AK
New AK74 upgrade kit?
If I understand correctly, the equipment show in this video is the new upgrade kit approved by use by the Russian Ministry of Defense.
There is a telescoping and side folding stock that can replace the fixed stock.
Cleaning kit goes into the pistol grip. Picatinny rails for the handguard. A flash hider to replace the muzzle brake. A new safety lever, and a railed top cover that locks in place with a take down pin. This cover has a replacement rear sight that appears to have a 100m setting and a BZO setting (300m I believe).
There is a new magazine with windows to show how many rounds remain. Glow in the dark inserts on the follower allows the user to see the round count at night.
If you are watching the video, you can turn on automatically generated captions in English to get a slight idea of what they are talking about.
Military Expo Shows Russia’s New AK -19
The International military-technical forum “Army-2020” outside Moscow, Russia, began this week with a ‘bang’, as high-tech tanks, new lightweight assault rifles, stealth drones, and other advanced weaponry were displayed to foreign clients and visitors, reported RT News.
Kalashnikov’s new lightweight assault rifle called the AK-19.
Vaporware to be sure.
Misc Chatter – 3D Printed 40mm projectiles, FLEX issue, AK shooting, and the FN SCAR
Work has been kicking my ass, so I’ve had little time to do stuff.
I tried another attempt at 3D printing a 40mm projectile.
A fully printed projectile just blows apart when fired.
I tried making a hollow printed projectile to fill with wax. I bought the cheapest candle wax at Hobby Lobby and I learned a few things.
I learned that the bowl I used for melting the wax is terrible for pouring and that what ever I try to pour from it will just dribble down the side. I ended up with wax all over my kitchen sink which I had to clean up with boiling water.
It turns out that wax I bought shrinks about 10% from when it is melted to when it cools. I didn’t expect that much shrinkage.
Also the wax I bought is extremely soft.
Attempting to fire one of these wax rounds just resulting in the center of the round blowing out and a waxy mess being left in the barrel.
That was not fun to clean out.
Humpth.
On my Mossberg FLEX stock adaptor a little screw in it backed out and make removing and installing stocks rather hard. I added some Vibratite thread locker to the screw solving the issue.
Bought my AK out to the range to make sure I still remember how to use it.
Ugh, was I slow at reloading it. Mostly due to lack of practice with it, but I do believe the having to rock in mags is slow and inferior to the AR magwell.
I started my drills by two offhand unsupported headshots at 50 yards using the iron sights on two separate targets. I fired as quickly as I felt I could make the hit.
While I put the shots where they needed to be, I did not feel very confident when I fired those shots. As I focused on the front sight, the paper target’s blurred to the point I did not feel confident that I would make a good shot.
Fortunately the results of these shots give me more confidence in my ability to use the AK iron sight, but I certainly would much prefer to have an optic on any firearm I’d expect to use in a high stress or dynamic environment.
I fooled around with a FN SCAR-16S for a little bit. I really did not like how. . . bouncy. . . the recoil felt.
That made me lose all interest in the platform quickly. I intend to write about the SCAR at some point. Maybe after I get a new job.
North Korean Helical 150 Round AK Magazine
“North Korea fields a dizzying number of weapons, both small arms and more complex systems like tanks and airplanes. The common thread connecting these weapons together? Almost all of them are copies of other country’s designs. Tanks? Soviet copy. Airplanes? Soviet surplus. Standard issue rifles? Soviet copy. But, one of their own indigenous inventions is a large-capacity magazine.
This helical magazine is intended for use with the North Korean Type 88, an AK-74 copy.
The United States Marine Corps too is reportedly developing a high-capacity magazine option for their new service rifle, the M27. The magazine would significantly increase the individual rifleman’s firepower, perhaps making up for getting rid of the Squad Automatic Weapon.
Still, the high-capacity drawbacks sometimes outweigh the benefits. The most significant drawback is reliability. Unlike traditional magazines which rely on a wire spring to keep usually 30 or so cartridges pressed toward a gun’s chamber, drum magazines have to keep anywhere from 50 or more cartridges pressed towards the chamber. Keeping this many rounds under tension requires a large spring. This increases the tension inside the magazine, and can sometimes result in jams or misfeeds, adversely harming reliability.
The Type 88’s extended magazine may hold as many as 150 rounds, though this is hard to confirm. If 150 is an accurate number, the weight of the cartridges alone, not including the weight of the all-metal magazine would be over 3.5 pounds, or over 1.6 kilograms.
As the magazine is attached to both the magazine port and to the underside of the barrel, the Type 88’s balance would shift forward. Needless to say, the magazine would make handling the Type 88 slower and more unwieldy, though accuracy during fully-automatic fire might actually improve, as the rifle barrel could experience less “climb” upward.
This odd-looking magazine seems to have been originally issued to Kim Jong-un’s personal bodyguards, who carried three magazines, one inserted in the rifle and two in reserve. That gave them an estimated total of 450 rounds of 5.45×39 ammunition, equivalent to 15 regular 30-round capacity magazines. Talk about packing a big punch.”
If you wondered how these work..
