Author: r2kba.patriot

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AK Master Mount Midwest Industries Romeo5 RS Regulate

I Bought Two AK Rails and an AK Rail Mounting System

I bought the following parts and test-fitted them to my bastardized AK-63DS:

  • RS Regulate sight mounting system
  • Midwest Industries sight mounting system
  • AK Master Mount Sight Rail (this is where the above mounting systems attach to the firearm)

I think I like the RS Regulate gear’s fitment better than the Midwest Industries rail. 

Something about the documentation of the MI rail rubbed me the wrong way…several warnings regarding voiding warranty if you don’t read their jacked up instructions; the metal shavings coming off the parts as you use it.  I’ve owned it less than a week and just the minor adjustments alone has caused serious wear, and I’ve followed the instructions to the letter.  I opted to not return the rail since I know they’ll bitch about the shavings and attempt to blame me of misuse, but I’ll leave a just review.

Why did I immediately buy an RS Regulate rail system immediately after buying the MI system?  I didn’t trust the MI system.  As well, the MI system mounts the rail up too high.  I’d have returned it for a low profile version but it was more expensive than the unit I ordered and I didn’t want MI bitching about the 20 minutes usage and 1 years’ worth of wear on the locking cam.

Next, I’m going to maybe grind down the AK Master Mount’s hex screw head, hoping I don’t mess it up (I’ve a spare if I do, but the kit only came with three screws).  I could call them up to see if they can offer screws with smaller heads.  Or, I could just look up a local AK gunsmith and have him take care of it.  We’ll see. UPDATE (12/14/2023): I ended up just using a dremel cutting wheel to cut off the nub of metal that’s sticking up from the trigger guard. I ensured the edges of the cut weren’t sharp. Doing this enabled me to properly tighten that screw (shown in the 3rd pic from the bottom of the group of pics).

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AK Master Mount AK47 Midwest Industries rail Railed Scope Mount RS Regulate

RS Regulate and AK Master Mount Rail are Inbound to Me!

So I received and installed the bunch of AK47 goodies mentioned when I last posted.

Several things worth mentioning:

1.  The AK Master Mount fit perfectly onto the AMD-63 but one of the screw heads is too big, so I can’t tighten it down flush.  It will require either some grinding on the trigger guard guide or the screw head to lessen the diameter of the head.  This is not a problem with the product but with my firearm (that trigger guard may be non-standard AK equipment…not sure yet).

2.  The railed scope mount is difficult to adjust.  It took me 20 minutes just to ensure I wasn’t breaking the throw lever (never mind that there were several threats within the included documentation that if you broke it while adjusting it, you wouldn’t be eligible for a refund…that’s not confidence-inspiring to read nor does it inspire confidence in the product).

3.  The railed scope mount is probably not the proper product for use with a RDS.  I mounted my two RDS’s and they were not able to cowitness because the scopes were mounted too high.  The rail is too high-profile.  I need something lower profile so that I can cowitness properly.  As it is now, the dots are as low as they can be adjusted and they’re still too high over the front sight post.

I thought about returning the railed scope mount but I may be able to use it with other scopes that don’t require co-witness (ie, high power magnification scopes), so I’m going to keep it.  As well, the adjustments I made to the mount and the mounting process has shaved some metal from the lever catch…I can see Midwest, with all that threatening in the documentation, making a fuss over that, never mind the instructions not being for the proper product.

I’ve ordered a better mount for my needs, from RS Regulate:

Lower rail mount

Upper rail mount

Joined products:

They should ship tomorrow (Monday).  Hopefully, I’ll have them by the end of the week.

Categories
AK Master Mount Railed Scope Mount RDS Romeo 5 Sig Sauer

Next Batch of AK47 Goodies on the way!

I reported awhile back that I bought the Butler Creek ASAP Universal Magazine Loader for the AK47 and the Magna-Matic Defense Front Sight Adjustment Tool.

I’ve been using them both without issue.  The sight adjustment tool did leave scratches and gouge marks all over the front sight, though.

