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I also am very fond of the short 300blk for the home, it's my go-too as well. I like that it has a flashlight on, because I never liked that pistol and maglite cross arm thing.

I wish I could like my AK more than I do. I know it's a great platform. Unfortunately my vision just really isn't up to the job with irons - i can barely see the front sight post which is a real challenge, and I never really found a good rail system that worked for me for getting optics on it. Once the bump stock ban goes into effect and I transition it away from it's current role as a lead fire hose, I might try doing some kind of scout scope or something like that again.

The iron sights on AK's are pretty bad, about the worst of any major rifle line I can think of, but I can at least hit minute-of-bad-guy with them, probably not much more than that though

I used to not think they were so bad...until I got introduced to proper aperture sights.

It just depends on if you’ve bothered to adjust them. I’ve seen guys get consistent 6 inch groups at 800 meters with AKs.

Another mistake is people sometimes forget AK iron sights are meters, not yards. That will throw you waaaaay off at longer ranges.

So I got my Mosin finally. Whats really interesting was looking up all the markings.


Sadly there are no detailed records of Mosins, but going by the markings I was able to piece together the following.






So the manufacturer symbol doesn't really show in the photo, but it is a very very faint Hammer+Sickle surrounded by Laurels. That means this was originally made by Izhevsk, in 1942. Serial numbers lots for Soviet Mosins were done with a Letter followed by the number that rifle was in the lot. Once the lot number reached 9999 the numbers would reset back to 0001 and a new random letter was chosen. So there is no way to know when during 1942 this rifle was made. Only that it was the 6007th rifle in batch Y.

The Buttplate had the serial number changed to match the weapon. From what I found, this was often done if the weapons were sent back to the factory to be refitted or refurbished and they had non-matching/missing parts.

The magazine plate and the Bolt have not had new numbers carved on them, so they are most likely the original pieces. The magazine itself is not numbered, however it has an Arrow in a triangle stamped on it which matches the Izhevsk plant.

The stock has Arrow Triangle symbols roughly etched into it too, as well a number of other faint impressions.

The import markings on the receiver indicate it was originally imported into the US by R Guns of Carpentersville Illinois. No indication of the year, and while they still exist their website doesn't say anything about being an importer or when they started up.

So it seems that the rifle was made in 1942, which was pretty much the most frenzied action of the Eastern Front. At some point, the rifle was refurbished and the buttplate of a different rifle was made to match it, though most of the rest of the rifle seems to be original parts.

I bought it on consignment through a local gunshop, so no further information on its travels sadly.

Fortunately, the internal workings seem to be relatively free of Cosmoline. Only the wood seems to still have any real amount still on it. I'll still be cleaning it of course but at least its been taken care of.

Sweet, get out there and shoot it!

We're excited to announce that Century Arms will be importing the famous Puşcă Semiautomată cu Lunetă (PSL) once again! We do not have an ETA however they are currently on the way.

There will be 2 models available. One model will come with a non-matching Russian optic, while the other one comes with a serial matching Romanian optic to the rifle.

No price details other than it will be more expensive than previous offerings due to production costs. When we have more info, we'll let you know.

Wasn't someone on here wanting a PSL?

Someone was!!!

Something interesting I just ran across.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nycYxb-zNwc

 cuda1179 wrote:
Something interesting I just ran across.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nycYxb-zNwc

The conclusions were mostly good stuff, the general conclusions about handgun cartridges are pretty spot on, though some of the stuff at the end about .410 handgun comparisons and mega-cartrige handguns vs rifles started to get a bit wonky, and I think the idea about body armor being an essential disaster prep item is hilariously hyperbolistic. Ultimately though, no trauma surgeon in the world is going to be able to tell a .9mm wound from a .45ACP wound, carry what you like is pretty much the best advice out there.

My personal belief is use the largest caliber you can use accurately and comfortably. Got tiny hands? Use a 9mm. Got big hands? Go for something bigger.

As for body armor, maybe its not essential, but it can't hurt to have it.

 Grey Templar wrote:
My personal belief is use the largest caliber you can use accurately and comfortably. Got tiny hands? Use a 9mm. Got big hands? Go for something bigger.

As for body armor, maybe its not essential, but it can't hurt to have it.

Have an exalt. And the armor's even better when it's self propelled rather than worn. But that's a bit pricey.

 BaronIveagh wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
My personal belief is use the largest caliber you can use accurately and comfortably. Got tiny hands? Use a 9mm. Got big hands? Go for something bigger.

As for body armor, maybe its not essential, but it can't hurt to have it.

Have an exalt. And the armor's even better when it's self propelled rather than worn. But that's a bit pricey.

Power Armor is a bit expensive

I have suit of body armor that is......haphazard. It's all stuff I bought online, piece by piece when "special" pricing comes up. As a larger person, finding the supersized body armor is hard, but it's usually unissued.

I have a level 3A vest. It has pockets for plates. I have plates (not meant for this vest but they kinda fit)

I have a Polish Kevlar helmet and a German crotch protector thingy.

I got this stuff simply for the giggles. The coloring of these things don't match. I'm considering using an airbrush and fabric dye to see if I can coat it all with black to make things a little more uniform.

 Grey Templar wrote:
My personal belief is use the largest caliber you can use accurately and comfortably.

Problem being most people think they can shoot bigger guns than their frame/training allows.

Picked up five 30 rds mag's for my M1 carbine

Edit
for $10

Wow that’s a sweet deal.

I was going to buy an SKS to use up a huge block of ammo I got a few years ago. I wanted a handful of reliable detachable magazines for it too.

