Sights: Fixed blade front, notch rear drift adjustable for windage
The history of the Ballester-Molina dates back to 1929 when two enterprising Spaniards, Arturo Ballester and Eugenio Molina established a company for producing Hispano-Suiza automotive products in Buenos Aires. The name of this company was Hispano Argentina Fabrica de Automoviles Sociedad Anonima (HAFDASA), or Spanish-Argentine Automobile Factory, Incorporated. Several years later, HAFDASA hired a pair of engineers, the frenchman Rorice Rigaud, and Carlos Ballester Molina (a member of both the Ballester and Molina families). Rigaud eventually became HAFDASA’s chief design engineer, while Ballester Molina, originally responsible for metallurgy, heat treatment, and production methodologies, became HAFDASA’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
HAFDASA won a contract with the Direccion General del Material del Ejercito (DGME), or General Directorate for Army Materiel, to supply the Argentine military with trucks, buses, and engines. The DGME later commissioned HAFDASA to investigate the potential manufacture of small arms.
In 1936, in response to the DGME request, HAFDASA began to design and manufacture small arms. There was nothing revolutionary about HAFDASA’s work. The factory established a pattern of adapting existing designs to satisfy the requirements of the Argentine military and police forces using indigenous materials within HAFDASA’s production capabilities. To this end, in 1936, HAFDASA unveiled a semiautomatic carbine based on the Beretta M1918/30 in calibers 9x19mm and .45 ACP.
Following the introduction of the two carbines, the DGME requested HAFDASA to produce a pistol chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge to serve as an (indigenously produced) replacement for the .45 ACP pistols then in service with the Argentine military and police forces. The contract required HAFDASA to produce a pistol along the general lines of the Modelo 1916 and 1927 Colt pistols then in service and to have barrels and magazines that were interchangeable with those pistols.
The HAFDASA engineers began work on this contract in late 1936/early 1937. The decision was taken modify the original Browning design to facilitate and economize production along the same lines as two Spanish companies Bonifacio Echeverria, S.A. (Star) and Gabilondo y Cia, S.A (Llama). The main changes introduced by these companies were the elimination of the grip safety, a backstrap integral to the frame, and a pivoting trigger with a side mounted sear bar and disconnector. These changes, as applied to the Star Model B pistol were of particular influence to HAFDASA’s designers.
Consequently, while the completed HAFDASA design bore a strong external similarity to the Colt M1911A1, only the barrel and magazine are interchangeable with the Colt pistol. Note: Barrels and magazines made by HAFDASA are identifiable by the marking “HA” inside a diamond. The following is a list of differnces between the HAFDASA pistol and the M1911A1:
a) The hammer strut on the HAFDASA pistol is much shorter than that of the M1911A1.
b) The firing pin stop on the HAFDASA pistol is not recessed on the side as it is on the M1911A1.
c) The safety lock on the HAFDASA pistol is redesigned with a larger diameter pin, and it can be applied with the hammer cocked or fully down.
d) The mainspring housing on the HAFDASA pistol is an integeral part of the frame.
e) The HAFDASA pistol has a pivoting trigger with a single extension along the right side that cams the side mounted disconnector and engages the sear.
f) The magazine catch on the HAFDASA pistol is assembled differently.
g) The HAFDASA pistol has no slide stop disassembly notch.
The HAFDASA pistol was adopted as the Argentine Army service pistol in 1938. Early pistols were marked “Pistola Automatica Calibre .45 Ballester-Rigaud, Modelo DGME 1938.” These early pistols have checkering on the grips and backstrap, and there are twenty fine slide retraction grooves, as on the M1911A1. The slide right side is marked with the Argentine crest and the text “Ejercito Argentino.”
The next iteration of the HAFDASA pistol were modified to speed up and economize on production accordingly: The backstrap checkering was replaced by horizontal serrations, the wooden grips had long vertical serrations, and the fine slide retraction grooves were replaced by groups of vertical grooves separated by wide gaps. Additionally, the Modelo 1938 designation was dropped, and the pistol was now known as the “Pistola Ballester-Rigaud.”
At some point between 1940 and 1942, HAFDASA changed the trademark name of the pistol from “Ballester-Rigaud” to “Ballester-Molina,” with the change reflected in the markings on the slide of the pistol. At the same time HAFDASA began to use plastic, instead of wooden, grips on the pistol. It was also around this time that HAFDASA received an order from the British government for between 8,000 and 10,000 .45 caliber pistols. Payment for these pistols was made, in part, with steel supplied by the British government. Due to the scarcity of raw materials in Argentina due to the Second World War, it is highly likely that the steel was of U.S. origin supplied to England via Lend-Lease, and consequently not prior to March 11, 1941. According to Alejandro Gherovici, noted expert on Argentine service pistols, no steel salvaged from the pocket battleship Graf Spee or any other warships was used to produce the British contract or any other HAFDASA pistols. Production of the British Contract pistols started in 1942 and continued until mid-1944. British Contract pistols are easy to identify as they bear a serial number prefixed by a “B,” between the 12000 and 21000 serial number range.
After the end of the of the British Contract, HAFDASA continued to produce pistols for Argentine government and commercial usage until 1953. Starting in 1947, the HAFDASA pistols had been supplanted in Argentine use by the DGFM Sistema Colt M1927 pistol, a clone of the M1911A1. While the HAFDASA pistols began to be withdrawn from Argentine service in the 1960’s, many served until the mid-1980’s when they were finally replaced and sold as surplus on the US market. It is believed that HAFDASA produced between 80,000 and 90,000 .45 caliber pistols.
The following is a loose serial number to year correlation:
Serial Number: Range Date Range
1 – 12,000: 1938 – 1942
12,000 – 23,000: 1942 – 1944
23,000 – 108,000: 1944 – 1953
HAFDASA exported pistols to Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Gherovici, Alex, Military Pistols of Argentina, (Self Published, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: 1994)
This volume can be purchased by writing to the author at:
Alex Gherovici
P.O. Box 58506
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19102
U.S.A.
“My Colt has a Remington Serial Number. What’s Going On?” It’s the most “frequently asked question” on The Sight M1911. People often suspect that there’s an error in the serialization tables or that they have stumbled onto a rare collector’s item. Neither of these is the case, however. These guns are “arsenal rebuilds.” This term refers to guns which have been extensively repaired or reconditioned by government armorers at one of the government arsenals which support the small arms of the Armed Forces.
Government armorers had one and only one concern: to get guns back into service. They didn’t care about gun collectors. One of the great assets of the M1911 pistols – total parts interchangeability – becomes a real trap for collectors of government issue pistols. A Remington Rand slide will fit on a Springfield Armory frame just fine.
When a pistol became worn or was damaged, they were repaired or refurbished at U.S. arsenals and service depots. This began in the 20’s soon after the pistols were initially issued. During WWII, large numbers of M1911 pistols produced during WWI were refinished and reconditioned. These can be easily identified because they were parkerized and given bakelite grips. There were no parkerized M1911 pistols issued. They were all blued originally and they had walnut grips. M1911A1 pistols were parkerized originally and had bakelite grips. Also, there were no M1911 or M1911A1 G.I. pistols produced with nickel finishes. So right away, if your serial number says it’s a 1918 Colt, and it has a parkerized finish, you know that you have an arsenal rebuild. If it is a G.I. pistol and has a nickel finish, it is not original and the collector value is severely diminished. The last new Colt M1911A1 pistols were purchased in 1945, but the pistols served another 37 years. Needless to say, a lot of repair and refurbishing needed to be done.
