Tag Archives: 9mm

PSA AK-V Part Three: Changing the Brace, Adding a Red Dot and Installing A Quick Takedown Pin For The Dust Cover

Out of the box, the AK-V is impressive. The trigger is decent, the grip and handguard are functional but there were three things I really wanted to do – move to a SBA4 brace, install an optic and create a quick takedown pin so the dust cover could be removed (the big reason I bought the AK-V from a business perspective). So let’s step through each.

Replace The SBA3 Brace With An SBA4

Yes, they are both adjustable braces but that comparison ends there. The SBA4 is much more sturdy and has five length of pull adjustment positions. The SBA4 does go on sale and that is the time to buy one. I got mine for $99 at PSA’s July 4th sale and there was free shipping!

The SBA4 is the top brace and the SBA3 is the bottom. You can instantly see the SBA4 has more bracing and is bulkier. The back end does not flop around either unlike the SBA3.

Now PSA did something with the SBA3 that is a best practice. They staked the castle nut to the receiver end plate. Now, I started thinking about what would be my easiest option and it dawned on me that if I was SB Tactical and wanted to control cost and complexity, I would try and have as few inventory parts as possible and that means as few buffer tubes. Guess what? The SBA3 and the SBA4 both use a Mil-Spec 6 position buffer tube. Problem solved. You can remove the brace just like most AR/M4 stocks – lift up on the locking pin and slide it right off.

The Castle Nut has two real solid stakes in it. Kudos to PSA.
Ta-da! Under the brace is a Mil-Spec buffer tube or “receiver extension” depending on who you talk to. The SBA3 and SBA4 use the same tube!! Note, the weapon is upside down for this photo.
Here’s a good shot of the receiver. See that small vertical slider switch just above the mag catch? That’s the bolt release. The M4 buffer tube / receiver extension they are using is rock solid. If it is made by someone else, I don’t recognize it.
Here’s the tail end of the SBA4 on the left vs. the SBA3 on the right.
The SBA4 uses the same buffer tube and slides right on in place of the SBA3 brace.

The result is a very sturdy brace. After comparing the two, I will only use SBA4 braces going forward.

Vortex Crossfire Red Dot Optic and American Defense Mount

I doubt I will ever go past 100 yards with the AK-V and a much more likely engagement distance is 50 yards so a red dot is perfect. I’m a huge Vortex Optics fan and this was a perfect situation for their Crossfire Red Dot mounted on an American Defense AD-T1-L STD quick detach mount. They are my favorite combination of price and performance these days.

By the way, be sure to keep a couple of spare 2032 Lithium batteries in your case or range bag. Nothing dampens a range trip like dead batteries. It’s also why I use a quick detach mount – if the batteries are dead or that optic fails, I am yanking that optic off.

With the AD-T1-L STD mount you are a tad higher than the AK-V’s sights. I plan to watch how they relate at the range so I can ballpark where to aim if the battery is dead and am in a rush. Practice, practice, practice and not just when everything works.

Here’s the Vortex Crossfire Red Dot on the American Defense AD-T1-L STD mount. If you wonder why I use American Defense, it’s for the quality. Cheap Chinese/import quick detach rings shoot loose, don’t return to zero and bend/break over time. AD stuff is rock solid made from aerospace aluminum. Note, you can see our Quick Takedown Pin just above the handguard and I’ll cover that next.

The AK-V Dust Cover Quick Takedown Pin

I had to look up — I built my first Yugo M92 in 2012 and instantly hated the hinged dust cover. I drilled out the rivet and came up with a stainless pin with a ball detent and pull ring to secure the cover. The rest is history. I wound up making pins for the M92/M85, Tula and Bulgy Krinks use the same pin, Vepr shotguns and now the AK-V.

