Tag: AK-P

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AK-P Palmetto State Armory PSA range visit

I Wanted to Pop Off Some 7.62×39-Sized Freedom Seeds!

I visited the range last night and zeroed the PSA AK-P.

I reattached a red dot optic to it. I also moved it rearward, as I noticed that I could co-witness the irons when it was moved back a bit. This optic is the Sig Romeo5.

I also reattached the CNC Warrior 4pc flash hider.

Additionally, for this range visit, I paid for a private range so that I could have some privacy and so that I could have a bit more elbow room. Because of this, I ended up with some really good video footage.

I ended up spending most of the one-hour session zeroing the optic.

While I didn’t show the resulting target, I was impressed, as I shot 30 rounds from 25 yards, standing and unsupported, and the impacts were all within the target outline. All rounds landed on the black target. All but 2 landed in the 9 and 10 ring. All but 9 landed in the 10 ring. Some of the shots were slow double-taps, too.

As well, the footage captures how efficient the flash hider is. There’s flash, but it’s nothing like the flash of the OEM brake booster. In fact, I didn’t see flame or flash with my naked eye at all and was surprised when I saw some flame within the video footage.

My shoulder took a beating, though, as this gun is a pistol and the brace doesn’t agree with me.

I’m currently at 460 rounds through the AK-P.

I’m thinking of converting from the wood furniture to Magpul furniture (maybe plum coloring), as the wood stock gets super hot (which is why I typically grip the mag and magwell on AKs).

I really enjoyed this range session!

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AK-P AK-V CNC Warrior Palmetto State Armory Prodigy DS PSA Springfield Armory

I’ve Revisited the PSA AK-V and AK-P

Last week, I decided to take the PSA AK-P to the range, as I’ve plenty of 7.62 x 39 ammo.

I shot 30 rounds before I quit (LOL)…the gun is loud AF! Even with the 4-pc flash hider installed, it is still loud. Yeah, it’s a flash hider, but it’s also redirecting the bang down range.

As well, the flash hider was generating sparks that I thought would be an issue, and I was waiting for the RSOs to say something. When I got home I looked at the footage and didn’t see the sparks in the footage. I also checked the flash hider to see if there were strikes within it’s internals – I didn’t see any damage.

I researched and saw that this is sometimes common and also saw video footage where many hiders/brakes generated sparks. This is probably a normal thing.

Also, after taking a shower, I was applying deodorant and and was surprised to have a bit of pain near my armpit. I looked in the mirror and there was a large bruise where I’d placed the brace of the AK-P. I may need to change the brace to something less damaging, but it could be the flash hider that’s making the pistol shoot more harshly (the hider also generate more recoil and back pressure).

A few days later, I was going to take the AK-P to the range again, but kept shuddering when thinking about shooting that gun indoors, so I switched to the AK-V.

I loaded up 4 mags of 9mm (those mags hold 35 rounds, so that was 140 rounds of Blazer 124-gr FMJ) and headed to the range.

I had fun!

I ended up having to zero the optic that was mounted on the AK-V. I thought I’d zeroed it a long time ago, but the zero was WAY off – at 25 yards, I was at the top of the man-sized target and many rounds were off-paper. The optic is a Vortex Sparc II red dot.

I zeroed at 10 yards (as I do my handguns) using the range’s bench rest and then, once I had a good zero, tested it at 25 yards. I was still shooting high, but was on the man-sized silhouette and only 2-3″ higher than where I was aiming. I may revisit the zeroing and do it at 25 yards instead – this means I’ll have to remember to aim a bit high when shooting at around 10 yards. I tested at 12 yards and was satisfied with the zero.

The 140 rounds disappeared quickly, as I expected. The only thing I don’t like about the AK-V is that the ammo goes quickly. I was shooting semi-rapidly and practiced quick pairs of rounds.

I’m at 710 rounds through the gun now. I like this gun so much, it got me thinking of purchasing the PSA Jakl (MP5-like 9mm blow-back PCC), especially since it uses AK-V mags, and I’ve maybe 10 of those. But the Jakl is like $1000 and I already have a $1000 blow-back PCC (the AK-V). If I’m going to get another PCC, it’ll be the Springfield Armory Kuna in 9mm – and the mags for that gun are cheap, at approximately $25 each. Plus, the Kuna is the same price as the Jakl, and is roller-delayed (less recoil).

As with most range visits, I also shoot my carry gun, so I shot two mags through the Prodigy DS Compact, which isn’t a huge deal, but I spent time zeroing the gun again, as I had problems with the optic (Viridian RFX45 closed emitter green dot) the last visit. In fact, I’d forgotten that I’d removed the optic to work on the adapter plate (doing this messed up my zero, which is what caused all my issues the last range visit). As well, the optic was loose, too. I re-tightened it, and then quickly got it zero’d again…was super easy and quick, especially with the bench rest. I had it surpremely zeroed within 15 rounds and then validated the zero at 15 yards. It was good. I’ve 300+ rounds through the gun with that optic now. The optic hasn’t died and is playing nice with the Prodigy DS.

The adapter plate that I’m using with the optic and Prodigy is the Springfield Armory Aimpoint Acro plate. When installing the optic, the optic is loose enough that it rattles. I’m not sure if it’s the optic that’s the issue or the plate. I used two layers of electrical tape on the adapter plate and then mounted the optic – the optic is now snug on the gun. It’s definitely wierd that I have to do that and I can’t place full blame (yet) on either part.