When a pistol was rebuilt at an arsenal or service depot, it was generally marked with the initials of the arsenal. Usually, when a pistol went through this process, it was inspected for serviceability by an inspector who stamped his initials on the gun once it passed muster. Consequently, much can be learned about the pistol’s history by examining the arsenal and inspector marks on the gun.
AA = Augusta Arsenal AN = Anniston Arsenal BA = Benecia Arsenal MR = Mt Rainer Ordinance Depot OG = Ogden Arsenal RA = Raritan Arsenal RIA = Rock Island Arsenal RRA = Red River Arsenal SA = Springfield Arsenal SAA = San Antonio Arsenal
Inspector Marks:
CSR: Charles S Reed Colt S/N 717,282-723,000 EB: Ernest Blind, RIA inspector E.E.C: Edmund E. Chapman Remington UMC S/N 1-21676 FK: Frank Krack, RIA inspector GHD: Guy H. Drewry Colt S/N 845,000 to 2,360,600 GHS Monogram: Gilbert H. Stewart. Found on Colt M1911s (SN 101,500 to 230,000), M1907, M1917, M1903, and M1 rifles at different periods. Stamped after finish. JKC: Lt. Col. James K. Christmas, Singer frames (or John K. Clement?) JMG Monogram: J.M. Gilbert found on Colt 1911s from 1917 to 1918 (SN 230,001 to 302,000). Stamped after finish FJA: Frank J. Atwood. Found on Remington Rand and Ithaca 1911A1s. Stamped after finish. JSB: John S. Begley (civilian), late Colt M1911A1 frames RCD: Lt. Col. R. C. Downey, Union Switch and Signal frames RS: Robert Sears Colt S/N 723,000 to 750,500 WB: Waldemar Broberg S/N Colt 750,500 to 861,000 WGP Monogram: Walter G. Penfield, Major Colt S/N 1-101,500 WTG: Walter T Gorton Colt S/N 700,000-710,000
Other Marks:
ANAD: Anniston Army Depot, Anniston, Alabama H, san-serif: Frank L. Hosmer or Frederick W. Hauff H, serif: Frank L. Hosmer, Colt inspector P: proof mark G: Government contract order S: Civilian sales order, present on military parts/guns purchased by government S: located after finish by the disconnector on top of the frame indicates field service. United States Property: This stamp is found on the frame and slides of 1911s manufactured for and owned by the US armed forces. In most cases a gun with the property stamp will not have a “C” in the serial number. X: Assembly inspector’s stamp, but can mean other things depending on location
X SERIAL NUMBERS
X2693614-X2693665 Renumbered Raritan Arsenal
X2693666-X2693785 Renumbered RIA
X2693786-X2693885 Renumbered Ord. in Tokyo Arsenal
X2693886-X2694996 Renumbered several U.S. Arsenals
X2694997-X2694998 Renumbered RIA 1954-1955
X2694999-X2695198 Renumbered Ord. in Tokyo Arsenal 1955
X2695199-X2695201 Renumbered Raritan Arsenal 1955
X2695202-X2695210 Renumbered RIA 1955-1956
X2695211-X2695212 Renumbered Minn. Mil. Dist. Arsenal 1957 Total: 4985
One final note: just because a gun is an arsenal rebuild, doesn’t mean it isn’t collectible. These guns are rich in history. They may not have the high price tag of a pristine Remington-UMC, but they represent a moment in time when the nation was in peril and these old warhorses answered the call.
Chances are that you’ve never heard of General Laney. He hasn’t had a brilliant military career, at least as far as I know. In fact, I’m not certain that he’s even served in the military. General, you see, isn’t Laney’s rank. General is Laney’s first name. General Laney does, however, have a claim to fame, unrecognized though it may be.
Detroit resident General Laney is the founder and prime mover behind a little publicized organization known as the National Black Sportsman’s Association, often referred to as “the black gun lobby.” Laney pulls no punches when asked his opinion of gun control: “Gun control is really race control. People who embrace gun control are really racists in nature. All gun laws have been enacted to control certain classes of people, mainly black people, but the same laws used to control blacks are being used to disarm white people as well.”
Laney is not the first to make this observation. Indeed, allied with sportsmen in vocal opposition to gun controls in the 1960s were the militant Black Panthers. Panther Minister of Information, Eldridge Cleaver noted in 1968: “Some very interesting laws are being passed. They don’t name me; they don’t say, take the guns away from the niggers. They say that people will no longer be allowed to have (guns). They don’t pass these rules and these regulations specifically for black people, they have to pass them in a way that will take in everybody.”
Some white liberals have said essentially the same thing. Investigative reporter Robert Sherrill, himself no lover of guns, concluded in his book *The Saturday Night Special* that the object of the Gun Control Act of 1968 was black control rather than gun control. According to Sherrill, Congress was so panicked by the ghetto riots of 1967 and 1968 that it passed the act to “shut off weapons access to blacks, and since they (Congress) probably associated cheap guns with ghetto blacks and thought cheapness was peculiarly the characteristic of imported military surplus and the mail-order traffic, they decided to cut off these sources while leaving over-the-counter purchases open to the affluent.” Congressional motivations may have been more complex than Sherrill suggests, but keeping blacks from acquiring guns was certainly a large part of that motivation. (Incidentally, the Senate has passed legislation that would repeal the more-onerous provisions of the 1968 act. The bill faces an uncertain future in the House of Representatives.)
There is little doubt that the earliest gun controls in the United States were blatantly racist and elitist in their intent. San Francisco civil-liberties attorney Don B. Kates, Jr., an opponent of gun prohibitions with impeccable liberal credentials (he has been a clerk for radical lawyer William Kunstler, a civil rights activist in the South, and an Office of Economic Opportunity lawyer), describes early gun control efforts in his book *Restricting Handguns: The Liberal Skeptic Speak Out*. As Kates documents, prohibitions against the sale of cheap handguns originated in the post-Civil War South. Small pistols selling for as little as 50 or 60 cents became available in the 1870s and ’80s, and since they could be afforded by recently emancipated blacks and poor whites (whom agrarian agitators of the time were encouraging to ally for economic and political purposes), these guns constituted a significant threat to a southern establishment interested in maintaining the traditional structure.
Consequently, Kates notes, in 1870 Tennessee banned “selling all but ‘the Army and Navy model’ handgun, i.e., the most expensive one, which was beyond the means of most blacks and laboring people.” In 1881, Arkansas enacted an almost identical ban on the sale of cheap revolvers, while in 1902, South Carolina banned the sale of handguns to all but “sheriffs and their special deputies – i.e., company goons and the KKK.” In 1893 and 1907, respectively, Alabama and Texas attempted to put handguns out of the reach of blacks and poor whites through “extremely heavy business and/or transactional taxes” on the sale of such weapons. In the other Deep South states, slavery-era bans on arms possession by blacks continued to be enforced by hook or by crook.
The cheap revolvers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries were referred to as “Suicide Specials,” the “Saturday Night Special” label not becoming widespread until reformers and politicians took up the gun control cause during the 1960s. The source of this recent concern about cheap revolvers, as their new label suggests, has much in common with the concerns of the gunlaw initiators of the post-Civil War South. As B. Bruce-Briggs has written in the Public Interest, “It is difficult to escape the conclusion that the ‘Saturday Night Special’ is emphasized because it is cheap and is being sold to a particular class of people. The name is sufficient evidence – the reference is to ‘niggertown Saturday night.'”
