Pat_Rogers
04-29-07, 20:17
We conducted an AK Operators Course at Sheriff Ken Campbell’s facility in Lebanon IN- one of my favorite places to teach. Ken provides a welcome environment for all hands, and is a staunch supporter of the 2nd Amendment.
WX was typical Indiana spring, with tornado warnings on arrival, and cool and windy drizzle on TD1, beautiful WX and TD2 and TD3. If you don’t like the WX in Indiana, wait 15 minutes- it will change.
Guns ran the gamut from a Romanian SAR-1 to two high end Krebs enhanced Speed Load Tactical Rifles. Caliber selection was almost evenly split between 5.45x39 and 7.62x39, with one token 5.56x45mm gun
Five of the shooters ran optics- all red dots. There is no doubt that the optical sight is far superior to the legacy “U” notch/ front sight post on the stock AK.
Three of the shooters used Russian mounts for their EOTechs, which increased the offset from 2” to almost 5”. The high mount is favored by some for CQB, it raises your head sufficiently high enough to also make any type of cheek weld a thing of the past. One shooters mount was slightly lower and he shot very well (but he was very good shooter to start with). The other two struggled for the whole course.
Two guns sported Krebs Enhanced Peep Sight (including my Krebs AK 105). While not an Aimpoint, this is a lot better then the stock rear sight.
I brought two newly purchased AK’s to this class- both Krebs built. One was an AK105, built on an Arsenal gun. The 12.5” barrel (16” with the fixed 74 muzzle brake) made for a very handy package.
The other was an Enhanced Speed Load Tactical Rifle with the Rear Sight Receiver Rail. This looks to be a very neat solution to the issue of not being able to mount an iron or optical sight over the receiver. This particular rifle was built on a Saiga receiver and turns a very common gun for the masses into something significantly more useable. Krebs make some very nice guns….
While the AK is a reliable system, it is no more “perfect” then any other gun ever manufactured. Harsh firing schedules mean that lubrication is necessary (though certainly less so then the AR platform) and magazines can be a problem as well.
We had a Polish 7.62 mag crack at the feed lips, and several metal mags failed to function. As with all magazines, don’t fall in love with your mags, replace what doesn’t work and have a sufficient supply on hand to cover your bases.
How to carry your mags is always an issue. There are few single, belt mounted mag pouches available, and while chest rigs are common, so is poor design/ quality. We were fortunate in that we visited Eagle Industries facility in Fenton MO immediately prior to the class, and had several of their excellent AK chest rigs to loan out to students.
(Thanks Todd!)
I had two of my AI’s in this class- Mike Heuser and Josh K. Josh brought two friends, including his former Recon team leader, making for some interesting sea stories.
We had several interesting ammo problems in both 5.45 and 7.62. Both involved rounds that became stuck in the chamber. When we finally got them loose, both had a shiny, solder looking material on the neck. In both events it was fairly thick, and we were not able to ascertain the source or cause.
The AK’s selector switch is abysmal (at least for right hand dominant shooters). The excellent aftermarket selectors from Krebs and Blackjack mitigate that to a great degree, and if you own an AK, you need to invest in one of them.
The AK trigger has been described as miserable. My feeling is that it isn’t quite that bad, but the reset needs some getting used to. If you shoot an M4 type a lot, you can screw the reset regularly.
On the pistol side we had two Colt Series 80 poop the sheets, both due to the stupid and unnecessary passive safety parts.
Save me from the lawyers…
The AK may not be the most ergonomic rifle in the world, but the biggest problem to AK efficiency is convincing the operator that it is not an M4. The systems are similar in that they launch bullets downrange. The similarity ends there.
The AK is reliable (though not perfect as many believe it to be), less than ergonomic (though it can be made more so) and generally less intrinsically accurate then the M4 (but about equal to the M1, M14 and Mini 14).
It has proven to be useful in the hands of 3rd- 5th world BEM’s, but also in the hands of some very switched on SOF units world wide.
It is what it is. Once you accept that, it is fairly good to go.
Thanks to Mark Heuser for his hard work, and to brother Mike- even though he was shooting, he pitched in hard. Josh took care of the assorted gun problems as well.
Thanks as well to Sheriff Campbell and Deputy Brian Stevenson for their hospitality and support!
Thanks to Mark Welter for providing a CD of his Guide to AK 74 Magazines, a labor of love for sure!
