Military, Photos, Russia

Post #56 – Photos of AK and Related Rifles

Here’s another post of some of my AK and related rifle photo collection. I figure a lot of folks have never seen these and aren’t aware of the military and world history that the Kalashnikov design has been involved with. After the photo gallery are links to previous photo posts as well.

If you click on a photo, you will enter the gallery and see larger images:

If you have more detailed descriptions for any of these images, please let me know. My email is info@roninsgrips.com. Also, please email any photos that you would like to share and a brief description. If it’s your photo and you’d like it attributed to you, please put that in the description.

Please note that I do not own these photos – they remain the property of their respective owners. If you are the copyright owner and wish one removed or some form of attribution added, please contact me.

Related Posts

Note, you can search on descriptions using the Blog’s search feature – for example, if you search “Finnish”, you’d get all the blog posts that contain the word Finnish including the photo posts.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at info@roninsgrips.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

We make and sell an excellent fire control group plate. It is the correct thickness and geometry to firmly secure your semi-auto AK’s hammer and trigger pins in place. Click here to go to our store’s page.
We make and sell a slave pin to greatly simplify the installation of AK triggers. Click here to go to our store’s page.
We have custom made bolts that will secure the wood military length buttstock of Yugo M70B1, M72B1 and M76 rifles to the rear trunnion. They measure 8mm diiameter x 1.mm pitch x 100mm long. Click here for the item in our store.

PSA AK Webstore Links

Interested in an American made AK? Consider Palmetto State Armory (PSA) as a source. Click on the following links for the associated webstore categories for AK-related rifles, pistols and parts at PSA:

Air & C02 Rifles and Pistols

Finally, An Affordable And Reliable 4500 PSI Air Compressor For PCP Airguns!

Folks, I think Pre-Charged Pneumatic (PCP) airguns are awesome. They have an onboard high-pressure cylinder that holds enough air to shoot a certain number of rounds before needing to be recharged. After years of having your basic pneumatic and spring-piston air rifles, I bought my first PCP, a Hatsan Gladius Long in .22, back in May of 2017.

Three Options To Fill PCP Airguns

To fill a PCP airgun, you have a few options – own a hand pump, have an air cylinder or own a compressor. For almost three and a half years, I’ve used a Hill Mk IV hand pump to top off the Gladius and it has worked well. The secret to longevity with a hand pump is to keep the shaft lubricated to protect the O-rings with silicone grease and to not overheat parts if you are doing a lot of pumping.

The second option is to have an air tank that you would take to your local dive shop and have them fill it to 3,000 to 4,500 pounds. You would then use this to top off your airgun until it too was low and you’d go back to the dive shop to get the tank refilled. We do have a dive shop in the area but this never appealed to me because I didn’t shoot enough to need a tank vs. the hand pump. I also figured that I could use the hand pump any time day or night as needed. You can only refill an air tank if the dive shop is open or you own your own compressor.

Now, this brings us to the third option and that is to own a high pressure air (HPA) compressor. These are not what you get for a garage and air tools – those only go to 175-200 pounds. With PCP airguns, you are talking 3,000-4,500 PSI depending on the rating of the tank or airgun you are filling. What stopped many people for years was that these HPA compressors were a fortune and then crossed below $1,000 a few years ago and now you can see inexpensive units from China that are below $400 but they require water cooling, lubrication, and don’t always get good reviews (some do though).

In many cases, you get what you pay for. The decent HPA compressors start at $800 and go up from there. In 2019, I ran across an HPA compressor on Amazon that I had not heard about before – the manufacturer was Ankul and the model was the FX CS3 compressor. The price was around $500 and it was getting good reviews. At the time, I didn’t really need it so I added it to be “Save For Later” list in Amazon just in case.

Maybe 3-4 times since then, I would open up the listing and read the reviews. You know what? The reviews stayed solid over time. Ankul released an updated model that was air cooled – no more water to deal with – and it was self-lubricated and didn’t need the user to add oil or grease. What’s more, the reviews stayed positive – it scores a 4.6 out of 5 with 196 reviews. That’s pretty good. So guess what? I bought one.