Those who argue that the concern about cheap handguns is justified because these guns are used in most crimes should take note of *Under the Gun: Weapons, Crime, and Violence in America*, by sociologists James D. Wright, Peter H. Rossi, and Kathleen Daly. The authors, who undertook an exhaustive, federally funded, critical review of gun issue research, found *no conclusive proof that cheap handguns are used in crime more often than expensive handguns*. (Interestingly, the makers of quality arms, trying to stifle competition, have sometimes supported bans on cheap handguns and on the importation of cheap military surplus weapons. Kates observes that the Gun Control Act of 1968, which banned mail-order gun sales and the importation of military surplus firearms, “was something domestic manufacturers had been impotently urging for decades.”) But the evidence leads one to the conclusion that cheap handguns are considered threatening primarily because minorities and poor whites can afford them.
Attempts to regulate the possession of firearms began in the northern states during the early part of the 20th century, and although these regulations had a different focus from those that had been concocted in the South, they were no less racist and elitist in effect or intent. Rather than trying to keep handguns out of the price range that blacks and the poor could afford, New York’s trend-setting Sullivan Law, enacted in 1911, required a police permit for legal possession of a handgun. This law made it possible for the police to screen applicants for permits to posses handguns, and while such a requirement may seem reasonable, it can and has been abused.
Members of groups not in favor with the political establishment or the police are automatically suspect and can easily be denied permits. For instance, when the Sullivan Law was enacted, southern and eastern European immigrants were considered racially inferior and religiously and ideologically suspect. (Many were Catholics or Jews, and a disproportionate number were anarchists or socialists.) Professor L. Kennett, coauthor of the authoritative history *The Gun in America*, has noted that the measure was designed to “strike hardest at the foreign-born element,” particularly Italians. Southern and eastern European immigrants found it almost impossible to obtain gun permits.
Over the years, application of the Sullivan Law has become increasingly elitist as the police seldom grant handgun permits to any but the wealthy or the politically influential. A beautiful example of this hypocritical elitism is the fact that while the *New York Times* often editorializes against the private possession of handguns, the publisher of that newspaper, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, has a hard-to-get permit to own and carry a handgun. Another such permit is held by the husband of Dr. Joyce Brothers, the pop psychologist who has claimed that firearms ownership is indicative of male sexual inadequacy.
Gun-control efforts through the centuries have been propelled by racist and elitist sentiments. Even though European aristocrats were members of a weapons-loving warrior caste, they did their best to keep the gun from becoming a weapon of war. It was certainly all right to kill with civilized weapons such as the sword, the battle ax, or the lance; these were weapons that the armored knights were trained to use and which gave them a tremendous advantage over commoners who didn’t have the knights’ training or possess their expensive weapons and armor. But guns, by virtue of being able to pierce armor, democratized warfare and made common soldiers more than a match for the armored and aristocratic knights, thereby threatening the existence of the feudal aristocracy.
As early as 1541, England enacted a law that limited legal possession of handguns and crossbows (weapons that were considered criminally dangerous) to those with incomes exceeding 100 pounds a year, though long-gun possession wasn’t restricted – except for Catholics, a potentially rebellious minority after the English Reformation. Catholics couldn’t legally keep militia-like weapons in their homes, as other Englishmen were encouraged to do, but they could legally possess defensive weapons – except, as Bill of Rights authority Joyce Lee Malcolm has noted in her essay “The Right to Keep and Bear Arms: The Common Law Tradition,” during times “of extreme religious tension.”
According to Malcolm, when William and Mary came to the English throne, they were presented with a list of rights, one of which was aimed at staving off any future attempt at arms confiscation – “all Protestant citizens had a right to keep arms for their defence.” England then remained free of restrictive gun legislation until 1920 when, even though the crime rate was very low, concern about the rebellious Irish and various political radicals ushered in today’s draconian gun laws. (Colin Greenwood, former superintendent of the West Yorkshire Metropolitan Police, has discovered in his research at Cambridge University that the English gun crime rate is significantly *higher* now than it was before that nation’s strict gun laws were enacted.)
Alas, the European aristocracy wasn’t able to control gun use, and at least in part, the spread of effective firearms helped to bring down aristocracy and feudalism. By contrast, in 17th-century Japan the ruling Tokugawa Shogunate was able to establish a rigidly stratified society that deemphasized the development of guns and restricted arms possession to a warrior aristocracy, the *samurai*. When Commodore Perry “reopened” Japan to the rest of the world, in the middle of the 19th century, few Japanese were familiar with guns (the sword was the most honored weapon of the samurai) and the most common guns were primitive matchlocks similar to those introduced to Japan by the Portuguese in the middle of the 16th century. As post-Perry Japan modernized and acquired a modern military, it also quickly developed modern weaponry. But a citizenry without a gun-owning tradition was easily kept in place in a collectivist society where individuals were more susceptible to formal and informal social controls than are westerners.
The preceding are just samples of the political uses to which gun controls have been put throughout the world. Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and South Africa are modern examples of repressive governments that use gun control as a means of social control. Raymond G. Kessler, a lawyer- sociologist who has provided some of the most sociologically sophisticated insights into the gun control issue, suggests in a *Law and Policy Quarterly* article that attempts to regulate the civilian possession of firearms have five political functions. They “(1) increase citizen reliance on government and tolerance of increased police powers and abuse; (2) help prevent opposition to the government; (3) facilitate repressive action by government and its allies; (4) lesson the pressure for major or radical reform; and (5) can be selectively enforced against those perceived to be a threat to government.”
Of course, while many gun control proponents might acknowledge that such measures have been used in the ways Kessler lists, they would deny that the controls that they support are either racist or elitist, since they would apply to everybody and are aimed at reducing violence for everybody. Yet the controls that they advocate are in fact racist and elitist in *effect*, and only the naive or the dishonest can deny their elitist *intent*.
Kessler has also written that while liberals are likely to sympathize with the poor and minorities responsible for much of this nation’s violent crime, when the are victimized themselves, “or when they hear of an especially heinous crime, liberals, like most people, feel anger and hostility toward the offender. The discomfort of having incompatible feelings can be alleviated by transferring the anger away from the offender to an inanimate object – the weapon.”
A perfect example of this transference is provided by Pete Shields, the chairman of Handgun Control Inc., whose son was tragically murdered by one of San Francisco’s Zebra killers – blacks who were killing whites at random in the early 1970s. This killing was carried out by a black man who was after whites – his own skin color and that of the victim were important to the killer – but in his grief, the white liberal father couldn’t blame the criminal for this racist crime. So the gun was the culprit. The upshot is that we now have Handgun Control Inc., with its emphasis on the *weapon* used to commit a crime rather than the criminal. Yet blacks and minorities, who would be prevented from defending themselves, are likely to be harmed most by legislation proposed by Handgun Control Inc., the National Coalition to Ban Handguns, and other proponents of strict handgun controls.
Since the illegal possession of a handgun (or of any gun) is a crime that doesn’t produce a victim and is unlikely to be reported to the police, handgun permit requirements or outright handgun prohibitions aren’t easily enforced. And as civil liberties attorney Kates has observed, when laws are difficult to enforce, “enforcement becomes progressively more haphazard until at last the laws are used only against those who are unpopular with the police.” Of course minorities, especially minorities who don’t “know their place,” aren’t likely to be popular with the police, and these very minorities, in the face of police indifference or perhaps even antagonism, may be the most inclined to look to guns for protection – guns that they can’t acquire legally and that place them in jeopardy if possessed illegally. While the intent of such laws may not be racist, their effect most certainly is.