The reason for wanting a quick takedown pin is plain and simple, when you want to clean the weapon or work in the receiver, the hinged dust cover is in the way. To remedy this, you can install our AK-V quick pin and it’s about a 10 minute job if you know how to strip down an AK. This is a quick overview:

  1. Ensure the weapon is empty.
  2. Field strip the weapon like you would any AK, remove the gas tube and the lower handguard so they are out of the way. 
  3. The AK-V’s hinge is simply a 5/32″ roll pin that needs to be tapped/punched out so use something like a bench block to support the weapon and create a hole/gap for the pin to exit into.
  4. Use a 5/32″ roll pin punch and a hammer to tap the roll pin out.  You can save it for the future in case you ever want to use it again for some reason. 
  5. Put the dust cover back in place with the hinge holes lined up and slide in our quick takedown pin.
  6. Re-assemble the weapon.
  7. Done
Here, I have the rear sight block fully supported by the bench block behind it and am using a 5/32″ roll pin punch and hammer to drive the roll pin out.
What makes a roll pin punch different from a normal punch is the dome in the middle that centers the punch on the pin and makes driving the pin out very easy. It also reduces the risk of a regular punch slipping off what you are working on an scratching the finish.
So this is what you wind up with once the roll pin is removed.
This was my first attempt because I am right handed. Having the pull ring there right next to the gas tube locking lever was just too much. I flipped it around and had the pull ring on the other side of the gas block.
This is how I am running it now. The pull ring is on the left / non-operating side and the ring is tucked just behind the handguard.

We have the pins up for sale on our website now. Click here to order one.

Summary

Looking good!

The AK-V was almost done at this point. I still needed to lubricate the weapon and put it in a suitable case. I’ll tell you about that part of the journey in the next post.


This is a four part series on the PSA AK-V 9mm:


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 in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.



PSA AK-V Part Two: First Thoughts Out Of The Box

A tad over a week from when I ordered my AK-V via the PSA website, Scott Igert, of Modern Antique Firearms, called and told me that the pistol had arrived. Let me give you a tip, there is such a huge backlog of people signed up for the “email me when it is in stock” feature of the PSA website, you will never hear when they show up. I have a huge tip for you – check at 9am and 4pm Eastern manually. I did that for a week or so and that is how I snagged my AK-V. I My logic was real simple – if I were them, I’d add inventory either first thing in the morning or at the end of the day. Bingo. Maybe it was just luck but it worked.

Okay, so this post is really a collection of photos to show you the AK-V. The next post will get into the modifications that I did.

Here’s the AK-V still with the PSA tag on it. You can see the SBA3 brace, Magpul grip and handguard. Note, Magpul makes some very solid stuff. If that works for you, great. It will take any AKM grip and handguard. That means you can put Russian AK furniture on it, Bulgarian, etc. The good news is that it is not custom.
I have mixed feelings about the big Palmetto logo at the rear but what can you do? It has an enhanced safety lever. And you can see the mag release just behind the magazine.
Here’s one reason I bought the AK-V – the hinged top cover. When I saw the AK-V was taking off in terms of popularity, I knew a good chunk of folks would not like the hinged cover and want to replace it with a quick takedown pin. What is nice is that hinge is just a 5/32″ roll pin and it pushes/punches right out. The gas tube cover lever is separate.
Just so you know, this is our quick takedown pin for the AK-V. Click here to open a new tab to order it. In the next post, I’ll get into the installation.
In one photo you can see why I don’t like the SBA3 brace. The rear rubber is too flexible and slides into weird shapes. You’ll notice that not only are the top and bottom (the sides really) of the brace not lining up but the whole shape is slightly cupped upward. The SBA4 is a far better design.
Top down view of the front half.
The hinged top cover is nicely designed and executed. This is a close up of the hinge area. You can see the rear V sight just to the left of the center of the photo.
It is a solid albeit unique top cover design. The rear sight block (RSB) does not have a groove to retain a normal dust cover. This weapon is a pretty unique design – it’s not just AK parts slapped together with a magwell adapter – there’s a lot more to it. I am impressed.
When you lift the top cover, you immediately notice an interestingly shaped spring, a rubber recoil buffer and a spacer made from machined aluminum.
A view of the hinge with the dust cover open.
A closer view of the recoil buffer and spacer.
This is the recoil spring assembly removed. The length looks pretty much like that of an AKM but I did not measure it.
Wow – now the bolt carrier and bolt are one piece and it is surprisingly heavy. This thing is packing some inertia to be overcome. Notice how the gas pistol is both short and fixed/solid? No wobble like you would see on an AK. Notice there is no out of battery tail on the carrier/bolt either.
Now look at it flipped the other way.
Here’s a close up of the bolt face. Notice there is no sign of the firing pin – it’s spring loaded and being pushed backward. The extractor looks beefy. This is what I am talking about in terms of AK-V being an interesting design.
Another view of the non-op side of the bolt. You can see the bolt handle towards the top left.
This is the rear of the firing pin being pushed backward by a spring.
Things look pretty normal. Definitely needs to be lubricated before the first use.
View of the bolt hold open mechanism and the interestingly shaped ejector.

