Patrick Sweeney - Gun Digest Book of the AK & Sks Volume II: Complete Guide to Guns, Gear and Ammunition

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As always, to Felicia. In the first volume of this book, I mentioned our two poodle dudes. Soon after that volume came out, we added a third. Bertie was a rarity among poodles; a high-energy, sweet, almost manic dog, who was so strong he actually pulled me off my feet more than once.

He was also, as we discovered, a dog who had Addisons. Our little Addisonian required a daily pill, and monthly shots, on a strict schedule. We willingly undertook that work, as we had signed on as pack leaders, and that is one thing that is absolute: assume a burden and stick with it, regardless.

Felicia and I stuck with him until the end. It turns out it was not his Addisons that took him, but a rare cancer of vague symptoms that even the specialty vet overlooked. As a firearms trainer of my acquaintance once remarked, To love a dog is to know that someday you will cry.

On a more cheerful note, I have a warning for those who wish to work at home or at a window. Do not install a window mount hummingbird feeder. I have, and today alone I have lost almost half an hour, distracted every time I see a zipping motion from the corner of my eye. This years owner of the feeder (hummingbirds are very territorial, they will defend a good feeding spot) is tiny, even for a ruby-throat female. Shes been here a dozen times, driven off interlopers, and even eyes birds much larger than herself. She just harassed a poor mourning dove that wandered into her AO, diving, pecking, and making sure it didnt come near her feeder.

Fierce little birds, they are.

So, for Felicia, the poodle dudes, here and gone, and the ferocious hummingbird outside my window, I dedicate the latest book for your enjoyment.

Patrick Sweeney, September 2016

WHY ANOTHER AK BOOK? AFTER ALL, WHAT more can be said about the AK, that ubiquitous bullet hose seen on network news each night, the rifle about which barrels of ink have already been spilled, that hasnt already been said?

One explanation is that the market has changed, and the end users expectations have changed as well. Which means the previous AK volume isnt as relevant as it had been.

The advice we were given back in the early days about how to run an AK was, it isnt an AR, dont try to run it that way, learn to run it like a Russian. Or, run it like Spetsnaz. In other words: dont baby it. Those of you who have read me will know where Im going with this one, but Im not an illiterate farmer living in a Third World hellhole. I understand the need for, and uses of, proper lubrication. And proper, safe, gun handling. Now, were I a contractor working in some God-awful place, Id certainly have the Russian way as part of my mental toolkit.

But Im not one (a contractor that is).

So, except for the usual run-of-the-mill neglect from having too many things to do, I do not clean my AKs according to legend. They actually get oil, now and then, and a brush and a patch down the bore when I have time between assignments. Similarly, I expect it to be a reasonably civilized piece of equipment. I expect a trigger that is at least manageable. Nice would be better, even though I dont expect a sniper rifle grade trigger.

The guard outside of the Kremlin, with his SKS. Yep, an SKS, because an AK would be too short for him to hold the muzzle.

I expect my rifle to be reasonably ergonomic. Lets take the stock as an example. Yes, the stock is short. Because the users were short, and they were packed into small vehicles when they rode in vehicles. Original Russian dimension stocks may be period correct, even visually balanced (in part because thats what we expect) and sturdy. But Im not a Soviet mechanized infantry trooper from Uzbekistan. Im a foot taller than those guys, and I need a stock that fits me. And no doubt you do, too. Yes, you can do OK with the shorter stock, but youll do better with a longer one, one that fits. What are we as Americans, if not looking for better?

I also expect the maker to have dealt with sharp edges, corners, burrs, wire-edged stampings and pinch-points. That is, I expect them not to be there. As long as some inspecting General didnt cut himself on an AK, the makers seem not to have bothered themselves with such niceties. I mean, my Romy AKM still has a machine-cut curl of steel on the gas pillar, decades after manufacture, finishing, issue, storage, demilling and shipment to me.

The ergonomics of the AK were a combination of another era and an unconcern for the individual user. Here in a market economy, if you make something that puts an extra burden on the end-user, they will take their dollars and find someone who is more willing to accommodate their irrational demands of value for money.

In the old Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact, AKs were property of The People. Meaning the government. Meaning, no one had any requirement to do more than keep track of serial numbers, to whom they were issued, and that they were still where they were supposed to be. Comrade, you want to customize your AK? Submit a proposal to the relevant committee and they will tell you if it is an approved modification or not. Any bets on it being approved? And the chances of your issued AK being un-issued to you in the near future?

We pay for our own ammunition here in the States. Right now, it is still relatively cheap, and it comes in non-reloadable, steel cases for the most part. So no one cares how far or hard the empties are ejected, and what happens to them in the process. However, let reloading 7.62x39 become even nearly as common as .2235.56 and that will change.

Users will start to examine ways to ease the ejection process. Not to become marginal, but at least to not be brass-destructive. An example and data point. Back in the 1980s, the HK series of rifles were all the rage. The HK91 and 93 were hot properties to own. And status symbols. But, if there was one thing the Germans learned from the Russians, it was that empty brass/steel had to be hurled vigorously. Those who actually shot their HKs, and reloaded ammo, soon invested in a brass buffer. It was a small steel clip with a rubber face, which you clipped to the edge of the ejection port. It saved your brass from being nearly bent in half. And kept it from being hurled fifty yards.

Once reloading 7.62x39 becomes popular enough Id expect someone to invent and start marketing such a gizmo. You will search in vain for such a thing to be imported, surplus, from a previously communist country. Oh, if it becomes popular enough, youll see cheap knock-offs coming from China, but there is no such thing in existence in the commie world.