Today’s gun-control battle, like those of days gone by, largely breaks down along class lines. Though there are exceptions to the rule, the most dedicated and vociferous proponents of strict gun controls are urban, upper-middle-class or aspiring upper- middle-class, pro-big-government liberals, many of whom are part of the New Class (establishment intellectuals and the media), and most of whom know nothing about guns and the wide range of legitimate uses to which they are regularly put to use. Many of these elitists make no secret of their disdain for gun-owners. For instance, Gov. Mario Cuomo of New York recently dismissed those who are opposed to the Empire State’s mandatory seat-belt law as “NRA hunters who drink beer, don’t vote, and lie to their wives about where they were all weekend.”
On the other hand, the most dedicated opponents of gun control are often rural- or small-town-oriented, working- or middle-class men and women, few of whom possess the means to publicize their views, but many of whom know a great deal about the safe and lawful uses of guns. To these Americans, guns mean freedom, security, and wholesome recreation. The battle over gun controls, therefore, has come about as affluent America has attempted to impose its anti- gun prejudices on a working-class America that is comfortable with guns (including handguns), seldom misuses them (most gun crime is urban), and sees them as protection against criminal threats and government oppression.
How right you are, General Laney. “All gun laws have been enacted to control certain classes of people….”
— William R. Tonso is a professor of sociology at the University of Evansville and the author of Gun and Society.
— Reprinted, with permission, from the December 1985 issue of REASON magazine. Copyright (c) 1985 by the Reason Foundation, 2716 Ocean Park Blvd., Suite 1062, Santa Monica, CA 90405. Not to be printed for circulation without permission.
I took the new Vepr AK out to the range for a basic checkout and zero. Using the standard Wolf 122gr HP ammo and the iron sights, with the rear sight set at the 200 meter increment the gun was 1 inch high at 25 yards and slightly left. Cranked in 4 clicks right windage on the rear sight (very easy to use, am going to have to see if it’s available as an accessory for other AKs!) and it was dead on for windage.
At 100 yards, group center was 8 inches high with the 200 meter setting on the tangent rear sight. The group measured 2 inches (!) with the entirety of its’ spread being laterally, which is obviously a sign of my problem using the rather large U-shaped notch on the rear sight. I didn’t use sandbags, just put the gun over my shooting bag.
VEPR AK Rifle With Wood Thumbhole Stock
Changing to the 100 meter increment, the gun was dead-on at 25 yards, and 3 inches high at 100. I’m not going to tinker with the front sight to change the elevation, just going to leave well enough alone! Using the 100 meter setting I should be able to hold dead-on at any range out to about 150 meters, then switch to the 200 meter setting and rock on.
The group fired at 100 yards was just under 3 inches (got in a hurry!), again with ALL of the spread being horizontal. The vertical dispersion was just about one inch, with 2 rounds of the 3 touching. The trigger is obviously good enough. I would say that if I put it on sandbags, then took my time with the sights it should go into under 2 inches using only the iron sights quite handily. I’m going to be curious to see what it does when I get a scope mounted, not for fulltime use but just to see what it can do.
Kobra Red Dot Sight
I mounted the Kobra red-dot and tried it out, but found it lacking sufficient adjustment for zero to allow me to get it aligned with this gun. According to the book that came with it, it does have a means by which to crank in more, but didn’t have time to fiddle with it and try that out. I wasn’t that impressed with the lever on the mount, either, which popped off of its’ post and required rather more care than something mil-spec (?) should need. The position of the sight and such should make it handy, IF I can assure myself that it stays on the gun well and that it can be zeroed properly. We’ll see.
The gun is very nice, albeit slightly heavy for an AK, but it most certainly does live up to its’ billing for accuracy!
This carbine is developed from the RPK-74 light machine gun. It differs from the RPK-74 in caliber, cartridge, mode of fire, magazine capacity, design and dimensions. These new production rifles from Russia feature injection molded nylon furniture, a RPK style receiver, chrome lined forged barrel and scope rail on the left side of the receiver.
Cheap 7.62×39 Ammo
The Russian VEPR is a hunting rifle designed after the AK Rifle and built upon a RPK receiver. The rifle also comes in four different calibers .308, 7.62×39, .223 and 5.45×39. The VEPR rifle has the same reliability as an AK allowing it to work at temperatures of -50 to +50 C and in any conditions. However the rifle also has accuracy, allowing it to obtain scores of 92 points out of 100 at 200 yards.
Although the VEPR is billed as a hunting rifle, it takes all of the available high capacity magazines including drums. The receivers and other major components are manufactured in Russia and then shipped to Robinson Arms who assembles them and adds high quality American made parts to comply with ATF regulations. Because it uses the required number of American parts, surplus foreign made magazines can be used The resulting rifle is regarded by many as the best-stamped receiver AK-47 variant currently available.
There are three basic types of Kalashnikov rifles on the market. They are the AK47, AKM47, and the RPK (heavy duty receiver). As most of you know, the AK47 was designed as an infantry rifle capable of firing in either the semi-automatic or fully-automatic mode.
The first AK47s had machined receivers. Later the Soviets produced the AKM47s (the “M” stands for modern). The Soviets found that stampings were not only more efficient to produce but resulted in longer receiver life and better accuracy than the milled receivers.
The RPK, on the other hand, was designed as a squad automatic weapon. The RPK could also be fired in either semi or fully-automatic modes. Squad automatic weapons, as deployed, are more frequently fired in the fully automatic mode. For this reason, one usually sees the RPK pictured with an ultra-high capacity magazine such as a 75 round drum or 40 round box magazine instead of the standard 30 round magazine typically used with the AK.
To handle the sustained automatic fire, the RPK was designed to be much stronger. First, the sheet metal of the receiver of the RPK is 50% thicker than that of the AKM47. Next, the trunion of the RPK is larger and stronger than that of the AK47 or AKM47. The trunion is the part to which the barrel is connected and into which the bolt locks. Because the trunion is larger, the receiver must be bulged out to accept the larger trunion. Hence the above mentioned bulges on the RPK receiver.
Most of the MAK90s, WUMs, Maddis, MISR, etc. are semi-automatic sporting rifles based on the AKM47. On the other hand, the VEPR is based on the RPK. This stiffer receiver makes for better accuracy and longer life.
VEPR Rifle Specifications
Semiautomatic Action
Kalashnikov, Gas Operated,
Rotating Bolt
Operation
Gas operated, rotating bolt -50
to +50 C
Receiver
RPK Type
with Extra Reinforcement
Barrel
20.5”
(520mm) Long, cold-hammered, with 4 RH rifling, bore and chamber
are chrome
lined
Overall
Length
39.75”
(1000mm)
Weight
9.0 lbs.
(4082 grams)
Feeding
Devices
Detachable
Box Magazines and Drums
Stock
Nylon with
Glass Fiber Reinforcement
Scope
Mounting
Scope
Mounting Bracket on Left Side. Scope Mount Not
Incl.
We went out to Knob Creek yesterday to try out the new Savage Model 110 in .243 Winchester and we were very pleased. The scope, while “bore sighted at the factory” must have been zeroed to a much greater distance than what we were shooting, 50 and 100 yards. After we figured that out, the rifle settled down and began to shoot nicely. We fired a total of 40 rounds, perhaps a bit much, but we were swabbing the barrel every three shots. The .243 Winchester cartridge is a nice shooting load. It’s a .308 case necked-down to 6mm. It is the largest varmint cartridge and the smallest deer load, and consequently it is not punishing to shoot like a .30-06 or 7mm Magnum. The .243 strikes a good balance–pleasant for target shooting but powerful enough to train my kids to hunt. This is not to say that it has no recoil, because it does. After about 20 rounds, Alex, 14, said he was finished for the day because his shoulder was getting tender. We went out to the range with a box of Remington 80g soft points, and when we had fired those, we bought a box of Federal 100g HydraShoks. The kick from the 100g bullets was noticeably stronger than the 80g.
