Author: r2kba.patriot

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AK-P Cube+ fail Polaroid PSA

First Range Visit With The AK-P

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.

Categories
ammo ammunition BPT Browning BXP flat-nosed FMJ JHP

What’s the Purpose of Flat-nosed FMJ?

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.

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AK AK-P AK-V CAI NAK9X pistol PSA

PSA AK-P is on the way!

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) —

Categories
AK-47 AMD-63 Arsenal Bulgaria gunmagwarehouse.com magazines steel

I’ve Some Bulgarian Surplus AK-47 Mags Coming My Way

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).

Categories
AK-47 AMD-63 canted front sight Croatia Cube+ magazines Polaroid

Range Visit on 2/19 – took the AMD-63 again

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:

Categories
AK-47 AMD-63 cleaning rod SAM7UF

The AMD-63 Will Take A Cleaning Rod!

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.

Categories
action camera Cube+ Juision Polaroid

I’m into Action Cameras For Use At The Range

I bought a Polaroid Cube+ to use as a range camera.  I’ll be mounting it on the bill of my range hats.  Here’s how the Cube+ looks, specifically it’s housing mounted on the hat, and the Cube+ and housing mounted on the hat.

What I was using prior to the Cube was this.  It’s a Juision “spy” camera that attaches to one of the arms of your shades/spectacles (it is a Chinese camera):

Some video footage of the Juision:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/fZB1PEHASKgzwQeGA

Shooting video footage that the Juision captured:

The Juision started malfunctioning, which is a pity because it is pretty much perfect.  It’s small, light, and has a very good position to film.

The Cube+ takes better footage but is quite a bit bulkier.

I have not tried the Cube+ at the range yet.  I will try tomorrow and post the footage.

UPDATE (2/19/2019):

I took the Cube+ to the range today.  Footage is below.

Categories
AK-63DS AMD-63 Croatia feed issues Hungarian jam magazines steel

Recent AMD-63 Range Visits and Issues with Croation Magazines

For brevity, below are my range notes from today’s range visit.  I also visited last week:

Had issues today.  The new Croatian mags will not work in the AK-63D/AMD-63.  They will not feed ammo into the firearm.  At all.  Two of them won’t strip ammo from the mag and two jammed when trying.  Luckily, I had one of the Atlantic Firearms mags with me (they are new also)…it fed and fired without a hitch, so I had to use this one mag during my session, stripping out ammo from the non-functional mags and reloading that ammo into the functional mag.  It took a bit of time and I only had an hour (range was packed, too).

When I got home, I tried to see if the SAM7 would load ammo from the Croatian mags.  It would.  It seems the AK-63D/AMD-63 does not like the Croatian mags, even after I fixed them so that they’d latch into the mag well (before that, they wouldn’t even latch).
The firearm never got hot because I only fired 49 rounds from it.

I also had to readjust the front sight because I was hitting very low.  To raise the POI, I had to lower the front sight post.

I’m hitting low left still, which indicates I’m flinching.
The fired brass is dinged at the opening lip on a lot of the spent cases.  As well, there’s brass dings on the outside of the ejection port.

Need to open up the firearm to check to see how the bolt carrier tang is.  Also need to check the front trunnion and bolt for wear.

Also, I experienced some trigger slap…stings a bit.

Additionally, I shot the last mag standing up.  I was able to put the majority of the 15 rounds in the middle of the paper (there were two flyers).  I think if I keep practicing shooting while standing, I can get the hang of it, if I lean forward and keep the stock planted deep in my shoulder pocket.

I may need to get a new rear sight…this one is difficult to see, which affects front/rear sight alignment.  It’s difficult for me to hit where I’m aiming if I can’t properly align the sights.

There’s 171 rounds through the AMD-63 now.  I brought close to 200 rounds with me but only fired 49 due to magazine issues (mentioned above in the range notes).  Plus, I only had an hour to work with and the range was crowded tonight.  Will try again tomorrow (and not use the Croatian mags when I do).

Some pics of the rifle’s internals:

I’ve an BG-AK lower handgrip coming (these are back in stock as of now).  This was on my wish list.  I also have a Zhukov stock on my list, as well as a rail that would fit where the rear sight resides (for the SAM7UF).

I also have 1000 rounds of Red Army Standard FMJBT on the way (lead core).

I’ll post again after my next range visit (which may be tomorrow).

Categories
AK-47 Apex Gun Parts Atlantic Firearms Croatia magazine

Received Four New Croatian 30-round Magazines Today

As an update to the prior post, I received the 4 x Croatian 30-round steel mags from Apex Gun Parts today.

They all fit in my Arsenal SAM7UF.  None fit in my AKM-63.  Well, they fit but they won’t latch.  The tab that enables latching oddly ramped so that the mag release won’t engage the mag.  I can file them a bit to enable them to fit or just use them exclusively in the SAM7UF.  I will probably fit them for both AKs.

The mags look clean.  They are new.  They’ve re-enforcement around the mag well area, which appears out of place.  Maybe re-enforcement is a bad word.  Let me rephrase:  it appears that they added material to mitigate a prior issue with fitment.  As long as it works.  Now, they need to adjust that tab a bit to offer better fitment across the AK platform.  Note, that I firmly believe that mags can be loosely fit, as long as the looseness doesn’t drop the mag and doesn’t cause feed issues.  They are snug in the SAM7.  I can’t tell if they’d be snug in the AKM since they don’t stay in place.

Otherwise, they look awesome.  They don’t feel as durable as the batch I got from Atlantic Firearms (they feel lighter, but I don’t think they’ll break at first drop), but I don’t need them to be bullet-proof.

Categories
AK 63 Arsenal Atlantic Firearms magazines SAM7UF

Steel Mags From Atlantic Firearms

I bought a 4-pack of 30-round steel mags from Atlantic Firearms a few days ago.  They arrived today.  They were filthy but thoroughly protected from rust and corrosion.

I cleaned them.  I actually took them apart and soaked them in dish soap (Dawn) and hot water, then scrubbed them, then let them air dry.  I then gave them a coat of oil and put them back together.

All four fit in my SAM7 (they fit very snug but not as tight as the PMAG it came with).  All four also fit in my AK63, although loosely (I don’t mind — as long as they don’t come out). 

I still have to test them at the range, though.

I’ve the other set of Croatian mags arriving tomorrow.  I’ll have to scrub them down as well, but I may save that for this weekend.  I’ll test fit them to the SAM7 tomorrow, though.  I hear these mags can be problematic when it comes to fitment.  We’ll see.  If they are, I’ll just file them a bit.