I will let the last video do all the talking. Needless to say, I’m really enjoying this firearm…it’s by far my favorite! Enjoy.
Some range footage:
Year: 2019
Categories
PSA AK-V MOE – First Range Visit!
I had fun today! I ended up shooting 199 rounds from the AK-V. In an hour. I had 100 rounds of Wolf 115-gr FMJ and 100 rounds of Winchester White Box 115-gr FMJ.
I started out at 10 yards, then went to 25, then to 20, then focused on 15 yards. I had no issue staying on the paper while out to 25 and when I moved to 20 (to better see where I was shooting), I ate the bulls-eye up! This pistol is easy to shoot. It has very little recoil and you can shoot it fast with ease.
I did have 4 FTEs, though, with one mag. It was the CZ Scorpion mag that I believe is the issue. It’s spring is very stiff, to the point that my finger is sore from loading it. I think it may break in. We’ll see. It wasn’t related to ammo because it did it with both brands of ammo. As well, the bolt didn’t hold open several times. There was also a time where one round didn’t want to feed and was jammed into the chamber. When I tried to get the bolt to hold open so I could get the round out, it slammed shut, forcing the round into the chamber. When I tried to eject the round, I couldn’t get the bolt open, but the trigger was live so I fired it out. The casing came out but I didn’t see where it went (so I could look at it). It did this a second time as well, but I was able to get the round out.
I have range footage but my camera wasn’t positioned well (I couldn’t preview the footage to ensure proper framing).
Hopefully, I can get better range footage next time.
While I was waiting form my PSA AK-V to ship, I decided to order two Manticore Arms CZ Scorpion EVO mags from Prepper Gun Shop. They were $20 each. I didn’t want to order PSA mags because I’d forgotten to order them with the firearm and they were taking a long time to ship the gun.
These are the clear mags that are made for Prepper Gun Shop to sell.
They are very nice. Whereas the PSA mags are 35-round, these Manticore mags hold 32 rounds. The PSA mags have plastic feed lips that are metal-reinforced. The Manticore mags’ feed lips are all metal. PSA mags have a soft rubber base plate. The Manticore mags do not.
The Manticore mag springs are stiff as hell. It took awhile to load the mags…they were that stiff. The PSA mag spring wasn’t anywhere near as stiff and loaded easily. We’ll see if the CZ mags will break-in, otherwise I may have to get two PSA mags to replace them.
I also had to wear leather gloves when loading them because the metal feed lips are sharp! I might have to take a file to them to lessen the sharpness of them.
I meant to go to the range today but ran out of time. I’ll try again tomorrow (Sunday).
I had been spending a good bit of time researching my next rifle purchase.
I was looking for a 9mm AK variant (but was also considering a Grand Power Stribog). I wanted a pistol caliber rifle, preferably short-barreled.
I had the following list:
- Century Arms NAK9X
- Century Arms NAK9
- Palmetto State Armory AK-V
The Stribog was on the list but dropped it after a process of elimination.
I’d also struck the AK-V off the list because it was, 1) never available, 2) when it was available, it was a high dollar variant, and 3) compared to the NAK9 and NAK9X, it was expensive.
Last night I was looking at NAK9s and I wanted one with a brace already on it. That raised the price by ~$120. For a few more dollars more, I could’ve gotten a fully-optioned 9X. So I nixed the NAK9.
I found a NAK9X that had a great price (no tax and no CC fee). I had it bookmarked (on Gunbroker.com).
Then I checked PSA’s page as a last minute check before committing to the NAK9X. They had an AK-V for $799. While that was a quite a high price for me, I decided to get it anyways. Why? I can make it match my AK-P by ordering the red wood furniture later, it has a lifetime warranty, and it doesn’t have that cheesy plastic magwell that the NAK9 and 9X have. Full price for the firearm was $864.99. That does not include transfer fees at my end (it will be another $32). I balked at the $900 AK-V’s price but I’m close to that now. Granted, the $900 AK-V would be close to $1K when all the fees were added.
This is the one I purchased: PSA AK-V 9mm MOE SBA3 Pistol, Black – 5165450169
This WILL be my last firearm for a while (the next 12 months at least). My wife might flip, but I did let her know that with the anti-gunners on a rampage, I wanted some guns that might be banned from purchase in the near future.