This is the first new long-range precision rifle I’ve owned. All of my other rifles have been hand-me-downs or used. Since this was a new and never before fired rifle, I wanted to make sure that I was initiating it properly. I had read a bit about the esoteric subject of barrel break-in and wanted to do it right if a break-in was in fact required. In the good old days, back when I was a kid, I never heard anything about breaking in barrels on hunting rifles. People just bought a new rifle and went out and shot it. Nevertheless, this art of barrel break-in has emerged recently so I researched it the best I could given my eagerness to get out to the range and shoot it. I did purchase a bore guide and a one-piece cleaning rod for the purpose of avoiding nicks in the chamber and gunk in the action.
In talking to people and scanning the web on the question of barrel break-in, I found opinion that ranged from almost mystical devotion about rituals of barrel break-in on one hand to a total rejection and disbelief on the other. The theory goes like this: on a new barrel, minute burrs and such catch copper as the bullet blasts down the barrel and removing the copper between each shot has the effect of polishing the barrel by preventing copper build-up. This is said to make the rifle a more consistent shooter and easier to clean up. To a certain extent this makes sense because it is logical that some of this would happen, and it’s not that different from fire lapping. On the other hand, isn’t that what I’m paying the rifle manufacturer to do, to prepare a firearm with adequate finishes inside and out which will enable it to perform accurately? Oh, well. I decided to split the difference. We swabbed out the barrel with Hoppes between each shot for the first five shots, then between each three for twenty. Seemed to work pretty well, and it was very easy to get the barrel “squeaky clean” at the end of the day.
The Simmons scope is a variable power 3-9×40 hunting scope with a simple duplex reticle (cross hairs). It does not have distance estimation marks, mil-dots, or some of the other niceties of the premium scopes, but then it doesn’t cost more than your car either. The optics are very bright and clear and the adjustment controls are straight forward and easy to use, giving 1/4″@100 yard click stops for elevation and windage. If I were going to be shooting much further than 200 yards, I would want more scope than this, but for hunting deer in the 100-200 yard range it is fine and quite adequate. For target shooting and plinking, well, it already sees much better than I do, and if the target is out past 200 yards it better be the size of a car.
This rifle and scope is one of the best values in a quality thunder stick that I’ve seen in quite some time. In terms of accuracy, the Savage rifles hold their own and often exceed their Remington and Winchester counterparts which cost twice as much.
Well, it’s not a true AK-47. A true AK-47 is a selective fire assault rifle. My rifle is an SAR-1, basically an AK-47 pattern built in Romania which can only fire semi-automatic, not full auto like a machine gun. I’m sure that the fun-loving folks at VPC would call it an “assault weapon” but there is no such thing as an “assault weapon” unless, of course, you mean any object that could be used to assault another human being, so anything could be called an “assault weapon.” The SAR-1 is a military rifle design with a pistol grip and it will accept 10, 20, 30, and 40 round magazines.
SAR-1 AK-47 Rifle
Critique of the SAR-1
The SAR-1 is a Romanian offering, produced by ROMAK S.A. and then shipped to Century Arms to have the obligatory American parts installed so it won’t be an “imported assault rifle.” In the case of the SAR-1, those parts are the trigger group, the bolt carrier and the pistol grip.
As one owner said, “The SAR won’t win any beauty contests.” These guns tend to be assembled solidly, but cosmetics are a low priority. Many new owners of SAR’s immediately strip the varnish from the wood and do finish work like painting them with MetalKote. I didn’t feel it necessary to do those things although I might on another rifle. What I did was to buff the varnish on the furniture with a fine steel wool pad to smooth out the teeth and roughness of the wood finish. I then used Kleen-Bore Black Magic blue to touch up the parkerized metal of the receiver. I also did a bit of stoning on metal edges like the charging handle and trigger guard to smooth out little sharps. I did similar smoothing on the magazines.
One thing you will notice about these rifles is things are not always perfectly straight. On mine, the front sight post is canted ever so slightly to the left. The windage adjustment compensates for this fine, so the rifle shoots beautifully to point of aim. The furniture on my gas tube is canted slightly to the left – the gas tub itself is on straight (something a new buyer should check when purchasing one of these) – but the furniture is ever so slightly canted to the left. (Hmmm… leftward bias on a Soviet battle rifle – who would have thunk it?) For the most part, these are cosmetic issues and in no way do they affect the function of the rifle, although a seriously crooked gas tube could cause problems.
AK pattern rifles do not have a “slide stop” so the bolt does not lock open after the last round. This bugs me because it’s the only autoloader I have that has this behavior. Since the AK was essentially designed as a sub machine gun, I guess the thinking was that when it quits going “bang” it’s time to reload. Simplicity and economy of design is great, but I still wish the bolt would lock back when it’s empty.
Disconnector Relief on AK-47
After the first time I shot the SAR-1, I took it to a gunsmith to have him relieve the disconnector to reduce trigger slap and I also asked him to polish the sear surfaces to smooth the trigger. It took him three weeks to do the job, but he did nice work. I can’t tell that the disconnector relief did a whole lot, but my finger wasn’t hurting after 50 rounds the way it did the first time I shot it prior to the gunsmith work. The sear polish helped more. At 30 yards I was able to shoot a three inch group offhand easily with a number of the shots forming a ragged hole at the point of aim. This was with the Russian Wolf 122g FMJ ammo.
The Kalashnikov is not a sniper rifle. I see guys bragging about getting 1″ groups at 100 yards. Unless they are using scopes and sand bags, I kind of doubt it. Offhand with iron sights at 50 yards, I can hold them in a 3″ group. If you’re the kind who gets a charge out of shooting quarters at 300 meters, this is not the rifle for you.
The Gestalt of the Kalashnikov
The AK-47 is the ultimate “ugly gun.” The very sight of it evokes memories of Viet Cong soldiers, terrorists and revolutionaries. Wherever the shit has hit the fan, the AK-47 has been there. It’s cheap to build, effective and reliable. You can buy two AK-style rifles for the price of one AR-15, and many consider the AK to be more reliable and effective than the AR-15. Those sorts of comparisons are the subject of endless debate. My own opinion is that the AR-15 is better at longer range and against body armor whereas the AK is more reliable and launches a cartridge which is more effective inside of 200 yards.
The AK-47 is one of the world’s legendary battle rifles. There have been more AK-47’s produced than any other single firearm design. Its design was hammered out in the desperate forge of World War II. It was adopted by the Soviet Army in 1947 but didn’t actually go into service until 1949.
What are the lessons of war reflected in the Kalashnikov rifle? It is easy, fast, and inexpensive to produce. It doesn’t require a Swiss watchmaker to assemble it. Its assembly requires no hand fitting so the parts are interchangeable for easy repair in the field, although such repair is seldom needed.
The AK-47 is reliable. It is not sensitive to dirt and neglect. The safety and bolt close to prevent dirt and debris from entering the mechanism of the rifle. Even with significant amounts of crud and powder residue built up in the receiver, the gun will continue to fire flawlessly. Kalashnikov rifles chambered in the original 1943 cartridge, the 7.62mm x 39mm, run right new out of the box and just keep on running. Mine has never choked on ammo or failed to ignite a round.
The rifle is designed for fast, close quarter combat. It is short and is easy to handle and turn quickly. It has a pistol grip which makes firing from the hip easier, and it can be fired one-handed if you have the strength in your arms. The gas piston operation greatly softens the recoil, making the rifle easier to control for fast strings or full auto fire.
