Why I'm an AK guy instead of an AR

Because when I drop my Twinkie in the rifle from my tacticool Mall Ninja gear I don't have this problem:


An AK eats Twinkies no problem:

Jerking the Trigger US Palm AK30 Magazines review

Matt over at Jerking the Trigger has a great review of AK30 magazines.

The Firearm Blog shows the AK-12 and the an Interesting Draco addon

Steve at The Firearm Blog had a couple interesting AK posts this week. First was the AK-12, an updated version of the 5th Generation AK-200. It will be the AK-12 since it will go into production next year. I'm not too excited because it may end up and be Vaporware, espeically since earlier in the year Russia annouced that they had too many AKs already. Also, it will take awhile for some of the features to trickle down into U.S. imported guns, if at all. However, it is interesting to see how Russia wants to update the platform and it would be nice to see them go into large scale production on the 60 round quad stack mags and some of them make it over here so they don't command nearly $1000 on Gunbroker.

The other interesting post was on Center Balanced Systems' Draco Pistol modification. At first glance it turns the Draco into an SBR Bullpup, but it is actually still classified as a handgun by the ATF in a letter due to the fact that is only designed to be used with one hand. I am considering getting one for my Draco that is still a pistol.

Possible current 8M3 bullet sources

As I talked about in my previous guide, I think 8M3 7.63x39 is the best bulk self defense ammo out there. However, importing of it has been spotty of late. Wolf Ammunition has gone through a major shake up and they aren't using the exact same sources they used to. Due to this, current Wolf Military Classic Hollow Point doesn't seem to consistently use the Ulyanovsk plant Sapsan 8M3 bullet, if at all.

The normal way to a confirm Sapsan 8M3 bullet is by taking a loupe and looking inside the hollow point or a small pin in the cavity to look/feel for the cuts inside the jacket that encourage opening. They should be deeper and more than other 122/124 grain HP bullets cuts which are shallower or even non-existent. Also if you pull the bullets the shape should be different and the 8M3 bullet being shorter and flat based. Of course you can cut the bullets in half to compare construction as well.

This thread over at Glock Talk has some great pictures of pulled bullets with their flatter base, pictures of packaging, the original "Uly" headstamp that was replaced with a WOLF headstamp, and other general history of Wolf Military Classic over the years up to 2010. The problem is that the Wolf ammo company has had big changes over the past year and I heard a couple reports that the cuts are no longer there in the hollow point cavity. (I meant to buy a new box yesterday at the Gun Show but I got distracted with an Olight M20-X Flashlight and AK cleaning mat...)

I wish I could find the thread this was originally in, but these pictures here and here at GunCo.net shows the cuts pretty well.

Right now the absolute best source would be anything confirmed Ulyanovsk production that says 8M3 effect or Sapsan hunting Ammo. This will have the traditional Uly headstamp. The Sapsan boxes are making their way in right now but it has been awhile I've heard about the blue and white box being available.

Note: 8M3 is NOT the Uly 122 grain FMJ bullets in the the black and white boxes, although it will share the Uly headstamp. I've realy like that FMJ load for range ammo, but I haven't pulled one to see if it even has the 8M2 bullet which is similar to the Yugo M67 flat based FMJ. Which as I said in the guide, the best terminal ballistics option if you have to go for FMJ because it will tumble better. But if it has a boattail M43-style it will just go straight through like this video shows on water jugs (I know water jugs aren't a good ballistic medium but it illustrates the basic point and there is still a good chance that 8M2/M67 vcould do that as well).

I've seen a few people reporting that Tulammo 124 grain hollow point load somewhat ironically and confusingly has the 8M3 bullet. This is strange since Tula normally sourced the Wolf Black Box 122 grain Hollow Points. Tulammo as a brand has branched out and has either stopped sourcing ammo to Wolf or at the bare minimum has tried to get some of the importing action themselves instead of depending on Wolf. Lucky Gunner has a great profile of Tulammo and it confirms while it is called TulAmmo, the brand itself uses both Tula and Ulyanovsk plants. It does actually say on the 124 grain Hollow Point boxes that the ammo is made at the Ulyanovsk plant, so this would also seem to be a safe bet for 8M3.

To give you a idea of what these bullets can do, here is the damage these bullets have done on pigs: click here WARNING for the faint of heart they are pretty graphic!

