Military Arms YouTube Golden Tiger review

Speaking of Lacquer coated, Military Arms has a review of the lacquered Golden Tiger ammo:

I like it for accuracy and so does he. But I'd say right now Golden Tiger on the low end of an import cycle since I'm not seeing it as much at the internet retailers. Atlantic Arms as linked by Sturmgewehre in his video has it in stock, maybe this is part of a new import wave of the stuff.

Also Golden Tiger's terminal ballistics are untested. It has a very large airspace in the nose which would make it want to tumble, but then it has a boat tail which tends to prevent tumbling. I love to see a gel shot of it. but still some of the best target/plinking ammo out there.

Military Arms is definitely a YouTube channel AK fans should be subscribed to, plus he's a Hoosier!

Hat Tip to Matt (the other one) over at Jerking the Trigger, while I subscribe to Military Arms, I saw this first on his Facebook feed.

Lacquer vs. Polymer coated Ammo

Lately since we are in the middle of a hot and steamy summer in a lot of the country, I've been seeing a lot of posts about polymer ammo getting surface rust.

I get surface rust on any polymer coated steel cases that sit loaded in my mags. When loading magazines with polymer coatings I now wear gloves to stop my sweat from starting surface rust (I have clammy hands a lot). I might use a slightly oily rag as well but I generally like to avoid chemicals with my ammo because you don't know what might penetrate a primer or case neck and make the round a dud. Overall, Wolf Military Classic rusts the worst but it is also my largest amount of ammo that sits in my mags so it may be an unfair sample. My Hornady hasn't been that bad yet but I don't have as much of it and it is from the first lot.

The rust makes me miss when everything 7.62x39 was copper washed or lacquered. Those coatings have much better rust resistance. Lacquer is still available in many loads even though the Wolf and their suppliers (Tula and Ulyanosk) stick to polymer. Golden Tiger and Brown bear are two exceptions. However, lately I and others have noticed with concern that there is Brown Bear that is coming as polymer. I emailed them and they assured me they will continue to offer both:

"We will be stocking both types. This allows us to work around Russian government orders as they specify polymer, making lacquer available. Also some of our customers have a preference for one or the other.
Thanks,
Bart Eaton" (DKG Trading Sales)

DKG Trading, who owns the Bear lines, also offer their rust resistant Silver Bear (zinc coating) and Golden Bear (brass coating).

I find it interesting that the Russian government prefers polymer, although not a surprise since Wolf Military Classic is suppose to be Mil-Spec ammo.

Honestly, I was blaming the AR guys for demonizing lacquer as what made Wolf go to all polymer coating, turns out I might need to blame the Russian military instead (sorry AR shooters!).

But while the surface rust is bad looking and needs to be watched, has anybody actually experienced a malfunction due to too much rust on a case in an AK? On the flip-side, anybody have a gummed up chamber cause stuck cases or other malfs from lacquer?

New Safeties

Say this today, an AR style AK safety, made by Sniper Handle. In general I tend to think of these style safeties that allow for thumb or index finger tabs as "training wheels" but if it is what you like check it out. For me though, I'm comfortable with the AK safety as is. Also the other things that would steer me clear of it is having to drill a larger hole for the safety post on the receiver, making it more difficult for FCG disassembly, it not working with side rails, underfolders, and thicker than 1mm receivers (although they are working on that last one). However if your AK fits into that niche and you like AR style safeties, this could be for you.

Awhile ago I blogged about the Black Horse Safety that I have dubbed the "teeter totter" style. Well Krebs came out with their own style of this a few months ago. The exception is that it doesn't have the index finger tab. It is marketed as a Saiga safety if you are keeping the standard stock on it. One other "advantage" depending on how you like to run your AK would be that it allows you to use it as a thumb safety left handed with a pistol grip and stock.

Night Brakes and others

And on the reboot, just saw this over at CNC Warrior, the Night Brake. Looks like it could be a inexpensive alternative to the PWS FSC47 compensator with flash controlling features (still not as good as a true hider).

I've been looking at a lot of 14x1MM LH brakes lately to put on my Draco pistol. The rest of my AKs tend to have hiders, save the 74. The look of the 74 style brake is one of the few aesthetic things I dig enough on AKs to go for looks over function, but it is also partly due to the lack of cool looking 24mm hiders. But the Manticore Nightshroud II might win out eventually. Coincidentally they have a Night Brake for 24mm as well.

I tried the slant brake on the Draco and it does cut some muzzle flip but decided to go for something else. While it isn't much of an issue on a pistol Draco, I still believe that they a lot of times contribute to AK inaccuracy.

Due to me being poor this summer (just had our second daughter), I cheaped out and went for the Tapco slot brake, which seems to have some good reviews but I haven't got to shoot it yet. I also want to try the US bastardized "Krinkov" and 74 brakes which of course both deviate from the original Russian designs but are cheap and common in 14x1MM LH.

The CNC Warrior VZ58 looks interesting and effective. Then there is the TGI series of brakes seems to be the the Swiss Army Knives of muzzle brakes since they are listed as a "muzzle brake/flash hider. Wire Cutter. Door breaching device. Glass breaker." LOL The Bart is the most aggressive and amusing at the same time with the name, but I would probably go for the Castle style. The King Armory KA-1230T is also on my radar but there seems to be very little actual end user reports on it.

Reboot

Hey guys if there is anybody out there in cyberspace, I'm working on rebooting this thing, lately I've had a couple people mention they missed it which is about 1 more than I thought was reading LOL. It still probably won't be a daily thing but I'll post as I find new stuff to add. Please feel free to forward me news tips, advice, complements, or complaints,. They all help.

5.45x39 V-Max is here!

Quick picture of the V-Max rounds in the middle. On the left is Russian surplus 5.45x39, on the right is Wolf Military Classic 124 gr. HP. A few of my favorite things...

New AK Podcast

I'm a big fan of podcasts. There's a new AK focused one available. It isn't up on iTunes or similar services yet, but that it the long term plan. For now you can download the first two episodes directly: http://www.aktoday.us/