Cheap 7.62×39 Ammo
Ballistics:
A common comparison is made between the 7.62mm x 39mm and the Winchester 30-30 cartridges, so let’s look at that.
170g Federal 30-30 vs. Type 1943 122g 7.62mm x 39mm FMJ:
Slightly higher muzzle velocity for the 7.62, 2350 fps vs. 2200 fps of the 30-30.
Trajectory at 200 yards: 5.12 inches for the 7.62 vs. 8.3 inches for the 30-30.
Slightly better energy delivery for the 30-30, 990 fp vs. 846 fp for the 7.62 at 200 yards (but this is with a bullet that is 40% larger).
In other words, the cartridges are pretty doggoned close. The 7.62 has better range and the 30-30 hits a little harder. There is, of course, no armor-piercing incendiary available for the 30-30.
From the tactical point of view, the AK has 20, 30 and 40 round magazines, does not require cocking between shots, reloads faster, and has better penetration of body armor less than Class III. Since it is a gas operated autoloader, its recoil is significantly less than the lever gun, making follow-up shots quicker. If you fire a 30-30 with it’s steel butt plate against your shoulder without some sort of padding, it will hurt you (unless you have a lot of muscle or fat mass on your shoulder that I don’t have). With the AK, you’d have to fire 100 rounds or more before you’d start to get tender. The AK is faster, more fun and less punishing. If it was a matter of 1 shot inside of a 150 yards, I’d take the 30-30. It hits harder and is more accurate. I am considerably more accurate with a Winchester Model 94 than I am with a Kalashnikov. If I had to engage multiple targets within 200 yards, I would prefer the AK.
Also, there is nothing as sublimely politically incorrect as teaching your 15-year-old the manual of arms on your gun show AK-47.
Mikhail Kalashnikov
Some history on the SAR-1 and the AK-47
“Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov was born in 1919 to a peasant family in the village of Kurya, Altay region (southwest Siberia). He entered a primary school in 1926, but was forced to leave his village when pursued by authorities for possessing a revolver he had picked up from a civil war battlefield.
Young Mikhail went to Alma-Ata, where he later found employment as a technical secretary in one of the departments of the Turkestan-Siberian Railroad. Kalashnikov was drafted into the Red Army in 1938, and then sent to a school for tank driver- mechanics. Here he distinguished himself in the design of an instrument for monitoring tank engine hours, and in 1939 went to Leningrad to participate in the production of the device. When the Great Patriotic War began in June 1941, Senior Sergeant Kalashnikov found himself commanding a tank at the front. Seriously wounded in combat around Bryansk in October 1941, Kalashnikov was evacuated to the deep rear for recovery. While on a six-month convalescent leave, he returned to Alma-Ata, where he found a position in a weapon production facility run by the Moscow Aviation Institute. Here he began a career in small arms design and production that would last more than a half century.
In 1946, while working at the Kovrov Weapons Plant (about 250 kilometers east of Moscow), Kalashnikov began work on the weapon that would carry his name around the world – the AK-47. This 7.62 x 39mm assault rifle was accepted as the standard rifle for the Soviet Army in 1949, and retained that status until it was succeeded by the modernized Kalashnikov assault rifle (AKM) in 1959.
Kalashnikov and his design team would eventually design and produce an entire family of automatic weapons based on the AK-47 assault rifle design: the AKM and AKMS assault rifle, the RPK and RPKS machine gun, the PK and PKS machine gun, the PKT tank machine gun, and the PKB machine gun for the armored transporter.
The AKM bears a strong mechanical and cosmetic resemblance to its forebear, the AK-47. Design differences include a retarder in the trigger mechanism that moderates the weapon’s rate of fire; improvements to the bolt-locking system that contribute to better horizontal stability and thus accuracy; a 1000-meter rear sight leaf instead of the 800-ineter leaf on the AK-47; stamped receiver, receiver cover, and other parts; plastic magazines and pistol grip; muzzle compensator; and a bayonet-knife in place of a plain bayonet. Cosmetic differences include a slightly larger fore end, laminated wood stock and fore end, and parkerized bolt and bolt carrier on the AKM. A loaded AKM is approximately 1.5 lb. lighter than a loaded AK-47.
Variants on the AKM design have been produced in East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Romania, and North Korea. Total world-wide production of the AK-47 and AKM and their foreign variants is estimated at between 30 and 50 million, making the Kalashnikov assault rifle the most widely produced rifle in the world.
Kalashnikov has received numerous prestigious awards for his life-long labor in the design bureaus and factories of the Soviet defense establishment: Hero of Socialist Labor (two awards), the Lenin and State prizes, three Orders of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, Order of Labor Red Banner, Order of Friendship of Peoples, Order of the Red Star, and other lesser medals. He has an earned doctorate in technical sciences, and on the occasion of his 75th birthday in 1994 was promoted to major general (reserve).”
Source: The Official Soviet AKM Manual translated by Maj. James F. Gebhardt, U.S. Army
“The SAR-1’s arrived in the US the first part of 1999, around February, if I am not mistaken. Around the mid part of 1999, the SAR-2 (AK chambered for 5.45mm x 39) arrived, and the latter part of 1999, the SAR-3 (AK chambered for .223 Remington) made it’s debut. The 1999 SAR’s had some minor, easily corrected problems. Soft hammers, canted sight towers and gas blocks, all of which Century would gladly repair for free, all you need do is call and get a return authorization. The SAR-3’s also had problems with out-of-spec hammers, these too were corrected in the 2000 series and any 1999 version with an off-hammer they will also replace for free. I consider 1999 to be the golden age for AK owners. This was the year the US factories started cranking out very high quality AK’s and good reliable basic AK’s. Ammo was cheap. Magazines were plentiful and relatively inexpensive and super quality. 2000 was likewise a very good year for us. Still, it’s only a matter of time before the companies bring over Bulgarian and Romanian technicians to set up barrel and receiver production lines here. I believe it will be a year or so before the dawn of the silver age for AK enthusiasts.”
– TinMan99
“It’s a common (and incorrect) story that the AK was “based on a German assault rifle in 8mm Kurtz”. Strip the two of them and you can see there is almost no similarity. Mikal T. Kalashnikov actually used US arms features in his design: he took the bolt from the M1 Carbine (yes, I know the Carbine bolt is the same as the Garand in functioning – but it was the Carbine that inspired him), the trigger from the Garand, even the safety from a Remington semi-auto hunting rifle. He based the concept on the STG-44 and it’s predecessors perhaps, but the idea of the “assault rifle” or “machine carbine” was around before. In my opinion, the AK-47 and AKM were better weapons than the STG-44. Factoid: the detailed shape of the MP-43 and MP-44 were created by a typewriter company that was chosen to make the stampings.
Incidentally, the M43 cartridge (7.62mm x 39mm) was a German design, stolen before 1938 (I believe). And even stranger, it was based on the Italian 6.5mm cartridge. The design was modified further (after the Soviet spies stole the earlier design), but lost out to the round that became the 7.92 Kurtz. The Germans managed to get equal velocity for a very similar bullet with a cartridge 1/4″ shorter.” – Packrat
AK-47
Rant:
The official Soviet Army AKM manual defines the intent and purpose of the rifle succinctly: “The 7.62 modernized Kalashnikov rifle is an individual weapon intended for the destruction of enemy personnel.” No mamby-pamby equivocation there. The Kalashnikov rifle is a fighting gun. It wasn’t built for duck hunting. There are a lot of folks including one former president who question why a civilian “needs” to own a battle rifle of any sort. That same previously mentioned president, who thankfully no longer occupies that office, even went so far as to issue an executive order banning the importation of foreign-built “assault rifles” (really any “ugly gun” since there are actually very few true assault rifles imported into the US and the so-called “assault rifle” ban has been extended to include semi-automatic rifles which aren’t “assault rifles” at all because they are not selective fire or full auto), as if reducing the supply of Kalashnikovs and FAL’s would reduce crime or make America a safer place to be by forcing domestic terrorists and criminals to buy American made AR-15s (I’m sorry, but I just don’t get the logic here). Like the rest of that particular president’s diversionary maneuvers, his “assault weapon ban” had absolutely effect on crime or personal safety.
