AAR Vickers Tactical AK Operators Class - Aug 20-21, 2011 - Chino, CA

**Peshawar** · 08-25-11, 14:03

Vickers Tactical
www.vickerstactical.com

Grey Group Training:
www.greygrouptraining.com

Here's my little AAR attempt -

In no real order of importance

Rear peep sights like the Krebs and the Mojo are a waste of money. It's just a bad idea. For the record, I admit I was one of only a couple that showed up with one of these sights on their gun. LAV stated his case on it, explained why it was an inferior setup with some rock-solid logic, and it turned out to be true for me as well. Shocker, huh? I shot better with the stock notch rear, to which I swapped my Mojo on TD2 at lunch. Bye bye rear peep sights....

My accuracy and trigger control in this class sucked terribly. I shot all over the place. Just went through a bad divorce, and had only gotten some trigger time once in the last seven months or some crap. A long time. It was an embarrassment for me in that regard. Hands were shaky from all the chemicals and fumes I've been sucking up lately building my guns. I did ok at some other things, but this was a bad showing for me accuracy-wise. I was Snatchzilla.

How's that for full disclosure!

Master the Loctite! Stuff was constantly coming loose, or falling off. Even whole railed handguards.

Stick shit on other shit like you mean it. Prep the metal right, and use the appropriate thread locker or industrial adhesive (JB Weld, etc.). Again, my own experience in this regard was a grip coming loose, and my backup selector stop pin falling back into my gun (!). That bitch was properly prepped, and red-loctited in there. Still happened. JB weld next time.

My kryptonite is weak side shooting. I SUCKED at it. For some reason, neurological in nature I believe, I have a very difficult time shutting only my right eye while keeping the left eye open. I simply can't (was using irons, not a RDS btw) manage the sight picture shooting weak side with both eyes open. Well, let me mitigate that, I can't do it under stress. I was able to do so right up until it was my turn to shoot…. the ****ing... "poof". My ability disappeared. Stress totally killed my capability to properly have my left eye pick up the rear sight and shoot. So, I proceeded to blow a round right through a wood divider. We had a dressed up line, so it wasn't the end of the world, but.. ugh…. I crashed and burned a few times during the course when it came to need to actually make hits on stuff. But, from each failure I discovered that which I need to work on. I believe that learning may have occurred. ;-)

Here's what I've discerned, at least with my own body / brain. The sequence of how I achieve the "only left eye open" is important for individual-specific reasons. In other words, each person may have to determine an order in which to begin and end muscular movements. Basically the muscle "machine code" that's required to achieve the biological reality. I can imagine that this might be different for just about everyone, and it's firmly among that family of techniques that needs to be mastered on one's own. For me, this means starting with both eyes shut, then opening only the left eye from there. My brain won't let me just shut my right eye (from both eyes open) by itself. At least, not in a "serviceable" fashion. I had to think of a workaround, and it turns out that the sequence in which you use your muscles / brain can be the difference between getting it or not. YMMV, obviously.

I had an AK buffer in my gun the first day, not the next. Had a couple malfunctions where a lack of carrier velocity was a likely culprit. I would only use them if you are shooting casually and just trying to prevent wear or whatever. Leave them at home for a serious class. Trust me, you don't want to have a malfunction that's unnecessary. Why risk it for zero real payoff?

Pistols…. I used a G19. Almost used my new-to-me 1911, which is NOT a platform I'm very familiar with. Decided against using a basically untested primary (built my rifle myself) along with a shaky understanding and unvetted secondary. I was already a recipe for fail as it was, so the 1911 was put back in favor of the Glock. It was the right choice. In my experience, it was far wiser to go with the simpler and more Homer Simpson-proof pistol. Being even somewhat unfamiliar with my 1911 could have been a safety issue under stress. I am glad I didn't try to use it.

Lastly, DON'T bring a Serpa holster. They're PNG status. LAV informed me that they are not welcome in his courses. Of course, I had one of those too. Ran out of cash before I could get a better holster. Thought I might get away with it. Nope.

-Sfx

**BSHNT2015** · 08-25-11, 19:51

Some pics I took at the class.

**ChocLab** · 08-26-11, 16:26

.....

**sdfmacross2** · 08-26-11, 20:29

Really detailed and thought out AAR. I heard that battlecomp was out there with the AKBC and prototype for the 5.45x39 battlecomp. Did you have experience with it and what was your thoughts compared to the current brake for the AK 74

**Kisara** · 08-26-11, 23:33

**Ed L.** · 08-27-11, 19:33

Originally Posted by SoundFX

Rear peep sights like the Krebs and the Mojo are a waste of money. It's just a bad idea. For the record, I admit I was one of only a couple that showed up with one of these sights on their gun. LAV stated his case on it, explained why it was an inferior setup with some rock-solid logic, and it turned out to be true for me as well. Shocker, huh? I shot better with the stock notch rear, to which I swapped my Mojo on TD2 at lunch. Bye bye rear peep sights....

Does this include Peep sights that are mounted on a rail that goes over the dust cover that puts the rear sight in the same relative position as a rear peep sight on other firearms?

I can see the problems with the mojo rear sight trying to replace the AK's normal rear sight with a peep sight, since the sight is positioned too far from the eyes.

thanks

**Peshawar** · 08-27-11, 19:51

Originally Posted by Ed L.

Does this include Peep sights that are mounted on a rail that goes over the dust cover that puts the rear sight in the same relative position as a rear peep sight on other firearms?

I can see the problems with the mojo rear sight trying to replace the AK's normal rear sight with a peep sight, since the sight is positioned too far from the eyes.

thanks

Your logic seems sound, to me at least. I imagine it might make a lot of difference having the rear peep in close proximity to the eye, like an AR. Or lots of other rifles, for that matter. It obviously works, or it wouldn't be the setup so many rifles have.

I think you're probably dead on with the idea that it's the added distance that sort "breaks" the mechanism that works so well for other guns. It would appear that aperture rear sights need to be placed close to the eye to remain viable for "tactical" shooting. When they're too far away, it gets to squirmy to get a good sight picture quickly. They're ok for killing paper, but they're just NOT as fast as the rear notch sights. I'm done with them.

Hope that helps, but it sounds like you've already figured out the correct answer.