Introducing the GX GS3 PCP Air Compressor

Okay, there are a bunch of reasons why I bought this compressor in addition to the reviews and $499.99 price:

  • It can pressurize a cylinder to 4500 PSI
  • It can run off house current with the supplied inverter or it can clamp to a 12 volt vehicle battery
  • There is an automatic-off switch where you can set the pressure via a dial and when it reaches it, the unit shuts off. This gauge is labeled both with PSI and BAR increments.
  • It has an integral filter for oil and water
  • There are three over pressure safeties – the user sets the pressure on the dial plus there is both a safety valve and a burst disc to help prevent a catastrophe.
  • They claimed the unit ran fairly quietly at 75 decibels (this puts it somewhere between average street noise or being in a shower at 70 db and city traffic or a vacuum cleaner being at 80)
  • The unit is maintenance free – no water/antifreeze to deal with or oil or grease to add.
  • The design was elegant with a spool on the side to hold the power cable, the high pressure hose could rotate and there was a carry handle
  • The pump unit measures 10-3/4″ tall, 5-1/8″ wide and just under 9-1/2″ deep — it’s remarkably small – most of my laptop computer bags are bigger and these measures are based on my unit.
  • The duty cycle is 30 minutes run-time and then 20 minutes to cool
  • The unit only weighs 19 pounds 6 oz (I weighed my pump unit)
  • The AC adapter is separate and measures about 8.85″ long x 4.52″ wide x 2.36″ tall and weighs 1 pound 14 oz with the cord.

Here’s a link to the unit on Amazon:

Unboxing it

I ordered the unit on a Monday and it was delivered five days later on Saturday by UPS. The pump and power adapter were packed together in one amazingly well packed box. How often do you here somebody comment on a box? This thing was made from thick cardboard and was practically like opening a wood crate and inside was thick foam cushions protecting the air pump and power adapter from all angles.

I had removed the upper right corner reinforcement already when it dawned on me I better take a quick photo. Tip: Just remove the corner braces and the end cap will slide off. You do not need to disassemble the whole box.
I don’t know who the packaging engineer was but he needs some serious recognition, a beer or both. It was one of the best packed tools that I have seen in a long time. It’s no wonder that my unit arrived in great shape.
Here’s a quick photo of the unit out of the box. Everything was in great shape.
This is the 12 volt power adapter. It’s very straight forward – plug it in and it is running and the fan keeps it cool.

Conclusion

The unit arrived in great shape and as described. In the next post, I’ll review how to set up, test and use the unit. Again, here’s the link on Amazon and I will jump ahead a bit and tell you that I recommend the unit based on my experience with it so far:

Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at info@roninsgrips.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Here are some well rated hand pumps on Amazon. While I do not have personal experience with them, they do get good reviews:

Glock, Glocks, Gunsmithing, Polymer80, Shooting in General, Uncategorized

What are the best affordable tritium and fiber optic sights for Polymer80 and Glock pistols?

A fellow emailed me wanting to upgrade his Polymer80 from the generic OEM Glock sights that I don’t think really excite anyone to something that would be more visible in general and also work in the dark. My answer was immediate – go with the TRUGLO TFX Pro Tritium and Fiber Optic Xtreme sights.

The featured photo above shows how bright they are on my P940CL that has a G17 slide on it. I bought these sights by the way – so you are getting my honest opinion.

Folks, these are my hands down favorite sights for a number of reasons:

  • They are CNC machined from steel and have a durable black nitride finish — they are not soft plastic.
  • They do not need batteries – the lit dots are via fiber optics when there is light and sealed tritium when it is dark so you are covered regardless of the light available. The tritium ought to fluoresce (emit light) for about 10-20 years and I’ll worry about replacing them then.
  • I really like the three green dot configuration – two on the rear sight and one on the front. The front also has an orange ring that you can see when there is light but is green when operating off the tritium only.
  • The rear sight goes into the slide’s groove very easily and is then secured with a set screw. Some sights can be a bear to install but not these.
  • The rear sight is big enough that it can help you rack the slide one handed in a one-handed emergency.
  • They have a 12 year warranty.
  • They are assembled in the USA – the tritium capsules are made in Switzerland.

What Glock models are supported?