My next batch of AK items are on the way:

I ordered the former from Amazon and the latter from AK Operator’s Union.

The former will arrive tomorrow and the latter will arrive the day after.  Friday or Saturday, I’ll be visiting the range to sight in the new Sig Sauer Romeo 5 2-MOA RDS that I bought during Black Friday sales events.

I’ll post up when I’ve installed and used these items.

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AK-47 AKM AMD-63 Elite Shooting Sports

I FINALLY Shot the AMD-63!

So, after work today, I took my AMD-63 to my local range. I used an hour of range time to get the rifle zeroed.  It took a full hour, as the instructions I used instructions that came with my sight adjustment tool were not the best.  I used Google on my phone to find some other written instructions and while those covered what the other instructions didn’t, they left out things as well.  I was confused as to how to adjust the front sight post.  The instructions were not clear and I ended up walking the sight post in the opposite directions as what I intended.

The range I use (Elite Shooting Sports) is an indoor range.  They have a 100-yard range and I thought I’d need long range to zero the sights.  Nope.  All I needed was 25 yards.  I couldv’e used the handgun range instead.

I shot approximately 36 rounds.  I shot Red Army Standard 124-grain FMJBT (I’ve like 500 rounds of that).  I was shooting in groupings of three and checking to see where the groups were landing and attempting to make adjustments.  I ended up zeroed my last 5 minutes of the session.

The first grouping was pretty tight, IMO (1-inch group):

The tang that the hammer strikes is mushroomed a bit but that’s pretty much normal for most AKs.  It’s only mushrooming due to the Tapco trigger group that was installed to keep the firearm compliant.  The Tapco hammer is harder than than the tang.  The original trigger group did not beat up the tang (otherwise, it would’ve been bad when I first received it).  Eventually, the mushrooming will stop.  Once it does, I’ll dremel away the mushrooming.

The Tapco mags performed flawlessly.

I had a serious amount of fun.  I will probably be shooting this rifle a lot more often!

Some range footage is below.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/uT5He3X3K1sW2JFLA

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G19 Glock Springfield Armory XD45

I Decided to Switch My Carry Gun

I’ve switched from carrying the Glock 19 gen 4 to the Springfield Armory XD45 subcompact in Mod 2 format.

Why the change?

I’d always been interested in the XD45.  I bought this used (see my last post).  It appears to have a very low round count…there’s slight barrel wear (just the black finish has worn) and there’s one place on the slide that has finish wear.  I took it to the range and shot a bit over 100 rounds from it.  It has VERY manageable recoil (remember, it shoots .45ACP) for a firearm it’s size.  I had no issues firing it…there were no hiccups or malfunctions.  I shoot this better than I do my 1911 of the same caliber.  The grip safety doesn’t bother me and I’ve carried the 9mm counterpart in the past so I’m familiar with the platform.

There was nothing to not like about the gun.  It is a good bit smaller than my G19 and I’d been thinking of going back to my XD9 anyways.  The XD45’s raw price was $320 but after all the fees, it was $420, which is still a great price for a basically new firearm.  I can basically switch carrying the XD45 to the XD9 (and back) without any issue.  I did that during my last range visit and because the two guns share the same platform, I had no issues being accurate or getting used to triggers when switching between both handguns.  Recoil happens after the round has been fired, so it doesn’t affect my accuracy (unless I’m anticipating it).

I’d been using the Alien Gear Cloak Tuck 3.0 holster with the XD9 subcompact shell when I first started carrying.  The XD45 will fit in that holster without issue.

Magazine capacity is 9 rounds with the normal magazine, although it comes with a 13-round extended magazine as well (which I use as a backup mag).  I’ll be getting a few other 9-round mags soon, so that when I go to the range, I don’t spend most of my time loading up mags.

The sights are great, but are not good in low-light situations, so I may have to get new sights.  I’ll probably not go with XS Big Dots this time.  If I can find a set that have the same profile as the current ones but are night sights, I’ll be fine.  Or, I can keep them as-is and not mess up a good thing.  I’ll figure out which direction I want to go soon.

