My old AK got its receiver smashed, and was deemed unrepairable by the gunsmith. (Though, being an AK, it was still capable of firing most of the time! ... Jammed on about every 15th round, not good when using 40rd magazines.)
So, the solution? Get an awesome, new AK!
I started with this:
Which is pretty cool to begin with, but then I had a bit more fun with it;
Added: barrel-mounted front rail, 40rd magazines, folding front grip, laser sight, upper hand-guard rail, and red-dot sight.
Removed: Gas tube cover, old upper handguard
Which gives me THIS:
The bullpup AK does away with the full-stock, and moves the trigger forward, making the whole weapon 7 inches shorter, and somewhat lighter, yet it still has a full-length barrel, and has all the capability of a normal size AK.
Also, since the iron sights had to be replaced anyway for this configuration in order to move them forward and higher, M-16 style peep-sights were installed by the factory. I actually prefer the original AK style sights, but these sights also work okay.
I've heard some reports of the front grips getting overly hot when shooting this rifle... I plan to make that less of an issue by the removal of the front handguard and by wearing gloves.
The front rail is used for mounting the laser and the front grip:
The laser is a very nice one that was attached to my old AK, now moved to the new one.
Most laser sights are 5mW in (input) power, but this one is 35mW in output power!
It is extremely bright; can be seen very easily in all but the brightest sunlight, and in the dark, even the beam itself is visible.
(And even in full-brightness sun, it can be used, though it is more difficult then.)
Its position on the rail gives me the ability to use the thumb-switch to turn it on to just use it for a moment, though I can also twist it a bit to have it constant-on.
The front grip compliments this rifle very well, it can be locked into 5 different positions with the push of a button. The flat forward and flat back positions give it a nice, ordinary rifle feel, the angled to front position allows me to put a lot of pressure against it for steady aiming, the straight vertical position is comfortable for quick movement, and the angled to rear position is my favorite; it makes it easy to aim the rifle and hold it up, and I find it to be the most comfortable position.
In order to mount the red-dot sight where I wanted it, I had to install an upper-handguard rail. This turned out to be very difficult to install, and required me modifying the parts a bit, but I finally got it to fit properly, and it works great. Attached to that, is a 45 degree offset rail, to move the sight over to the side, so as to not interfere with the iron sights:
The red-dot sight isn't quite where I wanted it... I was hoping to be able to use it with the left eye, but it is too far in for that, yet a tiny bit too far out for right-eye aiming... I will probably try to tweak the exact position of it later, but for now, it works well enough with the right eye.
Thanks to the clever positioning though, I have 3 quick-and-easy to use types of sights that don't interfere with each other at all, and can be switched between very quickly and easily.
(The red dot could probably be set up to co-witness with the iron sights, but I don't want to do that; being a peep sight, it would negate much of the advantage of having a red dot in the first place.)
The idea behind my choice of and modification of this rifle is to take the AK's viability for short-range engagement, and then build on that... And what might you need most for short-range? The ability to maneuver easily, and acquire targets quickly, since (especially) at short range, speed is the most important thing you can have. The bullpup design gives great maneuverability even in tight spaces, and the addition of a laser and red-dot sights gives three different ways (iron, red-dot, laser) to line up a target, all of which are very fast methods (particularly the red-dot and laser, which don't require lining your eye up with the sights).
So, hopefully, should I ever need to use this in its full capacity, I'll be able to outmaneuver the other guy, and be able to aim and shoot before he does... Even if I'm inside or in dense brush, where full-size rifles can be clumsy.
My next project will be to use one of the hollow grips to make a battery-storage area, since both the laser and the red-dot use (different) batteries. With a storage area, the worry of dead batteries becomes less bothersome, since I'll always have extras close at hand.
Weather permitting, I should be taking it out Sunday to zero in the sights and test it out.
I'll post back again and let everybody know how it goes.
