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Pics at the shooting range 12/18/10

I ran into Richard, another old school buddy from my Junior year at Huntington High, while waiting on Delbert to show, I was setting up to shoot my Russian SKS and my other AK-47s, my Romanian WASR, my newly acquired Bulgarian (12/14/10), and my FEG Hungarian SA 85M for Delbert to shoot, also. Richard was shooting his bear gun.

Delbert shows within a few short minuets and here we are again...the 3 of us, just like the old days from Huntington High, except now we're shooting guns, not chasing girls up and down Timberland Drive and going around the Sonic over and over...hahahaah.

Delbert holding the Romanian WASR. My FEG Hungarian SA 85M laying on the chair next to his right knee and my newly acquired Bulgarian AK-47 and Russian SKS leaning against the wall, behind Richard

Delbert locks-N-loads,ready to shoot my WASR using a red-dot sight (FYI zero magnification using the red-dot, just put the red dot on the target and fire).

Shoots a few rds down target

Pretty darn good grouping at a 100 yards for not ever shooting an AK-47 before. The shots were going to the left and low, but that's just a sight adjustment needed, not with the shooter.

First, I made an adjustment to the red-dot to shoot higher, I then fired a few semi-rapid rds down target and those are the groupings you see to the left of the head. The height was right on, then I made the adjustment to shoot more to the right, shot a few more semi-rapid rds down target and those are the groupings you see in and around the head (includes 1 next to left temple, 2 next to lower left ear, 1 neck and 2 next to right ear). Anytime you see rds next of each other with an AK-47 at 100 yards with no magnification scopes, that's doing some good resetting and steadiness on the shooter's part since the power of the 7.62 39mm causes the barrel to go off target with each shot. In a combat situation, you only need one head shot, but if you miss, then you need to be able to reset quickly and fire again.

The orange square was another test fire to double check the previous adjustments... ok for a week-end shooter and of course I'm very pleased with my Romanian WASR. I've shot over 400 rds thru this WASR on 3 different occasion (3 Saturdays in a row) at Evan's Shooting Range and never a jam, and always pleased with it's accuracy.

Me semi-rapid firing (fire, re-set quickly, fire, sometimes 2 or 3 quick burst, re-set and fire) my FEG Hungarian SA 85M @100 yards down target, standing, with only the iron sights. A couple times I fired 2 or 3 quick burst and afterwards when I emptied 20 rds down target...some of the other shooters jokingly accused me of having a full-automatic weapon and I replied, "No, no full-automatic weapon here." And we all laughed...hahahaah...ya had to been there. However, as I explained to Delbert about "bump-firing" with an AK-47, "bump-firing" can make it shoot like full auto by holding it close to your side, firm grip with one hand and let the speed and power of the recoil utilize your firing finger to fire off each shot at a very rapid rate. I was not bump-firing in this instance, thou.

Afterwards... semi-rapid fire @ 100 yards using the iron sights

I really love my SA 85m, it operates much smoother than any of my other AKs, accurate, light, never a jam, and if I had to grab 1 weapon to defend myself in combat or zombies, this would be the one.

Pros and Cons with my newly acquired Bulgarian AK-47, 12/18/10

Below is my newly acquired (12/14/10) Bulgarian AK-47 with an American barrel. After Delbert and I shot it at Evans this week-end (12/18/10), we both agreed that it was very accurate using the red-dot scope (no magnification) you see in the pic below. Also, nice durable hand rails with a comfortable synthetic stock. Feels very nice to shoulder and aim. Personally, it had the best feel out of all 4 of my 7.62 39mm weapons and the groupings were the best. This is the AK-47 I'd put a small magnification scope on for even better groupings.

Same gun, left side. Now for the cons.... see below...

The cons as of 12/18/10

I don't have the targets that we shot at to show the accuracy of this AK-47 because from the moment Delbert pulled the bolt lever back to load the 1st rd, it jammed...like it stopped short of feeding the rd into the barrel type-of-jam or didn't have enough force to push the rd into the barrel or the mag isn't setting high enough, so you had to pull the lever back again and release it to get it to feed. But after 2 or 3 shots, it did the same jam thing again and you had to keep pulling the lever back and releasing it, for it to feed the next rd. Delbert also saw 1 of the three studs/rivets come off that holds the side scope mount on the receiver, no problem there I know Steven can just rivet it back into place.

I tried 4 different mags (and ordered a couple European mags on Cheaper than Dirt .com, afterwards), but it still did the jam thing. So the targets Delbert and I were shooting at with this gun -- got shot to hell just trying the different mags.

At one point I thought it was just the bolt-carrier rubbing the dust cover, but after going back and forth with another dust cover, it was not the case, besides, I couldn't find where it was rubbing together on either covers.

Fire 2 to 4 rds then jammed, over and over again, until it finally jammed completely with the bolt carrier stopping at the back of the receiver. I couldn't even push the carrier lever forward it was jammed so tight...never made it to the next cartridge. So, instead of taking the receiver cover off, and checking into why the bolt carrier stopped moving with other eyes near by (hey, it's a nearly new AK-47, it's not suppose to act this way - an embarrassment to the AKs of this world, and definetly get ya killed in a combat situation), I waited till I got home. And it was a simple thing as the bolt carrier was stopped by one of the trigger gizmo underneath it, so I just pushed it down with my finger and the bolt carrier slide forward.

Now, I did notice the jam-feed problem a couple times the first time I tried the weapon back on 11/27/10, when Steven and I met at Evan's to shoot my new Romanian WASR that I recently purchased from him, and to try out his/this Bulgarian AK-47 Hellhound and Polish Tantal AK-74. But, I didn't give the jamming much thought since I only shot about 5 rds (at a target 100 yds down field, which I kept to show my brother, Jr how accurate it was), and was more preoccupied with my new WASR and sighting it in. Couple weeks later when he offered to sell it to me at a good discount, it did occur to me about the jam-feed problem that I recalled the first time I shot it, but figured if there were any problems with the gun, surely Steven being the gun-smith and expert with AK47s would of had it in fine working conditions before he sold it.

My armature conclusion of the problem (s) is that it could be within the bolt-carrier and receiver sliding back and forth, or the mag isn't setting high enough into the receiver, or even a weak spring or all of the above. The bolt carrier will sometimes stop midway after releasing it, so it's a good chance it's within the rubbing of the two parts and or weak spring. Which could explain why it takes another pull and release of the bolt carrier to load the rd when it jams.

I'll let Steven see what he can do when he gets back from Louisiana. And update with the problem/solution. I really like the feel and accuracy of this gun, just wished it didn't have a feed problem. Definitely get ya killed in a combat situation.

Status up date: Finally. The rifle was pick-up by Steven 12/30/2010 for repair of defective alignment and replacement part(s). Should have it back for testing within 2 weeks.

11/27/10 At the range shooting my new Romanian AK-47 for the first time

Multiply head shots are not a problem @ 100 meters with the AK-47s

There must be an obvious reason why lots of ex-soldiers prefer AK-47s over ARs and M-16s. More durability, power, and deadly accuracy up to 400 meters (real life combat distance)...when your life depends on your weapon...AK-47 is the ONE.