UPDATE – 10/16/2019: The AK-V will ship tomorrow (it has a UPS tracking slip and number but UPS hasn’t picked it up yet. It’s two day shipping so it may not even get here until Monday. The FFL will probably call me on Monday to arrange for me to get it on Tuesday. I’ve no idea why PSA waited 8-9 days to ship. They said they were very busy with orders but they still took my damned money. I do NOT like spending that kind of money and waiting for them decide to ship…that’s hokey as hell and that’s one reason why I don’t buy from Bud’s Gunshop anymore. This will be the last time I buy from PSA. As well, I bought two 32-round CZ Scorpion mags for this pistol (they will fit). I’ll discuss them more in an upcoming video.
UPDATE – 10/21/2019: The AK-V was delivered around noon time at the FFL. I’m awaiting their call.
UPDATE – 10/24/2019: Video coming soon!
First things first, the AK-P is NOT a good firearm for indoor shooting. It was seriously loud.
My range notes are below:
- First time shooting a pistol in 7.62×39.
- Oh man. The bang is LOUD and BRIGHT (my range is an indoor range).
- I shot 3 different types of mags (two metal imports and one 10-round Magpul). There were no issues.
- The gun got hot but was still manageable. I shot all the rounds standing up, but I did change my grip from handguard to mag (mag grip was better).
- I recorded but the footage was corrupt when I got home and checked it. 🙁 WTF Polaroid…this isn’t the first time this has happened. All the more reason to visit the range again soon.
- I should think about shooting this outside. It is super loud (I’m not exaggerating). I’ve no doubt it was pissing off the guys next to me.
- I was mainly hitting upper left (I usually hit low left), but was hitting bulls-eye at the beginning…I think I got fatigued toward the end of the 1-hour session.
- All ammo was RSA FMJBT 7.62×39.
- Also, note that I didn’t zero the firearm, but it shot well enough (I hit the bulls-eye several times when firing the first mag).
What ticked me off was the camera not working. That’s inexcusable, IMO. It recorded but the footage corrupted. I may need to get something that’s more dependable.
I plan to go again tomorrow in an attempt to capture footage again.
I wanted to quickly mention that with some makes of ammo (ie, Browning or Winchester), you see flat-nosed and JHP. Most people think flat-nosed is for guns that have issues feeding reliably (vs. JHP, which can sometimes jam a gun such as a 1911). That’s not always the case, though.
I’ll use Cabelas’ ammo description of Browning Performance Target (BPT) ammo as a reference:
- Same bullet wt. and velocity as BXP Personal Defense Ammo
- Provides the same feel at the range as self-defense ammo
- Black-nickel shell plating improves reliability and feeding
Confidence at the range corresponds to confidence in self-defense situations. Browning’s Performance Target Pistol Ammo provides the same performance as BXP Personal Defense Ammo. Matched-performance ammo has the same bullet weight and velocity so you get the exact same feel at the range as you will in real-life situations with your BXP Ammo at a lower cost. Created with the highest standards of innovation, precision and technology. Black-nickel shell plating improves reliability and feeding.
There’s a product that matches this ammo, only it’s JHP. They’re meant to compliment each other:
Notice that the above rounds are JHP. The first depicted box of ammo is FMJ but shares the same bullet weight as the JHP product and has the same velocity as well. The FMJ is meant for the range (practicing/training). The personal defense ammo (the JHP) is meant for defense — you can train with it but it is not cheap and is sold in a box of 20 (vs the 50 of the FMJ). The FMJ mimics the JHP ammo (it’s nose is flat to mimic JHP). It’s bullet weight and velocity is the same so that you can train as if you were using the JHP variant of this ammo. This is ideal, instead of having to spend a lot of money training with your defense ammo.
Winchester also uses the same scheme. I think that’s pretty cool, but wanted to inform folks of this, in case they’re not aware.
Today I ordered a red PSA AK-P with an SBA4 brace. This is an AK pistol chambered in 7.62×39. This will be the first AK I bought that has actual wood. I was going to get a Magpul version but was torn on what color of polymer to get. Then I saw that they had red wood and the red is deep in color.
I wanted to get an AK pistol before they were banned/restricted. (Sorry, I’m not interested in AR pistols at this time, although that may change; at one point, I wasn’t interested in 1911s nor AKs.)
I’m not sure when this will be arriving, as I ordered it the Wednesday (night) before Labor Day. It may arrive this coming Tuesday or Wednesday.
As well, I tried to order a PSA AK-V (9mm AK pistol), but I spent too long trying to decide between it and the Century Arms NAK9X…I tried to add the AK-V to the shopping cart and found that someone already bought it…it was the last one. :/ So, either I wait for more to be available or I get the NAK9X. I wanted the PSA due to it’s warranty, but they are very similar. I believe the PSA is cleaner. Neither have been heavily reviewed. I can actually wait on this purchase. Maybe I can find something cheaper than these two, like a decent Draco with a tube brace.
