Being interested in AK weapons also leads me to an interest in the militaries that used them. AKs are in military use in 106 countries and the USSR licensed production to 30 countries including East Germany, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Poland, and Yugoslavia just to name a few. Interestingly enough, there have been some licensing issues but that is a topic for another day.
One of the high quality producers of small arms is Poland. In my opinion, their AKs and other small arms are very well made. When I started to research about their Beryl series, I was surprised to find out that Poland has been very pragmatic with their weapons and are leveraging designs from Eastern and Western countries.
A Polish soldier with a kbs wz. 1996C Beryl.Polish soldiers with kbs wz. 1996A Beryls. I’m pretty sure these are A-series rifles because with the B, they introduced a fixed front grip that is integral with the lower handguard.Another soldier with a kbs wz.1996C series Beryl. The Poles use the Russian Hind-D gunship and plans to modernize them. This is one of my favorite helicopters so I had to include the photo.
A young man assembled the below video about the Armed Fores of the Republic of Poland as part of his Facts Without Borders broadcast series and found it very interesting. He has assembled some excellent footage and commentary about the Polish military including aspects you may not have considered. You ought to consider subscribing to his channel on Youtube also.
Here’s the video
Please note that all photos were extracted from the photo and remain the property of their respective owner(s).
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 in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, we are only paid if there is an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay and only if you purchase something. If you’d like to directly donate to help fund our continued report, please visit our donations page.
DefenseWeb attended the Army 2018 expo in Moscow and released this video where they interviewed Vladimir Onokoy, a technical consultant with the Kalashnikov and experienced AK armorer, about Kalashnikov Concern’s new AK-200, AK-308, AM-17 and AMD-17 rifles.
AK-201 rifle in 5.56×45. The AK-20x family of weapons is available in 5.45×39, 5.56×45 and 7.62×39 plus in long and short versions.AK-308 for countries wishing to use 7.62×51/.308 ammoAM-17 compact assault rifle that replaces the out of production AKS-74U.AMB-17 compact assault rifle with integral suppressor.To the left is the AM-17 and the AMB-17 is to the right.
The AM-17 and AMB-17 are of special interest to me as some groups are looking for compact weapons and this rifle will have to compete against the well established Tula’s AS Val, VSS Vintorez and SR-3 rifles.
Here’s the video
Please note that all photos above are extracted from the video.
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 in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, we are only paid if there is an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay and only if you purchase something. If you’d like to directly donate to help fund our continued report, please visit our donations page.
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:
I like military tribute videos. This video has a catchy song and the real neat thing is that it is in high-definition (HD) video. It has footage of men and women from a lot of different militaries and branches including: Austria, Germany, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Russia and Sweden – probably more that I didn’t catch.
You’ll also get a chance to see quite a collection of ships, helicopters, uniforms, small arms, bases and what not – all in high def. Very cool. Here are some examples of the many cool videos they assembled:
Seriously, this is a cool video and a chance for a lot of folks to see other men and women serving their countries. At 1:41, I got a kick out of the Russian operator wearing an “Infidel Strong” morale patch.
Here’s the 2017 video:
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 in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, we are only paid if there is an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay and only if you purchase something. If you’d like to directly donate to help fund our continued report, please visit our donations page.
I wish I had better news but Youtube cancelled the channel for the Kalashnikov Concern so the video is no longer available. I am leaving the post up so at least you can see the screen shots.
I am really enjoying these videos that Kalashnikov Concern in Russia is producing. In this video, Vladimir Onokoy, a technical consultant with the Kalashnikov and experienced AK armorer, discusses the Hungarian AK evolution with Pavel Pticin, founder of the AK-info.ru web portal, who has extensive AK knowledge.
I’ve always liked Hungarian AKs and found them to be high quality. Over the years I’ve built several AMD-65s and an AMMS. The kits all had original barrels and I was impressed by the fit and finish of the parts plus the rifles just ran and ran with no problems. They are definitely unique AK variants and I was actually really interested to watch this video and learned quite a bit.
Vladimir actually showed photos of a modified AK-63D that he encountered in Somalia. He mentioned how very impressed he was that it was still running with very little maintenance for close to 20 years.
This is one of Vladimir’s photos of the Somalian AK. Pavel noted it was likely an AK-63D with a cut down barrel, modified gas block and an AMD-65 muzzle break. One can’t help but wonder who did the work and why.
The video is just over 12 minutes and they discuss the early AK-55 rifle that is very similar to the Type 2 AK-47 with a milled receiver. They then move to a discussion of the AKM-63 (I’ve always heard it referred to as the AMD-63 in the US) with its distinctive handguard and grips plus other design differences.