ENDO AK Selector Shirt

Everyday No Days Off has a AK selector switch shirt like there AR one for sale now

I'm not dead...

Hey everybody, sorry for the non-existent posting, it always seems as I get deeper into the school year, the less time I spend on internet stuff. I am working on a review of AK grips in general (Hogue, US Palm, K-Var, Tapco, even Century) and a Hogue handguard review as seen here:


Next post here will probably be an update on 8M3 importation since the Wolf brands have been completely restructured.

Hawkepaks Civil Defense Survial Kit bag review

I've noticed I've talked about this bag a couple of times here and I think it's time for a review. In general, I'm going to start reviewing some gear I have on hand. With a new daughter and another one that is 3, I'm a little cash strapped with medical bills and child care so there won't be too much brand spanking new gear reviewed (unless I add advertising/tip jar to the blog that would go directly to buy gear for review). However, I do have Hogue forend and grip on the way which I'll review. When I can swing another $100 after that, I'm going to try to do the Manticore Nightbrakes. I also want to do the updated version of the Midwest Industries Iron Dot style rail with a Primary Arms Microdot, but that is going to be awhile, at least a couple of months. So with that housekeeping out of the way, on to the review.

The Hawkepak's Civil Defense Survival Kit (CDSK) bag definitely has a long name elluding to a lot of functionality. It is an improved, more modular version of Hawkepak's MA-54 bag. The concept behind these bags according to their supporters, like Gabe Suarez, is that you can carry all of your rifle fighting gear in an inconspicuous manner. It is often called a Fighting Bug Out Bag or a Sneakybag (which is also the brand name of bags that was sold by Suarez, made by Dan Agakian).

Often people that don't subscribe to this method point out that a rifle is a pretty obvious object to be carrying so you might as well use a chest rig, vest, or belt system instead. However, there are ways to conceal a rifle as well, especially a folding stock AK (I'll cover some of these in another blog post). I more subscribe to the Fighting Bug Out Bag theory since I would plan to use it in more of a way to escape a bad catastrophe without using the rifle if possible. It is a part of an overall bug out system of bags and clothing that if enough people are interested I can post on. If things get really bad, I do have my US Palm V1 Chest Rig, but for me as a civilian with a family to protect I feel the fighting bug out bag makes more sense in the rare very situation I would have to use either outside of the range.

Hawkepak's first bag in this market was their MA-54 Rifle BugOut Bag. It has been a popular option for a lot of people. LaRue at one point even sold an embroidered version. I owned a variant of the MA-54 for a while called the Recon bag. Its only difference from the MA-54 was that it had a larger flap. Overall, the Recon bag along with my customer service experience from Hawkepaks convinced me that they put out a great product and stand behind it. When the CDSK bag came out it offered some improvements over the Recon bag so I sold it and upgraded.

The CDSK bag is made of high quality nylon, my guess would be 800 or 1000 denier. The stitching and construction are up to par of the materials. There may be some products that have a little better finishing out there, but Hawkepaks are still well constructed, especially for being made here in the United States. I chose the gray color bag since it isn't a normal "tactical" color.



The layout of the CDSK makes it quite functional and easy to use. The bag has a large main compartment, two water bottles on the sides of the bag, and a smaller front compartment. Between the front and main compartment there is a large, velcro closed slip pocket. There are also two slip pockets between the main compartment and the water bottle pockets. On the back of the bag there is a carry handle and sleeve pocket that will store and conceal the waist strap. On this sleeve there is another slip pocket, not to mention the other two small zippered pockets on the waist strap! With all this storage space and organization options, it actually can tempt you to overload the bag with knickknacks you don't need.



Speaking of organization, the bag also includes veclro backed rifle magazine elastic holder, a thumbbreak hoslter, 2 double pistol magazine pouches, and a divider. These can be used on the bag's three velcro walls. One is in the outside front pouch, the other two are on the longer sides of the main comparment. The outside velcro field on in the main compartment is also MOLLE webbing. All of these combine to make the inside of the bag very modular and customizable. On top of that, Hawkepak's includes the velcro backed accessories unlike most competitors.