(Yeah, I know, kinda mall-ninja-like, and it's a travesty to put plastic on a Kalashnikov... Has a nice balance to it though, and the ergonomics seem better than my old AK.)
So, the solution? Get an awesome, new AK!
I started with this:
Which is pretty cool to begin with, but then I had a bit more fun with it;
Added: barrel-mounted front rail, 40rd magazines, folding front grip, laser sight, upper hand-guard rail, and red-dot sight.
Removed: Gas tube cover, old upper handguard
Which gives me THIS:
The bullpup AK does away with the full-stock, and moves the trigger forward, making the whole weapon 7 inches shorter, and somewhat lighter, yet it still has a full-length barrel, and has all the capability of a normal size AK.
Also, since the iron sights had to be replaced anyway for this configuration in order to move them forward and higher, M-16 style peep-sights were installed by the factory. I actually prefer the original AK style sights, but these sights also work okay.
I've heard some reports of the front grips getting overly hot when shooting this rifle... I plan to make that less of an issue by the removal of the front handguard and by wearing gloves.
The front rail is used for mounting the laser and the front grip:
The laser is a very nice one that was attached to my old AK, now moved to the new one.
Most laser sights are 5mW in (input) power, but this one is 35mW in output power!
It is extremely bright; can be seen very easily in all but the brightest sunlight, and in the dark, even the beam itself is visible.
(And even in full-brightness sun, it can be used, though it is more difficult then.)
Its position on the rail gives me the ability to use the thumb-switch to turn it on to just use it for a moment, though I can also twist it a bit to have it constant-on.
The front grip compliments this rifle very well, it can be locked into 5 different positions with the push of a button. The flat forward and flat back positions give it a nice, ordinary rifle feel, the angled to front position allows me to put a lot of pressure against it for steady aiming, the straight vertical position is comfortable for quick movement, and the angled to rear position is my favorite; it makes it easy to aim the rifle and hold it up, and I find it to be the most comfortable position.
In order to mount the red-dot sight where I wanted it, I had to install an upper-handguard rail. This turned out to be very difficult to install, and required me modifying the parts a bit, but I finally got it to fit properly, and it works great. Attached to that, is a 45 degree offset rail, to move the sight over to the side, so as to not interfere with the iron sights:
The red-dot sight isn't quite where I wanted it... I was hoping to be able to use it with the left eye, but it is too far in for that, yet a tiny bit too far out for right-eye aiming... I will probably try to tweak the exact position of it later, but for now, it works well enough with the right eye.
Thanks to the clever positioning though, I have 3 quick-and-easy to use types of sights that don't interfere with each other at all, and can be switched between very quickly and easily.
(The red dot could probably be set up to co-witness with the iron sights, but I don't want to do that; being a peep sight, it would negate much of the advantage of having a red dot in the first place.)
The idea behind my choice of and modification of this rifle is to take the AK's viability for short-range engagement, and then build on that... And what might you need most for short-range? The ability to maneuver easily, and acquire targets quickly, since (especially) at short range, speed is the most important thing you can have. The bullpup design gives great maneuverability even in tight spaces, and the addition of a laser and red-dot sights gives three different ways (iron, red-dot, laser) to line up a target, all of which are very fast methods (particularly the red-dot and laser, which don't require lining your eye up with the sights).
So, hopefully, should I ever need to use this in its full capacity, I'll be able to outmaneuver the other guy, and be able to aim and shoot before he does... Even if I'm inside or in dense brush, where full-size rifles can be clumsy.
My next project will be to use one of the hollow grips to make a battery-storage area, since both the laser and the red-dot use (different) batteries. With a storage area, the worry of dead batteries becomes less bothersome, since I'll always have extras close at hand.
Weather permitting, I should be taking it out Sunday to zero in the sights and test it out.
I'll post back again and let everybody know how it goes.
(Yeah, I know, kinda mall-ninja-like, and it's a travesty to put plastic on a Kalashnikov... Has a nice balance to it though, and the ergonomics seem better than my old AK.)