But, do I “need” to own a gun like this? I really hope not. That’s not the issue. It’s my right to own a gun like this plain and simple. I own it because I want to. It’s fascinating and it’s fun to shoot. That’s the only justification I need. Could I imagine a scenario in which I would “need” this rifle for something other than recreation? Yes. Widespread civil disorder brought about by natural disaster or coordinated terrorist strikes on the homeland could leave one feeling very glad to have the Kalashnikov by your side. Short of a cataclysm such as this, I doubt that I’ll ever need this rifle for its intended purpose. But, such a crisis is far from impossible and the AK-47 is a great WTSHTF (“when the shit hits the fan”) gun. It can hunt, fight, and provide an intimidating defense. Ammo is cheap and fairly light. It’s short and compact for close quarters. All of those pistol issues of stopping power and mag capacity sort of fade away with the AK. It can endure extended periods of operation under very adverse conditions. Admittedly, I’m a big bullet kind of guy, but I have more confidence in the 7.62mm than I do in the .223.
The last time I read the Second Amendment it didn’t say anything about actions, calibers or cosmetics. It didn’t say I had to justify my ownership of a rifle with some kind of “need.” It said “shall not be infringed.”
Having Fun
Took the AK to our IDPA match. Sometimes, after the official match is over, we’ll experiment around with unconventional guns that don’t fit into the IDPA classifications. Sometimes it’s mouse guns or shotguns. On this day it was military rifles. We had a Mauser K-98, an M1A and the AK-47. We shot a couple of the IDPA stages with the little ugly rifle. One stage represented fighting a gang around the corners of a building and rescuing hostages. Everyone who used the gun on this stage particularly noticed the speed of handling and the ease with which accurate shots were placed.
It’s a butt-kicking little rifle. I like the way it feels and sounds a whole lot more than an AR-15. I like the wood and the heft of it. Yesterday, I fired 200 rounds at a cost of $18. Recently I bought a pack of four 30-round mags, mag pouch and field cleaning kit for $35. Price for the basic rifle was $327 – I could buy three of them for the price of one new Colt AR-15. The more I work with this rifle and learn about it, the more I like it. You can’t beat it for economy and the fun factor is terrific.
Last year while shopping for jewelry for my wife we decided to stop at our local pawn shop to see what they had. While my wife was looking at their rather large display case full of gold ,silver and diamonds I decided to wander over to the gun section. Their prices are usually pretty high but I thought it worth a look since my wife was to busy talking to the owner to notice my wandering and I’m not much on jewelry.
There it sat in the very far corner of the gun rack. An obviously sporterized Enfield No.4 Mk.1. The price tag said $125 but I knew with a little creative talking I could buy it for a little less. I had nothing to lose so I offered $75 for it. I was promptly told no. Well we haggled for about 30-45 minutes and settled on $85(I still think they gave it to me at that price so I would just leave). I took my new prize home with a smile. I was especially happy because I have one of the greatest wives in the world. Not only did she not get upset at me for buying “another gun”, she got so interested in the rifle that she decided to forgo the jewelry to go shoot “that cute little rifle”. As it turned out she took her first deer with it but that’s another story.
I should give a little description of this little gem. It looks allot like the one in the photo with a few exceptions. The rear portion of my stock is of original configuration. Who ever owned it previously modified the detachable magazine to a fixed floor plate (looks kinda cool). The fore arm piece in the photo looks very close to mine (mine also does not have the top piece of wood). The front sight is a removable piece(which I removed). Barrel length is a measured 21.5 inch barrel. I ended up buying the excellent scope mount for the Enfield from S&K. It is a very sturdy mount of very good quality. I mounted a Bushnell 3-9×32 and bore sighted the now neat looking little rig.
I took the handy looking little set up to the range along with 80 rounds of Winchesters 180 gr. power points. My first couple of groups (3 shots per) were not real impressive. A 2.69” and a 2” even. I buckled down and paid more attention to what I was about and the next group shocked me to say the least. .38”! I knew it had to be a fluke. Well it was. But! I decided to let the barrel cool and cleaned it out while doing so. Once the cooling was done I settled back down on the bench. I fired three more groups before checking them out. When I went down to have a look at the target I was very happy indeed.
As I was taking the proper measurements I recorded these results. 1.69, 1.13 and what! .44! I should have quit at that point because it was getting dark fast. So far I had a group avg. of 1.4 in. But in my stubbornness I decide to shoot one more group. 2.38, damn. Well not to bad really it still came out with a 1.5”. avg! That’s as good an average as many new bolt action rifles. I would probably been able to keep that last group down under two inches but the light was almost gone and the target was a little hard to see. I have shot many groups since then (in good light) and have yet to shoot over two inches. Actually rarely over 1.75 inches!
I have been using .303s to hunt deer for the last four seasons and I can tell you this, They kill deer well! Matter of fact I would not hesitate to use it for Elk and Moose with Federal’s 180 grain Trophy Bonded High energy load. As long as one observes and adheres to the guns range limitations( with a 180 gr. load 250 yards on the large critters is not out of the question) the .303B should work as well as anything (with proper load selection). I believe I’ll try Hornady’s 150 gr. light magnum load this year. I’ll let you all know how it turns out.
FWIW, we fired several rounds today through a Benelli Nova “tactical” with 18.5 inch barrel, 4 round mag and ghost ring sights by LPA ( I had been saying they were by MecGar but must have had it wrong ) and the gun is nicely put together.
It had a 4-round TacStar sidesaddle mounted. The Nova can’t use a 6-round type due to the extended forend tail, ala the M870, that comes under the loading port when it’s shucked back.
Recoil wasn’t excessive despite its light weight, and the butt pad was nice. While the gun seemed long, and was found to be longer in OAL than my 18.5 inch M500, the extra length is in the receiver and not the length of pull. The sights were easy to regulate with crisp clicks and well-marked indications of the direction of adjustment. At 35 paces using Winchester standard slugs we had one group that cloverleafed two round, so accuracy was adequate, at least in this very minimal trial.
The owner is going to be using it in the shotgun class with former SAS trooper Dean Brevitt that I’m hosting here in April, and we’ll see how it holds up then.
One-piece Polymer Stock and Receiver. First and only 3.5″ 12 gauge slide-action shotgun with a unitised, synthetic stock and receiver assembly.
High-strength polymer receiver encapsulates steel reinforcing cage with a non-corrosive shell that is impervious to weather and other corrosive factors. Surface to core is one bonded material eliminating exposed external surfaces that can rust or corrode. Normal wears and shallow scratches expose bare metal on conventional receivers with anodised, plated or blued finish. The NOVA synthetic shell prevents bare metal exposure and eliminate potential corrosive activity.
Bolt and action bars slide on integral steel encapsulated frame.
High-strength Steel-to-Steel Lockup. Proven Montefeltro rotating, locking bolt design with two solid steel locking lugs in barrel extension provide greater steel-to-steel locking ability and strength. Lugs promote a smooth, no-fault locking action and release.