One of the common complaints on with the MA-54 is that many people, including me, don't like is the weight of the rifle mags being on the outside of the main compartment pouch. In Hawkepak's CDSK pictures, they show the magazines in the outside pouch, but you can actually reconfigure the bag to put the rifle magazine pouch on either longer side of the main compartment as well. While this may make the magazines slightly harder to access, the bag carries better since the weight of the magazines are closer to your body. It allows you to choose what you like with this design. Overall, this highlights one of the improvements of the fixed external pouches on the MA-54. They are now more concealed, movable pouches.

To give you an example, this is how I load my CDSK currently for emergency use (it also makes a great range bag when I pull some of this stuff out). The main compartment has 3-5 Bulgarian Circle Ten waffle 30 round 7.62x39 rifle magazines in the rifle magazine holder on the side closest to my body. The number varies depending on how heavy I want to load the bag and they all have Magpuls on them to help get them out of the bag. I also have a couple of lightsticks and MOLLE clip light in the webbing. The divider has been attached to the MOLLE/Veclro side to function as a small pouch where I keep a smoke bomb. The side slip pockets hold a CRKT Crawford Falcon in one and CR123 batteries in the other (these pockets also hold rifle magazines nicely, they can just be difficult to get out). The outside compartment has one double magazine pouch and holster. This is were I put my M22 pistol and magazines, since I plan on having my EDC pistol and magazine on my belt. There is also 2 boxes of .22 LR in the bottom of the pouch for the M22. The velcro topped slip pocket between the main and outside compartment contains my weapon maintenance gear. My Mechanix gloves are in the back slip pocket on the waist strap holder. I keep a set of WileyX SG-1s in a hard case clipped to the metal shoulder strap attachment loop. It will also fit nicely in the front water bottle pocket, but I normally keep that empty as a dump pouch. It functions well as a small object dump pouch, but don't expect it to hold more than 1-2 rifle magazines. However, the main compartment normally works well as a rifle dump pouch as well. I keep my trauma kit in the rear water bottle pocket, which consists of a Calvary Arms ITK, EMT shears, and a C-A-T tourniquet. The waist strap pockets normally hold small objects like ear plugs and a compass.

One of my minor gripes about the bag is the shoulder strap pad. It always seems to shift around and then bunch up a little to easily. In some ways, the movement of the strap through the pad is a good thing because it allows the bag and strap to move with the pad staying in place on the shoulder. When it doesn't bunch up, this is a nice feature because it makes the bag more stable and comfortable. But I'm untwisting and unbunching the strap pad a lot as well. It probably doesn't help that I keep an Energizer Hard Case light on one of the strap pad's MOLLE sized ladder webbing.

Customer service at Hawkepaks is excellent. With my original Recon bag, Ed Hawke answered some questions about it quickly via email before my purchase. Unfortunately, then I did have some velcro pull loose on the inside of the Recon bag. Mr. Hawke apologized and offered free repairs and I sent the bag back to him. He then sent it back with shipping on his dime and included some nice freebies, including a nice ditty bag, to make up for the my minimal shipping cost to him. My CDSK has held up very well, but I did have another minor mixup with it when I got it. The retailer that I purchased it from had a shipment of bags that only included one double pistol pouch. I emailed Hawkepaks about the issue. Again, Mr. Hawke emailed back quickly with an explanation that a new employee prepared that shipment didn't know that there should have been two and he then offered to send me out the missing one. Again, when it got here it included a couple of freebies, a small knife and carabiner.

I highly recommend Hawkepaks and their Civil Defense Survival bag. I don't think you can go wrong with their American made gear!

I know this review is light on pictures. I'm going with at first some not so great shots that I have online already, but I'll try to add some more this weekend. I also have some pictures of the Recon bag if anyone is interested.

New Manticore Nightbrakes Release Dates

From Sven at Manticore:
"We anticipate the 14x1L mm (model MA-1214) and 1/2x28 tpi (model MA-1228) threaded Nigthbrakes will be available in six to eight weeks. The 24mm and the two newer threadings will look slightly different in the rear threaded "collar", but the front end will function and have the same performance on all three. All three models can safely shoot up to a .30 caliber projectile safely. Both the MA-1214 and MA-1228 have a standard STANAG 22mm diameter."

MRSP is $47.95.

US Palm Limited Run Foliage Green Grips

US Palm's Facebook page is reporting that they have a limited run of 50 foliage green AK Battle Grips going out. Good to see they are finally going the green route, but of course I've already went OD Green base on most of my tacticool pant jobs. I still may try to pick one up if I can find it.