Because these are so popular TRUGLO is making a variety of models to support the different Glock and Polymer80 configurations that are out there. I assembled the following table and you can also check their webpage if you want:

TG13GL1PCGlock® 17 / 17L, 19, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 33, 34, 35, 38, 39, 45 (Excluding M.O.S. models)
TG13GL2PCGlock® 20, 21, 25, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 37, 40, and 41 (Excluding M.O.S. models)
TG13GLAPC
(TFX front, Adjustable Rear)		Glock® 17 / 17L, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37, 38, 39, 41, 45 (Excluding M.O.S. models)
TG13GL3PCGlock® 42, 43, 43x, 48; Honor Defense® (all models)
Source: https://truglo.com/spare-quiver-mount-spare-quiver-mount

Personally, I use the TG13GL1PC on a G17 and G34 built on PF940v2 frames. I bought both off sight sets off Amazon and the following ad will enable you to order any of the above as the models are listed as options:

This gives you a better view of the sights overall. This is the TFX Pro TG13GL1PC with the fixed rear sight. I really like the sight picture these give day or night.
Here’s the rear sight and you can just barely see the set screw that secures the sight between the two “ears”. The slot at the top of each fiber optic is where it collects light to illuminate the dot. If there isn’t any light then that is where the tritium capsules take over.
Here’s the front sight. The orange ring is nice during the day and you only see the green tritium dot in the dark.
Well, trying to take a photo in the dark of three green dots with a cell phone camera was an experience. I went in a basement room and shut the door to cut off light. It’s fuzzy but you get the idea – all three dots are nicely lit in any lighting condition.

Do they have lower cost models also?

Yes, they do. The Tritium series just has the tritium for illumination in the dark and show as bright white dots during the day.

TG231G1Glock® 17 / 17L, 19, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 33, 34, 35, 38, and 39 (Excluding M.O.S. models)
TG231G2Glock® 20, 21, 25, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 37, 40, and 41(Excluding M.O.S. models)
TG231G1AGlock® 42, 43
Source: https://truglo.com/catalog/product/view/id/2068/s/tritium-tritium/category/19/

The following Amazon ad will lead to all of the above models as they are options you can select:

They also make a Tritium Pro series that builds on the Tritium base model and adds an orange ring to the front sight plus the back sight is bigger and that makes it easier if you need to rack the slide with one hand.

TG231G1WGlock® 17 / 17L, 19, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 33, 34, 35, 38, and 39 (Excluding M.O.S. models)
TG231G2WGlock® 20, 21, 25, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 37, 40, and 41(Excluding M.O.S. models)
TG231G1AWGlock® 42, 43
TG231G1MWGlock® MOS 17, 19, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 33, 34, 35, 38 and 39
TG231G2MWGlock® MOS 20, 21, 25, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 37, 40 and 41
Source: https://truglo.com/catalog/product/view/id/2069/s/tritium-pro-tritium-pro/category/19/

The following Amazon ad will lead to all of the above models as they are options you can select:

Do they support other brands and models of pistols?

Definitely. These are very popular lights given their great combination of quality at a fair price. I tend to see the best prices on Amazon so use the following search to check what they have:

Conclusion

I hope this helps you out. I really do like these sights and have no reservation recommending them.

Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at info@roninsgrips.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Ebay Listings for TRUGLO Tritium

Glock, Glocks, Polymer80, Shooting in General

Are ETS Glock Magazines Any Good?

There seems to be two schools of thought when it comes to magazines for Glock Pistols, Polymer80 Pistols and the myriad other arms that can use the reliable Glock magazine design. One will tell you that only Glock magazines are reliable. The other school will tell you that there are other magazine makers out there that work just fine as well. I subscribe to the latter and think that there are other magazine makers that turn out quality products and ETS is one of them.

“ETS” stands for Elite Tactical Systems and they have what they call “The ETS Way” that espouses providing quality products and taking care of customers. To do that they have a 30-day money back guarantee, lifetime warranty, their products are made in the USA and they pride themselves on exceptional customer service.

Just to be clear, I don’t work for them and this isn’t some paid endorsement – folks ask me questions and eventually I write a blog post after a quick reply via email. That’s how this post came about.

I’ve bought and used probably a dozen or more of their Glock magazines over the years and have never had a problem including storing some of them fully loaded for over a year now. They support quite a few other platforms as well and I want to try their new AR magazines.

This is my Polymer80 Glock 34-style pistol. It has a 22 round ETS magazine inserted and that is an aluminum Tyrant CNC mag well funnel you see. Note, I recently upgraded from the G34-style slide stop lever shown to a Vickers VTSS-001 and prefer the Vickers. Bottom line is that this combination works really, really well.

Now you may be wondering “Why bother?” The answer is real simple – they make transparent clear mags as well as smoke/translucent mags so you can see your round count really easily and I like that.