As you may know, I own Ronin’s Grips and we make replica AMD grips. In one of the funniest gun video lines ever, Vladimir noted that the designer who decided to put an identical pistol grip at the front but simply reverse it deserved a medal! The Hungarians wanted to add it to improve accuracy and control under full auto fire.
Both Vladimir and Pavel noted that the front grip made reloading problematic and Vladimir pointed out that he had encountered rifles with the front grip cut down to reduce interference with loading magazines.
I finally got the best explanation ever as to why they used that bluish colored plastic. When the Hungarians decided to experiment with and move to polymer stocks, they lacked the ability to manufacture the base plastic. Because they were a Socialist country aligned with the USSR, the only plastic they could find that they could buy and import was a bluish plastic intended for dish making! You know what, that makes sense to me and what I will explain going forward.
The blue color is because the only plastic they could buy abroad was intended for dish making!
Lastly, they brought up some great examples of unique features you will see in the AKM/AMD rifles:
Distinctive pistol grip design
Metal lower handguard with no gas tube cover
The selector notches are labeled with an infinity diagram for full auto and a “1” for semi-auto.
The rear sight leaf has an “A” on it
The Hungarians used unique selector markings – the infinity loop is for full auto and the “1” is for semi-auto.The rear sight leaf has an “A” on it.
This is where the video would have been. Too bad Youtube had to cancel the channel.
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 in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, we are only paid if there is an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay and only if you purchase something. If you’d like to directly donate to help fund our continued report, please visit our donations page.
Kalashnikov Concern released an interesting short video of this prototype 7.62x39mm AK-47 that they say dates to around 1948. There are some interesting design features to point out:
A sheet metal receiver with no reinforcing center rivet/spacer visible.
The muzzle brake is integral with the barrel
The fire control group is permanently mounted
The cocking handle is a hollow tube
Source: Photo from the video Source: Photo from the video
Here’s the Video:
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 in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, we are only paid if there is an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay and only if you purchase something. If you’d like to directly donate to help fund our continued report, please visit our donations page.
This is the front of the bag – six magazine pouches, one large flat pouch to the front and the rear mounted carry handle is visible.
This is the back – you can see the shoulder strap and the carry handle at the top.
The case has a zipper at the rear of the bag and the SP5K simply slides in. This is one thing I dislike – it does not open and lie flat. Some folks may find this a plus but I prefer bags that open.
The exterior dimensions are 24.5x14x2 and I’d knock off about half and inch all the way around for the interior dimensions. It does have some padding but not a ton.
Another dislike I have is the way it holds the MP5 magazines. They slide down in the little pouches and I can’t pull them out. I need to push at the bottom to get them to slide up.
I pushed the magazines up so you can see them in this photo. Notice where the bulges indicating the actual lower part of the magazine in each pouch. In practice, the mags slide all the way down and are hard to get out. You have to press from the bottom.
On the topic of pouches, the front pouch just forward of the magazines is very tight. The bulge you see sticking out is a Mag Lula loader. While it can hold the loader, it’s really better suited for thinner items.
Okay, rounding out my complaints, the carry handle at the rear makes for an odd front-loaded unbalanced load. I don’t know why they didn’t center it.
Summary
It’s a decent entry bag and you can get it on Amazon [click here to see it]. Sure there are things I don’t like about it but does the job. I will be investigating other cases but this case is a solid performer at the price.
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 in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, we are only paid if there is an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay and only if you purchase something. If you’d like to directly donate to help fund our continued report, please visit our donations page.
I’m a creature of habit. Vortex products are solid and have a no-nonsense – “if it breaks we will fix it” – warranty. Vortex does not sponsor me so I have no reason to stick with them other than they deliver.
I knew right way this was going to be a close-in weapon with distances being typically 25 yards or less but maybe stretching out to 50 yards. It is hard to beat a red dot at those distances for rapid target acquisition. That narrowed my options down quite a bit.
A second big deal for me is to have a wide field of view but also a relatively small dot size. This combination rules out a lot of the micro dots that are out there as they are both tiny and have a 4 MOA dot size – that means the red dot will cover 4″ and 100 yards or about 2″ at 50. The micro dots are okay and I rather like them on pistols but I wanted something a tad finer on this more controllable and accurate weapon.
All paths lead me to the current Vortex Optics Crossfire red dot. It has a 2 MOA dot size, is only 2.5″ long and only weighs 5.2oz. It also has a battery life of 7,000 hours at an output setting of 5. Note the optic has 11 levels so when you have it turned up for bright light settings, you will drain the battery faster – always keep a spare battery in the case. I’ve had a couple of range sessions get messed up to do dead/dying batteries and no spares.