Also there website is down today while they relaunch it...

Midwest Industries Mini Dot Mount seems to have its bugs worked out.

Surprisingly for MI's normal level of quality, they had a few tilting problems with their new Iron Dot style rear sight mount. They claim to have now fixed it. You can get an upgraded version if you already have one and if you are now interested in buying an improved one they are in stock.

Hat tip to Shooter521 at INGO.

They also have an interesting new flash hider that has TGI BART style spikes and they claim it reduces recoil.

Another Attero Arms Statement

I post this because this blog is one of the places that has most of the Attero Arms saga posted. Form your own opinions. However, I still will not be buying from them.

"Hello,
A brief statement regarding the ‘Twisterx44/Nate’ controversy:
This will be posted on all the ‘Twisterx44’ threads that we can locate.
Nate from Attero has been reprimanded for his blatant disregard for our honesty policy at Attero, as well as a lack of respect for the online firearms community. All of you deserve nothing but the truth. Subsequently, and effective immediately, he will no longer be speaking on behalf of the company on any internet forums. Additionally, he will be overseas shortly and will not have much involvement with the company during his yearlong absence.
We at Attero will be working hard to regain the trust and respect of the firearms community, particularly the online firearms community. We understand that a member of our team made an extremely poor decision, and we can assure you that it will not happen again, period. We do not expect an immediate withdrawal of the animosity that was generated from this incident. Just know that we will be dedicated to creating innovative and affordable products while delivering top-notch customer service. Additionally, we will be nothing but 100% honest.
On another note, it appears there is a general belief that the Attero AK SBR is overpriced. Our sales team and production team will be looking into the budgeting process to tighten up the MSRP to somewhere closer to what has been estimated to be a ‘fair price’. We value our customers’/potential customers’ feedback, and will adjust accordingly. Just keep in mind we have labor and some machining to figure in.
Thank you for your time. Rather than just apologizing repeatedly, let us show you why we deserve your business, even if it takes 15, 20, or 100 positive reviews from other satisfied customers.

-Attero Arms"

Jerking the Trigger's review of 762tactical's ChiCom chest rig

I missed it because I've been busy the last couple of weeks but Matt over at Jerking the Trigger has a review of the 762tactical modern ChiCom style chest rig. They have always had the reputation to do good work and be pretty affordable. I've almost bought one on several occasions. For me since I now have my Attack Rack V1, it is all I the chest rig I "need" (and I use need loosely, the first thing I would grab if SHTF is my Hawkepak's CDSK bag). But if you are shopping for a chest rig, I would check 762tactical out as well.

Military Arms Channel Innovation Arm's Wood stock review (Attack Rack V2 spotted in the wild!)

Looks like nice work with ComBloc refinished replacement stocks, refinishing services for your own, and IronWood Designs sets for 922r:

Note he is wearing a US Palm Attack Rack V2.

Also the Attack Rack V2 appears in this video too:

Colorado Guns M10 links

I noticed a lot of you are digging the M10-762. Here's some links that srice425 sent to me. My attempts to reach Colorado Guns on both info for the M10-762 and the M10-22 along with extra parts for WASR22s have not been replied to. The Tapco Razr flash hider is removable with standard AK 14x1mm LH underneath.

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_4_64/137863_Noob_question__School_me_on_this_rifle_M10_762_AK_47.html&page=1&anc=bottom#bottom

http://www.akfiles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=89909

http://www.sksboards.com/smf/index.php?topic=91366.0

Basically it is a WASR10 style receiver with a Draco gas block.

Also, IO Inc is importing these rifles and calling them "Hellhounds"

Colorado Guns M10 .22LR

Speaking of .22 LR AKs and Colorado Guns' M10, they have one in .22 LR. Centerfire systems has them in stock. Seems to be a WASR22 with a Draco Gas Block (but the gas block in this case isn't functional since .22 AKs tend to be direct blowback). If it is a new production WASR22 platform it could mean more spare parts for other WASR22 owners. Previously, the imported WASR22 were military surplus trainers and supposedly they had all dried up.

I will not be buying from Attero Arms.

I noticed this morning that a lot of the traffic lately has been from this thread at TheHighRoad.org where the Attero Arms interview and Twisterx44 statement is linked.

