End-Time Toys Bring Joy at the Range

November 16th, 2012

Heathens, Prairie Dogs…What’s the Difference?

I had a good range session today.

In 2005 (I think), I bought a PSL (Romak III, FPK, whatever). This is a medium-range rifle made in Romania. It’s based on the AK74. I don’t really know what an AK74 is, but I would guess that it’s the 7.62x54R version of the AK47, since that’s what this gun is. Some people call the PSL a sniper rifle, but the general consensus is that sub-MOA performance is not a realistic goal, so some say it’s a DSM rifle. I don’t know what DSM stands for. “Designated Something Marksman,” maybe. I think it’s a guy in a platoon who carries a scoped rifle for shooting people too far away for unscoped AK47s. Look it up. I can’t do everything for you.

When I fired the PSL, I had horrible problems with trigger slap. This means the trigger was propelled forward when the gun went off. It happens so fast you can’t detect it, but after a while you realize your trigger finger is numb and shaking. This is bad.

I stuck a Red Star fire control group (trigger) in the gun, and it quit working. It wouldn’t cycle. My solution to this problem was to put the gun in the closet and lose some of the parts.

Recently I dug it out and worked on the trigger. I also got myself some cheap spam-can Russian ammo (147-grain light ball). Today I decided to see whether it worked.

The gun shoots very well now. The trigger is very, very nice, now that I’ve ground off all the parts that bothered me. When I pull the trigger, I can’t really tell when the gun is going to go off, and for slow shooting, this is what I like.

I shot at 50 yards, and I’m going to say I shot about 3 MOA, although I don’t have a photo of the target in front of me. I am not much of a rifle shot, but my impression is that I shot better than the ammunition. Maybe I’m wrong. I was pretty happy, considering what I paid for it. I moved the target back to 100 yards, and the groups opened up by a factor of two. It’s not really satisfying shooting a gun that inaccurate, but it proves I would have no problem blasting zombies at that range, since they’re more than six inches wide. On that basis, I feel that the ammo was a good deal. I’m considering splurging on a new scope. The gun came with a used Kalinka with dead tritium, and you can’t fix it.

I really regret not buying more 7N1 ammo when it was selling for $200/880 rounds. I shot most of mine before I got the gun working, so I never found out whether the gun could shoot well with it.

I should really get off my behind and buy more K31 ammunition. It’s still cheap, and the quality is wonderful.

I believe I need to put a bipod mount on the PSL, and my impression is that it should be near the center of mass. This is not where the bipods fit on my other guns, and I am starting to think that’s unfortunate, because it seems to be the steadiest location. In order to put one on the PSL, I’ll have to install a swivel myself.

I can’t help wondering if this gun is capable of better performance, but since match-grade ammo is outrageously expensive, I may never find out.

After I put the PSL away, I got out my new AMD65. This is a short (12.5″ barrel) AK47 folder. I’ve put a foregrip and green laser on it, and I got some Tapco magazines, even though people hate them. The goal was to have a nice truck gun that wasn’t so expensive losing it would give me an ulcer. I figured the laser would be a lifesaver (literally) in short-range defensive situations, and the compact size of the gun would make it handy.

The gun has exceeded expectations. The Tapco trigger is like glass lubricated with snot. It’s just plain wonderful. I had no cycling issues. The recoil was a joke. People said it would be loud because of the barrel length, but it didn’t bother me.

The sun was bright today, and my local range has stupidly set things up so you can’t shoot a rifle at under 75 feet, so finding the green laser dot was a challenge. I had to fiddle with the zero a lot, since the 50-foot zero I set up at home was no longer anywhere near right. When I finally got the gun working, the bullets appeared to be going into an area about 4″ in diameter. I was holding the gun away from my shoulder (the range doesn’t permit firing from the hip), to simulate the way it might be used in a confrontation, and it worked just fine.

I can’t recommend this thing highly enough. It’s a better caliber than 5.56mm, the gun is inexpensive, and it’s a pleasure to fire. Tulammo hollow points are supposed to be pretty lethal, and they’re cheap. I’m sure you can build something better if you spend enough money, but for five hundred bucks, this is very impressive.

Things are starting to shape up, firearms-wise. When Obama drives us into a depression and the filthy transgendered socialist hippies show up on my lawn to steal my homegrown right-wing Christian end-time turnips, I’ll be able to slay them like ants. I got a lot of my guns for fun, and that’s why I have so many, but a number are actually useful.

I really hope the good Lord is kind enough to prevent the pinheads from gutting the Second Amendment. My feeling is that as far as God is concerned, the Second Amendment is a Constitutional firewall. He’ll let them spy on us and force us to buy things and molest us at airports, but we get to keep our Mausers and AR15s and Norincos. I hope so, anyway. I joke, but persecution is already starting, and if socialism ruins the economy, it will get worse. Everyone will want a piece of the 1% or the Man or whatever it is they’ll be calling us at the time.

Now if someone would just invent a gun that cleans itself.

2 Responses to “End-Time Toys Bring Joy at the Range”

  1. Mattexian Says:

    The PSL is the Romanian-made version of the Soviet’s SVD sniper rifle, tho as you say, it’s more a DSM rifle (that stands for Designated Squad Marksman). The AK-74 is a remodeled AK-47, but fires 5.45x39mm, the Soviet’s version of our .223/ 5.56 NATO, going with the Military High Command idea that a smaller cartridge will translate to a soldier being able to carry more rounds for the same weight as the previous rifle’s ammo. Never mind that a lighter bullet might not “take out” one’s enemy with one shot, so a soldier ends up firing more times at the enemy forces.

    While the AK might not be a rifle “that cleans itself”, it comes close with it’s caveman simplicity. I’ve got a Boresnake that will do the job quick without a lot of fuss.

  2. MikeB Says:

    Match grade ammo is like a personal pool que. It’s nice, but unless you’re truly utilizing it’s potential (ie: match shooting) you can do very serviceable work with the sticks in the rack.

    I earned my expert badge in the USMC using ammo we grabbed out of green boxes by the handfuls and loaded into stripper clips. Hardly “match grade”, but still wicked accurate at 500 meters.

    My point is, don’t shy away from building a very nice, serviceable tack driver just because of the price of pro ammo. That’s like saying you don’t want a good hammer because nails are too expensive.