Categories
45ACP Mod.2 Springfield Armory sub-compact XD45 XD9

I Bought a Subcompact Chambered in 45ACP!

So, I’d been thinking about larger caliber handguns lately, and love my XD 9 subcompact.  I’d heard great reviews on the XD 45 variant.  I found a used XD 45 that was being sold for $329.  After shipping and taxes, it was priced at $389…still a steal!  I bought it this past Sunday.  It should arrive at my FFL on Saturday.  Due to that, I might have to wait until Sunday or Monday to pick it up.

The handgun will come with a 9-round and 13-round magazine and nothing else.

While I’m excited about the handgun, I’m a bit miffed about the shipping.  The damned gun is in-state.  The store that sold it to me is in Virginia Beach.  I’m in the Manassas area.  I could’ve driven to pick it up and saved the $50 in shipping (at least).  I bought it on Sunday night via Gunbroker.com.  They wanted an over-the-phone transaction so I called them Monday morning when they opened.  I’d already contacted my local FFL (my range) so they were aware of the purchase and incoming firearm.  I asked them to send their FFL info to the store where I bought the handgun.  I think they sent their FFL info to the store either late Monday or Tuesday morning.  I got an email from USPS stating that the gun was due to be shipped but hadn’t been picked up yet…that was Tuesday morning around 10AM.  The firearm sat a the store all day…wasn’t picked up until late that evening.  It’s due to arrive 12/15.  That’s 3 days for transport when I could drive to that store and be there within 3 hours (max).  WTF.  Most people would blame the shipping (USPS) but I’ve bought firearms from out of state that didn’t take 3 days to arrive at the local post office.  I know shipping can be expensive for a business but shit, didn’t I pay $30 for shipping?  That shipping fee results in the slowest mailing method?  That’s B.S. IMO.  I won’t be buying from them again.  And, this is a mom/pop, brick-mortar store.  People always harp on supporting local and/or brick-mortar stores but when crap like this happens, I hear nothing but crickets.

Anyways, I’m going to be using my XD 9 subcompact Alien Gear holster for the XD 45 since I hear they’re compatible with the holster.  I’ll probably end up buying 2-3 extra 9-round mags as well.

The plan is to carry this handgun.  I’ll keep you all updated as I become familiar with it.

UPDATE (12/15/2018):
She has arrived, and two days early (picked her up at 8:30AM yesterday before heading to work).  Was not able to shoot from her since I had to go straight to work.  Will try to take her out today — getting dressed now, in fact!

UPDATE (1/1/2019) –

I’ve done a quick review here:

Categories
Glock 19 Grand Power P11 SIG Sauer P320

I’d Not Been To the Range In Quite A While

I’ll admit right now that I’d not been to the range since April 2018, until this past week.  I went to the range after work (I didn’t even change out of work clothes).

I took the Grand Power P11, the P320 (which is currently in a subcompact configuration), 100 rounds of WWB FMJ and 100 rounds of Wolf FMJ (both 115-grain).  And of course, I was CCing my Glock 19.  I neglected to charge up my mini-camera, so there’s no shooting footage this time.

I ran out of rounds before my one-hour session finished.

Sig Sauer P320 Compact – 78
Grand Power P11 Mk12 – 72
Glock 19 – 50

There was one malfunction between the three firearms and 200 rounds of ammo, but I do not believe it was the firearms.  Of course it was the Grand Power that exhibited a fail to feed.  I tried to feed that round 5-6 times and it would not feed at all.  At first I thought it was a fail to return to battery but then when I saw that it wouldn’t feed no matter how I tried, I determined that the ammo was bad.  I would’ve tried to see if one of the other handguns would’ve chambered/shot it but I didn’t know if the projectile was pushed in (making the round over-pressured).  I chucked that round.  Now, the Grand Power is very tight tolerance-wise.  Some people may fault the gun for that.  For me, no.  The ammo has to be good.  Reputable SD ammo would be within tolerance.  FMJ (ie, practice ammo) should not be expected to be perfect.