And finally, thanks to Eagle, Larue Tactical, Viking Tactics, Blue Force Gear and Camelback for their continued support.
WX was typical Indiana spring, with tornado warnings on arrival, and cool and windy drizzle on TD1, beautiful WX and TD2 and TD3. If you don’t like the WX in Indiana, wait 15 minutes- it will change.
Guns ran the gamut from a Romanian SAR-1 to two high end Krebs enhanced Speed Load Tactical Rifles. Caliber selection was almost evenly split between 5.45x39 and 7.62x39, with one token 5.56x45mm gun
Five of the shooters ran optics- all red dots. There is no doubt that the optical sight is far superior to the legacy “U” notch/ front sight post on the stock AK.
Three of the shooters used Russian mounts for their EOTechs, which increased the offset from 2” to almost 5”. The high mount is favored by some for CQB, it raises your head sufficiently high enough to also make any type of cheek weld a thing of the past. One shooters mount was slightly lower and he shot very well (but he was very good shooter to start with). The other two struggled for the whole course.
Two guns sported Krebs Enhanced Peep Sight (including my Krebs AK 105). While not an Aimpoint, this is a lot better then the stock rear sight.
I brought two newly purchased AK’s to this class- both Krebs built. One was an AK105, built on an Arsenal gun. The 12.5” barrel (16” with the fixed 74 muzzle brake) made for a very handy package.
The other was an Enhanced Speed Load Tactical Rifle with the Rear Sight Receiver Rail. This looks to be a very neat solution to the issue of not being able to mount an iron or optical sight over the receiver. This particular rifle was built on a Saiga receiver and turns a very common gun for the masses into something significantly more useable. Krebs make some very nice guns….
While the AK is a reliable system, it is no more “perfect” then any other gun ever manufactured. Harsh firing schedules mean that lubrication is necessary (though certainly less so then the AR platform) and magazines can be a problem as well.
We had a Polish 7.62 mag crack at the feed lips, and several metal mags failed to function. As with all magazines, don’t fall in love with your mags, replace what doesn’t work and have a sufficient supply on hand to cover your bases.
How to carry your mags is always an issue. There are few single, belt mounted mag pouches available, and while chest rigs are common, so is poor design/ quality. We were fortunate in that we visited Eagle Industries facility in Fenton MO immediately prior to the class, and had several of their excellent AK chest rigs to loan out to students.
(Thanks Todd!)
I had two of my AI’s in this class- Mike Heuser and Josh K. Josh brought two friends, including his former Recon team leader, making for some interesting sea stories.
We had several interesting ammo problems in both 5.45 and 7.62. Both involved rounds that became stuck in the chamber. When we finally got them loose, both had a shiny, solder looking material on the neck. In both events it was fairly thick, and we were not able to ascertain the source or cause.
The AK’s selector switch is abysmal (at least for right hand dominant shooters). The excellent aftermarket selectors from Krebs and Blackjack mitigate that to a great degree, and if you own an AK, you need to invest in one of them.
The AK trigger has been described as miserable. My feeling is that it isn’t quite that bad, but the reset needs some getting used to. If you shoot an M4 type a lot, you can screw the reset regularly.
On the pistol side we had two Colt Series 80 poop the sheets, both due to the stupid and unnecessary passive safety parts.
Save me from the lawyers…
The AK may not be the most ergonomic rifle in the world, but the biggest problem to AK efficiency is convincing the operator that it is not an M4. The systems are similar in that they launch bullets downrange. The similarity ends there.
The AK is reliable (though not perfect as many believe it to be), less than ergonomic (though it can be made more so) and generally less intrinsically accurate then the M4 (but about equal to the M1, M14 and Mini 14).
It has proven to be useful in the hands of 3rd- 5th world BEM’s, but also in the hands of some very switched on SOF units world wide.
It is what it is. Once you accept that, it is fairly good to go.
Thanks to Mark Heuser for his hard work, and to brother Mike- even though he was shooting, he pitched in hard. Josh took care of the assorted gun problems as well.
Thanks as well to Sheriff Campbell and Deputy Brian Stevenson for their hospitality and support!
Thanks to Mark Welter for providing a CD of his Guide to AK 74 Magazines, a labor of love for sure!
And finally, thanks to Eagle, Larue Tactical, Viking Tactics, Blue Force Gear and Camelback for their continued support.