Let me give you some behind the scenes information. I was skeptical at first about the Twisterx44 reviews of course since they were plastered all over the gunboards. I contacted Attero through their contact page and Twisterx44 through private messaging on my local gunboards, INGO. I was also able to find through Google some background on Twisterx44. At one point on the night of the July 27th and morning of the 28th, Twisterx44 through PMs had me convinced that he was a young, uninitiated, local buyer of an Attero Arms SBR. He told me that he had made a mistake, was hurting Attero, and wanted me to edit my blog post. I also received an email from Attero Arms on the 28th stating:

"We have taken care of the issue on the majority of major forums. At this point, your blog post is sort of the only remaining controversy regarding the topic, so unfortunately I am going to have to ask you to at least remove the portion of your post regarding Twisterx44 or our involvement with it.

Thanks for your cooperation and your interest in the matter."

I was initially very angry about this email. However, I gave it some time and gave them benefit of the doubt. I also wanted to be as factual as possible and not inflammatory to a new company if they were actually on the up and up, so I did edit out a few lines that stated that some people would need more evidence to believe it. I now regret that edit as it makes me seem to unwittingly support a possible guerrilla marketing campaign. The whole time if I had just went back to that THR.org thread, I believe I would have seen the compelling evidence that I was looking for and has now been removed.

I now feel that there is enough coincidences and circumstantial evidence that I personally have made the decision not to buy from Attero Arms.

Please, make up your own minds if you are interested in their products. You may believe that Attero and Twisterx44 are one in the same or that they are as they have stated here separate entities. Even if you believe it was a guerrilla marketing, you may also have it in your heart to forgive what seems to be a new business ran by young people. If decide to buy from them let me know what you think, especially their mount. But I will be buying a Midwest Industries T1 mount instead and a Primary Arms micro red dot to go with it as soon as I can afford it.

I feel that I need to make a full disclosure to clear my name if possible. I understand that the similar I time restarted this blog may make it seem that if you believe Attero Arms was guerrilla marketing that I may have been part of their campaign. I mostly definitely was NOT a part of a campaign. I did at one point offer my blog as a place to get their statements out since it seemed Attero Arms specifically didn't have public statement out. I also offered for them to link any of my blog posts if they wanted. Other than the email exchanges for information on the situation and product offering, I have had no other contact with Attero. I was just trying to get out more information overall of what looked to be an interesting product. I feel that I may have been used to help their guerrilla marketing campaign in that process.

Unlike pages and forum registrations that have been disappearing after this incident, all of my forums registrations have been and will continue to be maintained as will my Photobucket account. I am MattCFII on most boards. If you've seen some of my pics that I've hosted through Photobucket you'll see that my account there is under Snake122 which may seem unusual. It was my flight sim username and the first google hit at glogster on that is not mine. However, just about anything else flight sim related that you'd find with that username is mine.

My real name is Matt. I live in Indianapolis, IN. I am married with daughters and in my 30s. I am not naive enough to think that someone could find out more about me but right now that is all the info I want to release. I have learned a lot with this incident and feel like I will be a better blogger because of it. I apologize for any offense I have caused my readers due to this controversy. Please feel free to air out an concerns you have in the comments.

UPDATE:

That thread has expanded and I think most people will now agree that Twisterx44 is Nate from Attero Arms. I have seen other evidence that completely convinces me of this as well. Again, it is a young soldier with a startup company that made a very bad decision. You may my be able to forgive him and try their products. Personally due to the ride he took me on, I cannot.

.22 LR AKs

Just saw today on a CDNN email news letter that the ATI/GSG AK47 .22 LR is going for $250 on sale. My biggest complaint about the GSG AK47 has been the cost so this is nice to see. If I had the cash and didn't already have a .22 LR AK, I could see myself spending that on one. Originally they were almost $500. Magazines are still a bit high were I can find them though. The posts that I've seen on boards have one have report good function.

The common options for .22 LR AKs is the GSG AK47, the Romanian WASR22/AKT98, and Armscor AK22. I've owned an Armscor AK22 and currently have an AKT98.

If you decide to go for an Armscor AK22, it is a decent option if you are on a budget. These guns are cosmetically modified Squires Bingham M20 rifles that Armscor has been making for awhile now in the Philippines. It is really a very basic tube receiver semi-auto blowback rifle at its heart. I have seen a lot of reports of good function on these, however mine wasn't the best. Like almost all .22s it was ammo sensitive. Mine was just too unreliable for me.