Overall, it was a good range session but I promise to myself that I’ll be visiting the range every month at the LEAST, because I shot like shit compared to my last visit (I’d been regularly visiting the range back then).

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.223 5.56 difference NRA

This NRA Article Describes the Difference Between 5.56 NATO and .223 Remington

If you’ve ever wondered about the differences between 5.56 NATO and .223 Remington, well, this article gives a good account of the differences.

Bottom line is, if you’ve a .223 rifle, do not fire 5.56mm from it.  If you’ve a 5.56mm rifle, you’re OK (but may see some inaccuracy due to the added “slop”, the slop being an allowance to ensure the firearm will fire when dirty/grimy).

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AMD-63 ammo Cabelas frangible Hevi Duty LAX PPU RAS

7.62×39 Ammo – Where Is It?

I visited my local Cabelas today and was a bit pissed.  They had very little 7.62×39 ammo.  I saw a few boxes of PPU and Herters.  That was it.  Nothing else.  No bulk in that caliber either.  That company (Cabelas) is large.  It is very large.  And it can’t keep stocked in mainstream calibers?  I mean, there was 5.56mm and .223, but no 7.62×39.  WTF. 

I was hoping that Cabelas would be my local go-to, but either someone is purposely buying up all the AK ammo (I hate horders) or Cabelas is having supply problems.  I was trying to stay away from Walmart for ammo but I think I might need to keep using Walmart until Cabelas gets their shit together.

As well, it was the same for 9mm handgun ammo.  There was hardly any.

I ended up buying some of that PPU, only to find that it was soft-nosed, and it wasn’t marked as such on the box.  I opened it up and saw that it was round-nosed with a lead tip.  I heard that some people had issues when trying to shoot that ammo through their AKs.  I did see at least one video where a guy loaded up this same ammo and shot it through his AK with no issues.  We’ll see.  I bought 40 rounds of it (2 boxes).

So, I’ve two boxes of the PPU SP RN and a box of RAS (30 rounds).  I guess I’ll be using my range’s ammo on my first visit.  I want to fire maybe 100 rounds of 7.62×39.

I saw that Cabelas had some frangible ammo that I was curious about.  It was Hevi Duty frangible and non-toxic, $15 for a box of 50.  I bought 2 boxes.  This is multi-purpose ammo:  it can be used at indoor and outdoor ranges, on steel, as competition ammo, and as HD/SD ammo.  It’s supposedly very accurate too.  It is light-for-caliber, as it is 100-grain and has a velocity of 1200 FPS.  I will shoot a box of it through my carry gun and then begin to use it as my SD ammo if it feeds without issue.

I also have 500 rounds of RAS coming from LAX.  It was $99 for 500 rounds.  I almost ordered 1000, but I’ll see how fast of the incoming batch I shoot before ordering more.  Shipping was a bit high, though, so I should’ve probably bought the 1000.

In my last post, I mentioned that I’d bought Magpul hardware for the AK.  I was able to fit that on the gun with a bit of grinding/filing.  The handguard fits well.  I can’t fit the gas tube cover since the gas tube on my AK is not standard (it is shorter and has no fittings for covers or handguards.  I do want an upper handguard on the gas tube, though, so I’m waiting for M-13 to finish a batch of tubes specifically designed for the AMDs (they are $50 each, though….I’ll probably end up buying two of them).  I suppose I could make my own.  Apparently its easy to cut down a standard gas tube but heat is needed, as they can crack.

I keep looking over the gun to determine if there are flaws or some things I overlooked.  I think I’m obsessing, thinking I went cheap and remembering the “you get what you pay for” mantra.  The only thing that might be wrong with this particular rifle is that the barrel’s hole where the gas tube vents from might be large (they’re supposedly all like that).  I’ll deal with replacing the barrel when the time comes.  I can mitigate the issue by buying a stronger recoil spring and maybe one of those buffer cushions…

So, tomorrow may be where I take the AK to the range.  We’ll see.

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video

Last Post’s Video Links Fixed

I wasn’t aware that the video links in the last post were not working properly.

I’ve fixed them and the videos are now viewable.