adapter was given to me, free of charge, by Ashton Ray of 360 Performance Shooting, for purposes of evaluation. No expectation of a review, positive or otherwise, was provided by either party.

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