Magazines can be hard to find but I got some directly from the Armscor USA distributor. You can get some 10, 15, and 25 round magazines. The 10 and 15 rounders are the best magazines and are actually M20 magazines with a cosmetic body. If you are looking for an AK style plinker for cheap, it can be a good option. However, it has a few training issues if you are trying for full 1:1 training features of a centerfire AK. First its magazines aren't rock in and out like a normal AK, also the mag latch is on the magazine body. Unless you own a milled AK, the stock angle if a little off and length of pull are off from a standard AK. I had to modify an airsoft AKM/74 style stock to get the feel of my stamped AKs. The safety is definitely takes less effort to use than a regular AK, but it does do a good job replicating it other than that and comes with a bolt hold open notch.

The Romanian WASR22/AKT98 is has some very good and very bad points. The good thing about it is that it is built on a centerfire AK receiver which means many interchangeable parts, like furniture and safeties But it takes a lot of tweaking to get running reliably. Also it has a tendency to blow out the extractor system parts when it has a out of battery detention. Luckily, a .22 LR Ka-Boom doesn't really hurt a shooter with proper eye protection nor does it hurt the gun, save the extractor system. Finding replacements for the extractor, extractor spring, etc. can be extremely difficult and there are many otherwise perfectly good WASR22 platform guns that just need an extractor. Unfortunately, there is no one that is making new production replacement extractors.

There has been talk of a third party bolt, first by Black Dog Machine and now by an AK machinist that goes by TurboThis. The bolt would use commonly available 10/22 extractor and save many of these rifles from the brink.

The blown extractor problem can be prevented by using round nose ammo that fully feeds into the chamber and by overall tweaks like the extractor tension, plugging the non-functional gas tube, and changing to a standard AK dust cover.

Overall though if you want a true .22 LR AK, this is the way to go. I am pretty happy with my AKT98. It is actually the AK I shoot the most since my local range doesn't allow centerfire rifle cartridges. Since they are so close to regular AKs and are no longer imported into the United States, they tend to be somewhat expensive. Expect to spend $350-$500 for a functional rifle. Magazines can be pretty affordable. The Black Dog Machine 30 rounders are $25-$30, 10 rounder metal shell mags for $10-$25, and short 10 round polymer for $12-$18.

I feel that these three are really the best options for .22 AKs. I 'm not a fan of the Krinker Plinker 10/22 conversion due to cost plus the non-standard AK safety and rear sight. The Saiga .22 LR may finally be imported someday and blow the rest of these out of the water, but it hasn't happened yet.

Military Arms Channel Ammo Coating Test Preview

Sturmgewehre over at Military Arms Channel is working on a polymer vs. lacquer vs. zinc coating test. Here's some preview pics:

US Palm Cage Pictures

Armed and Christian's comment on the MD mags made me want to share these

You can see the metal rear lug and the metal cage in the mold holes.

Metal on front lug

More pics of the cage inside the mag.

The line is the approximate location of where the cage stops (no metal feed lip support)

For reference, this K-Var pdf details their metal parts on the Bulgarian Circle 10 waffle mags.

Note the extra metal in the front strap, floorplate area, and lips in the Circle Ten. US Palm's response would be that it just adds weight and their mags are strong enough without it due to their design.

US Palm's lug cage goes all the way around where the Circle Tens don't. It wouldn't surprise me if US Palms were stronger in the lugs than Circle Tens. Of course, the US Palms might be weaker in the lips. I think if there are no defects, the US Palm "floorplate" is stronger, but if you are the type that likes to pull your floorplate, the Circle Tens are the way to go. But for the most part, besides for me being a US Palm fanboy, I think they are equally good in both theory and my experience. "They are both equal and it is purely a personal preference."

I have both and they are both my "first line" magazines depending on which gear setup I use. The Attack Rack has the US Palms, the Hawkepaks Civil Defense Survival Kit Bag has the Circle Tens. Unless it is a 40 rounder or 20 rounder, ComBloc metal are generally kept around as bench warmers.

Now if the MD Arms Quad Stacks are as good as Mike says, the others might become second string. If you guys want a magazine depth chart I can make you one (I must be excited the NFL is coming back with all these roster references).