User-friendly Design. Ergonomically designed and contour-tapered forend promotes a firm grip. Elongated styling allows comfortable grasp for a wide range of arm lengths. The deeply moulded horizontal tracks on the elongated forend provide a secure and comfortable grip when used with or without gloves. The extended forend covers the action on opening to prevent pinching the palm when the forend is moved rearward. An additional space at the front of the forend prevents catching a finger between the forend and the barrel band when closing the action.
The twin action bars eliminate the forend from twisting or binding operation when cycling the action.
Safety is mounted at the front of the trigger guard within easy fingertip reach. This safety location is an extra advantage for the preferred trigger-finger placement extended along the side of the receiver while carrying in the ready position.
Immediately in front of the safety, the action release is also conveniently located at the front of the trigger guard for comfortable reach and operation.
Trigger has little free travel and offers positive, constant pressure and control when firing.
Stepped rib equipped with mid-point bead and front sight for quick target acquisition and precise target alignment.
Shooting Comfort. The rubber recoil pad and optional integrated recoil reduction device installed in the butt-stock assure recoil reduction and comfort control.
Easy Disassembly and Cleaning. One-piece polymer action group includes trigger assembly, elevator and shell latches that can be removed as a single unit. Once removed, the rotating Montefeltro bolt assembly easily lifts out of the receiver for quick disassembly and cleaning. Steel retainer pins anchored through polymer and steel cage hold action group assembly securely inside receiver housing.
Forend cap doubles as a tool for removing action group retaining pins. Nova can be stripped in 30 seconds.
Spring-loaded shell ejector for positive shell ejection of all 2 3/4″, 3″ and 3 1/2″ rounds.
Non-glare, anti-corrosive finish on all metal parts.
Integral sling attachment points on the butt-stock and barrel hangar for standard “QD” swivel to prevent noise in the field.
Vent rib barrels supplied with three choke tubes and wrench. Tubes suitable for steel shot.
Limited Five Year Warranty to original owner.
The cartridge elevator moves freely. Which means that the magazine can easily be refilled with the left hand while it’s still ready to fire. One doesn’t need to turn the gun upside down in order to press a elevator release.
Over the last few years one of the things that has become closely linked to shooting is the advent of the “clipit” knife. There are loads of these out there from the buck and a half special to the exotic five dollar models. Some work, some look good, some are just there to say I have one.
A company that is truly a “been there, done that” organization is Masters of Defense (MOD). The knives in the MOD line are made from the finest materials, and are designed for daily use to the needs of high-speed, low-drag special operators. These knives range in size from the small pocket style, clip-it knife to fixed blade knives.
MOD knives are made from the highest quality materials available today. The grips are made from 6061 T6 Aluminum for strength and lightweight durability. The blades are made from high carbon stainless and cryogenically hardened to 60Rockwell. These blades will take and edge and last.
Shown here are the Dieter CQD and the Tempest. The Dieter is by no means a small pocket knife, but none the less has a pocket clip attached and comes with a Cordura belt sheath. One of the most notable things on the Dieter CQD is the auxiliary blade for cutting seatbelts, harnesses, shroud lines and the like. For SpecOps and EMS work this blade is invaluable.
Another major item is the main blade auxiliary lock, to keep from closing the knife when gripping it. More often than not Mr. Murphy is out there and with gloved hands it is easy to hit the liner lock and have the blade collapse on you, not a good thing; this leads to what in medical terms is known as an ouch or worse missing digits.
The Tempest is an ideal pocket clipit. It small traditional size lends itself well to daily use. This does not mean quality is sacrificed, it is not. Like the Dieter the handle is 6061 Aluminum and the blade is the same high great stainless. The grip has a cratex type rubber for a better purchase.
I have used the Tempest and the Dieter CQD for the last year and am impressed with them. My CQD travels all over with me for the simple little auxiliary blade that has not been needed at any of the wrecks I have stopped to help over that time. The Tempest carries well in the hip pocket of my jeans or shooting pants.
The entire line of MOD knives are meant and designed for the real world Special Ops folks. Because of the demands placed on these folks they will last for years of range work. For EMS and LE types these knives should last as long as your career or until they are lost or become part of that latest rescue. You can check out the line at www.mastersofdefense.com, and order on line if you would like.
Syd included the Khukuri FAQ site in is last newsletter, and when I inquired about it, he said he had just come out of a discussion of the tactical use of Khukuris. Since Khuks are my latest obsession, this hit home. The Khukuri is perhaps the most ancient blade in continuous use and manufacture today. It is thought to have come to Nepal as a local derivation of the Kopis carried by the troops of Alexander the Great, which would give it a Nepali origin some 2,500 years back. It is the common blade of Nepal, made in every village by the local kami (blacksmith) and used daily for chopping firewood, slicing vegetables, clearing weeds from fields. [marijuana grows in cultivated soil to the extent that it chokes out food crops.
One style of Khukuri is called “Gangaola” or Ganga Chopper. Nepal is so poor that anything that interferes wiath a food crop must go] The blade is found as a strictly utilitarian workhorse, and as a symbol of royalty when made by the Royal Kami for a member of the royal house. The Ghorka mercenaries (Ghurka, if you’re a Brit) brought the blade to fame as a weapon, in hired service to the British and Indian armies. One of the most bloodcurdling things you can witness, they say, is a Ghorka charge.
The first Khukuri I saw, years ago, was not impressive. It was, I believe, a “tourist” quality (found in a pawn shop for $10) and I only recently discovered the “real” blades. They are truly awesome. They begin life as aleaf spring from a Mercedes truck, and are hammered into life by kamis who cannot read or write their own language, and are “untouchables” in the Nepali Hindu caste system.
Including all sizes and blade styles, there are over 200 Khukuris generally available to collectors/enthusiasts, and more if you care to wait for special orders. They range from about $100 to over $500 (for the special silver-mounted “Kothimoda” styles), and there are variations of sorts from one kami to another on any particular style.
Tactical use is moot. Most blades which might be encountered “on the street” are impressive in that they can cut, and most of us have an age old fear of being cut. The smallest Khuk does not invoke a fear of cuts. A 12″ Ang Khola invokes a fear of being dismembered. Bill Bagwell wrote once in a “Soldier of Fortune” column about being perplexed that people did not realize that a Bowie could take off a hand or even an arm. The most unknowledgeable person on earth, facing a Khukuri, has no doubt that this blade can remove anything it hits. A question was raised about the tactics and training given Ghorka troops re the use of Khuks on their enlistment. The brother-in-law of Bill Martino, who runs the site listed below, interviewed 30 to 40 retired Ghorkas on his buying trips around the villages. All gave, basically, the same answer – “Chop to head, chop to chest, cut across legs…All work good!!”. These guys got their first blades from their fathers at four to five years of age, to help in the fields. While the deterrent value of any weapon must not be depended upon when in danger, it never hurts if your blade is the most feared sharp instrument on the block.
I’ve centered my collecting so far around the offerings of this fellow: http://members.aol.com/himimp/index.html There are other sources of good blades, but this one employs the Royal Kami as shop foreman, and the sales are run by a guy who left the Peace Corps with a bad taste for their record of accomplishment.
The forum members and collectors who inhabit the BladeForums.com Himalayan Imports forum help support over 200 people in the area of Surya Benai, giving them living wages for hard work (in which they take great pride). One comment from the kamis at Surya Benai, when this effort began, (the kamis had formerly been making “tourist” models) was, “We are glad we no longer make silly toys for silly people.”
I have many superlatives, but to keep it short, these blades cannot be believed until they have been handled. Good blades speak. These say “do not leave me in the sheath too long.” A friend recently wrote in the forum that they must “Dance once in a while with their master”.