Look at the magazines, with the clear 22-round ETS mags you can instantly see the round count without needing to look at the OEM 17 round Glock magazines’ count indicator on the back. I’ve also been experimenting with different color followers and Vickers Tactical base plates (note the second magazine from the bottom edge of the photo – it has a red follower and an oversized base plate on it). What I am finding is that I really like using the Vickers plates when I want to reach blind into a bag, let’s say it’s dark for example, and instantly know I am grabbing a magazine with +P Critical Duty ammo loaded.

In Conclusion

When people ask me about ETS magazines, I recommend them. If you want to stick with only using Glock magazines, that’s your choice too. Speaking for myself, I’m happy with the ETS magazines.

Where to find them?

The great news is that most major firearms websites carry ETS so you shop around for the color and capacity you want. I buy most of mine from GunMagWarehouse followed by Midway USA.

Here are some listings for their Glock magazines:

Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at info@roninsgrips.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Glocks, Polymer80

Why Is My Polymer80 Slide Randomly Locking Open?

I don’t claim to be a Glock or Polymer80 guru by any means and I just learned a little detail that makes a world of difference. My problem was that with both my PF940v2 based Glock 34-style and PF940CL based Glock 17/19 hybrid, my bolts would lock open once in a while randomly. To be clear, I don’t mean they would stick open at some spot – the slide stop lever was engaging and locking the slides open.

I do have a blog post about what to do if your slide is sticking open / getting caught part way during its operating cycle. Click here for that one.

These random acts were far more frequent in the PF940CL and were driving me nuts. During a careful inspection, I noticed that the slide stop lever of the PF940CL had very, very little spring resistance pushing it down against the frame. More or less, the lever was flopping around!!

The first thing to check was whether I assembled it correctly or not. The spring on the slide stop lever should be under, or captured by, the top locking block pin. If it is not, then there isn’t enough tension to keep the lever down and it could then flop around and lock the slide open. In this case, it was fine.

Not the best angle in the world but see the orange circle in the above photo? It is the end of the slide stop lever’s spring sticking out from under the top locking block pin.

So, it was assembled right but another thing struck me as odd. While it was stamped with the Glock part number for the G34’s lever, the finish had always struck me as off vs. other Glock parts. I bought the lever off eBay and suspect I was the victim of an inferior counterfeit part that had a weak spring.

Notice how the black finish has worn off the Slide Stop Lever. I’ve not used the pistol enough to wear the finish off that fast and was one of my prime reasons for thinking I was sold a counterfeit/inferior slide stop lever.

Enter Vickers Tactical & The VTSS-001

I decided something must be up with the two Glock-34 extended slide lock levers that I bought off eBay – as in maybe they were counterfeits and not real OEM Glock parts. So you know, I really do like something that stick out a bit more than the stock Glock slide stop lever so I bought two Vickers Tactical units (Tango Down makes them) vs. reverting to OEM Glock 17 style levers.


This is the Vickers Tactical VTSS-01 “Tactical Slide Stop For Glock” up close.

Replacing The Lever

Always make sure your firearm is unloaded!!

So, I like to use a 5/32″ punch to push out the trigger housing pin while resting the pistol on a bench block. A bit of wiggling of the trigger can help it come out with relatively little force. You don’t need to beat it half to death. Some guys don’t use a hammer at all. I use one but with light taps.

Quick trivia for you – a 5/32″ punch is 3.9688mm – it works great to push out the pin and to help align things during reassembly. I have one of the Tekton Gunsmith punch sets and it’s very handy to have.
The new lever is installed and you can see the spring is captured under the top locking block pin. If the pin has been removed for whatever reason, install it first then the lever to capture the spring appropriately.
The lever definitely has more spring to it and stays down quite nicely now. I also like the subtle extension of the Vickers unit.
As you can see, it stick out just a tad bit more at the top and then angles down and back in. I definitely like the feel of it over a standard Glock 17 lever.

Problem Solved For the PF940CL

Well, that was that – problem solved. While I was at it, I decided to upgrade my Glock 34-style PF940V2 pistol as well. I was quite impressed by the Vickers unit and the G34 would lock open once in a while too so I figured why not?

When I inspected the G34, I found out that I had somehow not captured the spring at some point so that was the problem but I really liked the Vickers unit so I bought one and replaced it as well. By the way, I really think this was a real G34 slide stop lever as the finish looked right.