Mike from MD Arms post on their Quad Stack Magazines

Saw this at one of the major AK forums. It has been a little bit of an open secert that MD Arms (makers of great Saiga stuff) have been working on quad stack mags. Here's portions of Mike's post on it: "I have ZERO doubt that our quads will by far be the best AK mags in the world... Full heat treated steel inserts through out (thats in the rear and front mag catch, feedlips, at the bottom for the floor plate and a removable metal floor plate) and the plastic we use is far superior to the plastic used in ANY surplus or aftermarket AK mags to date. In fact the material we use is so strong I am completely confidant that we could not use metal and still not have the breakages that others do that skipped the metal inserts. That isn't our style though. Ous (sic) will have the steel inserts even if it is overkill with our material. We don't cut quality corners to save pennys on the dollar... Going to be a lot of foot in mouth when we release the quads from those who doubt them. It might be best to wait for first hand experience to avoid being one of those guys... For the guys that claim they don't need 50rd we will have a nice tight 30rd for you that is a touch shorter than a 20rd double stack. It will be far less constricting to carry on your person than a double stack 30 and lighter and stronger as well..."

If they are as good as he says we are in for a treat!

And it becomes a whole new Iron Dot Market

Midwest Industries has a new Iron Dot style mount.

Interestingly it will work with Aimpoint Micro style, along with the Primary Arms and Vortex Sparc clones (Sparc won't co-witness due to the emitter location).

Update: Primary Arms should have them instock early next week.

(Hat Tip kmrtnsn)

Attero Arms and Twisterx44 Responses

-AKMatt (Me)" What is your lead time on the Draco and Saiga? Obviously the Draco buyers will have to wait for the tax stamp transfer as well.

-Attero Arms (AA): The Attero AK SBR can actually be created and ready to go in about 2 weeks. Yes, the buyer must wait for their tax stamp transfer, but the weapon can be completed far in advance. The Attero S-12 can be shipped out approximately 1.5 - 2 weeks from ordering as well.

-(Me): Are your mounts currently shipping?

-(AA): We are currently shipping the Attero AK Micro Optics Mount.

-(Me): Any plans to add protective "ears" or "roll cage" like the Burris upgraded mount or the LaRue AK Iron Dot?

-(AA): We have considered the protective ears, but it will raise the cost of the mount and detract from the no-snag profile. Right now we are trying to keep it simple.

-(Me): I'm sure your mount is going to be compared to the LaRue Iron Dot which was liked but most usually felt like it was limited by the original Fast Fire and the Fast Fire II should fix some of those problems. Do you have any thoughts on what sets your product apart from LaRue's discontinued one? It looks like it shouldn't effect take down that much, correct (the dust cover can be popped off with out removing the mount)?

-(AA): What sets our product apart from LaRue's? First, LaRue didn't have very good replacement BUIS (Back Up Iron Sights) on their mounts. Second, it forced you to use a particular optic. Ours works with the three most common micro optics which can be found on our website in the description for the mount. Our mounts are also shorter in length, so take down and cleaning is even easier.

-(Me): Does each mount support all three optics or do you have to get a new one each time?

-(AA): Each mount supports all three optics. (Burris Fast Fire II, Leupold Deltadot, Trijicon RMR)

-(Me): Do you have a lot in stock from this first run or it is a on individual demand basis?

-(AA): We have enough mounts in stock to fuel what has been the consistent demand, but order volume is increasing, so we will be increasing our production.

-(Me): Comments on the apparent Guerrilla Marketing campaign by Twisterx44 on the gunboards? What is Twisterx44's relationship to the Attero Arms?

-(AA): We have been notified of the apparent marketing attempt by that user, however we have absolutely no affiliation with 'Twisterx44'. We may take steps to contact the board administrators to notify them that this was not an Attero Arms endorsed action. The problem is locating all of the boards that were posted on - there seem to be a lot. Twisterx44 has no relation to Attero Arms other than they were one of the first customers to purchase our SBR.

Interview via email with Nate of the Attero Arms Sales Team,

According to their website, Attero Arms holds a Type 7 FFL as well as a Class 2 SOT, issued by the BATF.

Twisterx44 was accused of guerrilla marketing by several board Admins with his review of Attero Arms SBR awith their mount.

EDIT: Statement from Twisterx44: "I wanted to clear the air with everybody here because I think I have been misunderstood slightly. I know I have been on other forums.