Click here to go to the main Palmetto State Armory AK-V web page. You can see all the accessories and models that they have online as well as order magazines and drums.

In summary

The AK-V is a very interesting design. Rivets and the finish were well done. Everything looked well machined and assembled. You could tell it was dry. There was a very light coat of oil but the action felt rough just like most new AKs do. In the next blog post, I’ll actually step through what I did in terms of changing to the SBA4 brace, adding a Vortex Crossfire Red Dot and installing one of our Quick Takedown Pins.


This is a Four Part Series on the PSA AK-V in 9mm:


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**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.



PSA AK-V Part One: Good Reviews Really Raised My Interest After They Fixed Initial Problems

Well, I bought a Palmetto State Armory AK-V in 9mm. I’ve been a PSA AR fan for years and years. I’m not even sure how many rifle and pistol kits of their’s that I’ve built. On the other hand, reports about their AK attempts kept me away from that product line until recently.

PSA responded to the market and brought out a 9mm pistol caliber carbine (PCC) using the AK platform that they called the “AK-V”. In a ways, they took the Russian ideas behind the 2004 Vityaz-SN as inspiration and created their own unique weapon.

Now, they did have some bumps when they launched. Guys identified a number of weaknesses and then PSA did something that not a lot of folks expected – they went out and fixed them and improved the AK-V design. Kudos to them – seriously. What has resulted is a red hot product that is pretty hard to find.

So, before I get into what I did, here are some videos that started me down my journey including some updated videos.

AK Operators Union, Local 47-74

Rob Ski has fired 3000 rounds through his as of July 11th with no major problems. He reported one CZ magazine not a PSA magazine. My response – just use PSA’s magazines. He was dropping it on rocks too! The bolt, buffer, chamber and internals all looked fine. No deformations or marks. Rob doesn’t mince words and likes what he is seeing.

Military Arms Channel – PSA AKV9 Relaunch

They did a lot of shooting and said they are extremely happy with the performance of the gun now.

I did a lot of lurking reading reviews and comments on Facebook and what not. Watch these videos – these guys are impressed. My next post will have a bunch of photos and first impressions.

By the way, click here to go to the main Palmetto State Armory akv page. They have listings of all their models and accessories


This is a four part series on the PSA AK-V 9mm:


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**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.



Great deal on dummy / action proving rounds – KP Tactical 9mm, .40 S&W and .45 ACP

  

I tend to use a lot of dummy rounds due to working with Kydex or whatever and normally you pay quite a bit for them.  Recently I stumbled across a very good deal on Amazon.  There is a company called KP Tactical making very decent dummy rounds by machining them out of aluminum and inserting silicone rubber in place for the primer and they are only about $1/round in bags of 10.  So, I ordered 9mm, .40 and .45 and they arrived the other day.  I’m quite happy – the machining is well done and it’s a very fair 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**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.