UPDATE – 9/2: Well, it actually shipped today (9/2/19), although UPS says it’s not shipped yet — only the shipping label has been created. It’ll actually ship tomorrow, probably (9/3/19). This is so that people have an idea of how fast PSA ships firearms. I ordered the night of 8/28. That was a Wednesday night. It is currently Monday (Labor Day).
UPDATE 2 – 9/3: And, it really shipped today; so sayeth UPS. It’ll be here on Thursday (9/5).
UPDATE 3 – 9/7: It is here (I picked it up yesterday) —
I ordered 5 x AK-47 magazines from Gunmagwarehouse.com this past Thursday. They will arrive sometime Monday. These are Bulgarian mags with the typical ribbed look. They’re made of steel and are 30-round mags with a polymer follower (I’m not bothered by that). They’ve good reviews. I ordered these to replace the Croatian mags that my AMD-63 seems to hate.
I still have not shot the SAM7UF nor tested the Croatian mags on that particular rifle. That’s coming soon. I do believe the SAM7 will accept the Croatian mags, though, as I stuck a loaded mag into the firearm and the rifle chambered a round without issue (something the AMD-63 won’t do with those mags).
UPDATE: I was finally able to order some snap caps in 7.62×39 (they are plastic, though, and are already chipping and cracking). I ordered five of them. I tested the Croatian mags with them since I didn’t really want to test by chambering live rounds in my house. All four of the Croatian mags will properly mount in all my AKs but the PSA AK-P. The non-PSA AKs will actually strip the snap caps from three of the mags and chamber the fake rounds. One mag has issues where none of the AKs will feed rounds from it (note that I did not test that mag in the SAM7 – I tested it in the AMD-63).
Range Notes:
Shot 52 rounds (1 hour session). 40 of these were PPU ammo from the last range visit. The last 12 were the new RAS 7.62×39 ammo I recently bought.
There were no malfunctions.
I tried to use the Croatian mags again, thinking that they may work if they had less ammo, so I put in 5 rounds. It would not strip ammo from the mag with this rifle. These mags will be for the SAM7 only, I guess. A pity…they look nice and are BHO (bolt hold open).
I spent the whole hour range session chasing the bullseye. I found that if I put the target out further (40 yards for me, since I can’t see the target beyond that), I had a better aim. At 25 yards, the bullets drop, even if my POA is at the bullseye. At 40, it raises near BE level. Now, I’ve to ensure my trigger squeeze is consistent, because I think I either flinch a lot or I’m jerking the trigger, as I had a lot of flyers to the lower left.
I also think my front sight is canted to the left. I saw footage from the new camera. I saw the spine of the rifle and the front sight looked off. I’ll ask questions on the forums and maybe see about finding a gunsmith that can straighten it.
I’ll take the SAM7 out next just to see if I can hit the BE easier than the AMD-63 (note that some Arsenals DO have canted sights).
The new camera works GREAT! I just need a bigger micro SD card, as I ran out of card space at the range today!
Oh, and the bolt carrier tail is pretty mangled. I may have to take a file to the ragged edges. It hasn’t hung on the rear trunion…yet.
Range footage is here:
Some things I’ve discovered:
I took the cleaning rod from my SAM7UF to see if it would fit on my AMD-63 and it does. I tried it before and it wouldn’t go in all the way and would poke out a bit beyond the latching spot under the front sight. Well, I put it back in and wiggled it around a tad and it dropped fully into place. It will latch.
I wanted to share that since it’s is supposed to be common knowledge that these will not accept cleaning rods. They will.
So, I think I’m going to just order one from K-VAR to use in the AMD-63.
As well, I removed the gas tube and hand guard from the SAM7UF today, since I hadn’t done it since I bought it (wanted to be sure there was no damage or hidden anomalies). The latches were stiff but I was able to remove them. I saw no flaws but there was preservative on the underside of the hand guard. Because of this, I’m almost positive that this firearm has never been fired, otherwise that preservative would’ve either baked onto the heat shield or dissipated.
I also looked at some of the 7.62×39 casings from my last range visit and found that they’re dinged to hell. I also have brass markings on the dust cover of the AMD-63. I researched and found that this is normal for AK-47s. I’d initially thought that there was something wrong with the firearm, but the research shows that this normally occurs with these rifles.
No, I’ve not yet been to the range. Maybe I’ll visit the range tomorrow after work.