I looked at prices for SKS magazines compared to AK magazines and the price difference astounded me. It's an extra $15 to $20 for an SKS magazine (not counting Promag magazines, as I hate their stuff).

So, my choices were: Used SKS with no detachable mags and I might have to restock it, or a new AK pistol that comes with two magazines all ready in furniture I like.

Once magazines were accounted for it was only an extra $50 for the AK pistol, so that's the route I went.

I have a full size AK, but have been tempted by a Hellpup for a long time. Seems like a nice home defense gatt except the lack of optics.

I miss when decent milsurp SKS rifles were $200 and AK's were $500.

Now SKS's are usually $~450-600, with more rare versions now heading into $1k-1.5k territory, while quality AK's are pushing more towards $1k and 5.45 guns are now effectively extinct except outside of parts kits.

I just bought a 1951 Pietta Navy Revolver. Gonna get some Black Powder action going on

Huzzah!

I need to get into black powder at some point.

I would love to get my hands on a KRISS Vector or a HK MP7 but they are illegal all over europe.

With a bit of luck, I might get the chance to visit the US in near future.

Is there a chance to rent a KRISS Vector or a MP7 at a shooting range or are they military/police only in the US as well?

 von Hohenstein wrote:
I would love to get my hands on a KRISS Vector or a HK MP7 but they are illegal all over europe.

With a bit of luck, I might get the chance to visit the US in near future.

Is there a chance to rent a KRISS Vector or a MP7 at a shooting range or are they military/police only in the US as well?

Semi-auto Vector's are widely available for sale, renting one at a range would definitely be a possibility, a full auto one would require going to some place like Battlefield Vegas or something that engages in machinegun tourism. MP7's are essentially nonexistent in the US, being both foreign and post-1986 in manufacture, are essentially only military/police, though some of the big rental places like Battlefield Vegas might have one through some clever legal tactics that a typical person would not be able to leverage.

I like the idea of a Kriss Vector. I just can't deal with the price of one. Yeah, they are nice, but not THAT nice.

I also feel the same way about the Chiappa Rhino.

Oh man, a Chiappa Rhino 60DS in black is a dream of mine.

One fine day...

That's how I feel about that deagle.

I know it's a stupid, expensive, and not useful gun but... as a famous director who wanted to justify having sex with his adopted daughter once said, "the heart wants what the heart wants".

 Vaktathi wrote:

 von Hohenstein wrote:
I would love to get my hands on a KRISS Vector or a HK MP7 but they are illegal all over europe.

With a bit of luck, I might get the chance to visit the US in near future.

Is there a chance to rent a KRISS Vector or a MP7 at a shooting range or are they military/police only in the US as well?

Semi-auto Vector's are widely available for sale, renting one at a range would definitely be a possibility, a full auto one would require going to some place like Battlefield Vegas or something that engages in machinegun tourism. MP7's are essentially nonexistent in the US, being both foreign and post-1986 in manufacture, are essentially only military/police, though some of the big rental places like Battlefield Vegas might have one through some clever legal tactics that a typical person would not be able to leverage.

Best way to shoot that is Russia/Ukraine.

There are some ranges where they offer modern full auto packages to foreigners.

Anybody here into AK-74s or anything else that shoots 5.45mm? Anyone who is into AKs prefer 5.45mm over 7.62mm?

What about 5.56mm AKs? I've heard 5.56mm AKs do well with steel cased ammo. Do 5.56mm AKs have issues shooting brass cased ammo instead of steel though?

 Hordini wrote:
Anybody here into AK-74s or anything else that shoots 5.45mm? Anyone who is into AKs prefer 5.45mm over 7.62mm?

What about 5.56mm AKs? I've heard 5.56mm AKs do well with steel cased ammo. Do 5.56mm AKs have issues shooting brass cased ammo instead of steel though?

I've got a 5.45 Bulgarian SLR-104fr, an AK74M copy. The 5.45 round really is excellent, for any sort of target/distance shooting I'd take it over 7.62x39 any day of the week. I really like 5.45 as a shooter.

The problem is that cheap surplus ammo is banned and commercial imports can disappear at any time because its all from Russia/Ukraine, and no 5.45x39 guns are being imported anymore or likely ever will be again (russian imports are banned, Bulgaria doesn't want to make them anymore for a number of reasons, nobody else is making them, and even parts kits are drying up), and only one domestic company makes 5.45 ammo and its not cheap. Also, there just doesn't exist the same variety and quality of 5.45 ammo that exists for 5.56 guns.

5.56 AK's can be fantastic, but mags are something of an issue, seemingly everyone's 5.56 AK mags are slighly different from everyone else's (largely due to 5.56 AK's being disparate creations of many different nations rather than a centralized pattern copied by others) and as such mag compatibility can be an issue, but it's not as bad as it used to be and Bulgarian mags will work in *almost* anything. If you can find one and some decent compatible magazines however, they're great.

Never seen issues with brass or steel cases either way in AK's. As long as the mag is good and the chamber machined correctly, it should work just fine. That said, you are more lilely to run into a failure to extract with 5.56, simply because of the lack of taper like a 5.45 or 7.62 case, but no moreso than any other 5.56 gun and with no bearing on steel vs brass.

Ignorance to knowledge request. If you please.

Currently rewatching the BSG reboot, and am on to the last season.

Then lawyer pulls a four chambered pistol on Lee Adama. From a cursory google, I know what the pistol is. But the ammo is described as Magnum?

Now, as a totally ignoramous when it comes to guns, is that the same magnum round as Dirty Harry?