American Defense AD-T1-L STD Mount
The only shortcoming, if I can even call it that, with the Crossfire is its base. Vortex did their homework and include both a short base and base that can lower 1/3 co-witness with AR iron sights. The problem is that they are screwed onto the picatinny rail. If you need to get the optic off fast, that’s not going to happen as you will need a torx driver.
I do have good news – the Crossfire has the same base geometry as the Aimpoint T-1/H-1 optics. That’s the key right there – there are a lot of mounting options out there and after some digging, I have been using mounts from American Defense for over a year and they are rock solid.
By the way, make sure you get the right mount – American Defense makes there base for a variety of optics. I am using the AD-T1-L STD.
Assembling the Optic on the Mount
The good news is that this is really easy. Undo the four screws on the bottom of the Crossfire to remove the Vortex mount. Put the American Defense mount underneath it, add a bit of Blue Loc-Tite thread locker and reinstall the screws.
Use the small Torx wrench that Vortex supplies with the Crossfire to remove the four screws so you can the swap the bases. Here you can see the bottom of the Crossfire and how the American Defense mount will align.You can see the Blue Loc-Tite and the installed screws. I like to put the Loc-Tite in the holes and then install the screws. I wiped the residue away with a paper towel after I took this photo.
The Result
The result turned out really nice. The optic is just the right height that it is relatively close to the bore and I can get a good consistent cheek weld.
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 in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, we are only paid if there is an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay and only if you purchase something. If you’d like to directly donate to help fund our continued report, please visit our donations page.
In my last post, I went over the options I considered for the brace on my HK SP5K. In this post, I’ll review the three handguards I looked at – the original forearm, a US-made polymer unit with an integral hand stop and a low-profile aluminum unit.
I really have two places I shop for HK and related parts – HKparts.net and RobertRTG. So I went and checked out what they had plus I did google searches on “SP5K photos” and “MP5K photos” to see what others were using. I’m a visual guy and can scan a ton of photos very fast and then click to read the articles.
Removing the handguard is pretty much like all other HKs – pop the pin and pull down. You can see just how short that barrel is due to HK having to comply with German export laws for the pistol to be deemed “sporting purpose.” This also means you need to carefully think how to keep your fingers, notably your thumb, out of the way. You could argue training and holding the mag well but… there is a risk no matter what.
After researching for a bit, I got it down to the following three options that I could afford to try out:
Option 1: The Original Forearm
The unit that comes with the SP5K has two things going for it – the hand stop and the muzzle guard. The little indentations you see on the sides are actually thumb rests. From a safety perspective, this seemed like the best but I wasn’t sure about how the muzzle protector would hold up over time.
Note the thumb rest of the muzzle guard area of the original SP5K handguard. The hand stop is well forward giving you plenty of grip options also.See, the actual end of the muzzle is located way down in the guard. I can’t help but wonder how the polymer will hold up over time. I’m betting HK thought about that is why they made the guard so much wider than the muzzle to allow most of the blast cone to pass by without contacting the polymer. I haven’t heard of folks having problems so HK must have designed it correctly.
Option 2: A US-made Polymer Handguard Sold by HKParts.net
The second option I decided to try was a US made “Reverse stretch forearm with hand stop” that was made for HKparts.net. It was very well, fit my SP5K great and had great room for my hand but the problem was my thumb. It wanted to go in front of the muzzle.
To be clear, it is an excellent handguard. I blame the German politicians for the abrupt barrel. If I had a muzzle device out front, this would have made an excellent forearm.
Option 3: HKParts.net’s Own Low-Profile M-Lok Unit
I removed all of the screws to install the unit just in case some wiggling was needed. I think it could have fit without my doing this but I was trying to save the finish.I knew I was in trouble. It was going to be way too short and the Ergo hand stop was going to be pushed back into a slot and not going to be able to protrude without some machining.The Ergo hand stop / barricade stop was well made. No complaints at all with that part. It installed just like any M-LOK component does.Here you can see that the Ergo’s position is constrained by the M-LOK design.Houston, we have a problem. I wear XL-sized gloves found the resulting set up way too awkward. I thought about drilling and tapping the handguard to move the Ergo forward but then I would still have my thumb flopping around.
Bottom line, this just was not going to work as much as I wanted it to. Blasted politicians.
So What Did I Do?
After trying all three out, I decided to actually stay with the original forearm. Some day in the future, I will spend the money to have a B&T barrel installed with a tri-lug adapter. I really like the B&T brake that I run on my POF-5 and will then decide on which of the handguards I want to use. So, the brace and handguard were both selected, in the next blog post, I’ll discuss the optic I went with and why.
Here she is for the moment. Note I added a QD Swivel to the mounting point on the brace.
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 in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, we are only paid if there is an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay and only if you purchase something. If you’d like to directly donate to help fund our continued report, please visit our donations page.