The optic is blocky and big but carries (and conceals) well. This is more of an experiment than anything else, but since I’m having no issues, I’ll continue to use it on the Prodigy DS Compact.

The DS Compact now has 1226 rounds through it.

Life is good!

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AK AK-P CNC Warrior muzzle brake Palmetto State Armory PSA

Success – Mounting CNC Warrior 4-pc Brake to PSA AK-P!

I posted about my failures in mounting the CNC Warrior 4-pc brake onto my AK-P.

I returned that brake but wanted to try again with another brake, thinking there was something wrong with first brake.

I bought a used one a few weeks later (slimmer version but has the same threading). That one would not screw down fully flush, either. I decided to keep the brake but was going to ask for an RMA of the pistol, thinking there was something amiss with the threads or muzzle.

Last night, I did some research and found a few folks having the same issue but with other rifles and pistols (some non-AKs). One guy said he took a copper brush to the threads of the muzzle and the threads of the brake, and had success in fully screwing down the brake. I tried it and it worked! There was a lot of crud on the threads of the muzzle and brake (the brake was used and not clean).

I’ll be taking the AK-P to the range this week to test the new brake.

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7.62 x 39 AK AK-47 AK-P Arsenal Canik PSA SAM7UF-85 TP9 Elite TP9 Elite Subcompact

AK Range Day!

Today’s range day was deemed AK range day!

I took out the Arsenal SAM7UF and PSA AK-P. The former is a milled rifle that I’ve owned 2-3 years but never shot until today. The latter is an AK pistol that I bought 3-4 years ago and have been shooting off and on.

Both are dreams to shoot. I’ve no range footage because I hate recording when shooting long guns (my mounting point doesn’t agree with the rifle shooting position).

I shot the SAM7UF first. I thought it would be hard on my shoulder but it was rather mild, especially considering that the folding stock’s makeup is usually something that folks complain about. It’s supposedly not easy to shoot, but the stock didn’t bother me (I’ve the rails covered with paracord).

I thought the recoil would bother my shoulder with that stock but much of the recoil never made it to my body. The milled rifle is heavy and the heft absorbed much of the recoil.

I shot out to 25 yards. I wasn’t hitting point of aim but I think it’s because the rifle may be zero’d to 100 yards. I need to study the method of zeroing AKs. When I do, I’ll revisit the range with the SAM7 and zero the gun (on the 25 yard range, since I’ll have a difficult time seeing further than that).

The gun has some blast, too. It seems it has more blast than my other long AK (a bastardized AK-63D from Classic Firearms). I shot 30 rounds before I switched to the PSA AK-P.

The PSA AK-P is a flamethrower but I already knew that. I didn’t feel like squinting trying to hit 25 yard targets so I moved the target closer, to half that distance.

I’ve a red dot sight for this firearm but I removed it when I last took it out, as I hated it. I’m decently accurate with the iron sights, so I shot 30 rounds at one of those target papers that have 5 targets on it. all but maybe 4-5 landed on paper (because the targets on the edge of the paper don’t leave much room for error and I was doing a lot of quasi double-tapping). The groupings were pretty tight for the rate of fire I used. I also shot while standing. A picture is below.

12 yards, standing w/ irons…

The gun bucks and throws fire. Additionally, it got HOT! I burned myself once and had to wrap it up in rags before I put it in it’s case so it wouldn’t melt the inside foam. Also, keep in mind that this is a pistol and the brace is HARD on a shoulder with the kick of an AK pistol. I also tend to pull the gun in really tight while gripping the mag. I’ll be bruised tomorrow.

Lastly, I always try to shoot my carry gun when I’m visiting the range, so I shot some defensive ammo from the Canik TP9 Elite SC. This ammo is something new to me, but I bought a batch of it from my range 2 nights ago, since it was on sale at 19.99 for a box of 50. The make and model is Federal 115-gr Hi-Shok JHP. I bought 250 rounds of it, not knowing if it was good or not but liking the sub-$20/box price. I later researched the ammo and found that the ammo is GOOD and that law enforcement uses it. I’d assumed that since the box was white and since the ammo wasn’t being sold in 20-round boxes, it was range ammo. It is not. So, tonight I bought 100 more rounds of it just to shoot with tonight. It shot well, without hiccups, and without feed or extraction issues. I may end up trying to buy it in bulk but my research shows that when looking for it online, the low price is 0.49/round, which is a bit high compared to what I found at my range. My range will carry it until it runs out and won’t let me buy in bulk anymore (the person that sold it to me apparently shouldn’t have let me buy so much without shooting – I bought it after my shooting session).

Right now, I’m right at 482 rounds shot through the TP9 ESC. Expect that number to go quickly as I continue to practice with it.

The AK-P currently has 370 rounds through it. I could shoot it more but for some reason, shooting that gun indoors gets old quickly (it has tremendous blast). I looked at the internals (trunion, bolt, and bolt carrier) and the parts aren’t beat up (this model is a GF3). Most AK snobs hate US-made AK, and think they’re sub-par. If I have any issues, it’ll be something like fire-pin issues, or something stuck in the firing pin channel (primer metal), or maybe a loose firing pin retaining pin (which probably won’t be an issue, as I’ve checked it and it is not loose at all). I will probably buy another firing pin, in case the OEM one breaks.

The SAM7UF only has 30 rounds through it but I’ll try to shoot it more, now that it’s no longer virgin.

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AK-V PSA

Something is on the way!

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!

PSA AK-P
PSA AK-V