So, I did the same as the above except I did push out the locking block pin first to make it easier to pull out the errant spring. I then did the same as the above.

This is one of my favorite pistols! That Holosun HE507C-GR and Trijicon supressor-height sights are a great combination.

PF940V2 basedG34 on top and PF940CL G17/G19 hybrid on the bottom – both sporting the Vickers Tactical VTSS-001 Tactical Slide Stop Lever.

Great Video

I’m not a video kind of guy but I do realize sometimes a video can help a lot. I did some digging and Lenny Magill at Magill’s Glock Store has a great video that provides a lot of useful information about how to do the above and what to look out for.

In Conclusion

I’m happy the problem of randomly locking open is solved. I definitely like the Vickers unit and am happy to recommend it.

Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at info@roninsgrips.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Polymer80 and Glock Parts Vendors

When you want to customize your Polymer80 or Glock, or you need replacement parts, there are a number of solid vendors you can go to and I have dealt with all of the one’s listed below and can vouch for them:

Those are all reputable vendors and aren’t going to sell you inferior counterfeit products.

AK Smithing / BIY, Furniture, Uncategorized

Will A Bulgy ARM9 Grip Fit An IMI Galil? The Notch Is Definitely Different

A recurring question I get is if a Bulgarian ARM-9 grip can be used on an IMI Galil rifle. Not easily is my answer and I took a bunch of photos so you can decide for yourself. You would need to add black epoxy to the inside back of the ARM in order to Dremel or mill it open further to duplicate the swing of the Galil’s lever – at least that’s how it looks to me because I don’t own an IMI Galil to experiment with.

So, here are some photos so you can see what I mean:

Note the difference in the shape of the ARM-9 grip’s notch on the left vs. the IMI Galil’s notch on the right
Here are the notches even closer.
Here’s the ARM sitting on top of the Galil for another perspective.
Here’s where you can see that the ARM-9’s original wall design is hollow behind the notch. It’s not an impossible change – if you were to abrasive blast the inside of the ARM grip and then use wax stripper, you could then fill that back in with black epoxy. It wouldn’t be an exact color match by any means.

Summary

So there you have it. They are different and definitely not a simple swap with out doing some epoxy work and then maybe a top coat of some finish if you want the colors to match. I hope this helps you out as you think through your options.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at info@roninsgrips.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Humor, Military, Redneck and Conservative Memes

Post 58: Need A Laugh Because of 2020? Thanksgiving Edition

Hi everyone, between the “pandemic”, the election and various bullshit, 2020 is sucking beyond all imagination. It is my hope that by injecting some of my weird sense of humor into your day that maybe things will go better. If you get offended easily and something I post offends you, then stop reading my stuff. For the rest of you, I hope some of these make you smile or even chuckle a little.

Note, click on a photo below to see it full-size and you can then move forward and backward.

Please note that all memes and/or underlying images remain the property of their respective owners. I’m just sharing them to try and cheer people up intending only fair use. If you own the intellectual property and wish something removed, please email me and I will do so.

Other Funny Meme & Demotivational Posts To Brighten Your Day

Here are links to my other meme posts including stuff on the coronavirus and quarantines for sure – click on it to open the post in a new tab:

We have consolidated our memes for gun owners, veterans and rednecks into this main humor series. If you’d like to see those older posts, click below:

Post #1, Post #2, Post #3, Post #4

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at info@roninsgrips.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Afghanistan, Dragunov and SVD Photos, Military, Russia

Post #4 – Photos of Dragunovs and Related Rifles

Here’s a post of some of my Dragunov, SVD, NDM-86 and related rifles photo collection. I figure a lot of folks have never seen these and aren’t aware of the military and world history that the Dragunov design has been involved with. After the photo gallery are links to previous photo posts as well.

If you click on a photo, you will enter the gallery and see larger images:

If you have more detailed descriptions for any of these images, please let me know. My email is info@roninsgrips.com. Also, please email any photos that you would like to share and a brief description. If it’s your photo and you’d like it attributed to you, please put that in the description.

Please note that I do not own these photos – they remain the property of their respective owners. If you are the copyright owner and wish one removed or some form of attribution added, please contact me.

Related Posts

Note, you can search on descriptions using the Blog’s search feature – for example, if you search “SVD”, you’d get all the blog posts that contain the word SVD including the photo posts.

When Strength and Quality Matter Most

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