I posted a review of an SBR I finally got on this forum. I also posted my review on many other gun forums. My main reason for doing this was to show off my new toy, but one of the products my SBR came equipped with was a replacement for the Larue AK IronDot mount that I know everybody has been looking for since Larue discontinued them. I figured just about anybody with an AK would want to see it. Unfortunately, I got mislabeled as a 'guerilla marketer' which I had never heard of before, but on this forum and a few others I was accused of having an affiliation with the company that made my SBR.

I want to clear the air with that. I have no connection to them, I was just sharing my new gun. "

Attero Arms SBR review incident

If your a member of just about any gun forums/board you've might have seen the Twisterx44 review of the Attero Arms Draco SBR which seemed to be a guerrilla marketing campaign. I'm in communication with Attero Arms and Twisterx44 and will have comments shortly.

No matter what you think of the posts, I really think the mount is interesting, obviously like the discontinued LaRue Iron Dot.

Manticore Arms 14x1mm LH Night Brake

Sven from Manticore posted over at Jerking the Trigger that they will be making a standard AK thread 14x1mm LH Night Brake. Looks like the Draco pistol may have found a new friend!

Hat Tip to Matt over at Jerking the Trigger!

Interesting new Romanian variant M10-762

Check this out, (and here) a factory done, Bolton gas block style rifle with what appears to be a Draco gas block. When I recently handled a Bolton gas block rifle, it convinced me that maybe a Draco with a permanently attached extended brake would be a handy rifle, and it is.

But this rifle maybe would have done what I wanted to, although it would be harder to convert to an SBR than a Draco. I would suspect it being a Century build but it isn't listed on their site. Interesting other features are the RPK rear sight, Hogue grip, and hammer forged chrome lined barrel. Personally I'd change the Tapco RAZR hider and UTG handguard, but to each his own. Looks to be a WASR style receiver without dimples.

Update: A commenter pointed out it is a Colorado Guns build, thanks!

They are the second link in this post and I must have missed on their site that they are the builders. The part that confuses me though is the WASR style receiver, my first guess would be that it is a WASR with a Draco Gasblock. Which isn't a bad thing in my book, if I could have found a Draco gas block for sale I would have done the same thing. But instead I sold off my WASR10/63 to fund the Draco carbine.

Some added details is that it has a G2 trigger group, a Tapco stock (which I like if you are just going for the basics), a Tapco trigger group retaining plate, and a ProMag magazine (not to thrilled about that but there are plenty of AK mags out there).

EDIT 1/30/12: This post is the single most popular one here at my Blog. Welcome to those of you that find this site by searching on it. I'm trying to keep up on the news of it, there are a few more related posts if you click the Romanian M10-762 label here or below. I'm considering shifting some priorities around and buying one for a review, but my wife is currently unemployed so that could be awhile. Also I'm not sure if there is already enough information out there on it. If you would like to see a detailed review done by me as well, please post it up on the comments.

EDIT 2/29/12:  M10-545 review part one is here.

US Palm Fanboy updates

What's a blog reboot without an US Palm Fanboy update. Now I know how the AR guys feel about Magpul.

Magazine Rebuild kit-FWIW, I like their regular mags a lot. This could be a good option to add 922r parts to your steel mags or of course fix worn out ones. I'll be very interested to see their floorplate design since regular AK30 mags don't have a traditional floorplate.

rEvolution package- Consists of AK30 magazine(s), AKTR railed handguard, AKBG grip (which is awesome!) and AKES enhanced Safety (Krebs style execept no cold range bolt hold open notch and tab is riveted on). Looks interesting, I could skip the AKES though these days, but would have liked it a lot a few years ago. I really need to get on board with one of their handguards built under a partnership with Midwest industries. They offer several different top handguards to allow cowitness with most of the common red dot out there (Vortex Sparc and maybe one of the Mini red dots do not cowitness) . Kinda disappointed to see the rEvolution package doesn't come with a couple of their rail covers.

They will be releasing their V2 Attack Rack Chest rigs any day now. This generation will have some MOLLE on the sides and offered custom shaped soft armor (no word if the armor will be offered for the V1) AK style and "Multi-platform"

I have one of their V1 Attack Racks and while I'm not big on chest rigs for my purposes, I like it a lot when I need to be tacticool.

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.